Smadar & her family.
We are so blessed to live where we live. I know that now.
About a week after we moved to Israel I was woken early one morning (if God wakes me up I know it's important - mornings aren't my best time). I felt led to read my Bible, specifically Isaiah 17:4-5. Yes, chapter & verses specifically. God speaks to me through His Word and when He lays a verse on my heart I often have no idea what it's going to say (nope, don't have the Bible memorized...I wish).
*back story* moving into this specific apartment was rough up to this point. I wondered why it was so dirty, so ill-equipped (seemingly in my expectations of what "equipped" is) for our family, far from school, no yard, and in sort of a "rough" neighborhood. I had my doubts of living here and was trying ever so hard to think of a solution to move. There was none. We had signed a contract & here we were going to stay. I complained. To God, to John, to my kids.
So back to where I started. Sleepily I walked into the living room and opened up my Bible to Isaiah 17:4. I read:
“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away. It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain, gathering the grain in their arms—as when someone gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim."
Hmmm, ok. I reread it. Read it again. Give up to figuring out it's meaning and went to bed.
In the morning I shared the verses with John. This is when it came into focus. In short form one thing he pointed out to me was "Valley of Rephaim". Where do you think we live in Jerusalem? Yep, we live in the Valley of Rephaim. There's is a main shopping street near us called The German Colony and the street is Emek Rephaim. Emek means "valley".
Hmmm. As I pondered all this in the following days it began to warm my heart to where God placed us to live. Now I had a purpose. There was a reason for us being here. I could stake a claim at 7 Ma'aglaei Yavneh because it's exactly where we were supposed to be. As I changed my perspective things got better...and then we all got sick.
At the tail end of my parents visiting me & the kids got sinus colds (later turned into sinus infections and 3 weeks later we're all still on antibiotics...) Jack went down hard and the next day so did I. It's not easy as a wife/mom to get sick. You lay in bed & think of all the things you should be doing so you try to drag yourself out of bed & boom, you're back down.
So I'm in our room & there's a knock at the door. John's outside running the kids and I continue to hear the door knock - I just ignore it because it's not John (he has a key) and I don't want to exert any energy in conversing with anyone.
John returns home & I hear the door knock again. It's our neighbor.
Enter "Smadar & her family" into the story.
I hear a woman's voice introducing herself and apologizing for not coming up until now (work, life, busy, vacation). I'm laying there relieved I never answered the door. John is gracious & kind and chats and then explains I'm in bed sick & that's why I never answered the door. Smadar sounds nice but I'm relieved when she leaves as being sick & hospitable at the same time seems impossible in my achy state.
An hour later there's a knock. Again, I think? Sick=crabby.
Smadar is at the door with a huge platter of their Shabbat dinner. (Sabbath dinner) & a huge pot of homemade chicken soup. Her voice is concerned, kind & sure. She is sure she wants to help us in any way! John gobbles up the Shabbat food - chicken, roasted pumpkin, spices of all kinds, roasted potatoes, couscous. He puts the soup in the fridge.
I wander in the living room once the kids are asleep & John warms me up some chicken soup broth & it's the most amazing chicken soup I've ever tasted (as good as El Rosal but in a totally different way)! It's reviving my bones and I think, "who is this kind person to make me a pot of chicken soup...and on Shabbat evening no less?"
A couple days later I'm feeling better and as we walk downstairs we stop at her door and thank her. She insists we come to Shabbat dinner at their house any Saturday. She goes on to say, "really, you could show up at our house any night for dinner and we'd love it!" Wow, we are so grateful & also a little confused...this is where culture shock comes in.
Really? Come over any night for dinner? Just show up? Oh she's just saying this to be nice, right? But that wasn't her tone. Her tone was so sincere.
As an American I'm guarded. I don't just open my home to anyone and when I do I tend to pat myself on the back & remind myself I'm a good person. I want to be that way all the time but it doesn't come naturally. I lived next to my neighbors in Visalia for 2 years & never had them over for dinner. I'm kicking myself now.
I'm taken aback by Smadar. Why is she so kind? She doesn't know us.
A couple days later she comes up and says, "come down for dinner in an hour!" Okay, we say. The start of a wonderful friendship!
Smadar is married to a wonderful man , Ya'ir who's just as welcoming & kind. They have an 18 year old daughter (Libon) who's usually gone with friends and will enter her 2 years of army service soon, a 16 year old son (Elram) who's naturally fun with Jack & kind & gentle to Violet and a 12 year old daughter (Shahar) who loves Jack & Violet.
We come downstairs & it's completely informal & relaxed! Part of dinner is still in the oven, other parts are still being prepared. Smadar is causally talking with us, showing Jack & Violet the fish in their super huge fish tank...just kind of hanging out. It's 7:30pm and in my Americaness I'm thinking, "I don't think we'll eat until 8...and the kids go to bed at 8...they will be so crabby...it will be a disaster...we need to eat & leave...". I'm so conditioned. And it's partially true - we ate late, the kids got crabby & didn't get to bed until 9:45pm but we had a wonderful evening! It was delicious & homemade & simple.
Here's our meal:
(roasted potatoes, onions & pumpkin, rice, tahine with roasted eggplant,
cabbage salad, a cut up avocado, edamame & some sauces/salsas)
Dinner wraps up & we're just all hanging out. It hits 8:30 and the kids are seeming tired but are wound up being at a new house - they play on the sofa, Jack plays a driving video game with Elram, Violet is showing off her "pretties" to Shahar, they both run through the apartment chasing their dog Archie & as we apologize & try to corral the children Smadar & Ya'ir are relaxed, visiting & not worried in the least. At 8:30 Smadar says, "Oh I have something for you to try!" and she takes out a homemade dessert and watches intently while we eat it and then says, "what do you think it is?"
Any guesses?:
It's eggplant! Soaked in some sweet/sticky substance and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. Smadar admits she could eat the whole container. It is a fun dish to try but my taste buds enjoyed the familiar chocolate chip cookies I had brought! So did Violet's - as we visited I think she snuck up to 5 cookies. Little stinker!
So by 9:15 we were heading out the door even though they were all still lounging around & happy to have us there! It was a wonderful evening!
We have since been invited to go boating with them (their members of a boating club) but unfortunately we weren't able to. For Rosh Hashanah (New Year) she brought over plates of sweets. She brought coupons for diapers over. For Yom Kippur she invited us over to "hang out while they fast & mourn" (which was today - see pictures below) and on tomorrow & Monday they have invited us over to decorate their sukkah for Sukkot (it's high holiday season for Israel).
Example of a sukkah (a temporary shelter you place outside where you eat all your meals during Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles/Booths which lasts 7 days - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot):
We've made amazing friends with this sweet family. They are teaching me hospitality like I have rarely seen it displayed before. I want to be like Smadar. Her hospitality is natural, flexible, easy & open. It's not uptight & perfect like my hospitality tries to be. I realize that simply opening your home to someone is what means the most. Sharing your space & your life for a couple hours without trying to make everything look perfect. My life isn't perfect, I don't have it all together. I burn dinners & get frustrated. If I invite someone over I plan the evening down to the napkin holders. There's a time & place for everything but something Smadar is teaching me without even knowing is that I can open my home anytime & for any meal - it's about being together & having relationship.
That's why we now know that this is where God wants us - in the Valley of Rephaim, just a few steps up from Smadar & her family.
Here are some pictures of us hanging out on Yom Kippur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur) while they fasted-no food or water for 25 hours. In addition to fasting they spend most of their day in intense prayers of forgiveness:
Elram hanging out on the swing with Jack & Violet (Violet loved it!)
Smadar & Archie (rolling over for a treat - pets don't fast in case you were wondering, I was).
Elram showing Jack how to play pool! Ha! He's the kindest boy (his age) I think I've ever met.
Shahar, Archie, neighbor girl & Blinky (a mini Archie...she's blind in one eye so they named her Blinky!)
About a week after we moved to Israel I was woken early one morning (if God wakes me up I know it's important - mornings aren't my best time). I felt led to read my Bible, specifically Isaiah 17:4-5. Yes, chapter & verses specifically. God speaks to me through His Word and when He lays a verse on my heart I often have no idea what it's going to say (nope, don't have the Bible memorized...I wish).
*back story* moving into this specific apartment was rough up to this point. I wondered why it was so dirty, so ill-equipped (seemingly in my expectations of what "equipped" is) for our family, far from school, no yard, and in sort of a "rough" neighborhood. I had my doubts of living here and was trying ever so hard to think of a solution to move. There was none. We had signed a contract & here we were going to stay. I complained. To God, to John, to my kids.
So back to where I started. Sleepily I walked into the living room and opened up my Bible to Isaiah 17:4. I read:
“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away. It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain, gathering the grain in their arms—as when someone gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim."
Hmmm, ok. I reread it. Read it again. Give up to figuring out it's meaning and went to bed.
In the morning I shared the verses with John. This is when it came into focus. In short form one thing he pointed out to me was "Valley of Rephaim". Where do you think we live in Jerusalem? Yep, we live in the Valley of Rephaim. There's is a main shopping street near us called The German Colony and the street is Emek Rephaim. Emek means "valley".
Hmmm. As I pondered all this in the following days it began to warm my heart to where God placed us to live. Now I had a purpose. There was a reason for us being here. I could stake a claim at 7 Ma'aglaei Yavneh because it's exactly where we were supposed to be. As I changed my perspective things got better...and then we all got sick.
At the tail end of my parents visiting me & the kids got sinus colds (later turned into sinus infections and 3 weeks later we're all still on antibiotics...) Jack went down hard and the next day so did I. It's not easy as a wife/mom to get sick. You lay in bed & think of all the things you should be doing so you try to drag yourself out of bed & boom, you're back down.
So I'm in our room & there's a knock at the door. John's outside running the kids and I continue to hear the door knock - I just ignore it because it's not John (he has a key) and I don't want to exert any energy in conversing with anyone.
John returns home & I hear the door knock again. It's our neighbor.
Enter "Smadar & her family" into the story.
I hear a woman's voice introducing herself and apologizing for not coming up until now (work, life, busy, vacation). I'm laying there relieved I never answered the door. John is gracious & kind and chats and then explains I'm in bed sick & that's why I never answered the door. Smadar sounds nice but I'm relieved when she leaves as being sick & hospitable at the same time seems impossible in my achy state.
An hour later there's a knock. Again, I think? Sick=crabby.
Smadar is at the door with a huge platter of their Shabbat dinner. (Sabbath dinner) & a huge pot of homemade chicken soup. Her voice is concerned, kind & sure. She is sure she wants to help us in any way! John gobbles up the Shabbat food - chicken, roasted pumpkin, spices of all kinds, roasted potatoes, couscous. He puts the soup in the fridge.
I wander in the living room once the kids are asleep & John warms me up some chicken soup broth & it's the most amazing chicken soup I've ever tasted (as good as El Rosal but in a totally different way)! It's reviving my bones and I think, "who is this kind person to make me a pot of chicken soup...and on Shabbat evening no less?"
A couple days later I'm feeling better and as we walk downstairs we stop at her door and thank her. She insists we come to Shabbat dinner at their house any Saturday. She goes on to say, "really, you could show up at our house any night for dinner and we'd love it!" Wow, we are so grateful & also a little confused...this is where culture shock comes in.
Really? Come over any night for dinner? Just show up? Oh she's just saying this to be nice, right? But that wasn't her tone. Her tone was so sincere.
As an American I'm guarded. I don't just open my home to anyone and when I do I tend to pat myself on the back & remind myself I'm a good person. I want to be that way all the time but it doesn't come naturally. I lived next to my neighbors in Visalia for 2 years & never had them over for dinner. I'm kicking myself now.
I'm taken aback by Smadar. Why is she so kind? She doesn't know us.
A couple days later she comes up and says, "come down for dinner in an hour!" Okay, we say. The start of a wonderful friendship!
Smadar is married to a wonderful man , Ya'ir who's just as welcoming & kind. They have an 18 year old daughter (Libon) who's usually gone with friends and will enter her 2 years of army service soon, a 16 year old son (Elram) who's naturally fun with Jack & kind & gentle to Violet and a 12 year old daughter (Shahar) who loves Jack & Violet.
We come downstairs & it's completely informal & relaxed! Part of dinner is still in the oven, other parts are still being prepared. Smadar is causally talking with us, showing Jack & Violet the fish in their super huge fish tank...just kind of hanging out. It's 7:30pm and in my Americaness I'm thinking, "I don't think we'll eat until 8...and the kids go to bed at 8...they will be so crabby...it will be a disaster...we need to eat & leave...". I'm so conditioned. And it's partially true - we ate late, the kids got crabby & didn't get to bed until 9:45pm but we had a wonderful evening! It was delicious & homemade & simple.
Here's our meal:
(roasted potatoes, onions & pumpkin, rice, tahine with roasted eggplant,
cabbage salad, a cut up avocado, edamame & some sauces/salsas)
Dinner wraps up & we're just all hanging out. It hits 8:30 and the kids are seeming tired but are wound up being at a new house - they play on the sofa, Jack plays a driving video game with Elram, Violet is showing off her "pretties" to Shahar, they both run through the apartment chasing their dog Archie & as we apologize & try to corral the children Smadar & Ya'ir are relaxed, visiting & not worried in the least. At 8:30 Smadar says, "Oh I have something for you to try!" and she takes out a homemade dessert and watches intently while we eat it and then says, "what do you think it is?"
Any guesses?:
It's eggplant! Soaked in some sweet/sticky substance and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. Smadar admits she could eat the whole container. It is a fun dish to try but my taste buds enjoyed the familiar chocolate chip cookies I had brought! So did Violet's - as we visited I think she snuck up to 5 cookies. Little stinker!
So by 9:15 we were heading out the door even though they were all still lounging around & happy to have us there! It was a wonderful evening!
We have since been invited to go boating with them (their members of a boating club) but unfortunately we weren't able to. For Rosh Hashanah (New Year) she brought over plates of sweets. She brought coupons for diapers over. For Yom Kippur she invited us over to "hang out while they fast & mourn" (which was today - see pictures below) and on tomorrow & Monday they have invited us over to decorate their sukkah for Sukkot (it's high holiday season for Israel).
Example of a sukkah (a temporary shelter you place outside where you eat all your meals during Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles/Booths which lasts 7 days - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot):
We've made amazing friends with this sweet family. They are teaching me hospitality like I have rarely seen it displayed before. I want to be like Smadar. Her hospitality is natural, flexible, easy & open. It's not uptight & perfect like my hospitality tries to be. I realize that simply opening your home to someone is what means the most. Sharing your space & your life for a couple hours without trying to make everything look perfect. My life isn't perfect, I don't have it all together. I burn dinners & get frustrated. If I invite someone over I plan the evening down to the napkin holders. There's a time & place for everything but something Smadar is teaching me without even knowing is that I can open my home anytime & for any meal - it's about being together & having relationship.
That's why we now know that this is where God wants us - in the Valley of Rephaim, just a few steps up from Smadar & her family.
Here are some pictures of us hanging out on Yom Kippur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur) while they fasted-no food or water for 25 hours. In addition to fasting they spend most of their day in intense prayers of forgiveness:
Elram hanging out on the swing with Jack & Violet (Violet loved it!)
Smadar & Archie (rolling over for a treat - pets don't fast in case you were wondering, I was).
Elram showing Jack how to play pool! Ha! He's the kindest boy (his age) I think I've ever met.
Shahar, Archie, neighbor girl & Blinky (a mini Archie...she's blind in one eye so they named her Blinky!)
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