Baby steps

 We always look forward to grand milestones and events. Instead today I'm celebrating the small achievements.

Shneur zalman (10 months)  just figured out how to get onto his belly from a sitting position.

Miriam Simcha (4 yr) stopped her in the middle of yelling/grabbing and asked nicely to choose s vitamin herself.

Yossi (16 yr !?!?!)  Is doing high bridges ( lifting his bottom) to assist with changing/dressing. He used to be able to do that and much more but Yossi's gross motor ability had dropped considerably for a number of reasons. It's been a year and a half since he resumed working with Verne (his favorite person on earth, sorry grandma) and I'm beyond grateful to see the results.

Birthday Connections

 Of all the days in the calendar Chof hey cheshvan seems like such a random date. However I've now met 7 people who share my birthday! Through the years I've met them in many of the places that I've been: Baltimore, MD Sarasota, FL, Toronto, ON, Bournemouth, UK, Crown Heights, Staten Island, and now East Flatbush. I think it's just another sign of divine providence in my life, that I am exactly where I'm meant to be.

National Sons Day

You see three 

But there are four

Next to me, three

But there was one more

His mission finished much to fast

But his memory will aways last

Etched  within my heart

You never saw, 

You never knew

About this tiny little dude

Nestled in the palm of mother

A baby just like any other

Only a moment to feel my love

Watching now from up above 

The joy of all the things he's missed

After giving him that final kiss

L'iluy Nishmas Noach Ben Dov Ber Chiam

The secret ingredient

 I never did get on the coffee train but I still always love a hot drink. my go to is peppermint tea in the morning and hot cocoa in the evening. My favorite is whenever Dov makes a drink for me. His signature dish is hot cocoa, noone makes it quite like him. All our friends rave about it, desperate for a little oasis in a busy day.  They go to the store and pick up the same brand of instant mix but to their dismay they are unable replicate it. Its because they are missing the secret ingredient, sincere caring and thoughtfulness.

Friends

I didn't do it on my own

You held my hand

You, and you, and you

You rolled up your sleeves

When I despaired

Buried under the rubble

You forged the path with me

I taste the freedom and the triumph

And I'm grateful 

For the blessings,

Are so much sweeter

When we are United together

Different people have lifted me up

At different stages in my life

And pulled me through when I didn't know

What the next day would bring

And life is hectic and it's hard

But it's beautiful

*Composition date unknown. Found an old file of mine..

Lech Lecha- Hello Brooklyn

 Go forth - from what you thought would be your forever home

Uproot your family, your routine, to start again in a new place

Pack your bags and relocate- to the land where you first set down roots together

 I will send an angel to accompany you on your journey

And your friends will greet you at your destination

They will steady you when you falter

They will lift you up when the waves knock you down

For I will send you challenges, 

And In the end you will see great blessings

Its all in My master plan

You are here on My mission and I will protect you always.

Rosh Hashanah

 Its Rosh Hashanah and I've come to daven for the first time, in my new shul in my new neighborhood. With a toddler on my hip and a growing belly I look like the ladies all around me, but I have a lump in my throat. I remember the feelings of despair, hoping year after year that I'd have a baby. I  remember when it was difficult to go outside for it seemed that everyone around me was pregnant. Holding my healthy child, surrounded by the promise of new lives growing, the feelings still come back to me and they are real and raw like yesterday. Somewhere.. in this shul or in another, is a woman crying silently, hoping, praying for the new year to bring her the blessing of children. To that woman: I may look like everyone else but I see you, I feel your pain, and I pray that next year you'll have your own baby on your lap.