My purse found me!

Speaking of lost valuables, I let my baby play with my clutch purse as we rode the bus yesterday. When we arrived at our stop, I gathered my dance bag, my baby, her accessories, put her in the stroller, and lowered the stroller off of the bus. We then proceeded home for naptime. 


When we woke up, I noticed a number of missed calls from a caller I didn't recognize. I didn't call back (I was worried that it was the lady who had been 'stalking' my tap classes- don't ask). A little later, they called yet again. I answered, and it was a 13-year-old girl named Ayala who is a family friend and was our former neighbor (we moved 3 weeks ago). She asked me desperately, in Hebrew, if I had lost a purse. I didn't think I had. But I looked through my things, and to my surprise, it wasn't there. How did she know that and I didn't?

Ayala's teacher was riding the bus with me. She picked up the purse that I dropped, looked inside for my Teudat Zehut (photo ID card without which you cannot even claim a package from the post office in this country), read the address, and recognized it as the same building where her student lived. She called her student, who knew me, who called me all day to tell me that her teacher had the purse, and tomorrow in school, Ayala would get it from her and I could pick it up.


I love my neighbors and I love the Torah.


(it's an obligation to return the lost objects of others, and a prohibition to 'misplace' the cash and cards first). 

I FOUND IT!!!!

This is how I feel right now :)

I lost my wedding band a year and a half ago, a few weeks after the wedding.

Robbery? No. Dropped it in the Mediterranean? No. It fell on the floor in my bedroom, along with my engagement ring. And when I looked down, the engagement ring was there, and the band was not. How bizarre is that?

Over the last year-and-a-half I turned over ever square inch of that apartment, looking for the ring. I scoured the bed frames, looked in every shoe, turned our Keters (plastic drawers) upside down, crawled around on the floor...you name it. Pesach cleaning came and went. No ring. When we moved, two weeks ago, I told the movers that if they found a white-gold wedding band, I would give them 10% of its value (my husband chuckled at this, since he'd searched for the ring so many times in that apartment that he was certain that it was gone, gone gone).

Upon moving to this new apartment, I finally stopped believing. I know I stopped, because last night I was looking through our online wedding pictures (to send to a friend), and for the first time, I didn't gaze at my fingers in the photographs, bearing both rings. I didn't use it as a reminder to look in a forgotten place. I just didn't look.

 

Then, this morning, I was sitting with my husband and sorting through our medicine drawer while he ate his breakfast (we have a LOT of random medicines that I was happy to throw out). 

And GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

I FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS IN THERE!!!!!

How? I don't know. Through Hashem's infinite kindness.

(okay, the physical 'how' could be that when I dropped it, it bounced off the floor and flew up and into the corner of a second-level Keter drawer, and sank into the bottom of the medicines, which I didn't sort for Pesach- they were just taped up and put away. I had searched those drawers already, though...)

existential question alert: For the entire year-and-a-half, I was sure that Hashem was testing me not to give up on the ring. I kept my belief alive up until two weeks ago. So to find it now, after giving up, makes me wonder- what was the test, really? What can I learn from this?

Guest Post

My good friend Rivki (from the fabulous 'Life in the Married Lane') gave me the honor of guesting on her blog! Cool!

http://lifeinthemarriedlane.com/2011/02/10/home-is-where-we-are/

Hashem uses Janglo

There's this site- it's called Janglo. It's an internet bulletin board for the English-speakers of Jerusalem. It includes job postings, items for sale, items wanted, free/swap, and events. I avoided using it for a long time because the layout and functioning of the site is very...

'free service', and it's hard to tell the difference between postings and ads. I also didn't believe it could help me in any way. 

In the past week, I was inspired by a friend to finally make use of it - and I need to share with you how much hashgacha pratis has come through this website.

Through Janglo, this week, I:

-found 2 beds, 2 guest beds, 4 mattresses, a couch, a dining table, 6 chairs, and a bookshelf (we moved this week from a furnished apartment to a non-furnished) for an incredible discount, all hardly used and BEAUTIFUL, and all from a single ad for a moving sale (thanks to my friend who spotted it immediately the morning it was posted)

-found a high chair for a major discount

-found someone a job (that they are actually taking)

-found someone (who didn't have the internet but asked me to keep an eye out) a treadmill- that they bought, which a) saved them thousands of shekels and b) all the proceeds of their purchase was donated to charity by the seller

-found that same treadmill person a full set of cherry wood cabinets for their new kitchen which saved them thousands of shekels

So, while I am in no way affiliated with Janglo, I just had to share this info because it might open closed doors for you, too.  

this is what I mean...

I am showing everyone this picture lately- I think it's really cute.

-just put the baby down 'for the night'-


It's not that I don't like my blog. Or that I'm bored with blogging. It's more like, every time I've had a moment to introspect lately, I've either fallen asleep, or realized I should use the opportunity to daven (remember davening?), or...fallen asleep.
I am busy, but I can't say it's from busyness- I have written regularly at pretty hectic times in the past. You can find a few minutes for just about anything that you priotize. But I guess, in the last two weeks, I really haven't prioritized writing. 
But I like writing. So I'm back now. I can't promise consistency, but I decided at the beginning of this project that I was going to approach it differently from anything else I have attempted. That is, that I am doing this as a benefit to my life, only (and hopefully, the lives of others). As a creative outlet, when I feel that I need one. It's not something I am allowed to beat myself up about for not doing perfectly. 
You're thinking- well, shouldn't you approach everything that way? Yes, I should. This blog was started right around the time when I made that resolution, and I am trying to implement it little by little. It's easier with the little things than the big things.


-she woke up. just changed her and she's now snuggled in my right arm-


-I actually wrote this yesterday, not today. But after writing this much, I gave up typing one-handed, eventually put her down, and fell asleep. This is what I mean...-

Naomi Bracha

The other day, I was engrossed in a book while my 6-month-old baby was playing on the floor a few feet away. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she kept rotating her head in a funny way. I finally tore my eyes away from the 'fascinating' read (trust me, it was not so) and looked at her.

 It was then that I realized that every time she had rotated her head, she was trying to make eye contact with me. Yes, she had toys. And yes, I was right there. But she wanted me to watch her, to echo her little greetings, to show her that she was the center of my attention. So I did. And it was really worth it.