This Little One Never Ceases to Amaze Us…

We have just finished ראש השנה and now we are about to embark on the holiest of days of the year: יום כיפור.  Last year at this time I was getting ready to paint  Ayelet’s room.  We chose yellow because we did not know her gender.  This year at this time Ayelet is learning to play in her room and on the floor.  It is incredible when you are a parent, just how amazed you are about the simplest of things.  Take the following video for example:

That was such a basic thing.  Ayelet was crawling down the hallway… But it meant so much more.  It meant that Ayelet now was traveling around without us.  She was able to choose where to go, not us choosing for her.  Ayelet was exploring, and she will now begin to explore even more.  It is so awesome, and just to imagine that a year ago I was writing about her future karate her drumming career, now we are learning her personality on a daily basis. 

I guess this is just a tired Abba, husband and rabbis babbling… But it is incredible to be experiencing all of this.

 

Crawling down the hall she goes

 

Here is another example of really cool Ayelet stuff that might seem minor to some, but to us it is spectacular:

View Full Album

 

So those are the updates.  ראש השנה was great and Ayelet got to participate a little at dinner.  She sat on the floor during the services and bumped her head during my big sermon.  And now we are all getting geared up for יום כיפור.  I wish you all a meaningful and reflective day, צום קל/an easy fast, and a גמר חתימה טובה, and a good sealing.

 

Josh AKA Abba

Extra Read All About It: Ayelet attends first day of school…

Well friends, 09/09/09 is in the history books and what a day it was in our lives.  This morning the three of us woke up bright and early and all of us had important work to do today.  Carrie was starting her year at the JCC as the Judaics Specialist, I had to work (lots of work) and Ayelet had her first day in the infants room at the JCC.  We walked over there and it felt strange and nice and sad and difficult and easy.  When we arrived all of the teachers in the room smiled at us and said hello to Ayelet by name.  This made us feel so welcomed and reassured.  We gave them the rundown on Ayelet’s morning so far and then we dropped off all of her materials for the day.  We sat on the floor with her as she began to play with the other kids and then before we knew it, we kissed her goodbye and Carrie and I each went to work.  As I walked home the excitement was gone, and the sadness was on overload because, well I do not know why. 

Anyways, she had an excellent day, in spite of her Abba dropping in when she was trying to nap and kind of disrupting it.  But I am having a hard time.  It is tough work to be a rabbi or to have any career for that matter.  But right now with the holidays coming so soon, I am running behind deadlines right and left and I am feeling swamped.  I just want to write excellent sermons that will enrich every single person’s life and will never be forgotten… Is that so tough… Its impossible and so I need to relax the expectations a bit.  I will write more about my own life soon.  Anyways, I am sure everybody would love more pictures of Ayelet, so here goes nothing…

View Full Album

That is all for now, as it is late and I have to get back to sermon writing in the morning…

Ayelet’s Abba

Oy, how can she already be starting school…

At 5:00pm tonight Carrie, Ayelet and I walked across the street to the JCC to visit her classroom and meet her teachers.  I have been going to great lengths to demonstrate that this is not school, but as Carrie says, it really is much more than daycare.  I think that we all have issues at times in our life with our inability to slow the process of time and the deep-seeded desires to go back in time and relive our pasts.  It is hard at this point to even remember Ayelet when she was just born and we were trying to get her to sleep a little at the hospital so that we could sleep a little.  It is hard to believe that our little baby is now almost 10 months old.  It is hard to believe that she is becoming so social and so interactive. Last December we bundled her up to experience snow for the first time, and then we rushed her back indoors to warm her up.  Her experience and her experience now would be so different.  Last February we boarded a plane for JFK and then waited eight hours to board a plane to Israel.  We wanted to bring our little Ayelet to her ancestral homeland and to instill in her early on, a deep love of Israel.  And once again I am certain that she would have such a different experience now than what she had then.  Over these past months we have grown as a family and we have grown as people.  We have learned what it means to truly put another person first, and we have truly learned what it means to love with all of your heart, soul and being (maybe now we are better able to show that love to God as well).

People have asked me what it is like to be a father, and how my life has changed.  I will tell you all a few anecdotes and express just how it feels.  the first thing is that being a father is by far one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life. It is a source of pride and a source of joy. I knew I was a father a while back when I was sitting in bed with Ayelet and watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  The episode dealt with a widow and her remaining children.  Her oldest son died trying to save his drowning father.  As I began to cry I looked at Ayelet and said to her: If ever your Abba is in danger like that boy’s Abba do not put yourself in danger to save me.  I will save you, you do not save me.  At that moment I understood that my mission was to take care of her and keep her safe.  I would do anything to preserve that safety… anything.  Another occasion that really struck me was during Passover when my parents were in town.  I woke up one morning at around 9:00am and that made no sense.  I had not slept in that late in some time.  And so I got up and looked in Ayelet’s room and she was not there, and so I went into the living room where her Zayde (my Abba) was sleeping on the floor with a book open on his lap.  Then I went down to the family room and found her Bubby (my Eema) asleep on the couch and I began to panic.  I checked the door and it was unlocked.  I was just about to call 911, when my Abba asked me what was wrong, and I said where is Ayelet?  He looked down in the bassinet on the floor where she was sound asleep.  I breathed a sigh of relief and she looked up at me and smiled.  I now began the rest of my life of worrying about Ayelet.  The last case is one of the sweetest on earth.  Each day when I put my key in the door and open it up I hear great jubilation and I see Ayelet leaning over the side of her chair where her Eema is feeding her, and I see her giggling and see her smiling right at me.  It is the greatest feeling on earth and one that I would never trade for anything. 

I guess that is all for now,

שבת שלום

 

Enjoy these pictures:

View Full Album

Welcome to our new and improved blog

We are very excited to start to keep our family blog up to date once again.  We spent a great deal of time trying to make it work while we were awaiting Ayelet’s arrival.  Now we have been so busy chasing her around and taking care of her, that we have lost track of our blog.  Well that all stops now, and we will begin to be better bloggers.

Here are some updates on the Hearshens of Mercer Island:

Ayelet has two bottom teeth

Ayelet is no longer a vegetarian! She has eaten chicken and beef.

Carrie is beginning work again next week at the SJCC as the Judaics specialist

Josh has a painful tooth ache that needs to get lost.

Carrie has been missing her daughter greatly this week during staff week for work.

Josh has no idea when he will get his sermons done :(

Ayelet is rolling all over the place.

Ayelet was seen sitting herself up on Shabbat… Wow.

Ayelet is scooting all over the place (Carrie thinks this is funny looking, Ayelet’s abba thinks it is the most beautiful thing)

 

We are sure that there is more to report, but hey give us some time to dive back in.  We do want to thank Aaron Averbuch for helping us to get restarted on our blog.  And of course for setting up the new domain: www.hearshenfamily.com .

Here are some great new pics:

View Full Album

New URL

Now at http://www.hearshenfamily.com for all to read. Hoping to blog more.