I have finally decided to join the masses and start blogging. Why, I guess because in the Jewish Calendar it is a new year and it is a time of reflection. Looking back on the past year, I have decided it is time to put my thoughts in order and make sense of what has been happening.

Last December much to the dismay of our entire family, my husband and I packed up our things and our one year old son and moved to Israel. My husband and I are the only religiously observant Jews on both sides of the family. The concept of Aliyah(returning to the land of Israel as Jews) is not a concept the family grasps. We came with no job prospects and relatively little money, just a hope and a dream and a sense of longing to fullfill our destiny. In other words the rest of the family wanted to have us committed.

So thanks to an organization called Nefesh'B'Nefesh whose mission it is to help people make aliyah, we packed our bags and arrived in Israel on Dec. 30, 2004. Nefesh helped us with citizenship paper work and gave us a grant to help get settled. We have a three year obligation to stay in Israel and after that we can choose to remain or go back to the U.S.

Our first stop was Ra'anana a very american in town in Central Israel, considered the Tel-Aviv district. We spent 3 very long months in the Mierkaz Klita which is the immigration absorbtion center. I fondly refer to it as Camp Ra'anana. We lived in a two bedroom apt, spacious by mierkaz standards, but in Israel everything is stone. It was cold, wet and moldy. Yuck! However, we were grateful for a spot to land and with good friends down the street it was survivable.

After 3 months in Ra'anana, we moved out to Ginot Shomron in the West Bank. A lovely neighborhood that is part of Karnei Shomron Yeshuv. Our yeshuv (settlement) consists of several communities combined. Our community is mixed religious, from charedi to non-observant, though most hold a comfortable dati leumi which is basically modern Orthodox. The ethnic diversity is mostly, Israeli, Russian and North America. However, the question these days is when do you stop being North American and become Israeli. Many of our friends here made aliyah as kids with their parents. Now our friends have kids, do they still where the label North American because that is where their parents are from? It is very interesting.

We love living out here because it is much more peaceful and quiet than the city. We also appreciate the different mentality of the people here. People here tend to be focused and more politicaly aware than those in the city. Although it is true that at one time during the intifada it was much more dangerous to live here in some regards, it was also not safe in the cities either. Now it is for the most part peaceful and with out incident. It is also much prettier here than the cities. More natural plants and yards and areas of forest than the cities where it is mostly apartment buildings and a few manicured playgrounds and little trees on the sidewalk. I compare living out here, with living in the suburbs of the United States. Although not so materialistic.

It is hard to capture all the feelings and emotions of being here and going through the Gaza withdrawl and making the personal adjustments to living in a country where I don't speak the language so I hope that my future blogs will represent that. Right now I have to get some stuff done as my son finishes with Gan ( a very early pre-school) in a half hour and I have yet to accomplish anything worthwhile.

Which is the other thing I hope to focus on in my blog. Being the parent of an almost 2 year old. Parenting is something that really cannot be prepared for no matter how much reading is done and advice is given. Each situation calls for more reading more, advice and ultimately a test of wills to see who will win the battle. Our son loves to test us and see what he can get away with. Lately this has led to many afternoon and evening battles regarding naptime and bedtime. Usually leaving my crazy. I am told the terrible twos have started and that this too shal pass. Well, lets let it pass shal we?! And quickly. But it is all part of the package. My same little guy that can be a terror also loves to cuddle and listen to the Winnie-the-Pooh song with me and that is priceless. He is also starting to help me in the kitchen when I make dinner or get ready for shabbat. I can hand him the vegetables to put in the soup pot and it gives him such pride to help out his mommy. And that too makes the terrible twos worth it!

The biggest thing happening this week is we are getting ready for Yom Kippur and then next week begins Sukkot. The Chagim (holidays) of the Jewish New Year are really spectacular. It is with seriousness that we reflect on our past year and truly promise to be better the next year. We don't make new year's resolutions that are quickly forgotten by the end of the week. We seriously try to improve our lives. We may not always be succesful, but hopefully something will come of it. For me I am working toward having more patience and faith in both Gd and humanity. I am learning more to realize that everything really does happen for a reason. But I am also working harder to have more confidence in myself. I work for some friends who own a used english bookstore here in Israel. I have been asked to work on the wholesale business side of things. I feel like I have no skills to do this, but I know that I just need to focus and learn how to do it. If other people are willing to put confidence in me, than by all means I should have that same confidence too. I just need to realize that I can do things, I just have to put my mind to it.

OK, that is really all for today. I will have to save the rest of my thoughts for another time when work and laundry are not calling my name!