Day Three - Learning to Relax

Jeff's news: He spent last night at Yacov's apartment (the brother who leads the church which we served when we lived in Tel Aviv), and the whole church showed up to see Jeff. :) The group was so happy to have him there, showered him with warmth and love, asked him a zillion questions, took lots of pictures (none of which made it to me yet), gave him a good opportunity to brush up on his rusty Hebrew (since most of them don't speak English), and kept him up until 1:30 a.m. :) One of the brothers, Jenya, even gave him a cell phone to use while he's in Israel. Today Jeff and the rest of his group toured Jerusalem, particularly the Old City, then went to Bethlehem which required going past the big wall separating Israel and the West Bank and going through a major security checkpoint--it didn't used to be such a big deal to go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Things have changed.

Tomorrow they head to Nazareth...

Israel pic of the day: sunset over the Sea of Galilee, taken by Jeff in June of 2005.

Home news: I'm learning that if I just relax and don't let additional stress into my life, our days go fairly smoothly! :) If I see things deteriorating between the boys...if they're starting to get grumpy...if I'm starting to get grumpy...it's not too hard to rescue the situation by just taking a break and sitting down to read stories to them or going outside for a while or doing some kind of fun activity. But if I'm feeling stressed about finishing something on my to-do list or getting somewhere at a certain time or picking up the 101 books and toys strewn about the living room, then my patience goes out the window and it's all downhill from there.

Today, for example, we were planning to go to the home of some friends for a picnic, outdoor activities, and fireworks. Because we had rain off and on all day (at least 1 and 1/2 inches), I wasn't sure that they would even have the event (but they live in another part of the county and didn't actually have much rain at all)...plus, my parents who were planning to go were not able to because my mother apparently pulled some abdominal muscles and was having quite a bit of pain...and I was feeling challenged by the thought of keeping up with the three boys by myself, especially at a time of day that is the hardest (particularly for Tobin, who is so ready for bed by 8:00 or 8:30 and doesn't especially like staying up until dark, even for fireworks!). :) Even though I really wanted to go, I kept going back and forth about whether we should attempt it or not. As it turned out, we didn't go for the picnic, but were able to eat supper at home, let Tobin get some sleep in his own crib, let Josiah and David visit outside with the neighbor girls for a little while...and then we headed over to our friends' house, in time for me to see some people I know and chat for a few minutes (but without driving my boys crazy by ignoring them for too long) :) and in time for us to see the incredible fireworks. Bottom line: it worked much better to simply admit that we didn't have to stick to Plan A but could embrace the flexibility of switching things around to make life less stressful and much easier. And speaking of easier...I was so grateful for all the various family members who showed hospitality to my brood tonight. "Can I take Josiah and David over to get some sparklers?" Sure! "Could I hold Tobin for you during the fireworks?" Absolutely! "Let me walk with you to the car and help you carry your stuff." OK, thanks!!! :)

Some pictures from our day...

~ a pretty flower on our front porch (sadly, I do not even know its name!)

~ water drops on a pansy

~ and my personal favorite, the footprints of my oldest two sons