Companionship

One thing that has been a wonderful effect of our time here has been deepened friendship.

Without the distractions of home, however wonderful they are, Kevin and I have had the chance to fall even more into friendship and love.  There's something about traveling to a foreign land that really makes me realize the home we find in one another. 

We have been together for almost 9 years.  It doesn't seem like much, but they were crucial formative, years of self-discovery.  And I have been glad for his companionship.

He is my even-keeled support, my main cheerleader and the only man in the world who finds me the most beautiful woman in the world.

Being a student family for all but 9 months of our marriage has been a challenge, to say the least.  We have lived below the poverty level, not had access to healthcare, lived paycheck to paycheck and had our fair share of blow-out fights.  We bicker.  He drives me nuts.  I drive him nuts.  I lose my keys and he forgets to buy flowers.  But there is love.  So much love.

And in turn, we have fallen for these two:

Man, have we fallen hard.

We are not the best parents.  Too lenient some days, too strict others, but we try to smooth it over with lots of love, like finger swiping a lovely frosted cake.  We just get all up in that sugar.

We play freeze tag in bare feet and dress clothes.  We pile on our bed and bury ourselves in some Ceci belly.  We act goofy and wild and sing at the top of our lungs, watch Glee clips and pick lemons and talk in accents and learn about dinosaurs and wonder why we can't fly.

I'm just feelin' the love right now.

And how AWESOME it is to have Erica here.  She is my earliest, longest-running friend, and is just part of the family.  Though we may go months between visits, we always pick up where we left off and settle into the comfort of a life-long friendship.

We did Bethlehem sites today, and I prayed especially at the Milk Grotto for all my friends and loved ones who are trying to conceive, are pregnant and who have nursing challenges.

[The Milk Grotto (officially Magharet Sitti Mariam, "Grotto of the Lady Mary") is a serene grotto only a few minutes' walk from Manger Square in Bethlehem.
This grotto, with a Franciscan chapel built above it, is considered sacred because tradition has it that the Holy Family took refuge here during the Slaughter of the Innocents, before their flight into Egypt. Tradition has it that while Mary was nursing Jesus here, a drop of milk fell to the ground, turning it white.]  Source:  http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/bethlehem-milk-grotto.htm

I won't name everyone by name out of sensitivity, but for those who are known to the outside world:
For Julie, Angela, Amy S. who just gave birth these past 2 weeks.

For Quinn, Simone, Sarah, Donna and the wee ones within.

For those of you who have confided in me your desire for children or more children.

And finally, that God might bless us with another Haley to love.

Things I Miss/Things I Will Miss

Things I Miss

My family and friends

My Village Peeps: patting bellies, snuggling new babies, watching the kids act all crazy-like:

Driving

Superstores where you can get everything from produce to wart pads

Not being the minority (American, Christian, Plus Size, Tall)

People who know me, my history and my quirks.  I love meeting new people and I am bolstered by the fact that I can still make new friends, but it certainly takes a lot of emotional energy.   Thank God Erica comes in TWO DAYS!!!!!!

Things I will miss

Attending Mass is many different languages in ancient churches.

Views like this:

 Anonymity

Our big apartment

More deliberate family time

Fresh Produce----especially what would be considered "exotic."  For example, I had a persimmon for the first time today and WOOOOOOOOW.  It is the sweetest fruit I have ever tasted, it's totally a dessert!

http://cookamycook.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/persimmon-sorbet-and-kiwi-bread/

Meeting new people.  :)

Being cell-phone free (though not for much longer, I promise, Fr. Jeff)!

Shabbat and the slowing down it entails

The enormity of being in such an ancient, holy place. 

Well, a movie with the hubby calls!

P.S.  Look out soon for a new regular guest blogger.  He's hot and hunky and his names rhymes with Glevin.

Saturated

Tonight I am full of experiences to process.

The Herodian--King Herod's fortress palace

Shepherd's Field

Traditionally regarded as the location where the angel visited the shepherds

  

Church of the Nativity

Judean Desert

Masada--A fortress which Romans seized from Jewish rebels

The Dead Sea

Hearing of these places my entire life, they always lived in my imagination.  Seeing them now  breathes new life to my perspective, my faith, my worship. 

 This truly is holy land.

To Mary Ann, on Her Birthday

Grandma, you are one of my earliest memories.

Allen Street: slanted floral ceiling, the smell of your Tea Rose perfume, the sound of your singing the Hiawatha song as we lay on your bed falling asleep.

With you, I felt safe, welcome, wanted. 


It was with you that we named our first pet, Macaroni of Oz Humphrey, and you always loved him.  Your care for even the humblest of God's creatures has taught me much.

Exploring your basement or guest room or upstairs for treasures remains a favorite pastime of childhood.

Always creative in parties, letters at camp, gifts and science projects, you inspired me to think outside the box and put effort into the little details.

I love that you always speak your mind---no matter the response.

Your generosity is a consistent blessing and boon to so many.  As my mother attests, it was at times because of you that we had food to eat and electricity in our home.

Having only sisters myself, seeing you and Aunt Marge live together makes me so thankful for my family.  You shared daily meals, bantered and teased, supported and cared for each other   If we are lucky, our sister relationships will ripen and mature as yours did, always offering a sassy kick in the pants and a constant source of companionship.

In the years before Aunt Marge died, I was awed by your strength, your constant service of your sister.  With the sheer physical necessities, many people  half your age couldn't have done what you did.   Your love runs deep as bone, rooted in the sinews of your heart and fueled by loyalty in love.

Your strength, your courage, your energy and persistence are such admirable qualities and I can only hope to embody a fraction of what you do.  Though you have faced many challenges in life, you have not allowed them to steal your appreciation for goodness, beauty and faith.

Thank you for giving birth to, raising and loving my mother so that she could do the same for me, and I for my own children.  

I love you, Grandma.  Thank you for the gift of you.

Great grandma and Cecilia Rose

Happy Birthday and Random Videos

First, I wanted to say a huge  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

to our dear sweet 

Danielle Rose Skorich!  

Danielle, I remember when we met 12 years ago (WHOA that's a long time).  I was a senior in high school and you were a freshman at ND.  I remember thinking:

"A Danielle who's goofy, has long hair, loves Jesus and sings? 

She's totally going to be a soul sister."

And you know what?  Twelve years and many memories later, you are a sweet sister in Christ.

This is making me miss my girls!

 I thank you, Danielle, for your constant yes to God, for accepting His gift of music and having the courage to share it with the world.

I thank you for your generous heart, for your desire to help others see that they are loved, that they are children of God.  You are an instrument of grace, and a conduit of Jesus' love.

Thank you for keeping our Cecilia Rose in your heart, for being a namesake and the first messenger of her quiet beginning in my womb.

Thank you, Dan and Rosie for being co-creators!

For those of you who don't know, Danielle is an incredibly gifted music minister.

If you want to hear a snippet of her music, and purchase any albums, you can go to Amazon.  Here are the links:

http://www.amazon.com/Defining-Beauty/dp/B000QZR0A2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1297794292&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Mysteries/dp/B000QZPH2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297794292&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/I-Thirst/dp/B0017IF7IY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1297794292&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Pursue-Me-Danielle-Rose/dp/1584594403/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1297794292&sr=8-4

If you are interested in booking her, visit her website:  http://www.daniellerose.com

Love you, D.

~~~~

Tonight, we heard a woman tell us about her 2 week endeavor helping the Olive Tree Campaign.  It's a non-political human rights initiative to re-plant olive trees.

"When the campaign was launched in 2002 it objective was to replant 50,000 olive trees in the Palestinian Territories through the sponsorship of individuals, YMCAs, YWCAs, churches, church related organizations, human rights organizations, as well as solidarity and advocacy groups around the world. Through replanting olive trees, Palestinians will be encouraged to keep hope alive and to reaffirm their commitment to work constructively toward peace-building."

Source:http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=1

When learning more about realities on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it can get very overwhelming and frustrating.  This is a constructive attempt to bolster those who, for many reasons, may not have much reason to hope.   Please visit their website if you feel so inclined, and email me if you have more questions.
~~~
Last night I talked for almost an hour with Erica about her upcoming visit.  [We grew up next door to eachother and have remained friends through the innumerable phases of life].  She is coming to visit for TWO AND A HALF WEEKS, and I can't wait.  I feel like it's a perfect time for visitors, as we are really starting to feel like we have a handle on the area, or at least know who to ask for guidance. What fun it will be to show her around, and share our everyday joy.  HUZZAH!!
~~~
And to sign off, I'll share a few videos of late. 
First is Ceci and her adorable new skillz.  She's all about animal noises lately, and here she is displaying her talent:

The second is a view from our living room of pouring rain amidst bright sunshine:

Jacob in his sugar-addicted glory, oblivious to everything around him as he hunkers down:

And lastly, the howler monkeys I promised.  Hi to the larious:

Spontaneous Gratitude

I wanted to add pics, but the wireless is slow as molassy tonight.  :(

I am thankful for:

**A (mostly) healed knee.  It's still stiff and tender if I walk too long, and it's in that scabby tight phase of healing, but I think that there is no long-term damage.  THANK GOD!

**That God provides in due time.  I was so concerned about Jacob's transition here, and just when things were getting extra hard being away from friends, dear Olivia arrived.  She fits quite naturally into the Haley swing of things, and we cherish her long afternoon visits.  She was over all day today, and we played hide and seek, went on the swing set, made Valentines, read and the list goes on.  It's an extra help for me too, with wrangling Ceci or distracting Jacob.  Olivia is a lovely, intelligent young woman and I am excited to see how she grows and blossoms.

**A bustling Tantur.   With college students re-located and local Jewish/Arab conferences and visiting scholars, the place is hopping.  I of course loved the quiet too, but there's something familial about a full house.  It's a wonderful weaving of diverse faiths, ethnicities, ages, sizes, colors, opinions and I LOVE it!!

**Our nice rhythm we've settled into.  We are really at home,  and it's greatly reassuring that we grow where we're planted.  And transplanted.  :)

 **The Tantur staff.  Like extended family, they pinch cheeks and make animal noises, tease Jacob and tickle Ceci.  When I was injured, they showed such care and concern.  The housekeeping women even came and cleaned for me!!!!!!  Seriously, that one almost made me cry.

[Men--if you want a no-fail gift, buy your lady a session(s) of professional housecleaning.  She will fall in love with you all over again.  Am I right, or am I right?]

 **Our Bible study on the book of Ruth.  We come from different faith backgrounds and approaches, but our intimate group is full of curiosity and joy. 

**My renewed desire to know, learn, meet, observe as much as possible.  Cliche as it sounds, I'm drunk on life and the unlimited ways to find beauty.   Example: Our neighbor, Inga, who is from Sweden but has lived here for 5 years, is an artist.  She agreed to give a few of us drawing lessons, and our first one was yesterday. Gently, helpfully guiding, she taught us with the obvious joy she takes in her art.

**Ceci and her adorableness.   Gregarious, determined, adventurous, feisty.
She LOVES to read and runs over with her favorite lift-a-flap book, opens to her favorite page of animals, and proceeds to make animal sounds for:  puppy, monkey, and my two favs elephant and tiger.  It pretty much makes me want to nibble her up

*Kinger Eggs, Kinder Bueno, Kinder Kinder Kinder chocolate

Tata for now!

On Injury

Last night I was thinking over the past few days and the various injuries Ceci has incurred.  She bonked the coffee table and split her tongue, ran into the wall corner and got a goose egg, split her lip, cut her finger and other things.  This girl has the Haley energy, running, climbing, exploring, so she's bound to get some war wounds.

The rest of us had escaped injury thus far.

I should have expected it. 

It's been too long.

On the rocky, hilly terrain with my clumsy nature, I've been lucky to avoid it.

But yesterday, it happened.

Dum-duh-dum-dum-duuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh:  I fell.

One minute I was happily trapsing along with the fam, cracking a joke and handing shekels over to Kevin, the next minute I'm writhing on the ground in pain and wailing despite myself.

Cue: Shock.  Pain.  Embarrassment. 

[If you are weak stomached, skip to the ***]

Convinced I would find my patella down by my ankle, I lifted my jeggings (the riduculously named wonder that they are) and was shocked.

A perfect backwards J, road-carved into my knee, turned ashy white and then fierce with color.

Blood---oh the blood---rivulets pouring down my calf, pooling in my sock, dirtying my lovely fuschia Keens.  Damn.

And because I am always curious about such things, a pic for those who like the gore.  Skip ahead to *** if you wish. 

As I noted, and Dennis later did too, I will be forever marked by Jerusalem, complete with the backward J.  :)

Really not so bad after a clean-up by the pro

****

Dear Jacob was taking his off-road "secret passageway" down the hill and didn't see me fall, but walked into the aftermath.  My poor sensitive buddy immediately started weeping, asking if I was going to die, wimpering and shaking as Kevin scooped me off the sidewalk.

Of course, since our life of late is a movie, we look up and see one of the women from the Ecce Homo gathering on Saturday driving into Tantur with her big white van.  Then, three women appeared out of nowhere to help Kevin get me into the van and off we went.

On the short drive up the hill, the woman Claire told me that Sr. Bridgette, the assistant rector, is also a nurse/midwife and would be able to tend to my wounds. 

Of course she is.

Sr. is such an amazing woman, with the most selfless hospitable servant's heart, and it was at one in the same time surprising and not surprising to hear this.

We hobbled into the lobby, and all the workers moved quickly to find sister and help me put my leg up.  She expertly cleaned and assessed my wound, deciding that it didn't need a stitch.  It's certainly a wide but shallow gouge.  I was more concerned with the gelatinous wobblys underneath, but we are keeping an eye on it.  I've been able to bear weight on it, and even walked up to dinner tonight.

Yesterday, Kevin took the rest of day off, which is always difficult for him.  One of the drawbacks of his incredible self-discipline is that it can be hard to adapt when the unexpected arises.  But, he stayed home to take care of the kids while I rested and stayed off my feet.

Just as it would be in the Village, people called, stopped by, offered to help.  Dear Beverly and Dennis took our little firecracker Ceci for a couple hours this morning to wear her out walking up and down stairs, hallways, whatever she could. The housekeeping ladies stopped in and offered to clean the apartment for us.  Olivia came and tended Jacob while I rested a bit.  We have been so blessed by community, and for this I am deeply thankful.

I'm hoping to be back to semi-normal activity tomorrow.  Until then, I'll return to my newest obsession:  Connect-the-Dots for all ages.

http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Dot---Dot-Book-World/dp/0970043708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297276480&sr=8-1

Seriously addictive.

Tata for now!

Shabbat, Ecce Homo and Home Again

 Living in Israel, one quickly adjusts to the entire city virtually shutting down from Friday afternoon to Saturday sundown.  Grocery shopping, cleaning, errands and other such things need to be done before places close up shop for the duration.  I ventured into the city alone today, in rainy weather and untimely buses.  A trip that in the States would have taken 40 minutes, tops, took almost 3 hours.  After that fuss, I really needed some down time, which we happily had.  America really should adopt some variation on Shabbat, as it forces us to slow down, to take time for visiting, sharing a meal, caring for one another.  (Kevin says to check out Exod. 19:8-11 and the revolutionary Apostolic Letter Dies Domini at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_05071998_dies-domini_en.html)

Naomi, Mark, the twins Peter and James and their friend Kalindy came over on Saturday and it was certainly was a peaceful Shabbat.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch of sauteed onions and zuchinni in a creamy tomato roux on a bed of quinoa.  Totally made up from our communal ingredients and really quite fab.

I love how quickly relationships form and strengthen when we cleave to other members of our minority.  It it is such comfort to have fellow Christians, let alone from ye old Notre Dame.  It was the second time the Hoipkemiers came over, and we quickly settled into a rhythm of chat, nap, eat, repeat.  Amongst the music of children and comfort of visitors, it makes my heart happy.

Saturday night we we went to Ecce Homo, the traditional site where Pilate turned Jesus over to be killed.

Because we were attending a gathering of people who meet for Mass once a month, we didn't go into the main Basilica, although we certainly will in the future.  Mass was on the terrace with breathtaking views.  We were within a block of the Dome of the Rock, and all of Jerusalem twinkled and honked, meowed and chanted for us.  Forgive the horrid hasty, blurry photos---It was windy and chilly!

The people were perhaps the most welcoming I've met here yet.  Almost every single person approached us to say hello, welcome, that they were glad we came.  English, Irish, Indian, American, old, young and in between converged in a little room to celebrate Mass.

As we walked up a narrow stone hallway and onto the terrace, Kevin and I, as we often do, commented, "Oh, by the way, we have two kids, and we live in Israel, and we are looking at the Dome of the Rock like it's our back yard...umm when did that happen?"

Mass was simple and comfortable, with the kiddos toddling about and Kevin and I tag teaming time on the terrace.  (Don't you love alliteration)?  During the homily, an Indian brother spoke about how happy he was to be among us, to see our eyes and touch our hands.  In lilting sing-song voice, he drew us in, entranced us with the depth of his joy, his radiant trust that God was present with us.  It was one of those reeling moments, when memories of past anointed gatherings converge and I am awestruck by this common love, this familiarity in foreign land, this home among strangers.

After Mass, we shared a meal of lasagna and other goodies.  As I sat chatting with new friends, the Indian man, Br. Tony (I don't even know how he got that name), came to me and clasped my hand.  In his smooth, musical voice, he patted my hand and said, "I know you are a woman of joy.  You show joy in your face,  you show love.  You are so relaxed and happy.  I am happy because you are happy." 

Yeah, that happened. 

It's one of the dozens of moments a week when I feel I'm playing a role in some epic sweeping tale, and I'm rockin' it.

Anyhoo, last night (Sunday), we had our weekly special meal.  Every Sunday, there are wine and candles and a little extra special food, like steak and potatoes and yummy cake.  With each meal shared, I feel it...We make a home wherever we are.

Sisters Maureen and Sr. Bridget

Fr. Jim

Debra and Dan

Dennis and Beverly

I'm going to leave you with some pics of our incredible surroundings. 

What beauty have you found today?