And suddenly we had an emergency

It was Monday 19th of November.

The two munchkins, lil C and lil J, had finished playing at an old people's home in town together with other pupils from the Music School in our town of S. Lil J played the guitar, while lil C played the piano.

Lil J strumming, he played the theme song from Flåklypa

Lil C at the piano

Less than three hours later, we were back in town.. Lil C had managed to land on her arm while jumping on the trampoline, yes even though it was at night, and I thought it looked rather bad. As a matter of fact, it looked so bad that my stomach turned upside down.. So it was off to the emergency ward and later the hospital.

Does not look too good :-S

First cast ever, a temporary one tho

Installed in a hospital room with an iPad helps

Inserting the cannula was the worst part!!

Breathe deeply.. relaaaax!!

New cast and all is WELL!!

Lil C actually finished her hospital dinner AND my leftovers!

We returned to the hospital yesterday, precisely one week later, to take new xrays. There is a chance that a second operation will be needed, the doctor will decide after he sees next week's xrays.

The kind of cool part (according to lil C) is that the name of the doctor who operated her is Jonas and that is also the name of one of her best classmates (who also is our neighbour!) :-) It was kind of comforting for her :-) PLUS everyone gets to sign her cast :-)

This was the first time someone in my family (my siblings and I) broke something so the shock was great. Lil J was worried for his big sis because an OPERATION sounded so scary, whereas breaking something was just kind of awesome (that's kids for you!!).

Luckily my wonderful mother-in-law who was with him while lil C and I were away at the Hotel Hospital could tell him all about his uncles and aunts who broke arms and legs! Grandpa (my dad, Mr. B) impressed lil C with the fact that he had not only broken his arm once but he had broken it TWICE. My aunt, uncle and dad seem to have broken enough bones in their youth to fill a whole ward ;-)

So in a week we will know more. In the meantime it's all:
'Mum can you put away my plate? I can only use one hand'
'Mum can you clear away my dirty clothes? I can only use one hand'

Do I fall for it? Not really.. It's not like that's so different from before she broke her arm :-P

Then came the wedding!

It was beautiful and so much fun!

Big J, his sis K and a friend of ours F were the musicians during the ceremony:

Here comes the bride and her proud dad

The groom is all aglow

See the iPad on the left? The groom's family was following the wedding on Skype! Ah the marvels of modern technology!

May I introduce Mr. and Mrs. C

Time to slice the cake.. Check out the photographers!

They're having their cake AND eating it :-)

Some of the cakes.. Yumyumyum!!

And last but not least, my own contribution to the cake table:

First a bridal shower or bachelorette party

Pure crazy fun! :-)

My good friend S was going to get married to her darling F.

So we girls organized a simple 'do' for her.

First I agreed to meet her at a certain café at a certain time in a shopping mall in town.

Little did she know what was going to happen!

Six of us dressed in wigs and sunglasses waltzed into the shopping mall and sang for her LOUDLY :-)

The bride (now Mrs. C)

We were super cool! ;-)

Time for food

She did seem to enjoy herself :-D

Chocolate cookies and a shofar!

As mentioned in a previous post, we received our first Package from Lev Ha'Olam.

In this Package was a box of delicious cookies. Silly me, thinking I could leave them on the kitchen counter and that no one would attack the box... Silly silly me!

I came home to find the box gone and I caught the little munchkin in action (none too happy was he!).

Caught you!



However, his long face turned into a smile when I told him that he could actually have some.. Or rather: ONE at a time.

Big J tried one too and LUUUUUVED it :-)

We also got a shofar (ram's horn) and took turns trying to make it work. I'd been wondering if it was just for decoration.. But no no no! Lil C blew and ta da! Then of course big J had to prove that he was just as good at it, even better at it than anyone else (but as I do not have a video of that (how unfortunate indeed!), there is no evidence...).

A taste of the Blessed Land

Today our package arrived from Lev Ha'Olam.

We have been waiting ever since the second we clicked 'order now', haha!

After a month's waiting, It. Is. FINALLY. Here!!!

Seems the box had been stopped by the customs, and opened and checked. Well, they'd better get used to packages arriving as they will be continually coming from now on! HOORAY!



The pick-up slip arrived in our mailbox!

The Package is now in my hands :-)

So now.. WHAT IS EVERYTHING? :-)

Dried mushrooms.. Mmmm that will be in the next meal!

A shofar made out of ram's horn, I can just hear it!

The box was full of treasures from Israel

This however will be mine and mine alone:
dark chocolate (healthy too!)

As we are following the news updates from the people at Lev Ha'Olam, it is a privilege to be able to directly support our wonderful friends, as they struggle to keep standing while literally in the line of fire. May He continue to bless their efforts!

Psalms 121
1: I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2: My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
3: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4: Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5: The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6: The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7: The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8: The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

He still brings me flowers!

I am not one who likes to waste money on useless things like flowers for myself. Why spend a lot of money on flowers when I can use this money on USEFUL things like.. cake decorating tools.. or scarves.. or handbags...?? ;-)

Truth be told, I do find it nice to receive flowers, but hubby thinks I don't.. I think..

It might have something to do with a plant I killed one very very hot summer. It wilted after the first day. Was dead the second day. Hey, how could I know that placing it on the window sill in full summer sun would kill it?! And how come the flower shop lady did not water the plant before selling it!

But nah, couldn't be that...

And then we went to Holland!

Well, in truth, we were in Holland over a month ago.. and it was a BLAST!

I saw cheap plane tickets (Ryanair) (who else!) to Charleroi in Belgium, and I thought it would be fun to try out that route. It still involved travelling several hours to NL to visit the grandfolks but for that price it was worth the try.

Why did we 'have' to go to Holland you may well ask! Well, firstly my lil bro D and his partner W were due to have their second bean somewhere in August AND as it would be foolish to get there before the babe, I decided to do the old 'two birds one stone' routine, namely (and secondly) go to Holland for my mum's 55th.

So tickets were bought, my mother-in-law drove us to the local airport, and off we flew to Charleroi. Painless flight. We arrive in Belgium. Silly me, thinking I could speak Dutch in south Belgium.. I try the lazy approach: 'Do you speak English?' 'Non' 'Oh, do you speak Dutch?' 'Non' *exasperation hits* 'Bon, je voudrais bla-bla-bla'. Anyway we get train tickets to Lelystad and yeehaa, the REAL trip has started. Exciting for the kids who have never been in Belgium, nor in an old rattling train. Quaint.



Some kids are just plain crazy,
this was one of the most normal looking photos I took!



The munchkins at Charleroi Sud



Pity we had to sit in a train when THIS was the weather outside!


Long story short, we ended up travelling for 7 hours, on a day with BEAUTIFUL weather. But we finally arrived!! Next day was a visit to princess L. Overload of photos of her, unfortunately none of the little sweetie pie O. I did get him a Cars blankie tho.. *must remember to take photos of lil O next time in Holland*

Lil C and lil L - eldest and youngest Barnie grand
(note the Cars blankie behind them)



Proud lil J holding baby L



Aunty lovin' lil L

I got to squeeze in some alone time with my baby bro W, while D and M 'babysat' my two beans (they kept lil O occupied, so who really babysat who!?) ;-) Uhmm, no photos of that outing either. Moving on! Next was The Cake. A birthday, and especially a 55th birthday, just cries out for A Cake.

I had prepared the cake deco beforehand and smuggled it down to the kitchen to continue working on it. After the cake was baked and when mum was out of the house, the secret decorations began.

The making of the bracelet



The Pandora Cake

Mum and I made some Peruvian style sandwiches, Simply Scrumptions Sandwiches!! The result? See for yourself! The Cake was a Pandora Cake, as the birthday girl was getting a mum bracelet: one charm for each of us 4 kids whilst my dad gave a dad charm. It was as I previously said, a BLAST!



Birthday girl :-)



Party table, lots of goodies!
(Simply Scrumptious Sandwiches on the left)

However, the way back home was slightly hectic. That is, if running till you are out of breath and making it in time even tho you are 30 minutes off schedule (NOT my fault, I think.. I blame the train as it did NOT leave as my schedule said it would).

ANYWAY, that is the first and last time we travel to Charleroi if we are going to NL. It was cheaper but the long hours were not worth it. Unforgettable? Sure was!

With love from Israel

Finally it has been possible for us to order a Package from Lev Ha'Olam. I mentioned them in an earlier post but the website was then under construction. Now with the help of many loving volunteers, they have a beautiful website: Lev Ha'Olam.

When our friends from Lev Ha'Olam visited us, we were able to purchase some products. I bought music cds, chocolate, tea and a beautiful chain with a pendant showing the temple (Beit HaMikdash), the tomb of the Patriarchs (Cave of Machpelah) and Joseph's tomb.

The deal with the Package is that you get a kind of subscription (that costs €90 per month) which lasts for a year. Every month you will receive a Package with beautiful and delicious products that are 100% made in Israel. What a wonderful way to support Israel, and fight the boycott!

It is not difficult to save €90, one may just as well do without some extra luxury (yes I dare say LUXURY), while thinking of how much it will help the settlers who work hard just to survive.

Order a Package here.

More information:
Order a PACKAGE

Today in Judea and Samaria, there are a wealth of products produced by people who are pioneers, working out of faith. We decided to collect the best of Judea and Samaria’s products for you, and to send them to you directly, straight to your door in a PACKAGE.
Thus, you can also enjoy the variety of high-quality products from the Land of Israel while assisting us in fighting the boycott placed upon us by countries around the world, to help us continue to settle the Land of Israel.

Contents
In this unique PACKAGE, you are receiving the best of the products of the Shomron region. All of the products are derived from the Holy Land, “the land flowing with milk and honey” as is written in the Bible, and produced by Jewish people whose only desire is to respectably sustain their families and to revive our land’s beautiful expenses.

The most concrete way to impart in Lev Ha’Olam is by joining our ‘package project’. Our goal is – by selling the packages – to raise enough funds to set up a professional business and create our own export channel.
By joining the PACKAGE project, you commit yourself  for € 90 a month for the period of 1 year (12 months).

So, why wait!

Guardian angel guarding my angel

The unthinkable happened, yet not with the result that could have been.

A few days ago, lil C was on her way out of the school yard, on her bike and (this time of all times) without a helmet :-( She says she looked both ways before crossing. A car came out of nowhere and hit her. Thank God, the car was driving slowly and the driver was a nurse! Both were in shock but the nurse instinct took over and lil C was checked and found to be all in one piece, almost.. Two scrapes, one on her elbow and one on her ankle. No broken bones, no massive bruising, no head injuries.

Poor C was in tears, logical! It got worse when she got some liniment on her scrapes, it STUNG (and I insisted on cleaning the wounds, while trying to be as gentle as possible). It helped however to get a plaster. And a glass of chocolate milk. And a nice warm blanket. And a hot water bottle. In mummy's bed. Suddenly she was all sunshine because she could snooze in peace. In her own words, she felt 'perfectly fine'.

I don't believe in coincindences, no coincidence that the car that hit her was driving slowly, and that the driver was a nurse. I believe that my lil angel was protected by a Higher Power whose name is Jesus. And I am boundlessly grateful that lil C's guardian angel was there!

Once upon a time...

... there was a little house in the village of G. There lived 3 gentle folk and a HAG. One day this HAG grew ill but still plodded off to work because even tho she was ill, she KNEW that there were THINGS TO BE DONE. The gentle folk went on with their school and work while the HAG alternated between cleaning up after them while grumbling that she was "ill for crying out loud and couldn't they have a care?" and being in a generally bad mood. The gentle folk finally got fed up with the grumbling and mumbling HAG, and ate her for supper.

Of course their house went to ruin as the clothes didn't magically get washed, folded and replaced in their cupboards. They ran out of toiletpaper. Dishes stacked themselves into high mounds in the sink and on the counters. No one threw away the empty milk cartons that were placed on the kitchen counter, so that the stench grew unbearable. No one insisted the lawn be mowed. Old paper grew in heaps on the floor along the walls, on the tables and in corners. All of these things and more. But the gentle folk who in reality were very VERY VERY MESSY PEOPLE, did not REALLY see it all. And so they lived happily ever after. The end.

This of course is a rubbish story. And impossible. No one can kill a HAG you know.

As you may or may not have guessed, I am a tad disgruntled. Being sick does NOT give me permission to be miserable and grumpy. Not even when due to my aching bones, on getting up from a few hours' doze (due to said aching bones, stuffed sinuses and inflamed throat AND a little ibuprofen), I semi-explode because of the mess incurred (due to said doze). Why? Well, I suppose because I'm a mum and therefore classed under 'super-hero' and not really given the privilege to be ill.. Had I been the dad now.... ;-)

But yaaaay! I have a daughter!! She thoroughly spoiled me with a cup of tea with HONEY because as we womenfolk know (and pass on such things from generation to generation) HONEY is great for sick people.

So now after some doses of honey and ground cinnamon, I am on the mend.. And surely a bit more positive than yesterday ;-)

Let them eat cake!

I offered to take a cake with me to a choir meeting prior to practice.

Having just acquired silicone forms (thank you eBay!) and 7 kgs of fondant of many colours (thank you Lakeland!) throughout the course of the summer, I decided to try my hand. Lil C was my willing assistant :-)



7 kgs of Lakeland's finest :-)

Making the cake (l-r)

One of my favorite hobbies!

Last picture taken, unfortunately the cake was not 100% ready.. Typical!