Yom Kippur

Hello friends. Thanks for keeping up with us here in Israel. Luke and I decided it was for the best that the blog went private so we could  freely speak our minds about our experiences here. When we were in Italy,  we had a some Italian fans find the blog. They left some mean comments because they felt as though I insulted their country with a few things I said. I just want be honest and tell it like it is over here, without the fear of being stoned by Israelis.

Speaking of being stoned...starting tonight it is Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the year for Jewish people. (it actually lasts 26 hours) The day is for fasting and prayer. Nothing is open..nothing. They don't use their cell phones, watch television, or do anything that requires electricity. You are also not allowed to drive. There are lots of people out and about walking everywhere. Supposedly if you are caught driving, people will stone your car. I think we will be staying in tonight!

The team put us up in a decent apartment. The location couldn't be better.  It is across the street from a large park,  a two minute walk to Luke's gym, and a 3 minute drive to a large mall. The mall has an H&M, Zara, Nike Store, Toys R US, Office Depot, a mcdonalds and Sbarro pizza.  When you're walking through the mall, you almost forget you are in the holy land.  It feels modern and normal. I'm quickly learning there are many shades of Israel.

Our apartment is in West Jerusalem, which is a 15 minute drive from the Old City. We are in desperate need of Garmin. We've gotten lost countless times. Thank goodness we've found our way back before we ended up in the Gaza Strip. 

So here is the outside our home for the next 9 months.

Our place is considered  large compared to most  apartments in Jerusalem. We have 4 very small bedrooms, and a sunroom we turned into  Cole's playroom  It's no castle on Mt. Baldy, but at the end of the day, I'd be happy living in a cardboard box as long as my boys were there with me.

The decor is....not my syle.   Check out the painting above our bed in the master bedroom. 

We live on the 2nd floor, but often take the elevator because Cole loves pushing the buttons. He knows which one to push and gets a huge smile on his face when the button lights up. It doesn't take much to keep this kid happy.

Some of Cole's current favorite things are  remote controls, cell phones, playing with daddy's shoes, empty paper towel rolls, and my new rolling pin. He also loves to climb into this little cubby in our kitchen.

He loves to take anything out of its package. He loves to swim in a sea of diapers. 

I guess I should also mention that as of Monday he is WALKING.  He has also slept through the night the last two nights in a row.  Fingers crossed that one continues...

Luke is doing really well. Its the end of his "work week" and he is feeling very exhausted.  He has declared Yom Kippur his new favorite holiday because he was in desperate need of these two days off.   He had a practice game this week and was the leading scorer with 20 points.

Ladies & gentlemen...the guys still got it.

Today I ran out of coffee and really wished I could hop in the car in my pajamas, throw some sunglasses on and go get some drive-thru. Israelis copy a lot of American things, but they haven't quite figured out how glorious drive-thru coffee is.  Does anyone have an insider connection with Starbucks? Can someone tell them there's a housewife who desperately needs one in Jerusalem?