The Countdown

It is now Sunday, August 31, exactly one week until our flight. We've now entered the "next week at this time" stage. The packing is going strong. We got those great push-the-air-out-of-your-clothes bags, because after packing one suitcase full, it was only 30 pounds. Since we're allowed 70 pounds per bag, we figured we'd better pack more tightly to get more bang for our...suitcase, or something like that. Donny is the expert air pusher-outer. I've also started collecting all of our belongings from around my parents' apartment. We have things strewn in every corner! Donny and I conducted a walkabout aroundthe apartment. We have made good progress today - there are about 4 suitcases stuffed to the brim. One glitch: we need our original proof of Judaism letter for the flight, and we sent it to the Jewish Agency when we opened our tik aliyah. Haha! Now we are hoping that either the JA can send it back, or our rabbi can write us a new one. No worry! There's plenty of time left for these mistakes! Don't panic!
In other news, Ariella has become an expert bowler this summer. We went once with the family and Savta, and she had a great time. (Yaakov got bored after about the fifth frame.) Last Sunday, Savta took Ariella on a bowling date. Today, during Yaakov's nap, she went out with Zaidy. This way, he (Yaakov) was busy napping and Ariella was busy bowling, so Donny and Gila could be busy packing. She had a fantastic time! She played 2 games with Zaidy, scoring 110 on her second game, and beating Zaidy by 30 points! (Yes, they played with bumpers, but still impressive.)
On Shabbos (going backwards a bit) Momz and Dadz (aka Bubby and Zaidy) sponsored a kiddush for us at Hertzberg's, their shul in Baltimore. A few of their friends walked in, as did Sabba and Sarah. Donny gave an amazing speech about our process of going from "not aliyah people" to becoming "aliyah people." It was very inspirational (at least I thought it was) and hopefully he will contribute to the blog and summarize it here.