Should have known better
We davened at the earliest possible time.
The kids we dropped off @ my sister in laws by 7.
We were on the road to Tel aviv to the Embassy with Yehoshua and Ilana and we made it there, with a parking space (thank You) by 8:20 (smack in between our two appointments 8:00 and 8:45)
They took us timely, went through the usual “are you going to explode our building routine” and we got in, with our forms, photocopies made and paid our measly $235 for two passports and a report of birth abroad.
After waiting 20 minutes they called us back, verified everything wa sin order, got our signatures in front of his majesty the counsel, and we took our leave.
A short Shpatzir along the beach with my son, Tamar fed and changed Ilana and we were off.
Back home, dropped everyone off, raced to Yerushalayim for my 12:00 appointment at Misrad haPanim (ministry of the interior) to renew student visa.
Got there 5 minutes late.
They yelled at me. Took me anyway.
Yes! I’ve done the impossible!
Not so fast -
“where should I put the vise in your passport? you have no pages left!”
What the...?
“You need to go to your embassy and get pages added to your passport...”
Close curtain - cry a few minutes - back to the drawing board - but first, I’m gonna go to the bathroom.

So - we know she’s cute, we’ve seen the pics, but - WHAT’S HER NAME?
Oh, it’s Ilana.
Ilana Esther to be precise.
Ilana (tree) is a reference to the time of year she came into our lives (day before tu bshvat) and
Esther is in memory of Tamar’s Grandma Esti who passed away two months ago at the ripe young age of 83. Without so much as a wrinkle on her face - she always had a smile and a nice word for everybody.
We were going to name her Michal Tzippora in honor of Michelle Obama and Tzippi Livni, but then we realized the former will only be a major inspiration in the limelight for 4-8 years, and the latter will only be - well, we hope in the limelight for 24 hours or less.
And we want little miss Ilana to set down her roots and branch out for many many years to come.
But first, we want her to start sleeping longer.

The other kids have taken quite well to her.
Shira is acting the part of little mommy,
Yehoshua gives the baby little kisses and wakes her when we aren’t looking. (just to be able to play with her - nothing malicious)
Yaeli says “Abba- I love her”
Leora sat up in bed when we came in from the car nervous “Where’s the baby?!” “She’s in the living room” “Okay"(head hits pillow again)
And Binyamin loves her to death.

More to come -
Shavua Tov

So - Chanoch made a simchas bat this Shabbos and all the Harow brothers were there with Auntie Frummie and Bubba.
I wonder how it went…
Probably alot of nice singing, with some humor, a bit of shnapps, and a couple of one line zingers to round out the festivities (no doubt the best of which came from Bubba!)

So sorry we missed it - Boca is nice this time of year.
Come to think of it, weather here kinda was like south Florida this weekend - only without the orange juice…

Mazel Tov - It’s a Girl!
Sunday at 9:08 am - enter new Girlie Face.
She has no name yet - she didn’t come with one.
But her birthday - Feb 8th (Heathen, we know)- she shares with her mother and her sister Leora.
The things people are doing in today’s economic climate....

Aristotle had a kind of logic named after him.
Shira’s on her way to having a kind of logic named after her. We’re planning on calling it Shirean Logic, also known as Bamboozlement.
Check out this example of Shirean Logic:
Abba: Shira - we had a deal. If I built you a shelf and put a light over your bed, you’d stay in your bed and out of mine until 7 am! What happened that you’re in my room every night?!
Shira: Because I have bad dreams and I get scared.
A: What are these dreams about?
S: I don’t remember.
A:What did you dream about last night?
S: Nothing - I didn’t dream about anything!
A: So why did you come to my room?!
S: Uh - I was so upset that I had no dreams that I couldn’t sleep!

Someone, Somewhere, understands this. I am certain.
I, on the other hand, remain ignorant of the depths of the enlightenment.
Call me the anti-epiphany,