Can't sleep. It's after 11:30 pm here, I'm exhausted, but my mind is racing. I left the boys' room a few minutes after staying with them for about an hour. The boys are finally asleep - the WK is lightly snoring and the CK is still clutching all 5 of his stuffed animals. I usually don't write blog entries on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), but I figured that I could, especially because this Shabbat has been anything other than restful thus far.
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So that's what I wrote last night. My post was interrupted by the CK, who woke up, noticed I was no longer sleeping next to him, and became very upset. I moved back into the boys' room, crawled back into the CK's twin bed, and slept fitfully until this morning. Every time I moved or rolled over, the CK would make sure to tighten his grip on my arm...
All day long, I have been thinking about whether and what I should write about the "tseva adom" ("color red" siren) that we had in Jerusalem last night, about 45 minutes after we lit candles to welcome in Shabbat. When it first went off, I think it took us a while to figure out what it was. It's funny that I write it took a "while" - it was probably only 8-10 seconds, though it seemed like much, much longer. Pentheus, the boys, and I moved into the safest place in the dira and mostly hugged each other for the duration of the siren. It seemed to last a long time. Not to be dramatic, but it would be gut-wrenching for me to write (and I imagine for you to read) in this blog what the boys were saying and doing, during and after the siren.
After a while, we left the room and moved back to the living room. We talked about what had happened and let the boys know what they should do if there is another "tseva adom." The boys came up with all kinds of scenarios, e.g., what to do if they are in the street walking somewhere (answer: go to the inner staircase of the closest building) and what to do if they are at Park Hamoshava (answer: same as above). It was pretty surreal to be talking to the kids about things like that. It was also hard being so reassuring to the boys, when we were winging it, too. I guess the good news is that, at the time of the "tseva adom", Pentheus and I assumed that it must be a false alarm because we didn't know that any rockets from Gaza could even come close to Jerusalem. (If you don't believe me that's what we thought, check out my previous blog post where I wrote that out after I assured the kids it was true!) It was kind of frightening all over again to learn that it was not a false alarm.
Today there were no sirens in Jerusalem, and we had a pretty typical Shabbat. Pentheus and the boys went to synagogue for services, and I joined them after getting a little more sleep. (I could lie and say I only slept in because I was tired from sleeping with the CK, but it's fairly normal for me to get some extra snooze time in on Shabbat morning). After services, Pentheus and the boys went to the rooftop of our dira for about an hour. Pentheus read the paper (we bought all of the English papers yesterday, too), while the boys fed one of the turtles cucumbers (who knew turtles ate cucumbers?!) and watched the other turtle sleep. We had lunch together and then the boys went to Park Hamoshava while Pentheus and I hung around the dira. Later, we did Havdalah (a brief service to mark the ending of Shabbat) and had dinner.
The boys had a hard time settling down for bed tonight. (While I know some of it was related to last night, most nights have been difficult for the boys regardless.) The WK insisted on wearing his "kippah" (yarmulke or head covering) to sleep because he thought if he "wears a kippah, G-d will keep me safe." The CK sought security via another route by trying to convince me to sleep in his bed again. I stayed with the boys for a while, and then Pentheus spelled me until the boys were asleep. I am a little worried that the CK will have a hard time going to school tomorrow morning, but we'll deal with that when/if it happens. The WK wanted to know what they should do if there is a "tsevah adom" on the way to school; once it's okay to leave the inner staircase of the closest building, should they come home or go to school (answer: go to whichever is closer). It's clear they are thinking a lot about this and processing it in their own way. It's almost heart-breaking to watch them have to do this.
Today we received an email from the Szold School (where the boys attend) letting everyone know that if any Szold families have relatives from the Southern part of Israel (where the vast majority of rockets are being aimed) staying with them until things cool down a bit, that all children are welcome to learn at the Szold School for the duration. I have no idea if that is typical, but we are majorly impressed by that. Israelis do everything they can to make sure we are all in this together. (On a selfish note, I have to admit I was psyched that I read the whole email in Hebrew and understood what it was saying! Always taking an opportunity to learn some more Hebrew.)
The last day has been rough, there's no doubt about it, but we got through it. I'm not sure why exactly, but seeing your posts on Facebook and reading your emails do help. As crappy as this whole thing is, we also want to make sure you know that we are okay; we really are. We're making thought-out decisions, based on the information we have, and we are doing what we need to do. That being said, feel free to keep sending up good thoughts!
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