Another Step Forward

Benchmarks this week: the painting contract is done, and the housepainter is coming....we submitted our documents to the Israeli consulate and my olah visa and my son's Israeli passport is coming in about three weeks....Number One Daughter left this morning with her sisters to spend a day with them before flying to LA to catch her El Al flight to Israel, to Jerusalem, to the Mercaz Klita in Talpiot. Her room is empty, suddenly. One room down, , 5 to go.....the Husband is leaving in mid-May, G-d willing, and will settle with the dog in the apartment, get the utilties turned on and wait for the school year to end so that Josh and I can join him.

I told Yona this is a tradition: my great grandparents' families also left the Pale in stages -- first her brothers to America, then his brother to Palestine, then him to America followed by her to join him with the children. Unlike my great-grandparents' day, though, today we don't lose all ties---we're hoping the rest of the family will visit in the future once we're settled, and until then, there are telephones and email to keep us up to date with each other.