CHANUKAH - 1st NightA lot of people wonder why we celebrate Chanukah (Hanukkah, Chanukka, etc...however you want to "spell" the Hebrew letters). It is NOT the Jewish Christmas...in fact, has nothing to do with Christmas at all. But it couldn't be more biblical.Chanukah (the festival of lights, or feast of dedication) is a time of celebration for the re-conquering of the temple after it had been desecrated.A very devout family called the Maccabees, stood their ground when it came to protecting their faith in the One True and Living G-d. So, the four letters on the dreidel (the ones in Israel proper differ by one letter) stand for the Hebrew sentence: "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham" = "A great miracle happened there." Many Jewish people refer to the "great miracle" a concept that the oil for one day of burning the menorah in the temple actually miraculously lasted for 8 (hence the eight nights of lighting candles).But we see the great miracle in two parts:
1: The temple was regained for G-d's people which is where Yeshua (Jesus) would later do much of his teaching - and so, the temple was re"dedicated".2: Yeshua himself used this time of "dedication" to publicly announce and confirm He, the Light of the world, was/is indeed the Messiah. (John 10:22-42) And so - many "dedicated" themselves to Him.Different families celebrate in different ways. We personally celebrate by lighting the candles (one for each night accompanied by the "shamash" or the "servant" candle - representative of Yeshua (Jesus).Then we have a short devotional to begin a period of rededicating ourselves to His purposes.Then we play dreidel, remembering that a truly "great miracle happened there."Then, in true Jewish fashion, we eat the fun stuff: chocolate, donuts and/or potato latkes! Maybe not all together or every night, but enough to do damage on the scale. :O) We also give gifts, 1 on each night. So, eight nights of gifts is a pretty sweet deal! :o)

And, for those keeping track, the dreidel score as of the first night stands:

Al = 1

Rachel = 0

GG = 0

Hava = always a winner!

I know it has been a while since I updated this. It seems like a million and one things have happened lately, so let me try to catch you up!

This was Hava today drinking some tea, trying to recuperate from a pretty bad cold. She had a low-grade fever for a couple of days straight, and congestion and runny nose for about a week now. PTL, she is doing pretty good and mostly back to her old, happy self!My parents came back from Brazil a few days before Thanksgiving and we all went down to my brother's house in Brownsville for the Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time, and little Miss Thang celebrated her first Thanksgiving, as well as completing 10 months of age.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went bowling as a family. Papai is a pretty good bowler, considering this was probably the 3rd time he had ever bowled in his life. Hava also made her attempt at bowling...we should have taken a picture. She sat on the floor with the ball....that's about it, 'cause she didn't want to let the ball go!
Grandpa (and Grandma) have been having a blast with Hava - they already taught her to clap her hands! Now she does it all the time, especially when she hears music she likes.
Hava has also discovered her love for art...well, mostly for paper-tearing and eating crayons.

She is also an interior designer....

One day during nap time, I heard a funny noise on the monitor, so I went in to check on her...she was ever so carefully removing the border from the wall. So, now we have to pull her bed away from all walls when she is in it.

Who knows....maybe she'll go into construction like her daddy. She has a bucket full of building cups and she LOVES to wear the big one on her head around the house. She doesn't even try to take it off.
Here is our little British soldier! OK, maybe not a construction worker or British soldier, but very possibly an ultra-modern fashion designer. She is content with licking the handle as she "diva's" it up with a head toss.
Grandma Carmichiel is also back in town, so we have a very fun houseful of people now. We are so enjoying having everyone around and Hava doesn't have too much to complain about with all the attention. Thanks for remembering us, and for those who don't already get them, send us an email with your address if you would like to receive our monthly newsletters.

And during this festive season: "Be blessed - be very, very blessed!"

SIGN LANGUAGE

For any of you who are learning to sign and/or teaching your babies sign language, I found an excellent site that I use a lot. They even have a separate section for babies. I love the site because you just click on the word or phrase you want and a quick, immediate video pops up to show you the sign. Also, the signers are different people, so you can see how it looks with different people doing the sign.

http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi

A DAY IN THE LIFE

So, I had a bunch of random pictures and thought I would throw them all together for you all.

Here goes:

Climbing.

Trying to break things.Watching the birds outside while Mamae washes dishes.

Mealtime! Brushing teeth.My two teeth (sorry the picture is fuzzy, that's the best I could do, because she doesn't like to show her pearlies!). Naptime.More climbing. She prefers the remote 1000 times over the toys!Getting ready to go out in the cold.Spending time with friends.Me and my titia Ana.And some more climbing.Bathtime.Goodnight!

So, of course when I tried to take video of her moving all over the place and standing on everything, she stops! This is a kind of round-about way to show you, but you get the idea. Excuse my foot, I was stabilizing the ottoman so she wouldn't fall.

Also, if you haven't yet seen or heard the "mom song," you HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

THE BOO-BOOs HAVE BEGUN

Well, the good news is, Hava is very mobile. She will pretty much attempt to go anywhere and everywhere in the house. The bad news is, she doesn't understand what danger is. So, since she pulls herself up to stand with the support of anything she can find (no matter how unstable it is - like the rocking chair), she is hard to keep up with. She can even pull herself up from sitting to standing with the assistance only of a straight wall! She stands alone in her crib and she is so confident in herself (which is great) that she will decide to hold on with only one hand, and sometimes none at all. We try to keep her in "safe" places....like not allowing her to go in the kitchen or bathroom by herself - but we do let her wander around the living room and bedrooms. Regardless, we leave all doors closed, all electric outlets are covered, all breakables are above her level. Ok, so now that she is so able to move around, she has started to have quite a few falls. Nothing serious, but it's hard to determine how much to let her do...when to let her fall so that she'll learn, but when not to let her fall so that she doesn't get hurt. Just today she has bruised her little face twice. Sometimes she falls and no harm is done - not even a tiny cry. But sometimes she pulls herself up and falls so quickly, we can't catch her. Any ideas out there are welcome.
yours truly - the overprotective mommy :o)

NOT MUCH NEWS

We're doing good. There hasn't been too much new going on to catch you up on, but Hava is now pulling herself up to standing ALL THE TIME. We always find her standing in her crib and she is perfectly independent now at home. She also has 2 teeth now. The second one came in right beside the first about 3 days later.

Here we are just playing with the webcam....Hava got her sweater stuck on her head and she and I were both laughing.She loves the camera.

Also, check out Rachel's personal blog where she has updated her life stories including the detailed story of her personal life and death testimony. http://www.amazonmk.blogspot.com/

People have been asking if Hava is teething for the past few months. I said I wasn't going to say she was until I was absolutely sure because she has been a drooler and chewing on her hand since about three months of age. Yesterday, I saw the first glimpse of white under her gums, so we knew it was coming. We just didn't know it would come this soon.

YEP - SHE HAS A TOOTH!!!!!!!!!It was hard for me to get a shot because that silly tongue of hers is always in the way, but you can see it....the white spot in front of my finger, bottom left of the front 2 teeth. It is already out and nice and sharp. So, to everyone who has asked - yes, Hava is teething! :O)

Hava is now 8 1/2 months old. She likes her big girl jeans and, as do most kids her age, Hava LOVES the outdoors. So, we decided to go play in the backyard today. She was quite distracted by all the birds and noises, so it was hard to get her to look at the camera. Oh well, she's cute anyway. :o) There are a BUNCH of these pictures, but I just uploaded a few for your enjoyment!

Every Wednesday morning, we go to a playtime at the local library. Hava loves to have playtime and sing songs -she will literally stop what she is doing to hear a song. Since we can't take you to the library with us, here is a little bit of playtime with Hava. (Remember to click the pause button on the music in the left hand column before you start the video.)

Here's a short crawling video. You will probably have to click the pause button on the music to the left of this column.

Rachel's blogs are back - see left hand column.

She's Officially Independent!!!

Hava showed us her stuff starting yesterday - she is crawling forward - using her arms and legs together and getting something when she really wants it. She can easily make it from one side of the room to the other in a matter of a few minutes. This morning she cralwed down the hallway. I don't have any pictures right now, except for a home video, but I will get some up as soon as I can.