What if the Hokey Pokey Really is what it's all about: Next Year in Jerusalem....

It's been a fun and busy week here in Atlanta!!! A great friend of mine has been in town from Israel where she now lives, and now that I work from home and on my own schedule, I was able to spend lots of quality time with her catching up, running her around shopping (because thats what Israeli's come to America to do!) and then dinner tonight like the "old days". Osnat and I go back to my very first week in Atlanta. When I moved to Atlanta, my dad and I drove from Phoenix to Mobile, then to Atlanta. It was all right before Thanksgiving, so I got to Atlanta, moved my stuff in and basically turned back around and went home for Thanksgiving. The new "shaliach" which Mobile gets each year was invited to our house for Thanksgiving. His name is Itai and my parents had somewhat taken him under their wing for the year he was in Mobile. It was my first time meeting him and we were just making small talk and I told him I had just moved to Atlanta. He told me he had a "friend" from Israel that also lived in Atlanta. I really thought nothing of it and though, he must be crazy to think I will ever meet this friend of his in a huge city like Atlanta. The week I got back to Atlanta, our friend Rachael who also lived in Post Briarcliff had me and my roommate Alexis, as well as several other people for dinner. As small jewish world would have it, this sweet little redhead with the most amazing Israeli accent (I'm obsessed with them!) came over and introduced herself. I didn't think anything of it, and then told her I was from Mobile and she said "oh i know mobile's shaliach". I said, NO WAY, YOUR NAME IS OSNAT?!?! And the rest is history!! We immediately became great friends. We lived in the same apartment complex for almost two year straight and spent many weekends and evenings after work hanging out, watching tv, getting dinner, and having girl talk!! My heart broke when after two years in Atlanta it was time for her to go back to Israel. I knew it was bitter sweet, because she missed her family, but selfishly, I would miss her here! I do miss her and think of her often, but it is SO hard to talk and communicate with the huge time difference. I knew she couldn't make it to the wedding due to a huge event for work she had going on the same weekend but was SO excited when I heard she was coming to Atlanta. Sadly - we didn't take a single picture together, but I will cherish all the time I get to spend with her while she was here! Tonight she came over for dinner before she leaves tomorrow. Osnat keeps strict kosher, so I leaned on the Kosher Chinese Restaurant in Toco Hills for take-out and we had a wonderful time eating dinner together, and she FINALLY got to meet Evan!! She had heard about him for so long, and he had heard about her for so long, but finally they met!! Evan and I have been saying for some time that we want to go to Israel. I haven't been since I was 15 and he has never been. Id imagine unless we wait until our kids are teenagers some day, its a place you go before you have kids, so we have been talking about it a lot lately. We joked tonight that we always say at Seder ... "next year in jerusalem". So now we are saying it and hoping we can make it work -- -NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!!! We have a built in tour guide while in Jerusalem and what an amazing place to visit!!!

I can't do a post without pictures, so before we leave Bella in Atlanta for a few days, and head down to the beach for Labor Day, I will leave you with a few pictures of my baby girl that is growing daily. Evan and I both said today, that we think maybe her growing has slowed down just a little bit, but I think we are way wrong, and we just don't notice it as much! I am guessing she has made it past the 20 lb mark as of today. I am soaking up my holding my baby time while I can and Bella and I got some good snuggles, hugs, and kisses in today.

Bella Hello Kitty in her big bed...... Not such an overly sized bed anymore!