I Don't Like Talking on the Phone but My Husband is in the Hospital.

I like to talk to my husband on the phone but it is hard to answer everyone else's questions of how we are doing, how he is doing, or what's going on repeatedly so I return to the reason I started blogging in the first place: to inform those who care about our life when we are struggling. It started one Shabbat when Shayna projectile vomited in the middle of the back seat of the car. The other three all eventually succumbed in varying degrees to the virus over the week; however, Nahum took the hardest hit with appendicitis. As the surgeons took his appendix out two and a half weeks ago, it burst during the procedure. After two weeks of recovery, he was doing worse but couldn't get an appointment with appendectomy doctors so after seeing a specialist, because the specialist is the cousin of a good friend, he was told to check back into the hospital with a list of tests to run.  This was three nights ago when he checked back in via the ER and was diagnosed with a severe bacterial infection that had shut down his small intestine. He continues to be in a fasting state and will be in the hospital indefinitely. 

Nahum is quite frustrated with the care he has been receiving but, unfortunately, it goes with the saying that if you're sick the last place you want to be is a hospital. With the infection his body is fighting, I worry about the other microbes he might pick up there that could make things worse. The children, especially Shayna, are sad that he is not home to play, cuddle, and show them videos. I am overwhelmed with all that needs to be done on a routine basis between child care, home maintenance and learning a foreign language in that country. I don't get everything done everyday but I am getting better at picking out the important things and being ok with the rest going undone, like I still don't have my verb flashcards made that I've been longing for and the sink isn't scrubbed every night, so I have time to read to and cuddle and talk with the children.

We have met some amazing people that have already become good friends and I am so thankful to have their joy and presence in our life right now. Then there's Nahum's family. His older brother, who lives nearish, who has spend several days and a couple nights with Nahum at the hospital and a sister-in-law-ish who took my kids to the park so I could have some peace then cleaned my kitchen.

We went to a Halloween party Saturday night and we're invited over for dinner and a movie tonight. We will meet some other friends, Israelis we met in Blacksburg when we first became parents, Friday morning for a running race. They will do a 10K and and I will do the 1k with the kids. (They even get t-shirts.) I signed up for the 5k but I wouldn't finish before the kids' run starts for I'll just have fun with the kids.  I don't know when I will swim in the sea next, which is a hard loss for me, but I use the three flights of stairs along the outside of our apartment to get some exercise while the children played underneath.

My Leopard Queen, Queen Elsa, and Marshal from Paw Patrol. (Halloween is not an Israeli holiday.)

(I made the cape with an amazing sewing machine borrowed from our summer babysitter.)

At a birthday party for Elijah's classmate: The girls in his class like him because he's such a sweetie. He's playing push-back with Libby here. Abigail, the birthday girl, jumped into his arms and gave him a kiss when he walked in the door. Maya enjoyed the dance party and pizza but really wished some of her school friends had been there.

Elijah with a tiny 611 at the Haifa Train Museum.

Playing in the luxury passenger car at the Haifa Train Museum. 

The Haifa Train Museum was impressive with all the restored cars and engines that one could climb into and explore. Plus, all the placards were in English and Hebrew.