#BlogElul 5 - Trust

Today is the first day of school.

And, interestingly, today's topic is "trust."

I've never thought much about how important trust is when we deposit our most precious people for hours on end in a school building. We kiss their little heads, wave goodbye, and trust that they will be well-cared for.

And we trust, as we push them out into the world, that they will land safely. We try to break their fall, to guide them on the way. But ultimately, someday, we have to trust in their own inner ability to do what they need to do, to become the people that they need to become.

Sometimes...we hold on too tightly.
We forget to let go...and just trust.

The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with the Selichot, the prayers of forgiveness. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, along with others, I'll be blogging a thought or two for each day to help with the month of preparation... I will be blogging here, and sharing #Elulgram photos on the same themes at imabima.tumblr.com. Follow me on twitter @imabima for all the #BlogElul posts, not only mine but others' as well! 

Leave your own BlogElul post in the Linky below!

Back to School Tradition

I've shared our usual back to school picture tradition, but I've never actually shared this one. Since David was in kindergarten, we've always made him get inside his locker. So it continues...except he doesn't really fit any more!

Here's our usual back-to-school photo tradition - a picture with the school mural. To see the previous pictures click here and here.

This year, we added a new face. Not just a fourth grader, but also a kindergartener:

And of course, the two of them. Together....

(Hard to believe that next year there will be three in this picture.)

Such a blessing to start a new year. I feel so darn lucky.

A Prayer for the Start of School

And so the school year begins....

It's hard to believe that it's that time of year. Wasn't it just summer? Wait, it still is.

Here are my school-starters...full parental disclosure: I don't pick out their clothes.

Incredibly excited to begin her pre-K year:

Putting on fake enthusiasm for 4th grade:

Quietly impatient for kindergarten to start....
(it was the same day as the 4th grader but the rain started before afternoon kindergarten)

Completely uninterested in what's going on but always happy to watch...

And so begins a new year.

May it be a year of learning and growth, a year of new experiences and understanding.
May they outgrow their shoes and may they not lose their jackets.
May each day bring something new and may routine guide their steps.
May their pencils be sharp and their minds even sharper.
May they revel in the joy of each new fact learned, each right answer, each small accomplishment.
May the erasers on their pencils get as much use as the tips.
May they learn that wrong answers can be just as important as right ones.
May they ask questions, lots and lots of questions, and may their teachers be patient. Very patient.
May they make friends and build relationships, and may they make lifelong connections.
May they be kind and polite and each one a mensch of the highest order.
And may this year be filled with blessings...

Winner of DonorsChoose Gift!

The winner of the DonorsChoose gift card is JaneTheWriter! {{{Waving}}} Hi Jane!!!!

But we can all be winners if we go and help students and teachers...so go check out some of the great projects that you can fund through DonorsChoose.

For everything there is a season....

For everything there is a season, 

and a time for every purpose under heaven. 

(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Yes, today is the first day of school.

Sending off my (gulp) third-grader for the fourth time to his first day of school.

 (to see the other pics in this series check out this post here.)

Wow.

And what a blessing, to have a wonderful school to send him to.
To know that there will be pencils and pens, markers and paper.
To have the funds to buy school supplies.
To have the luxury of buying him a new lunchbox.
To have the comfort of knowing that his teeth was checked by a dentist, his health was checked by a doctor, and when he outgrows his shoes, there will be new ones to fit his growing feet.

I am so incredibly blessed.

In honor of the first day of school, I'm giving away one $10 giving card to Donors Choose.

Because there are schools, teachers, and students that are not as blessed as I am.

Leave me a comment telling me your favorite back-to-school tradition and you'll be entered to win. 

Tell a friend via Facebook or Twitter and I'll give you an extra entry.

If I hit 36 entries, I'll give out two $10 gifts.

Please help me out and leave a separate comment for each entry (comment, Twitter, Facebook).

Ends on Friday...

Back-To-School Tradition

What kind of traditions do you have for back-to-school?

Here's one of ours...(each one taken the day before school starts)

Kindergarten:

First Grade:

Second Grade:

Pretty neat to see how he has grown each year...
That's what works for me. What works for you?

Don't forget to click over for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Lovable Labels! 
(ends Thursday)

Label it or Lose it? Giveaway!

How many times has your kiddo lost his backpack? His lunchbox? His thermos? His water bottle? His hat?

Oh wait, that's just me.

No it isn't! I know you need to label your kids' stuff just as much as I do...

My friend Debbie is selling Lovable Labels - and they're so darn adorable!

Lovable Labels makes Regular and Slimline Sticker Labels, Iron-on Labels, Shoe Labels and Bag Tags (those really great ones shown above). All of the labels are dishwasher, microwave, washer, dryer and u.v. safe. I really like all the cute little icons that you can choose. PLUS they are so smart - I never quite figured out why to put icons on my kids' labels, but their reasoning is really smart - help your pre-reader identify their stuff. Great idea. I also like the press-n-stick clothing labels - I know they also sell iron-on labels but I am so grateful to skip the ironing.

Their current Back-to-School deal is pretty amazing - there's a ton of stuff available for a pretty reasonable price.

For more information about the back to school mega pack or any of the labels and to place an order check out www.debs.lovablelabels.ca

WIN IT:

Deb is giving away a $20 gift certificate to Lovable Labels to one of my lucky readers!

Here's how you can win the $20 gift certificate to Lovable Labels:

To enter, leave a comment on this post!

Earn an extra entry by tweeting about it. Let me know below in the comments.

Comments will close at 8am Thursday, August 27th.
Don't forget to give me a way to get in touch with you if you win!

***COMMENTS CLOSED: The winner is Heather, from A Mama's Blog! 
To order your own labels, go visit debs.lovablelabels.ca - thanks to my friend Debbie for the giveaway!!!!

Is it over already?

It's back to school week.

There, I wrote it.

It's almost more shocking than the fact that it's the month of Elul, the Hebrew month that precedes Rosh HaShanah.

It just snuck up on me.

So, in honor of Back-To-School week, and to give me something to distract myself from the impending craziness, I'll be hosting giveaways all week long!

So come back and visit.

It will take your mind off the fact that the flip-flop season is almost officially over.

Maybe.

See more last-of-summer stuff over at Summer Stock Sundays. And come back all week!

Left Behind...

Today was a hard day.

Not for my oldest. He was pretty excited to start school. First grade, it's "all that." He's really psyched for tomorrow when he gets to eat lunch at school. He's social, he's happy, he's ready for it all to get going.

Not for my middle. He was also excited to go to school. Last year, he didn't love it so much, but I think he wasn't quite old enough. This year, he's a star. And the teachers noticed how much he's grown up, how happy he was.

Not for me. I know how happy my boys are at school! I know how much fun they're having, I know how much they're learning, I know how good it is.

It was hard for Yael. This morning, she woke up a little earlier than usual, because there was all the hustle and bustle. That was the beginning of it all. Then, suddenly (well in her 18-month-old mind), the boys, including Dad, got their shoes on in a hurry and left.

What!?

She sat right down in the middle of the front hall and screamed. She followed them out the door. She cried as they drove away.

And all day, it was like that. Just not quite right for her.

Poor baby.

I've read lots of articles about how to ease your child into preschool, how to transition to the first day of school, how to make it all okay for the ones who are doing the going.

But not too much about the ones left behind. I never even thought of it. A whole morning alone with her mom...but she didn't quite see it that way.

A little bit of extra love and kisses for my baby this week.

How did your kids do on their first days of school?

(That's my Tuesday Torah for the week. What's yours?)

It takes a village...

We were so lucky when our oldest was born. My husband and I were in rabbinical school and we were in a large community of students and friends.

Most of our friends were young-marrieds, singles, and almost no one had kids. We were among the first.

Definitely having a baby is hard. The first one is a total shocker. Life changes. Those first few months, that first year are a killer.

David was born in November. I wrote and handed in my thesis proposal between his birth and January. I handed in my completed rabbinic thesis three months after his first birthday.

We rarely went out at night but we had a great co-op daycare center on campus. Our weekly poker game continued, almost uninterrupted by David's birth, at our house. We put him to bed at 7pm. Poker started at 7:30. Some nights we had as many as 25 people in our house. The baby slept on upstairs, unaware.

Today someone reminded me of all that. She has her first child now, almost one year old. It's been, as it is for all of us, a rough first year. They regularly speak about us, she says, and how we made it "look easy." We should have offered to help you out more, she told me, if only we had realized how hard it really was!

And yes, it was hard. But I have to say, I can't imagine doing it any other way. I'm so glad we "hit the ground running" as my husband likes to say, by having a baby before we were out in the "real world."

We were so lucky. Our child was passed from future rabbi to future rabbi...all the time. These people are my best friends in the world, they are my family. They were the ones who visited me in the hospital as I labored. (Imagine...the hospital was next-door to our school. At lunchtime, I had a full room of friendly visitors as labor progressed....can you believe it!?) I wish we'd all had our kids together. I wish I could have held their babies in their newness. Now they're all out there, having their babies, spread all around the country. I wish I were with each one of them, sharing their experiences as they shared mine.

I love my life. But sometimes I miss my friends and their babies.
Welcome to the world, Hazel Zahara. I wish I was there to kiss your beautiful little head.

Shehecheyanu Moment: The First Day of School

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for my oldest child. He was very excited about going to school. We drove together to school (quite early, but he was raring to go), and as we walked in to the playground, I saw that we certainly were not the first to get there! It wasn't David's first time at school but it was his first time playing on the playground. As we walked in, I asked if he remembered about the blessing for something new. He did! So together we said the shehecheyanu prayer as we walked into the playground:

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-Olam, shehecheyanu, v'kiyimanu, v'higiyanu lazman hazeh.

Literally: Blessed are You, our God, Ruler of the World, who has created us, sustained us, and brought us to this joyous time.

As I said it at the playground: Thank You God, for bringing us here to school and making kindergarten! (he is 5, after all)

What an incredible moment for me, to be able to say a prayer of joy at that time, and to share it with my son. I do believe that he understood how special that moment was for me. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to convey how much the whole thing means to me, that he is now beginning his formal education. I have such mixed feelings, nervous and excited and proud and worried and happy....I think he has the same feelings.

We hung out on the playground for a few minutes (and I took some pictures....go mom), until it was time to lineup, and they allowed all the parents to go in with their kindergarteners. We entered the classroom and did some activities that oriented the kids to the classroom...found David's locker (I didn't get a locker until middle school!), which was MIA until we spoke to the teacher - she forgot to make his name tag. It was a tense moment for David but it all worked out just fine. He drew a picture of his favorite part of the classroom -- the globe -- and had a snack -- a piece of apple. At that moment, I realized that I'd forgotten to eat breakfast and I was starving! (Oops, good job mom. I don't know if I've ever forgotten to eat in my whole life before!) So I ate a piece of apple too:-)

The teacher gave some information to the parents while the kids ate their snacks and then it was time to go. But David thought it was time for the moms to go, so he told me to leave. But it was time for all of us to leave -- a very short day for the kindergarteners! Tomorrow will be a "real" day of school.

I got through the whole thing without any tears (I'm not even sure why I felt like crying) but I'm tearing up now as I write this. I'm not sad about him starting school, in fact, I'm thrilled. I think it's the overwhelming emotion of sending my baby off...