My Friend down the street....

I mentioned in my previous post 

that I knew there was a Jewish family that lived down the street.  

I made frosted banana cookies today....

so yummy!!

I took a plate down to them a little bit ago.

The mother and her two little guys age - 5, and their

little one year old were at home.

She was super surprised, but very welcoming and invited 

me right in to visit.

I was so happy I stopped in.

As her older son was licking frosting off his cookie he was telling

me about how much they wished their grandma could come and 

visit, but that Ukraine would not let her leave.

This made them very sad.

  This girl is from Russia!

She met her husband in Israel!!

She is 37.

She has been teaching Hebrew up until June when they closed 

her school down.

Hebrew!!!

Right now she is unemployed, but studying to be a paralegal.

Her husband runs his own carpentry business.

Their house looks very nice,

they have done a lot of remodeling.

They just barely repainted and stuccoed the outside,

when they moved in it was pink!

I was so excited to tell her that I had just finished reading 

EXODUS....she was super happy and said that that is

her absolute favorite book ever written.

I asked how it is for her being a Jew.

She said the major persecution was before her time,
and that actually Israel
is one of the very safest places for children now.

It was a little difficult to talk because her 

boys started getting riled up.  

Her older was getting ready for karate,

so we had to cut it short.

She did tell me that her husband is really wanting to make a 

Sukkot (you can learn about it if you want),

and that there is a major Jewish holiday that 

begins on Wednesday, 

and lasts for 7 days.

I have been reading up on it.

She showed me the Lulov that they will all wave together,

as well as the special symbolic fruit, the Etrog.

They had me smell how delicious it smelled and 

she explained the different symbolic parts to me.

She wanted to tell me more, I wanted to hear more.... 

maybe another time.

It was so nice to visit.

We exchanged numbers and email addresses.

She said to please let her know of any questions I have,

she also said that Tina could contact her for any updates

that she would like from Israel.

I like her a lot.

I felt emotional being at their home....

that sounds really lame.

thinking of their connections with all of those places.

Having lived in Israel, walked there,

lived there, seeing all of those sacred grounds.

They are not my ancestors...why would I be so emotional?
I guess the book is still fresh on my mind.

T if you ever asked me to go there again with you,

I think I would do it.

It has perked my ears up to the Bible,

and references in the Book of Mormon.

I am not obsessed, just more appreciative.

It reminds me of when Kev and I lived in 

Jigger, Louisiana 

shortly after we were first married.

When the girls I worked with at CATO found out

I was Mormon....

they were shocked and amazed.

They couldn't believe they were looking 

at an actual Mormon.

I looked much more normal than they 

would have thought.....

(it really seemed like they were looking for horns

or something.)

One of the girls asked me how Kevin felt about 

me being Mormon.....she just about fell over

when I told her he felt great about it,

he was one to!