Today is election day in Israel and though of course I went to vote, I’m not into it this year at all.

But the positive part about election day is that I now have three children who are of age to vote.  And the significance of that is, to vote they need to come to Karmiel.  Dd20 couldn’t make the trip (over seven hours roundtrip by public transportation), but ds21 and dd18 came.  (We take our civic duty to vote seriously around here!)

Dd18 got a ride and arrived home at 1:30 am.  We had a nice chat before we both headed off to bed.  The younger boys always get excited when there older siblings come home and this morning I had some very happy boys when they woke up and saw she was here!  We went to vote together; I took ds8 in to the polls with me and she took ds5.

Ds21 arrived home at 2:30 in the afternoon, an hour after dd18 left.  He hasn’t been home since Chanuka and though he was initially planning to stay just 45 minutes – long enough to vote and turn back around and go back – he told me about three hours later that it’s just too hard for him to leave as planned.  He enjoys being home too much.  Oh, the problems we all have.  🙂

I sometimes think about how different it is being a child in our home now and ten years ago.  It’s pretty amazing having older siblings who bring you things and take you on trips and give you lots of attention.  Ds8 was so happy to see ds21, and about two hours into ds21’s time here, spontaneously exclaimed, “I just LOOOOOOOOOOVE you so much!” followed by him throwing his arms around his big brother’s waist and squeezing him as hard as he could.  They really love their siblings and their siblings really love them.

Ds21 ended up staying 4 hours and 45 minutes, and we all thoroughly enjoyed his company.  I shmoozed with him while he packed up his stuff for the move and somehow he made time to talk and play with all of the kids.  He and dd18 both asked if I minded if they would come back three days before our scheduled move instead of coming earlier to help pack up our home.  (Yep, as of last night our move has been scheduled!  March 30 in case you’re wondering.   :))

I’d love it if they could come a week earlier when their spring break begins, but my older kids financially support themselves and before Pesach there’s a lot of work helping people clean available (last year ds21 started a cleaning and painting service with a friend).  They asked if I minded if they stayed in Jerusalem longer to work and though I’d love to see more of them, I appreciate that they’re financially responsible and hard-working.  Last year they asked ds16 to come to Jerusalem to work with them, which he did for a few days.  One family in Jerusalem has now had my four oldest kids working for them!  (They met dd20 when she took over for dd18 when her arm was broken after her car accident.) If they ask him again, I’ll probably agree.

I figure that once they all get home, even though we’ll only have a Friday and Sunday for them to help pack before we move, we can get a lot done working together!

Avivah