We had a difficult couple of weeks after the bedroom change that I mentioned in my last recent post. Thankfully over the last week we’ve shifted into summer vacation with the arrival of my two sons who are usually away at yeshiva and the presence of our other two sons who sleep at home but are not around most of the day.

The younger children are so happy to have them all here; the older boys are all great with kids and are warm and caring older brothers. Since they willingly spend time with their younger siblings, it makes my life much easier. Especially with everyone home from school for the month of August, it’s extremely helpful and appreciated as it gives me a break during the day.

There was a bit of a delay in everyone being here at once, because ds17 stayed away a few days longer in order to help my oldest son do some renovations on their new home. Their home comes with a porch that was designed to be able to easily convert to an additional bedroom, and they needed to tile the floor and close in the room before they move in.

After working with my oldest, ds17 came home Sunday; that same day ds15 and ds14 left to continue working on the renovations for the next couple of days. Ds15 came home first, and ds14 stayed another day to finish up. They got a lot accomplished together. We’ve done a lot of DIY renovations on our homes over the years, and it makes me very happy for my current teens to have the skills and experience to help their older brother do this work.

I’m also very grateful to Hashem that after six years of marriage, our son and his wife are going to be moving into their own home. I’ve been so encouraged to see how Hashem has made everything work out for them – beginning with them signing the day before the price went up on the same apartment style by 100,000 shekels. Then a month later, it was another 100,000 higher, and a month later, another 100,000 higher. They had fortuitous ‘timing’ (more accurately, divine intervention) each step along the way.

When we talked about leaving RBS, my husband and I discussed the likelihood of any of our children one day living there. We didn’t want to leave if any of our then married children would move there. It didn’t seem like any of them would be interested in living there, and our oldest son definitively told me it wasn’t a match for them. Then a development that is more like a new city than a new neighborhood was planned and less than a year after we moved away, my son and his wife bought their home on paper (in the planning stage) in RBS-D. After two and a half years of waiting for it to be built, they’re moving in this week.

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The last couple of years, my teen boys have spent their summer vacation mornings busy learning in shul – my seventeen year old son has organized ‘yeshivas bein hazmanim’ during every vacation for the last couple of years, taking over for my son who did it before he got married.

I was glad when he told me he wouldn’t be doing it again this year – it’s so much work: he does the fundraising, shops for food, makes breakfasts for everyone who comes, gives a class for the younger boys, and takes them on trips. The kids enjoy it and though I sometimes wondered if parents took it for granted, he knew the boys appreciated it and felt the satisfaction of doing something that was needed.

Boys have approached my other sons wanting to know if it’s true that ds17 wasn’t going to be running it this summer, and asking him to please do it. He continued to answer that he wouldn’t be running it this year.

A couple of days ago a parent approached him and he agreed to run it again, but he assured me it will be structured differently and it make fewer demands on him. This is something that won’t happen if he doesn’t do it, and now even after telling me that during his past vacations he didn’t have time to do things that were important for him because he spent so much time organizing, he’ll be doing it again this summer.

Though I would prefer he doesn’t do it because I saw the pressure it’s created in the past, it does seem like the changes will make it better for him. I can’t complain about him being community-minded since that’s something I value, and I do see having opportunities to step up and do things that others aren’t doing is a plus in living where I do.

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For the past couple of years, our teens have spent their mornings learning and then worked in vacation rentals. There is so much work but not enough capable people who are willing to do the work, and they could all fill every day with work if they wanted.

Though they are all responsible for earning the money they need during the year, this year they’ve all decided they want to cut down on the work they do so they can enjoy their vacation more and spend time together.

It’s not that they mind working hard, since part of their time together has been lots of volunteer work at our shul. Our shul has undergone major renovations and when they’ve needed manpower, they regularly turn to our boys for help. (They call them directly; they don’t even call me or my husband anymore!) Yesterday was a particularly intense day, as they’re working hard to be able to use it for this Shabbos, after weeks of being in an alternate location.

The boys are not sure that’s going to be possible because there’s still so much to do. I guess we’ll see tonight!

Avivah