Health, Strength, Faith... held together by a thread, but held together nontheless

The war in these parts is continuing. We had a little respite from sirens & rockets for a few days, but they started again today. Three rockets fell today, and the *booms* were loud from where I was. Apparently, they all fell in open spaces, but I haven't heard where yet. I almost took the kids to a big park today (school is still out), but changed my mind and went to a friend with them instead. I wonder where that rocket fell. I'm staying out of open spaces...

I also took Azriel to the pediatrician today. His lungs are clear, B"H. Swollen glands, lots of congestion. She did a throat culture and gave him an antibiotic. I have a referral for a chest x-ray if the antibiotic doesn't work. And it looks like we are leaning towards doing just an adenoidectomy, not tonsils. That is a much simpler surgery (an oxymoron, if I've ever seen one), so that's good news.

We are planning to go away to friends in the center of the country from Thursday to Sunday. They have an apartment to offer us to stay in, next to them (neighbors went away and gave them the key), and be hosted by them for Shabbat. The center of the country, for those of you who aren't familiar with Israel, is only an hour and a half drive from the South, where we are (and the war is). We could get to the Northern most tip of Israel, bordering Lebanon, in 3 hours. Small country.

There is a spa in Jerusalem, near where we are planning to go, that is offering free treatments and massages to women who are Southern residents. I wanna go there on Thursday! Then maybe Friday morning we can see friends in Jerusalem (R & M M., you up to it?!), then Shabbat with our hosts. Their kids and our kids have a great time together, and we don't get together much, so that'll be nice. Maybe Saturday evening also visit with other friends we haven't seen in ages. I want to relieve the stress a bit, go where there are no rockets and sirens. Also the kids have been home for like two weeks; one vacation week of chanukah, then this. We gotta get *out*. Just for a few days. We don't want to run away (yet), but a break would be good.

My respiratory virus is getting better, thankfully. So is Robert's. We have to be all in the clear to go away, so lets all pray for that. :-)

My wonderful therapist (Lili) got called to be an emergency care mental health worker in a neighboring town because of this crisis. The neighboring town gets a lot more rockets than us (closer to Gaza), and they need all the help they can get. So, she had to cancel me. There is no rescheduling this week's appointment. I really need her this week, so I'm bummed. I am getting free therapy from the health care system, so I have to deal with these things. I know they need her there, ....but ....Me!!! I really need her.

Trust... trust that Hashem is taking care of you, Sarah... you are handed exactly the trials that you need, and that you can handle. You can do this. With the help of Gd, with faith...