I’m the worst

At keeping this updated 😁 my apologies! Hope you guys are all doing great!

It’s that time of year again where I start to feel a little like an outcast, like I’m sure many other Jews feel at this time. Marnie got asked the other day if she was ready for Christmas and being good for Santa. I don’t usually say anything because I don’t want them to think I’m rude or don’t appreciate their gesture. Also because my kids do a pretty good job of saying it themselves. At first Marnie nodded but then she inched up close to me and said “we don’t celebrate Christmas, right mom? We have Hannukah!” I told her she was correct and gave her a little high five. She responded with “I love Hanukkah!” All just loud enough for the cashier to hear 😊 

I’m sure there will be many more instances of that to come, I was just hoping it would wait until at least after thanksgiving. 

I hope I don’t sound like a scrouge, but it just gets old. Being basically the only Jew I know* gets hard around holidays because except for my husband and kids, I don’t have anyone else celebrating or giving me Jewish well wishes. Even before I converted I always made a point to make my holiday greetings generic to cover all bases, and I really appreciate when others do to. However, if you wish me a Merry Chirstmas, I will graciously accept that too. 

* I can now officially say I have made some strides in the Jewish friends department! I am friends with my Rabbi and his amazing wife and I even color her hair 💁🏽 I think my favorite part is that I get to schedule time to hang with a hommie Jew every few weeks! 

I was also asked to take part in Temple’s Leadership committee. We have had a few meetings and LOOOOOVE being a part of it. I hope I get many more opportunities like this. Any excuse to go to temple is the best, I always feel so great there. I’ve also gotten to be more social with a lot of other Temple members which is amazing! 

On another note, I am feeling super guilty about having to skip on my dues basically this whole year almost so far 😥 we don’t have any room in the budget for anything and it’s making me feel so guilty. I hope whoever is in charge of the dues doesn’t think I’m a deadbeat congregant. I plan on paying what I owe when I can. It just won’t be for a while 😣 I hope they understand. That’s one difference between a church and synagogue that’s hard for me. I do understand why they do it this way and why they need it like that, but for a young family (and I’m sure many other members) it can be really difficult and becomes a source of anxiety.

And if you actually made it this far, thanks for reading all that! 😜 let me know how things are going for you in the comments!!

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Oops

Thought it would be a good idea to sub coconut oil in place of regular oil when making my challah. I was wrong. Flattest challah ever and the dough was super sticky. (it did still taste fine, but I miss my visually appealing challah)



I’ve also made the mistake of making it with whole wheat flour before too. It turned out ok, but the taste… Way to healthy for enjoying during Shabbat. 😜 I’ve been trying to eat very clean and healthy lately and thought I’d give it a try, but since shabbat only comes once a week, why not live a little and have some white flour?! 😉

Purim Sameach!



Superhero Ozzie

Princess Marnie & Thad the clown

The red velvet hamentaschen I ended up making! Soooooo good! You can find the recipe Here. In the morning we will be delivering our mishloach manot (purim gift baskets) filled with the s’more & red velvet hamentashen, oranges, apples, and bananas. Purim Sameach!

S’more Hamentashen

My first time making hamentashen was a success I’d say! These s’more hamentashen (I got the recipe here ) are delicious! I also had plans to make red velvet and Speculoos hamentashen too, but I don’t know if I see that happening 😁 Marnie plans on being a princess for Purim, and thad will be a clown. I think I’ll tie a cape to baby Ozzie’s Ergo carrier when I wear him to the Temple carnival. Purim Sameach!

How we celebrated Tu B’Shevat

We started some bean and zucchini plants and colored some “mitzvah trees” which I found here

The Jewish new year of trees, may be a minor holiday that not all Jews observe, but I have to say it’s one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. So many fun ways to celebrate!

Happy Hanukkah!

Ozzie is here! He arrived Friday the 13th. We are all doing well, 2 toddlers and a baby are quite the adjustment. He had his bris 8 days following his birth. It was a bit traumatic for me to be honest, I cried… A lot. I think it was mostly the hormones and medications making it so hard than the actual bris. Temple also plants a tree in Israel for every baby, I thought that was pretty awesome. I think I’ll get Thad and Marnie a tree on the 1 year anniversary of their conversion.

A few weeks ago I officially joined Temple. They sent this lovely welcome basket

It’s been almost a month since I have been to Shabbat at temple and I’m really missing it. Unfortunately they don’t usually do childcare during summer services since it’s a slower time at temple, and toddlers sitting through a service is a no go, so I most likely won’t be able to go for a while 😦 updates will probably be sparse here too, I’m hoping to be outside with the kiddos a ton this summer. That is if it ever stops raining here.

It’s official!

I’m now a member of the tribe! 🙂

Today was such a great day! I started getting a little nervous this afternoon before meeting with the Beit Din (In my case it was 2 Rabbis and the Cantor from my synagogue) , but once I sat down to meet with them all the nerves faded away. They asked questions and we talked for about 20 minutes, they took a few minutes to talk together before we headed to the mikvah. The nerves started kicking in a bit then, but having to get the kids and myself ready as quickly as we could helped me forget I was nervous. Rabbi Brown also told me I could take my copy of the blessings in with me, which made it much easier. I must say, I think I did pretty well with the prayers. Since the kids were converting with me I said them for them also. I practiced and practiced the prayers so I wouldn’t botch them too bad 🙂 Thad enjoyed practicing them with me and both kids tried to recite them with me. It was amazing! Both kids loved the mikvah and didn’t want to leave. Basically the complete opposite of what I thought would happen! Instead of bribing them to get in, I had to bribe them to get out 🙂 Then we met back with the Rabbis and Cantor afterwards. It was all so great and everyone really made it easy and comfortable. There was some paperwork to fill out afterwards and then it was over! At the end of this month a couple other new Jews by Choice and will go up in front of the synagogue and be blessed and say a little something about our jewish journey. It’s amazing how positively Judaism has effected my family, and it’s only been a year! I’m so excited to see what’s ahead for my family and me.
)

A few hours left

A few hours left until I’m no longer a shiksa 🙂 so excited!!!

Anniversary

I’ve been blogging about my journey to Judaism for a year now! Happy anniversary to me 🙂 it’s amazing how far it feels I have gotten in that time. I’ve learned so much, yet have soooo much more learning ahead of me. It’s all so exciting!
My last meeting with Rabbi Brown is Friday, it will be such a bummer to not meet every few weeks anymore 😦 but in a week from Tuesday the kids and I will officially be Jews! Something I would of only dreamed of when I was younger.
I am very thankful to Rabbi Brown for helping guide my journey and for my kids for igniting that spark I needed to realize being a Jew was an attainable dream. Also I am very thankful to my family for supporting me. Especially to my Aunt Karen, she’s a blessing for sure! My mom has been great too. It must of been a bit hard for her to see me leave Christianity, but she’s been very supportive! My wonderful husband has been amazing. He’s been so supportive and involved, he has gone above and beyond any expectations I had.
Now, off to work on my essay for the Beit Din I’ve been procrastinating 🙂