The latest addition...Sometimes I think we must be absolutely mad...Victor and I have three children, seven seater car, fairly big house, three rabbits, an aquarium, six stick insects (yes - live little animals who pretend to be sticks in order not to get seen and eaten - and they are all just females, still they can produce kids all on their own - very fascinating subject, but slightly off my topic right now...) and now we also have TWO dogs!!! On the side we also have two full time jobs... Getting a puppy in the house is really like getting another baby in many ways (ok, babies do not nick daddy's smelly shoes and chew on them like crazy before we manage to pull it off her..), there are the disturbed nights - the amazing thing is that Victor (who NEVER seemed to wake up when the babies cried) is the one who wakes up and gets up and let her out. On the positive side, there are also the cuddles and affection - her favourite thing is to curl up in your lap and get cuddled. And Twiggy (our 7year old dog) is a very happy and caring "mummy". So, our little family has gotten bigger - no plans for any more additions I can assure you all ;-)

Tuesdays with Morrie; an old man, a young man and life's greatest lessons

Read an amazing book whilst in Israel! It was a truly moving story with deep reflections of the meaning of life and the various elements within it. I am not giving a résumé of the content, only a quote:

"Whenever people ask me about having children or not having children, I never tell them what to do,"..."I simply say, "There is no experience like having children." That's all. There's no subsitute for it. You cannot do it with a friend. You cannot do it with a lover. If you want the experience of having complete responsobility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children."

Finally I want to recommend that you: “Get the book and read it!”
….a handy tip…keep a tissue box nearby…

PS. Another book by the same author worth reading is “The five people you meet in heaven”.

Returned Home
Israel - after ten days on an intense work journey to Israel I am left with an abundance of impressions. Victor is wishing I would stop chatting for at least a couple of minutes, but I have too many experiences that I need to share and unload :-)
I think the way I would describe the country is a melting pot - it is such a mix of old & new - old ruins and new buildings, various cultures and people - Jews, Arabs, Africans, Philippines etc, different religions - Judaism, Islam etc, religious and secular - it was all just melted together...! Can't really be described, needs to be experienced!

Other things I experienced on the trip were:
- A vegetarian village - everybody who lived there was vegetarian :-)
- Swimming (read: floating) in the Dead Sea
- Seeing various sites where Jesus walked
- Becoming a film star (well, we did go to make a TV program :-))
- Behaving like a film star (oh, well worth a try ;-))
- Being offered 100 camels for my hand in marriage (ok, he did drop the price to 10 camels when I informed him I was already spoken for...)
- Missing my family so much it physically hurt - Hurrah, I'm home!!
- Start of Sabbath by the Wailing Wall - one of the strongest spiritual experiences in my life!