Chili Cook-Off and Fun Fest

Last night our synagogue held it's 11th Annual Chili Cook-Off and Fun Fest. Since we've never been to one before, we weren't sure what to expect. Jacob was worried that there would only be chili to eat (not a big chili eater) and that he'd have a horrible time. Needless to say, everyone had a blast. I figured we'd be there an hour or so and then head home. We ended up staying for almost the whole thing and only had to leave when Hannah freaked out because she was outbid for a Webkins basket in the silent auction (I was not going to pay $80 for a few stuffed animals...even if it was for a fundraiser).

I have to say that this was such a fun and interesting idea for a synagogue fundraiser. You get a few people to make some chili and sell some tickets for voting for a dollar. Then you get people to drop another few dollars for dinner. Then, sell some tickets for games for the kids. Meanwhile, set up a silent auction and put in a wine garden for the adults (it was strange walking around the synagogue with a glass of wine, though!). Viola! You've got a great fundraiser. I can't imagine how much work this must have been, though. They really utilized the youth group for the Fun Fest, and you could tell that they were having fun doing it.

When we first started tasting, I was very pleased to see that the chili with the chocolate in it was first up. Jacob really wanted to try the chocolate chili. After that, he tried almost all of them, even the one that was more like stew than chili. He and I agreed on the same chili as the winner, while Mike went for the chicken chili. I now have a chili eater, which is awesome since I tend to make it often and he never eats it. The other two would eat rocks if I told them they were food, so they chowed down through the line as well.

I must say that next year, I'm definately entering the chili cook-off. No doubt about it. What a great family evening. Here are some pictures (of course)...


Hannah, Daniel and Jacob try the chili


Is Jacob trying chili with corn and carrots in it? You betcha!


Hannah gets her face painted.


Jacob shows off a bead thing he made.


Daniel plays a form of dodgeball.


Daniel, Jacob and Hannah decorate graham crackers.


A youth group member shows Daniel how to make a special necklace.

Consecration Sunday

This morning was Daniel's Consecration at Sunday School. Consecration is the official welcome into Torah study and education in the synagogue. When Jacob was consecrated in Virginia, they didn't make a big deal out of it. Here, they do.

We weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it there since we had some ice last night, but the roads were okay and we made it just fine. They had asked last week if we could make sure siblings didn't walk down with the consecrants because it takes away from them so Mike and I decided that he would walk down with Daniel and I would stay with Hannah and Jacob.

We (Hannah, Jacob and me) sat in the sanctuary for Family Service. Halfway through, the Rabbi says to welcome this year's consecrants. The back doors open and the kids start walking though with their parents. They were so cute all dressed in their gowns and new yarmulkes, carrying their Torahs. Mike walks Daniel up and comes to sit down next to us. After they sing some songs, the Rabbi asks the parents to come back up with their kids. There are more songs and the Rabbi asks the kids a few questions. They then walk out and we finish the Family Service and I take Jacob to his classroom for Sunday School. Hannah and I then go look for Mike and Daniel.

While we're eating cake and drinking coffee, I tell Mike a story about what happened toward the end of the service.

In the past several months that we've been members of this synagogue, I have never once felt uncomfortable about not being Jewish. Most people don't ask and those that know don't care. After Mike walked back up to be with Daniel after the kids sang, I heard a little girl behind me ask her mom why I wasn't up with the kids if I had one up there. The mom said, very loudly,

"I don't know. Maybe she's just a Christian."

Number 1: Me being a Christian had nothing to do with me not being up there. It had everything to do with the fact that I had two others that I could not leave alone.

Number 2: What business is it of hers anyway?

After I told Mike, he went into protective mode. "Who is she? I'm going to say something." No no. He did have me point her out to him and I could tell that he desperately wanted to say something to her. He then decided that he really wanted to give her husband a "free TKD lesson." LOL! The thing that made me so mad was that it put such a negative light, for me, on a day that was meant to be happy for Daniel. Luckily, it was a great day for Daniel.


On a separate, yet related, note...Daniel decided to make things out of foil yesterday. Jacob told me last night that, "Daniel had a very Jewish day." I asked Daniel how he had a Jewish day.
D: I made a dreidel and a Baby Jesus out of foil and taped them to my door!
Me: Umm...Daniel, Baby Jesus is a Christian thing.
D: Oh man! Really? I've got to take it down now! (after a conversation with Jacob, Daniel decided it was fine to have a Baby Jesus up on his door, so it still hangs up there with his dreidel)

Mike said that he went up to check on them in the shower and Daniel was singing and dancing in the shower: "Torah, Torah, Torah Torah...(sorry, I don't know the rest of the words, but he does!)" Mike thought it was really funny.

Where Has This Week Gone?

Is it really already Wednesday? Why do I find myself wondering where the days are going?

Saturday night, we went over to the synagogue for the PreK-2nd Grade Havdalah dinner. Gus even went with us. The kids had fun playing with the other kids and enjoyed the little service after the meal. Seriously, the music was so soothing that Mike and I thought we were going to fall asleep. LOL!

One of Mike's new favorite things to do is to get Daniel to recite a prayer that Daniel was learning for the Havdalah. It's in Hebrew, which makes for some very interesting things from Daniel.

Mike: Hey Daniel...Ba-ruch...
Daniel: Ba-ruch A-tah A-do-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech (he'll stop here and repeat Me-lech if he doesn't think he has a strong enough ch sound in the back of his throat!) ha-o-lam (this is where he goes off track) bree abomen habernash AMEN!

The ending part changes often, but he's got most of it! LOL! He and Daniel are also up on most of the songs they sing during the family service on Sundays and it's not unusual to catch them humming or singing the songs to themselves. It's pretty cute.

Hannah got her little TKD uniform on Tuesday. When I was talking with Master Johnson about getting it, I told him that we're going to have pictures taken next week and we'd like to have them all in uniform for one. He then looked at me and said, "pictures, huh? Where's your uniform?"
Me: I haven't gotten my flowers yet.
Master Johnson: Yes you did...last week.
Me: Those were on my birthday! They don't count!
Master Johnson: Sure they do.
Me: Even Mike's Mom said they don't!
Master Johnson: Okay, okay!

Last night, we were talking with Roxanne and Stephen about the four of us leasing sleeping space from Dave. We're all there so often that we may as well move in. LOL! Daniel's all excited because Master Johnson invited them all to start the 6:30 Monday class for TKD, Ju Jitsu and Hapkido. Great. Jacob's not all that thrilled about it but he may as well do it if we're going to be there anyway. I'm a little nervous about it all since I heard Stephen ask Mike, "so, how do you think you'd do with some numchucks?" I missed Mike's answer but I know that I turned around and said, "no numchucks!" Personally, I think that Daniel would love Hapkido but the Ju Jitsu makes me a little nervous.

It Only Took Nine Months...

Finally. We finally found a synagogue out here. Our choice in Virginia was simple...there was only one. We were fortunate that it was one that we liked. We learned a lot from being members at Beth El: we like Reform, we like smaller synagogues and we like them to be understanding of interfaith families (it's hard not to be when 95% of your families are interfaith). We were starting to feel guilty about not belonging to a synagogue since the kids had already missed several months of Sunday School and we were concerned that the kids would be behind. With school starting up again, we were aware that we needed to get on the ball.

We had our choices narrowed down to two: Congregation B-T and Congregation B-J. Mike decided to go to the prospective member brunch at CB-T to check it out (even though we were pretty sure we were going to go with CB-J). Mike really liked this synagogue. It's a smaller (for the area) synagogue with about 500 families and they are sensitive to interfaith families (Mike estimates that about 1/3 of the families are interfaith). They offer Sunday School for all three (but Hannah will only go every other Sunday) and, at first glance, it appears that Jacob may be a little ahead since they are just now learning the Hebrew alphabet. Mike had talked to some others who were coming over from CB-J and said that there is some brouhaha (I love that word) going on over there and they're shopping around. I told Mike that the last thing we need is to be a part of some mess as new members and we decided to become members of CB-T. It's a beautiful facility and they have all of their services on-site. So, the kids will be starting Sunday School on September 9th and I guess there's a big family thing (Bobbi and Ed, you'll be here for it), which is nice. It's nice to have a synagogue again.