I. DID. IT!

I did it! I did it! I made my first tzedakah donation, for $43.01, to the mental health care fund of the Lev Lalev girls' orphanage in Netanya, Israel.

It was really funny when I was at the bank.  I told the guy behind the counter what I wanted, and he started unrolling and counting my change.  There was so much money there that he had to call someone else over to help him.  Halfway through, one of them looked up and asked me if I knew how much was there.  I said that I thought there was $42.38, but that I was open to margin of error either way.  When they finished counting, one of them looked up and said, totally awestruck, "We have...$43.01."  It was as if they couldn't believe someone would come in with that much change to deposit.  Naturally, then, I had to tell them the whole story: how it accumulated, how long it took, and when to expect me back to do it again.

This Friday afternoon I have the privilege of starting to collect all over again.  I'm fairly certain that this time I am going to give the money to the grant account of my Reece's Rainbow kid, "Jacob."  He has quite a bit of money already, but no one besides me ever gives him anything, so I think it's time.

In other news, my dearest friend ever--the one who taught me how to be a friend in the first place--is coming to visit this weekend.  She is arriving Saturday afternoon (she's not Jewish), and Saturday night we are going to make my favorite recipe ever: African Pineapple Peanut Stew.  Sunday we are going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in this kind of pain, I will use a wheelchair; yes, it's back again), and then out to lunch and bubble tea.  The bubble tea will be her birthday gift to me, because that is our tradition.  It's a little late this year, but better late than never.

To close, I share with you two children listed on Reece's Rainbow.  First, from the "At-Risk of Aging Out" page, is "KYLIE," who ages out in APRIL.  She is from my "Jacob's" birth-country.



And the second,  naturally, is my "JACOB."  He is turning SIX in JUNE, and after that he will have eight more years before he ages out, as well.