greetings from Israel

So over a year after we made the decision to come, our family finally arrived in Israel. The boys did well enough on the flight (Dante slept 10 out of the 12 hours bless his soul) but the following jet lag to adjust to the time difference made for a painful week. Just as things started to get better, the boys got sick. Fevers, vomiting, stuck in a hotel -- complete deja vu of Phoenix. Dante's illness was short lived but Alejandro is determined to be as miserable as possible. Finally took him to the doctor this morning and he has an ear infection on top of a viral infection. Poor little guy.

Anyhow, so we've been in a hotel in Tel Aviv (an hour commute for Alfonso) the whole time with little prospect of getting a house. Today the announcement came that the company Intel contracted to help us get a house has basically gone on strike. Intel and the contracted company are both accusing the other of not living up to their end of the contract, Intel stopped payments and the other company stopped working (although they weren't working very well to begin with.) Who knows how long it will take for them to work things out. In the mean time, we are "stranded" in a fancy hotel, just two blocks from the beach. While it would be nice to have a washer/dryer and a kitchen that consisted of more than a mini-fridge and microwave, we are together and getting lots of support from Alfonso's co-workers.

Right now, email is the best way to get in touch. We'll have a U.S. number but not til we get into a house. For those interested, there's free software called Skype which we use with to video call. But you can use it without a camera. As long as your computer has a microphone and speakers we'll be able to talk. My skype name is debiconrad. Just keep in mind the time difference. We are 7 hours ahead of EST and 9 hours ahead of MST. (Well, it will be once Israel switches to daylight savings time. We don't switch until the 28th for some reason.)

Well, I'll send another update with all our experiences later. Anyhow, we are here and fine.

Miss you and love you,
debi