more and more blessings...

Tomorrow is the last day of our first week of marriage. This week has been incredibly full with Sheva Brachot, the 7 blessings of marriage. Every day, we have had at least one meal with a minyan, a gathering of ten men.

After the meal, following the grace after meals, the blessings are recited. In addition, it is customary that the meals be provided by others as a gift for the newlyweds.

Which means we've done a lot of eating, I haven't cooked anything, and Yaakov and I haven't yet had an evening to ourselves.

That's okay, though. The nights have been wonderful... Everyone wants to know how we spent our wedding night... We pulled all the bobby pins out of my hair. After about three hours of that, we fell asleep. Yaakov made it as far as the bed, but I collapsed on the floor... no, not really... it only took about 25 minutes to get the majority of the pins out. I only found a few more when I washed my hair.

Other nights have been spent doing such exotic things as: calling Yaakov's relatives in Canada(5am is a great time for that); washing dishes; folding laundry; and discussing how to discipline the dog when he pees on the floor.

But really, we are blessed. This Shabbat, we had the great honor of sharing a real joy with my sister. Yaakov was called up to the Torah in honor of being a groom, and shortly thereafter, Ohad, my sister's husband, was called up to the Torah to name their baby girl, Naomi Hallel. (to be called Nomi.)

Almost as exciting is the fact that we were informed today that we will soon be grandparents... yes, that's right...

About a month ago, I hosted a dog named Barbie, who was in heat, at my house. Poofy seemed to be very cozy with her, and now, she is pregnant, expecting very soon. Yaakov and I are still in disagreement over whether or not we will have a grandchild live with us. Yaakov is apparently not up to the responsibility of handling two dogs, and he doesn't believe I am (or should be) either.

So we're very very blessed. Now if we could have a few less blessings and a little more quality time with the pillow...

t.c.