Yesh Li Blog: October 2007

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Thirty years ago, our daughter Elinor Victoria, was born at the Naval Hospital in Napoli, Italia. We were stationed an hour north in Gaeta, at the time. We often took trips into Napoli, as well as Roma. In some ways, it seems like yesterday, but in seeing what a mature woman and wonderful mother she has become, we realize she has lived those 30 years well.

Here's Ellie at an early age at the Vatican with one of the main attractions for the kids--the pigeons. This picture perfectly captures the joie de vivre, the unbridled enthusiasm for life that has been such a hallmark of Ellie.

Here's another cute picture of Ellie with pigeons years later when we were living in Spain.

Here's a birthday picture taken quite a few years ago at our home in Yokohama, Japan, showing Jimmy bringing his sister her birthday cake.

This one was taken at our Denver home, not too long after Ellie returned from India.

Ellie learned to love books and reading at an early age.

Here she is at Disney World, a trip we made with Grandma between living in Canada and Spain.

This is Ellie celebrating Hannah's birthday. Our Siamese cat, Moti, wanted to be part of the festivities, too. See her peeking around the curtain?

And here's Bonnie celebrating with Ellie on her special day.

This picture shows Ellie with her roommate and close friend, Ai. They met on a flight from Japan to India, where the two attended school high in the Himalayas. Coincidentally, Ellie and Ai were born on the exact same day--Ellie in Italy, Ai in Japan. Ellie loves to smile and have fun with her family and friends. This picture captures once again that joy that emanates from her.

I had to include this snapshot of Ellie in her Wonder Woman togs because when I looked at it I was reminded so much of Aidan and a similar expression and mannerism I had seen from him.

I'll close this Happy Birthday card to our daughter Ellie with a picture of her with Ryan and Aidan.

In closing,

Happy Birthday, El!

We love you. May you continue to be blessed and enjoy many more fulfilling years. You are truly a blessing to all who know you.

Why Yesh Li Blog?

Why do I have a blog? Quite simply, I have a blog to share my favorite things with others. The right side of the blog has a long list of links to some of the places on the Internet that I visit often. In addition to sharing those with others, I often come here myself to find a quick link to where I am going.

Bonnie, our eldest, led the way into blogging with her Simple Beauty Blog, and later with her extremely popular Beans Blog. I decided I would give blogging a try and thought "I have a blog" might be a clever name, but in English it sounded rather lame, so I did it in Hebrew, a language I love more and more the more I learn it.

What does Yesh Li Blog mean?

We would translate (i.e. interpret) yesh li blog to mean "I have a blog" in English, but the literal Hebrew means "There is for (or to) me a blog." You cannot literally say "I have" something or other in Hebrew. It is always "there is for me," or "there is for you," or "there is for us," etc. Hebrew, the language of the Bible, is showing us that we are really stewards of what has been provided for us and for our use. Rather than private ownership, perhaps a better term for what we "own" would be private stewardship.

Languages have been my passion since at least the fourth grade, when I studied Spanish from a library book called Fun with Spanish. In high school, I was the rara avis that became enamored of Latin. In later U.S. Navy tours of duty in Spain, Italy, and Japan, we did our best to learn the local languages. Along the way, I studied some Russian and picked up some Greek by studying etymologies and some Chinese by studying Japanese writing systems.

My first introduction to Hebrew was in the early 1980s, when I took a correspondence course, but it was not until the past decade that my primary focus has been on this wondrous language. It has been deeply rewarding, and especially in the past few years since we met Ori, an amazing Israeli woman, who has become not only my primary Hebrew mentor but also our good friend. Moreover, the small group of people who meet weekly to study Torah in Hebrew in Boulder have become dear to us and enriched our lives greatly. Further, reading Jewish commentaries on the Web of the weekly Torah portions has deepened my own faith and opened up new understandings of the scriptures we share and of Christian writings based on those scriptures.

The pursuit of words has been an essential part of my life for many years (since birth?). Many things have changed in my life, but I don't see that part of it changing any time soon (until death?). Lehitraot! Shalom, Chaverim!