Day 4 of fighting, Day 5 of Momma Gone

Life keeps on, its now the forth day of the fighting. Last night there was a couple of warning sirens here in Ashdod and a fatality as a result of a rocket that hit Ashdod somewhere north of us. The girls continue to sleep in the safe room. I was able to hear the sirens last night, but they wouldn’t be loud enough to wake me from sleeping. During the day away from the construction and traffic noises while playing on the sand dune with the kids I could hear artillery fire. The neighbors up the street who’s house face south could hear artillery fire through the night. With our house facing north I didn’t hear it. The sound carries farther at night when all the normal daytime sounds subside.

The sea shore is a popular route for air traffic to Gaza. We see attack helicopters and fighter jets coming and going. Two days ago when walking home from the beach I saw two jets launch missiles. It took me a while to figure out what it was because they were pointed west when they fired. The first jet had a short trail of smoke behind it when I looked up. Then while watching the second jet I saw a streak of fire and trail of smoke shot ahead of the jet for a split second. I’m fully aware of guided missiles but I would have thought when launching they would have been fired in the general direction of Gaza. I’m also about 99% sure another sound I frequently hear is the unmanned drone aircraft Israel uses but I have been unable to see them during the daytime. They camouflage into the sky very well. They sound a lot like the ultra lights parachutes that we see frequently but I know no one is out flying those the past days and they never fly them at night.

Like everyone here in Israel we are taking it one day at a time. The girls are not old enough to know what’s going on, no direct impact to them so its life as usual. It’s good to know we have the ability to move out of the Hamas rocket zone if necessary. My logic to not move is that a direct hit is a very low probability. However the risk in that logic is the severity of the consequences if we were hit and not in the safe room. Currently the frequency of rockets and probability of a hit outweigh the risk. I do worry about whether I have made the right decision. If at some point if the rocket frequency increases or the worry becomes too great we will move up to Tel Aviv and wait it out. For now we will stay in our home.

Momma is OK as anyone can be given the situation and the decision to stay in the house. Rember she went home to Croatia the day before this started and left me with the kids as a vacation for her, her longest brake from the kids in 4 years! We talk daily to let her know we are safe and OK. The bigger worry for her is how well am I caring for the kids? Are the eating good, getting baths, naps, bed time? Not to worry momma all is good and not a single trip to the E.R. yet!