Bittersweet

Today was bittersweet.

After hours of discussion and anxiety on my part...

Today we told Amanda that we will be sending Asher to Charlotte Jewish Preschool full time starting in August. This was extremely hard for me and when her eyes welled up with tears I cried with her.

We are seizing this wonderful opportunity by taking the leap and giving Asher what he is craving for... Kids that he can interact with all day long... Jewish Learning.

He is a social butterfly.

When he is around others he flourishes and grows.

He quickly picks up on his surroundings and embraces them.

Philip and I both attended Jewish Day School at a very young age and we could not be more thrilled that Asher will have the opportunity to do the same.

He already loves Challah, Shabbat and to top it off, just tonight as we were putting him to bed...

for the very first time began to repeat the words of the Sh'ma with us after us singing them to him the past two years every night before bed.

How ironic that they day we took the big leap and told Amanda he will be going to CJP he began repeating the words of the Sh'ma to us?!?

(Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation as a mitzvah (religious commandment). It is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, and for parents to teach their children to say it before they go to sleep at night.)

We will miss Amanda terribly come August.

She has been a huge part of our family for the past year and a half and a wonderful caregiver to our sweet boy Asher, loving him like she would love her own.

There is no doubt that she has loved him with every bone in her body. We will savor the next month with her and praise her for all of the love she has shared with our family.

We hope that she will continue to babysit for Asher so that they can always rekindle their bond throughout the years.