Happy 18th Birthday Annabelle!

18 years ago today, July 23,1999, Dan and I drove to the hospital in the morning for a scheduled planned C-Section. We talked about what we'd name our baby and even though some relatives thought the name Annabelle was out of date, we decided that our baby girl would get that name.

I was in terrible pain (didn't know it, but I was in danger since my uterus was about to burst...told that by my doctor later). The planned C-section didn't go as planned and I had to be put to sleep, but after a difficult operation, all was well, and Annabelle Deborah Schneider-Farris was BORN! ....

Oh...by the way...I taught skating (in hockey skates since my feet wouldn't fit into my figure skates) until the day before she was born!

Happy Birthday to my youngest child Annabelle! I love you! You've grown up to be a confident and independent young lady and I know your future will be bright and full of amazing and wonderful adventures!

Wonderful New Friends - A Holocaust Survivor

We made some really wonderful friends in Sun Valley.

Here we are smiling with Golda and Aime Avniel who have been married for 60 years.

Aime is a Holocaust survivor who as a child hid and ran. After the Holocaust he went to Palestine and was reunited with his mother at the age of 15. All his other family members were killed in Auschwitz.

He and Golda met in Palestine (now Israel) and have known one another for 70 years!

An Amazing-Cool Encounter! 7-21-17

This was one of those amazing-cool encounters!

Sy and Reva Alban sat at the same table as me and my dad at Temple Israel in Long Beach's Tu B'shevat seder last spring. Sy knew my dad's Uncle Irving Schneider and other Schneiders in Long Beach including my granda Max Schneider and my dad's uncle Dave Schneider and my dad's first cousin Mark Schneider which was very cool.

Anyway...at the Friday 7-21-17, at the Shabbat service for the Wood River Jewish Community in Sun Valley,Idaho, I recognized Sy and Reva and we all thought it was quite amazing that we were all in Sun Valley, Idaho at the same time! The world has to be small!