Happy New Year! We've been off to a pretty fine start so far. During Friday night's service we saw the new rabbi for the first time. Jim and I tried to guess where she was from by her accent. I initially thought Chicago area, but as soon as Jim said Michigan, I knew he was right on. During her sermon on Saturday, she relayed a personal story from "summer camp in Detroit" and we smiled at each other.

After services on Saturday, we celebrated with a meal at the Zoll's. Knowing we would meet up there afterwards, we had parked at their place and walked back and forth to temple, which was quite wonderful. They are the most gracious hosts, regularly including us in their family's holiday celebrations. The food was wonderful (we took home some noodle kugel - yum!) and so was the conversation. We especially enjoy swapping tips and stories with another family friend, Michelle, who is expecting her first baby just two weeks after us. Having only sisters and female cousins - all of whom had given birth to girls, Michelle told us that she too was expecting a girl. Jim and I were almost embarrassed when her father came over to say hi and her first comment was "they're having a boy!" We learned the Zoll's daughter, our friend Jen, will be flying back from Zurich to deliver her baby boy here in the states in a little over month from now - how exciting!

Seems that everyone is pregnant now - I don't think a day goes by that I don't see at least one other pregnant woman. It's possible I just wasn't aware of it before, but part of me thinks that pregnant women are magnets for each other.