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Pesach 5770 (2010) -- Giving Thanks

What a year.  I have been blogging for almost three years.  The first post on this blog was on August 2, 2007.  Since then, we have celebrated two Pesach holidays.  The first in 2008 was pretty standard for our house.  We had many sleep over guests (9), a two day holiday (shabbat and sunday) and clear skies on the horizon.

The next Pesach was different.  One of our son's was suffering from late stage kidney disease and preparing for a transplant.  We had identified a donor and finished the final tests two days before the holiday.  My son was exhibiting a number of scary symptoms, including a lack of appetite and energy.  He had lost more than 20 pounds.  With that environment, our goal was to survive the holiday and move on to the transplant.  The number of pesach posts from that year really confirms it.  Our seder was nice, but somewhat quiet.  Our family does not eat kitnyot (rice, beans, corn and other items on pesach).  Since my son was sick, we had received a special dispensation to prepare rice for him so that he would have something to eat.  His diet at the time precluded eating whole wheat (which is what Matza is made from).

Fast forward one year.   Our son who had the transplant is healthy.  He has no special diet and no restrictions.  Another son was married about a month ago and introduced a wonderful young lady to our family.   We are thankful to be hosting my parents for this years seder.  All in all, it looks to be a very positive year and we hope that it continues that way.

Pesach is about remembering the Jewish peoples exodus from Egypt.  It is about redemption and the hand of God in worldly affairs.  This year, we will be remembering our own exodus from illness into health.  We  recognize the hand of God who enabled us to identify the situation in time to find a donor.  We thank God that decided to move to this community where not one buy 7 people volunteered to donate one of their kidney's.  We recognize the hand of God in selecting a donor who was and is healthy, willing and able to handle the sometime uncomfortable and painful stages of the transplant process.  Finally, we give thanks that our son in healthy.  The whole process could have had a significantly different ending.

May you have a healthy and happy passover and may that continue for the year to come
Elliot and Leiah
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