With most of the big things settled, we’re down to the nitty-gritty, which is not such great blog material. We got got Mordechai’s passport application in – by the way, how silly is it that he has his picture in there? Can people really tell babies apart? And a week later, he already looks different. By the time we leave, the pic will already be totally useless, not to mention the remainder of the 5-year life of the passport. I can already anticipate the scene in the airport where I have to convince a skeptical TSA agent that babies grow.

I had a very nice visit to the Israeli consulate to apply for our visas (which we’ll need since we’re staying more than 6 months). We were a diverse bunch waiting to get in – a late-teens/early-20s woman getting a student visa; an extremely chiloni-looking Israeli with his hair slicked back and his shirt unbuttoned to his belly button, wearing a sweet and sheepish look; and me, the religious fanatic – but there remained this unspoken camaraderie among us because, well, you know. Security was beyond tight, as you’d expect. The screening guy was another sweet young Israeli guy. I’ve come to really enjoy Israeli security screenings. They ask you so many questions, but it turns out you can ask your own if you’d like. I still haven’t succeeded in getting any of them to accept a Shabbos invite, but I’m going to keep trying.

We still have to decide whether it makes sense to ship anything. The apartment reportedly has linens & towels, so there’s not all that much we’d want to ship. For the relatively small quantity in question, it doesn’t seem to be any cheaper than just paying for a couple of extra suitcases.

Still need to line up cell phone service in Israel (assuming we’ll set up internet once we get there), figure out what we’re doing about our mail, and pack up the house for our renters.

Oh, yeah, and find a home for the cats.