Update post-Gaza invasion

Ok so the pictures are up and onto the next question I get emails on: how is the war affecting us. So far, believe it or not, IF you did not watch the news you wouldn't know there's a war an hour away from here. (Ok or listen to people around you talking) Yes, they have been launching shells/rockets up north and they are reaching further than they ever have before - but still not enough to reach Tel Aviv much less us. They seem to have been much more focused on hitting another city, Be'er Sheva, now that they can.

That said it did impact our travels with Sebastian's parents. We'd thought about going south and were not as concerned about rockets as much as sympathizers who may resort to physical attacks (stabbings, rocks thrown thru car windows for example) or, worse, suicide bombers. While there have been no suicide bombings yet there have been some incidents here and there so we are just trying to be careful. If it were just Sebastian and I it would be one thing but with little ones it becomes a different matter. Some shit you just never want yout kids to experience/see. So we have done more day outings & are staying north at the moment.

We have a variety of news sources on satellite and online and its been interesting following who shows what and interviews who. At first we wondered if this would be over quickly once the air strikes had hit their targets but with the ground invasion kicking off methinks this will be going on for a while. There is talk about the Israelis getting in and out on the ground as quickly as possible but to accomplish their end goal - taking out Hamas' infrastructure so they cannot launch rockets & shells (if not Hamas themselves) - well no one I have heard has suggested a quick means to do that soooooo I think this will be going of for a while. If other Middle Eastern players get involved then who knows.... Evacuation is a possibility (happened in the 2006 war with Lebanon) but how that would be decided I do not know. It isn't happening right now so we just go about our day and keep an eye on whats happening south of us here.

Ok - 'nuff for now. For anyone on the other side of the pond interested in online news sources you may want to check out these too:

http://www.haaretz.com/
http://www.jpost.com/
www.bbc.co.uk/

The first 2 are Israeli and are in English (as is Aljazeera - interesting to see what they are saying; just google them)....BBC has more indepth coverage typically than CNN or Fox.

hugs to all!!