MISSION #8

Chanukah is all about HP and miracles. On this last day of Chanukah notice and write down three HP stories that happened to you today or over Chanukah. May the LIGHTS of Chanukah shine for you all year long! HAPPY CHANUKAH!

MISSION #7

AFTER LIGHTING THE MENORAH, SIT IN FRONT OF THE CANDLES AND FOR EACH CANDLE THANK HASHEM FOR SOMETHING IN YOUR LIFE.

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

MISSION #6

NOTICE SOMETHING POSITIVE IN YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS AND COMPLIMENT EACH PERSON!

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

MISSION #5

MISSION #5: Listen to a Chanukah song and sing along with happiness! :)

MISSION #4

MISSION #4: Learn something about Chanukah and share it with a friend!

HAPPY CHANUKAH!!!

MISSION #3

MISSION #3: Make a Bracha out loud on a doughnut, potato latke or cheese. Make sure someone is there to say AMEN! (the more people the better)

CHANUKAH SAMEACH!!!

MISSION #2

MISSION #2: PLAY DREIDEL WITH A YOUNG CHILD AND MAKE THEM SMILE!!!
Don't forget to e-mail me your mission at: itsallhp@gmail.com

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

CHANUKAH CONTEST

Happy Chanukah Everyone!
CONTEST:
This Chanukah complete 8 missions to be eligible to receive a Ten Dollar Gift Certificate to the store of your choice. Every night of Chanukah a new mission will be posted. After completing your mission you MUST report your mission and e-mail me at: itsallhp@gmail.com

MISSION #1: VISIT AN ELDERLY FRIEND TO WISH THEM A HAPPY CHANUKAH AND SHARE AN HP STORY!

Each mission can be done anytime over Chanukah. As long as its done on Chanukah.

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY CHANUKAH!

Mincha

With the days getting shorter and ending work after Shekiyah, I usually Daven Minchah in the conference room, near my desk.

Today, a little bit before Shekiyah the elementary principal (who is usually never in the high school building) asked me if I had a Siddur she could borrow. With pleasure I lent her my Siddur.
I noticed she was Davening by the Business Administration desk.

As soon as she returned the Siddur I started Davening myself. Instead of Davening in the conference room as I usually do, I Davened in the same spot where the elementary principal had Davened- right near the Business desk. As I was Davening, I noticed that the lady who works at that desk had left for the day and she had left on her portable heater, which was right near a plastic bag.

Had I not Davened there and not turned it off, it could have Chas V'Shalom caused a huge fire!

Missing Pictures

Tammy Simon and her sister Riva were at Rite-Aid Pharmacy printing pictures when the printing machine broke. Riva was really disappointed!
The cashier took the pictures from the machine, mixed someone else's pictures, and gave them to Tammy.
While looking at the pictures when they got home, Riva pointed out that the pictures looked very familiar. After taking a second look, Riva realized they were her classmates science project pictures.
The next day Reva brought them to school and indeed they were her friends pictures. Her friend was ecstatic that Riva had "found" her missing pictures. She was now able to complete her science project!

Birthday Supper

Thursday night I was going out of town and I didn't know what eat for supper. I decided that in honor of my birthday I would buy something for myself at the Pizza store. I NEVER eat out. I'm not a pizza person but if you're looking for some good pizza try out Jerusalem Pizza.
Since I'm not a regular customer there I don't know their store hours. I don't either know their phone number by heart or even have it in my cell-phone (just goes to show how often I buy pizza)
Actually the last time I had pizza from there was probably two years ago Motzoei Pesach. I looked up their number in the W.O.L. (phone book) and called them.
"Hello Jerusalem Pizza. We're closed. How can I help you?"
"Your closed?" I asked looking at my watch.
"Yes, were closed."
"Ok, thanks have a great night! There goes my supper." :( I said hanging up.
I wasn't ready to give up and have a bowl of cereal (that would have been a little of a depressing birthday supper)
So I decided to call Dave's Gourmet. A Fleshig place in town. I've been there a total of zero times. Just because I don't eat out. I like to stick with home-made food. Though I've heard that Dave's Gourmet food is really great - especially the Cholent on Thursday nights. I flipped to their ad in the W.O.L. (phone book) and on the bottom of the page in small print was......"MENTION THIS AD FOR A FREE MEAL ON YOUR BIRTHDAY" (up to Ten dollars) I grabbed a few friends and headed over to Dave's Gourmet and got a delicious free supper of I have no idea what it's called but it sure was good! IT'S ALL HP!

Who Stole the Cookie.......

Tova Debben, a ninth grader was making cookies for her younger sister's Chumash party. She spent the whole Sunday designing each cookie with each first grade girl name on a cookie . Early Monday morning, the day of the Chumash party, Tova walked into the kitchen to see her baby brother munching on a Chumash party cookie. On the cookie was the name Chana Bracha.

"Oh no" Tova thought. "Chana Bracha, won't have a cookie, she'll feel horrible."

Tova went to look at the box of cookies to see if any other cookies were missing. They were all there. Tova noticed that there was another cookie that said Chana Bracha."

"Hmmm, that's strange, how is there two Chana Brachas?"

Tova realized her mistake. There was a Chana Bracha and a Leah Bracha in her sisters class. She inadvertently made two Chana Brachas instead of Leah Bracha. Thankful her brother ate one of them, Tova quickly designed an extra cookie with the name LEAH Bracha. Imagine how Leah Bracha would have felt not seeing her name on one of the cookies and seeing two Chana Brachas. Hashem is looking out for everyone, He sent Tova's baby brother as a messenger to fix the problem!

Booked Up

There's a Jewish library that is open every Tuesday night. For the past few weeks Rikki, a twelfth grader has been going every Tuesday night looking for a specific book. But each time she went, someone had already taken it out. This past Tuesday was no different and it was not there. Frustrated, she took out a different book. She checked it out and started to leave. As she was leaving a lady walked in the door and in her hand was the book that Rikki wanted!

"My Mamma Said They'de Be Days Like That"

Today I had one of those days. I woke up late, had to rush to work, I did an activity with my class that completely flopped. My computer log-in would not work. Everything seemed to be going wrong. It was just one of those days. On these days its harder to see ITS ALL HP! But never the less IT IS ALL HP! You have to keep reminding yourself over and over, IT'S ALL HP!
Around nine o' clock at night I get a phone call from Rivky, an 11th grader asking how my day was.
"Hi, How are you?"My day was Baruch Hashem just great, couldn't be better, FANTASTIC.....How was yours?" I asked.
"Oh, my day was ok, whatever, well I dunno." Rivky said.
I realized she didn't care how my day was, she was having a hard day.
"Uh, sounds like you had a great day too. How about finish studying and doing your homework and then lets go out." I told her.
"Really? Thanks, I need something exciting."
When she was ready, we went to Meijers. When all else fails....Go to Meijers. It's a twenty four -hour supermarket (its like Walmart) Her older sister was with us too.
While her sister was shopping for a suitcase, Rivky and I found ourselves by a cage of basketballs and footballs. I picked a football up and tossed it to her. She tossed it back and we started a game of catch.
After our "football" game we put the ball back and Rivky pointed out that the football was on sale. We decided to buy it when we realized the basketballs were on sale not the footballs. We tried finding how much the footballs were but we couldn't find a price anywhere. I asked one of the workers standing near by how much footballs usually cost. (I never bought one)
"Around twenty dollars" he answered.
We continued playing and decided to bring it up to the cashier and see if they were really on sale.
"Excuse me," I asked the cashier. Is this football on sale? It was in the same cage as the basketballs and a bunch of other footballs."
"Hold on let me find out for you."
"Sports to register 21.Sports to register 21"
While we waited for someone to come I said to the cashier:
"Catch" and I threw her the football.
We played catch and she even taught me how to throw a football. We were talking, when she said "Hold on one minute."
She turned around and I saw her whisper something to a store manager that was standing behind her. She came back and took the football and rang it up.
"How much is it?" I asked.
She smiled and said, "Two dollars and eleven cents!"

On Sale

Mrs. Baum was marrying off her son and wanted to buy herself a new dress for Sheva Brachos. Sunday afternoon Mrs. Baum called a friend to invite her to go on a shopping spree at the mall in search for a new dress.
Hopping from store to store she finally found a dress she absolutely loved. It was perfect!
After trying it on she saw the price tag. It was two hundred dollars, way out of her budget. Disappointed, Mrs. Baum hung it back on the hanger and headed for the next store. While she was shopping she couldn't find anything and decided to go back to the other store and just buy the expensive dress.
They headed back to the store and discovered it had closed for the day. She was really upset at herself that she didn't buy it before.
Empty handed the two left the mall and headed for home.
The following week Rabbi Baum saw that his wife was upset that she didn't get the dress. He offered to go with her back to the mall to buy it.
When they got to the store Mrs. Baum made a bee-line to the dresses. In front of her was her dress, with a tag that said ON SALE: Sixty Dollars!

Earthquake

I told my girls yesterday that I have a new policy. (they looked really scared)

"Ok girls, for every HP story you tell me, you'll get a laffy taffy." (they weren't scared any more)

Boy did I get a lot of stories! (Some of them were a little ridiculous. This is my favorite one "its HP crocs don't have holes on the bottom- cause I was wearing crocs when I stepped in to a puddle. If they had holes on the bottom I would have gotten all wet:) )

Here's one story a girl told me that happened to her father this past week.

Rabbi Raskin works in Kashrus and does a lot of traveling to various countries. Last week he was sent to Peru. He was planning on staying through Shabbos and coming home on Sunday. Thursday afternoon Rabbi Raskin saw that he was done with what he needed to take care of and there was no reason for him to stay in Peru for Shabbos. He booked his ticket for later that day and was home for Shabbos.

After Shabbos they heard, that on on Friday there was a 6.9 (big) earthquake in Peru. - Exactly where Rabbi Raskin had been!


(she got a laffy taffy :) )

Missing Notes

During their lunch break, Chana and her friend Shani were talking. They were discussing a certain subject when Shani told Chana that she liked Chana's notes - they were organized , clear, highlighted, readable, and clean.

The next day in school Shani didn't show up- she had the flu. Chana being the thoughtful person she is thought it would be nice to carbon-copy her notes, since Shani had mentioned that she liked them.
A week later Chana was in class when she realized her notes were missing! Now Chana is OCD about having HER notes. She couldn't find them anywhere, and no one had borrowed them. Chana suddenly realized that her friend Shani had a carbon copy of HER notes. Chana carbon copied them over and now she had her HER notes again!

Heaven Sent Toothbrush

After brushing my teeth last night, my toothbrush fell in the garbage. I asked my mother if she had an extra toothbrush for me. To my disappointment, my mother didn't have one. She told me I should take it out of the garbage and wash it off. I didn't want to do that, and I just left it in the garbage.
This morning I was in the high school office when a twelfth grader came to the office desk to sign in.
"Hi Rivki, how are you?" I said. "Where are you coming from?"
"I had a dentist appointment this morning."
"Those are always fun, who's your dentist?" I asked.
"Dr. Huger. He's really nice. Today after my checkup I asked him for a toothbrush, and look how many he gave me."
Rivki pulled out a bag full of toothbrushes.
"Here do you want one?" she asked, handing me one.

Smiling I said, "You bet I want one. Not only do I want one, I actually need one. Thank you so much Rivki."

IT'S ALL HP!

Hidden Plans

On one of the main streets there is a construction site, where they are building a huge building.

"Mommy, did they start building yet?"

"Yes sweetie, they actually started a month ago."

"Well then why don't I see anything yet? It still looks like a pile of dirt."
"There is a lot going on. They are digging and building underneath. We just don't see it. There is a lot going on."

"Without building underneath, the second part can't happen. Have patience and you will soon see the building come up."

"You know what honey, it's like life. We don't always see what HaShem plans. Sometimes we have struggles, and it seems like a pile of dirt. Or we don't see anything at all, and it seems like nothing is happening. HaShem is always taking care of us. It's all for our good and for the best. In the end we have a beautiful outcome."

Its All in the Eye

If you follow this Blog then you have read the story about Tali's eye.

Well Tali's story is not over.
Tali's HP continues.

You see today Tali's father was building the Sukkah when he suddenly felt something fly in his eye. Thinking it was nothing, he blinked a few times and continued working.
Later in the day when his wife came home, his eye was still hurting. Tali's mother saw that his eye was all red and inflamed.
That same day Tali's parents were buying a new car, and had gone to the car dealership after the Sukkah was finish being built. They were at the dealership and Tali's mother noticed that her husband's eye was still bothering him.
She suddenly remembered that one of the many eye doctors that helped Tali had his office on the same block as the car dealership. She called the office right away. (Knowing the amount of times Tali went to that eye doctor Tali's mother probably had that number set to speed dial)
They called the office, but the next available appointment was the following day at 8:30 in the morning.
The eye doctor is a Yid and happened to have gone to Tali's father's Shabbos Shiur a few times. When Tali was having pain in her eye a few months ago, he had given his cell phone number to Tali's mother.
So they tried calling his cell phone.
A few minutes after leaving a message, the eye doctor called back.
The eye doctor told Tali's parents to come to his office right away.
He saw that Tali's father had two wood chips stuck in his eye, right near his cornea. On the spot the eye doctor had it surgically removed!
Mi K'amcha Yisroel!

Smartboard

Because of their Yom Iyun the high school girls were dismissed at 4:00 instead of 5:00. I was still in the high school building when a Twelfth grader called me.

"Hi, are you still in school, I forgot my Historia notes. Do you mind checking my classroom for them and bringing them home?"

"Yeah, sure no problem!"

When I went to look for them in her classroom, I couldn't find them anywhere. But, it sure was HP I went to her classroom. The Smartboard in their classroom was left on.

Unexpected Knock

Friday night, the third night of Rosh Hashana , The Rubin family didn't seem to be in a rush to make kiddush. Usually after Rabbi Rubin and his sons come home from Shul they make kiddush within ten minutes. However since no one in the family was hungry the family was taking their time. The older girls were in the kitchen doing more talking then getting ready. The younger kids were in the living room reading Mishpacha Junior and playing.
Rabbi Rubin and his wife were in the dining room about to call everyone to the table, when they suddenly heard a knock at the front door. Mrs. Rubin went to answer the door and saw an unexpected guest who needed a meal.
"Come in, come in! Perfect timing, come, were just about to start!"
As Gila Rubin walked in to the dining room she whispered to her mother,
"HP, we didn't start when we usually do, otherwise we would be by dessert!"

Manna from Heaven

During the summer Aviva Wolman got a ride to Toronto with the Goldman family.

The week after her trip, Aviva wanted to give the Goldmans something to thank them for the ride. Thursday night Aviva was thinking what would be a good gift. Flowers didn't seem right, and a candy tray wouldn't be appreciated. Talking it over with her mother, they decided that a hot fresh Challah would be a great idea.
Erev Shabbos, Aviva drove down to the Goldmans home and knocked on their door. After knocking and knocking a neighbor told her they weren't home.

Aviva called her mother to find out what she should do with the Challah. Mrs. Wolman suggested Aviva to drop it off at Mrs. Silman's house on her way home. Mrs. Silman was a neighbor who was often a recipient onf Mrs. Wolman's Challah.

Mrs. Silman didn't answer so Aviva left it on the chair on her porch.

Meanwhile Mrs. Silman was setting her table for Shabbos when she realized she forgot to buy two Challos. She by mistake only bought one. Mrs. Silman called her neighbor to see if she can borrow a Challah.

Opening the front door she saw her own personal Manna from heaven.....A hot fresh Challah was sitting on her porch.

Positive Damage

One of Mrs. Lanser's project's this summer was to refurbish the guest room in her house.

The last thing Mrs. Lanser ordered was a new set of mattresses.

A few days later, early in the morning they came to deliver the mattresses. The moving men set them all up and was about to leave when one of the men noticed there was rip in one of the mattresses.

Disappointed Mrs. Lanser returned the mattresses. (since it was damaged they picked them up the next day for free.) She really wanted to have the guest room all set up and finished before Rosh Hashana. The next week when she reordered the mattress's, she discovered the exact mattresses were ON SALE! (Mrs. Lanser ended up saving a lot of money!)

Change the World

I was in the school office about to go and teach Eighth grade, when the high school principal walked into the office. She asked me to make a copy of a poem for one of the high school teachers. I didn't want to be late to class- but since I was late already- I made the copies for her.

Curious to see what she was copying I started reading it......HP It was exactly on the topic I was teaching Eighth grade. I made copies for the whole class and handed them out.



Here is the poem:
Written by: I have no idea

When I was young and free and my
imagination had no limits , I dreamed of
changing the world;

As I grew older and wiser I realized the
world would not change.
And I decided to shorten my sights
somewhat and change only my country.

But it too seemed immovablel
As I entered my twilight years, in one last
desperate attempt, I sought to change
only my family, those closest to me, but
alas they would have none of it.

And now here I lie on my death bed and
realize (perhaps for the first time) that if
only I'd changed myself first, then by
example I may have influenced my
family and with their encouragement
and support I may have bettered my
country, and who knows I may have
changed the world.

Just a Pen

A group of lifeguards went to spend their off day in Monticello . They made up with the camp driver, they would meet at Simply Sushi at Six Thirty PM.

Six Thirty, the camp van came and the girls piled in. As the van was pulling out of the parking lot, Shoshana, one of the life guards, suddenly said.

"Wait, I forgot to give back the pen I borrowed from the cashier."

"Oh Shoshana, its just a pen, he probably doesn't even care, lets just go. We have to get back to camp," her friend Chana said.

"No Chana, I need to return it. I'm going back in."

Shoshana jumped off the van and ran in to return the pen to the cashier.

"Thank you for returning the pen," the cashier said. "I'm glad you came back, someone from your group left their credit card here- do you know who's it is?"

Looking down at the credit card Shoshana saw it was HER credit card.

Clean Machine

It was the night after visiting day in camp and I had to clean the cotton candy machine. (one of my favorite jobs) After closing the canteen at Twelve Am, I decided I had pushed it off long enough and it was time to clean the machine.
At 1:30 I finally got to it. As I was finishing cleaning the cotton candy machine I suddenly had an urge to clean the whole canteen from top to bottom. It's very rare that I get these moods. It does happen- once in a while.
For the next two hours, I organized all the shelves, wiped down and cleaned all the machines. The toaster ovens, the microwave, the slush machine and even the freezer doors. I changed the table cloths, and swept and mopped the floor.
Locking the canteen door, I realized I had never seen the canteen this clean. Feeling good that it was so clean I went to sleep.
The very next day, first thing in the morning, the camp director walkies me, to tell me there was a surprise visitor that just came to camp to visit the canteen.......it was the HEALTH INSPECTOR!!!!! They have not been to camp in three years. (and boy was he impressed with the immaculate canteen)

Graduation Trip

Last week Tuesday, I took seventeen eighth graders on their graduation trip.
Coming back from the trip that night I reflected on the days event.......Although it did not go as planned, I had an amazing time with the girls.
What I learned from this trip is that EVERYTHING is HP and from Hashem. EVEN if it doesn't have a smashing and happy ending, and we don't necessarily "see" the Yad Hashem clearly, it is still HASHGACHA PRATIS.

• Early Tuesday morning as we got into the vans..... it started raining.

• We were supposed to catch the 12:00 ferry to the Island.....but we got lost and had to wait an hour for the 1:00 ferry.
  

• We were bike riding and my skirt, as well as a few other girls skirts got stuck in our bikes. One girl's bike completely broke. We had to call the bike rental place and have them bring us another one.
  

• At 4:00 we went Kayaking. Since there were 17 girls and only one chaperon kayaking, I brought my phone along with me in a zip lock bag. While we were kayaking, I saw in the distance three kayaks going in the direction of a huge current and a waterfall with lots of rocks. I quickly kayaked over to them and started yelling directions. Paddling their oars, two boats were able to get out. All of a sudden a huge wave came right where the third boat was and their kayak went in the air and flipped into the water. I quickly kayaked over to them, Baruch Hashem both of the girls were OK.(HP, they didn't bang their heads on the rocks) . After helping them back into their kayak, I got back in to my own. But I was unable to go anywhere. Each time I started rowing, a huge wave would come over me and my kayak. I was drenched and my kayak was full of water. After fifteen minutes with the help of two eight graders I finally got out from the waves and the rocks. One HP about the Kayak trip- the girls made a HUGE Kiddush Hashem!
  

• On the way back to the dock I discovered that my phone was not a phone anymore. It was a rather wet broken phone. (I tried everything to revive it,...drying it in the sun.....put in rice......throwing it on the floor.....crying and asking Hashem to just make it turn on....Nothing worked!)

• We planned on catching the 7:00 ferry,have a barbecue and then head back home at 9:00. Riding our bikes back to the ferry, a girls skirt got stuck in her bike.......we missed the ferry by two minutes! We had to wait for the 8:00 ferry.

• On the ferry back, we heard that they were expecting a HUGE thunderstorm, By the time we got back to the vans it was late and the sky was getting dark. It was a two hour ride back and we didn't have time to have a barbecue. As soon as we got in to the vans and pulled out of the parking lot, it started pouring rain.

The next day instead of getting ready for camp...I spent the whole day in the Verizon store trying to get a new phone.
It was a day filled with hidden HASHGACHA PRATIS!

Regardless of what the ending was or might be.......
..............ITS ALL HP!

Car Trouble

Hadassah had an appointment last week on Erev Shabbos. Her appointment ended early and she was debating if she should stop by the Target that was right near there. Needing a few items, and having time, she drove to Target. As soon as she walked inside, she saw her friend walking in.

"Hadassah I was hoping I would see someone. My car broke down. It was brought to the shop that's around the corner, so I walked here figuring I would meet someone. My car won't be ready for another two hours."

"Malka, that's HP! Do you want me to drive you home?"

As soon as they got into Hadassah's car it started pouring rain!

One Cup of Coffee

Rabbi Banor was getting ready for Shabbos, when he noticed his wife filling up their hot water urn.

"Dear, why do you fill it up all the way every week? It's just the two of us and we only drink one cup of coffee each. It's a waste of water to fill it up all the way every week," Rabbi Banor said.

"I don't know why I do, I have always filled it all the way. My mother has always filled it, her mother always did, my great grandmother.......I guess it's tradition. And I don't want to be the first one to break this tradition."

Not wanting to mess with his wife's family tradition, he kept quite.

Early Shabbos morning there was a knock at the Banor home. Opening the door Rabbi Banor saw his across the street neighbor standing on the Banor's door step, holding two empty mugs.

"Good Shabbos, Rabbi Banor." the neighbor said. "I forgot to plug in our hot water urn before Shabbos. Do you by any chance have an extra cup of water to spare. My mother-in-law is by me for Shabbos, and she doesn't do well without her coffee.

"Oh, you bet we have hot water, we have more then enough to spare. I'll fill these cups, go back home and get more mugs for me to fill!"

Wrong Number???

Tzippi Kessler was planning a small high school reunion for her classmates and the alumni that lived in her town.
The day of the reunion Tzippi was going over her To Do list when she realized she forgot to buy paper goods.
Tzippi wanted to run out to pick them up, but her baby was sleeping and her kids were expected home from school within the next half hour.
Really wanting to get everything set for the reunion, she picked up the phone to dial her across the street neighbor to see if she could babysit for her, while she ran out.

"Hi Leah?" Tzippi said.

"No, I'm sorry this is not Leah, this is Chaya, who is this?" the voice at the other end said.

"Oh I'm sorry, I must have gotten the wrong number" Tzippi said.

"Not a problem, it happens. Wait, you sound so familiar, is this by any chance Tzippi Weiss?"

"Yeah that's my maiden name, who is this?" Tzippi asked surprised.

"I knew I recognized your voice. Everyone remembers you and your stunning voice. This is Chaya Basser/Jacobs. I was a senior in high school when you were in tenth grade. I just moved to town a few days ago."

"Chaya, wow, its been so long, I would love to see you, we are actually having a high school reunion tonight at my house, for my class and any alumni that live in town, please come, you could see everyone, they will be so happy to see you!

"I would love to come stop by. Well this was Hashgacha Pratis! Thank you so much. I'm running out now to do some errands and grocery shopping, is there anything you want me to pick up for reunion? Chaya asked.

"That's so sweet of you Chaya, I'm so glad you asked, I actually do, I forgot to buy paper goods. Would you mind picking some up?"

"It would be my pleasure!"

After giving Chaya her address, Tzippi hung up smiling not believing what had just happened.
What Hashgacha Pratis!

ICE CREAM

Last Sunday was my neighbors birthday party - she is 8 years old. The party was from 1:00- 3:00. Since I work on Sundays and don't get home until after 2:oo, I told them that I would come at the end and help clean up. But they should save me a piece of Birthday Cake.

Sunday, when I got home from work I realized I forgot to buy her a birthday present. For an eight year old this is very important. I didn't have time to run out and buy anything, so I took a piece a paper and made a ticket that said "THIS TICKET ENTITLES YOU TO ONE OUTING TO ICE CREAM WITH ME"

(She was very excited!)

The next day she called all excited, asking if we could go out for ice cream. I was really busy and apologized that it wouldn't work out.

She called me the next day, the day after that, and the day after that. I was really busy every night and I wasn't available to go out with her.

Thursday night I needed to bake for Shabbos. When I came back from work I was really hot and I didn't want heat up the house with the oven, so I decided to bake late at night when it cooled down. Now I had an extra half hour before I had to run out so I called my neighbor and told her to put on her shoes....... we would go out for ice cream!!!!

When we got to the ice cream store, the cashier told us that TODAY there was a SALE!!! ONLY TODAY ICE CREAM COSTS..............$.99! YAY!

Valuable Math Lesson

Mrs. Jonas (the math teacher where I work) told me this HP story:

Every year Mrs. Jonas takes her math class to the supermarket for a class math trip. There they do a math related activity and after they have a party with Popsicles, soda, chips, and snacks. (she does not teach nutrition) While her students were doing the activity Mrs. Jonas bought the Popsicles and snacks.

As the cashier was ringing up her items, he told her the Popsicles were $3.99.
"Excuse me, but there was a sign that said they were on sale for $1.99." Mrs. Jonas said softly.
"Oh no they are not on sale, go check again." the cashier replied.
Mrs. Jonas went to check again, she returned and replied calmly that indeed there was a sale.
"I'm sorry Miss, but they are NOT on sale."
"Well then I don't want to buy them, I will go put them back."
When Mrs. Jonas went back to the freezer section the store manager happened to be right near the Popsicles.
"Sir, are these Popsicles on sale?" she asked the manager.
"Yes, they are on sale of $1.99" the manager answered.

The store manager went with Mrs. Jonas back up to the cashier. Admitting he was wrong, the cashier apologized to Mrs. Jonas for the trouble of going back and forth. He gave the Popsicles to her FOR FREE!

At this point her class was done the activity. (just in time to see Mrs. Jonas getting the Popsicle's for free).........Now that's a math lesson to remember.....when shopping, make sure the cashier drives you nuts, that's one way to save money!

Shattered Glass

This morning I put potatoes in the toaster oven for lunch. The potatoes were in the oven for about half an hour when there was a sudden explosion!

The toaster's glass door exploded and shattered everywhere - the kitchen, the living room, on top of the table, under the table, on the counter, on top of chairs . . . basically it shattered everywhere.

Now for the HP......

My father's seat in the kitchen is next to the toaster oven. Right before the explosion, he was by his seat working and gathering his papers. A few seconds after he left the kitchen to go to the next room, is when the glass shattered - right where he had been A FEW SECONDS earlier.

Teachers Meeting

Yesterday I had a really busy morning and I didn't have time to make a lunch. HP! When I got to work there was a teachers meeting.......and they served salad, fruit, cookies and cake, drinks and food.

Later that day there was a teacher that collapsed, she needed a drink but can only drink DIET. There is never DIET sodas in school. But, since there was meeting that day they had DIET soda, and were able to give it to the teacher!

Where, Who, and When

It was Erev Shabbos after Pesach and Liba's house was very empty. On Pesach, Liba's house was hopping with noise. With all her married siblings and nieces and nephews, there was constantly something happening. So now that all her siblings had left, Liba was feeling lonely that it was only her and her parents for Shabbos.
As she was setting the table for just three (and not twenty five) she remembered that it was Shabbos Mevorchim. Every Shabbos Mevorchim the Shul at the corner of her block had a special Kabbalas Shabbos with singing and dancing.
Feeling rather down, she told her mother she wanted to go. Mrs. Friedman told her daughter that it was a great idea and she should definitely go. (Liba NEVER goes to Shul on Friday nights)
When Liba got to Shul she davened Kabbalas Shabbos and enjoyed the singing and dancing. In middle of davening, Liba suddenly realized that before Shabbos her friend had mentioned to her that a Pirkei Avos Shiur for high school girls was starting that week. Her friend didn't know where it was, what time it was at, and who was speaking, but she told Liba to call a girl by the name of Nechama Stien, who was in charge of the Shiur.
Liba had completely forgotten to call Nechama Stien, so she had no information of when or where the Shiur was.
After davening finished Liba started walking home. Instead of walking down her own block, Liba decided to walk down the block that was one block over from her house. Within a few minutes of walking home she suddenly saw Nechama Stein walking with her family. Liba couldn't believe it, she bounced over to Nechama Stien.
"This is HP!"
Nechama gave Liba all the information that she needed.
The next day Liba was at her neighbors house when she looked at her watch and saw that it was time to go to the Shiur. Leaving her neighbors house she saw her friend right across the street.
"I just went to your house and no one answered. I didn't know what to do, because I don't where the Shiur is and I was hoping you would know" (Liba's friend lives in a different neighborhood and had walked over an hour to come to the Shiur)
"I was just thinking of what to do, when you suddenly walked out of your neighbors house." her friend said.

HAPPY PASSOVER

Erev Pesach, my mother sent me on errands to buy a table cloth and other items as well. As I was standing in front of the tablecloths, I saw a girl that looked really familiar. ( BTW- I got the last table cloth in the whole store-HP!) Picking up the tablecloth from the shelf, I turned and saw that the girl who looked familiar was still standing there with her friend.
I went over to her and started talking to her. It turned out that I had met her last year at a Shabbaton. Her name was Ashley and her friend was Sara. After talking for a few minutes we said goodbye and Ashley wished me a Happy Passover.
After getting what I needed, ( I realized after, that I really wasn't done) I went to stand in line. Standing in front of me was Ashley and Sara.
"So what are you guys doing for Passover?" I asked hoping they would be our guests for one of the Sedorim.
Suddenly Ashley turned to Sara and almost shouted,
"Sara, we can't buy this (they were holding a HUGE container of Pretzels) It's gonna be Passover tonight!"
They returned the pretzels to the shelf and walked out of the store!

COSTCO

My family's favorite store is Costco -my brother has a mini Costco in his house.
My sister-in-law usually does her Costco shopping on Mondays.
This week my brother told my sister in-law she should go on Sunday. Shabbos Hagadol my sister-in-law and brother are having A LOT of guests. Listening to her husband (that's what a good wife does) she went on Sunday.
When she got to Costco she saw that this might not of been the best day to come- THE PLACE WAS PACKED!
She always enters by the exit, because they have their flyers with the coupons there. (a little backwards) As she was entering a worker came over to her.
"You looking for a flyer?" she asked
"YUP!" she answered.
"I'm sorry, but were all out of them." she said.
My sister-in-law smiled, muttered under her breath "its all hp", and went to go get a wagon. There were only four wagons left. As she started her shopping she saw in the wagon was a new flyer that had all the coupons still in it. Looking through the flyer she saw that the coupons expired THAT DAY!
After she finished her shopping she compared her filled wagon with the flyer. EVERYTHING THAT SHE BOUGHT WAS ON SALE!!!!!

LET THE SNOW MELT

Before my friend was leaving Israel she bought herself a ring that said "Gam Zu L"Tova". A few weeks after she came home she was at a friends house for Shabbos lunch. When she went to take her ring off to wash, she realized she was MISSING her ring! (She couldn't be upset- after all her ring DID say, 'THIS TOO IS FOR THE GOOD') She looked EVERYWHERE! After spending the whole meal looking for the ring she GAVE UP! Her hostess told her that she should just wait for the snow to melt, maybe it fell in the snow on her way in to the house.
She forgot about her ring until a few months later she was at the same friends house (this time though the snow melted). She remembered that she had lost her ring there a few months ago. She went outside to see if her ring was there. Within a few seconds of looking she saw on the driveway was HER RING! Picking up the ring she read the message that was engraved GAM ZU L'TOVA!

NEVER GIVE UP AND REALIZE THAT EVERYTHING IS FOR THE GOOD!!!!!

You've Got A Package!

My friend in New York had a box, she wanted to send me. We were both thinking of how she would get it to me. The package was too big to send in the mail, and she didn't either want to send it with someone flying, and pay them twenty five dollars to take it on the plane.

Wednesday, I get a random phone call from a high school girl from the other high school asking me if I knew anyone driving to New York. I apologized and told her I didn't, but if I heard of anything I would let her know.

Later that night my father happened to mention to me that he got an e-mail that there was someone driving to New York the next day, Thursday night.

It turned out that the high school girl wasn't able to go, because there was a boy driving in the car, and it would be Yichud.

I asked my father for the number of the driver to find out if they could bring back my box from my friend. The driver was more then happy to bring it for me, and said they had room because the other passenger that was going along just backed out. I asked the driver the address where my friend should drop the package.

"On East 10th between M and N".

HP!

My friend lives on East 12th between M and N!"

Too Tired

Rachel told me an HP story that happened when Rachel and her mother went shopping.

On the way home from shopping they stopped off at the bank. When they entered the bank they saw the line was really long. They were tired from shopping and decided to go home and come back later instead of waiting in the long line. An hour after they got home they heard there was a robbery in that bank a little bit after they left.

Just One Number

It was 4:30 and the high school principal was filling out some forms. She stepped out of her office and asked me if I could find out what the congressional district number our school is in. I looked for a few minutes but wasn't able to find it. The phone rang and I got busy with something else. Two minutes to five, I looked again and found the number she needed. 5:02 the principal was leaving her office with her coat and bag.

"Bye, have a good night, see you tomorrow." she said

"Goodnight, see you tomorrow, oh I found out the district number, its 12." I said

"Oh thanks, you know I should really write it down, I'm going to forget it by tomorrow." she said turning back to her office.

A few seconds later she stepped out of her office and said.

"Its a good thing I went to write it down, I forgot my phone on my desk."

Pre Purim HP Story

This was a phone conversation I had last night:

"Ding a ling a ling"


ME: Hello?


Lady: Hi, this is Mrs. Berman.

(Mrs. Berman is one of the ladies in the community who arranges hospital and nursing home visits through out the year)


ME: Hi Mrs. Berman how are you?

MRS. BERMAN: Good Baruch Hashem I'm doing great, I was wondering if you would be able to make a visit to the nursing home on Purim.

ME: Oh Mrs. Berman I would love to, but I'm not going to be here for Purim


MB: Oh really, where are you going?


ME: We're going to Montreal.

MB: Montreal?!


ME: Yeah Montreal!

MB: I have a daughter that lives there, and I wanted to send her Mishloach Manos, but wasn't sure how I would get it to her. Would I be able to send it with you?


ME: Sure, I would be more then happy to take it.


MB: Thank you so much! I'm so glad I called you.

ME: Hey, that's HP!


MB: Uh, What!?

ME: Hashgacha Praits


MB: Yes it definitely is!

Nice Colored Sheitel

Mrs. Lamen came home from the Sheitel Macher with a new Sheitel in her hand.

"Oh Mommy, Did you get a new Sheitel?" Shira Lamen asked.

"Well, actually I'm not sure, I couldn't decide if I should get it or not, so the Sheitel Macher let me take it home and get your opinion. It's a really nice sheitel, but it's a darker color then the usual color I wear. I'm going to try it on, tell me what you think." Mrs. Lamen said.

Mrs. Lamen tried it on and asked her daughters their opinions. Shira loved it, Tzippi said it made her look old, and Ariella, her two year old wasn't sure. (Mrs. Lamen didn't bother asking her sons.) Going back and forth whether to get it or not, she decided to ask her neighbor. Her neighbor said she liked it, then changed her mind that said she didn't. Now Mrs. Lamen was even more confused. She wore her regular Sheitel and put the new one on the side until she made her decision.
The next night, Mrs. Lamen was at a woman's event. As she was leaving the event, a random lady came over to her and said.
"I really like that color sheitel. It looks so nice on you, it matches your skin perfectly." she said.
"Oh, well thank you!" Mrs. Lamen said smiling.
Mrs. Lamen had received all kinds of compliments before, but never did she get a compliment on the color of her Sheitel. And certainly not on the same day she was deciding about what color to go with.

Coming home she told her family she made a decision. Listening to her messages she returned the new Sheitel and stuck with her old one.

"Seeing" HP Clearly!

Last week, my mother and I went to get new glasses. (it's a lot of fun trying on all different types of glasses)...but it also takes a long time. After trying on almost every pair, we finally decided on the frames we wanted. The lady that was helping us, (which means tried convincing us that only the most expensive pair of glasses looked nice) was about to ring us up, when in walked my friend and her cousins. In her hands she was holding a phone book. After talking to her and getting another opinion from her, I asked her why in the world she was carrying around with her a phone book. "Look," she said " On the bottom of every page is a $50 coupon to this store. Here, take a page." Both my friend and I were able to use the coupon, we both saved $50! *My friend told me that she had been to the store earlier that day with her mother and she couldn't decided between two pairs of glasses. So she had asked her cousins to come with her later that night to get their opinion.

Your Address Please....

My sister is a Program Director in a high school. This past Shabbos they had their school Shabbaton.

She told me this great HP story .

Each girl was in charge of something else for the Shabbaton. Baila and Shaina's job was to arrange the Motzoei Shabbos activity. After going back and forth they finally decided on The Drum Circle Workshop . An activity where someone comes in with a lot of different types of drums. Basically its an interactive workshop with drums. The girls get to bang and make noise. (its a great way to get out your stress, I highly recommend it) After arranging all the details on the phone, Baila was about to hang up when the man asked her the address of the camp grounds. Baila didn't know the address. She apologized and said she'd ask the program director for the address and call back as soon as possible.

Within minutes she called back and gave him the address.

"Well, thank you very much," he said to Baila, "We'll see you March 26th"

"March 26th!?!?!?!" Baila said, "It's for this week, FEBRUARY 26th!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was for March, it's a good thing you called back with the address otherwise you would not of had an activity this weekend and we would have showed up to empty camp grounds in the middle of March."

Gone With The Wind?!

This is an UNBELIEVABLE story! It's REAL HP! When I heard this story I was blown away. Everyone that I told this story to was 'blown' :) away.
Now with that introduction here's the story:
My friend, after work needed to go to the bank and deposit two checks. She also needed to stop off at two stores. Dassie decided to go to the mall first and then to the bank. She did her shopping, got what she needed from both stores, and headed for the bank. She was at the traffic light, gathering up what she needed for the bank when she suddenly realized she was missing her checks. The last place she had seen them was in the mall. She wasn't sure which store though. The first store she had gone to was a HUGE department store. She decided against going there. She had gone all over that store on all three floors and there was not a chance she would find it there. So she went to the second store. After looking all around, under clothing racks, behind mannequins, and on top of tables, she gave up. It was NO WHERE!

"Excuse me, did you by any chance see two papers flying around the store?" Dassie asked the cashier. She hadn't.

As she was leaving the store she asked the - I don't know the official name for those extremely friendly ladies who smile and welcome you to the store, but that's who she asked.

"No, honey, I'm sorry I didn't see it, but is there anything else I could help you with? I hope you know about our sale, buy five items and get the sixth half off."

My friend started leaving the store, when suddenly a shopper came over to her.
"I just over heard you talking to the sales lady. I actually did happen to see two papers in the parking lot. You can try looking there, but it might not be there, it's pretty windy out there"
My friend quickly left and started looking all over the parking lot, but did not find them. Dassie went back inside the store. She asked the shopper where she had seen it.

"Try looking down by Toys R' Us."

Dassie left again (this time she avoided the sales lady telling her about all their amazing sales) and headed in the direction of Toys R Us. As she was walking around the parking lot, she saw two papers flying in the wind.

Chasing the papers, Dassie finally caught up with them. Picking it up she saw it was none other then HER TWO CHECKS!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S ALL HP!

(If the one purpose for those super friendly sales ladies was for Dassie to find her checks then they are worth it. Now Dassie never complains about those sales ladies :) )

Plaster Covered Cookie Anyone?

Raizy's kitchen was flying. It was the Wednesday before her brother's afruf and she was baking up a storm. The fourteen layer cake was cooling, the Strawberry Short Cake was in the fridge and the Pecan Pie just came out of the oven.The last thing she was going to make was crinkle cookies. Raizy finished covering the crinkle cookies with confectionery sugar and put the first batch in the oven. On her way to the sink to wash her hands, she licked the confectionery sugar that was on her fingers. She spit it out as soon as she tasted the "confectionery sugar". This was definitely not confectionery sugar!

She went to find the bag where she had gotten this powder from. On her kitchen table Raizy saw a clear plastic bag where she thought she got the confectionery sugar. There were some painters painting at her house that day painting their kitchen. They had left a bag of plaster powder on the kitchen table that looked exactly like confectionery sugar. Raizy was thankful that she licked her fingers and saved herself from serving chocolate cookies covered with plaster powder!

Wrong Name?

Zev Klein became a chosson a month ago and was learning in Eretz Yisroel until his wedding. He made a flight on El Al, to come to America a week before his wedding. A few days ago he was thinking about his flight home and was wondering if he had requested an aisle seat. Whenever he flies he is very particular that he has an aisle seat. He was debating if he should call up El Al to see if he could get an aisle seat. He finally decided to just call and make sure he had one.
"Hello, my name is Zev Klein and I had a reservation on your seven am flight on March 7th. I wanted to request an aisle seat."
"Hold on one minute, let me check our computers." the agent said.
After waiting for several minutes, the agent finally returned.
"I'm sorry, we don't have anyone by the name of Zev Klein on this flight."
"Are you sure?" Zev was confused, he was a hundred percent sure he made a ticket on this flight. "Can you check again please?"
The agent checked again and came back saying,
"No, sorry, no Zev Klein, but there is a Zev Klied on this flight." she said
Zev and the agent figured out that indeed, that was Zev's ticket, but the agent who had taken down his name, took it down wrong.
"You are one lucky guy Zev. If you would have shown up on the day of your flight they would not have let you on."
Over the phone Zev fixed the mistake and Baruch Hashem was able to have a flight home for his wedding.

It All Started With a Laptop

When we were in Florida two of my friends (Mimi and Simi) brought their laptops. When Mimi got home she realized that her laptop recharger was missing. Basically, Simi by mistake took home both laptop recharger's. HP, Mimi was able to use a friends recharger until Simi sent her, her recharger. Monday morning, Mimi was using her computer but didn't have a recharger. (Her friend needed it at work) While Mimi was using her computer it started beeping telling her to plug it in... since she didn't have a recharger she couldn't exactly do that. Mimi wasn't sure what she was going to do because she really needed to use her computer. She used it until it completely died. As she was getting ready for work, she suddenly heard a knock at the door. Wondering who it was, she went to answer the door. It was none other then the mailman, delivering her...........recharger!

"You couldn't have come at a better time" Mimi shrieked.

"Oh, that's just great, BArUch HaSHem" the mailman smiled.

Money Grows On........

My friend from Israel just sent me this HP story:
While waiting for the number 4 bus after school, I realized I didn't have money to pay my babies babysitter.I realized I would have to go home first, get money, and then go all the way back to the babysitter. Now, after a long day at school, I really wasn't in the mood of all that. To add to it, it was late and I still needed to daven mincha. If I made the extra trip home I would miss shkia. Not sure what to do I got on the bus and walked towards the back to find a seat. And.... it happened to be on the bus was non other then a girl from my class. She gladly lent me money I needed. I didn't have to make the extra trip home!!!

Just In Time

My brother was going on vacation with his family for a few days. His plan was to leave his car in front of his in-laws house in Brooklyn and get a ride from Brooklyn to the airport. On Thursday morning when he came to Brooklyn he tried parking, but because of all of the snow (or maybe because its Brooklyn) he couldn't find any parking spots. He called his father in law and asked, if he could park his car by his office which was a few blocks away. His father in-law was more then happy to let him park his car there, he just told my brother that he should leave the car keys inside the office, on his desk. My brother parked the car by his father-in-law's office and went to put the keys inside. As he was leaving the office he saw a delivery truck pulling up the driveway. It was a shipment of his father-in-law's books that had just been printed. No one was in the office besides for my brother. HP he was there to let the delivery men inside and deliver the boxes.

Happiness

What is happiness?
I was teaching seventh grade this morning and I asked them this question. After discussing with them what happiness is, I had them all write down on a piece of paper what makes THEM happy. They each filled up a whole paper with things that make them happy. I had one girl come up and read to the class what she wrote. She read, "Vacation, chocolate, rollerblading, no school, good grades, ice cream, friends, jewelry, parties, ......."

All eighteen seventh graders agreed and shouted out similar things. I asked them to take all their papers and put it in to a foil pan. I then told them to put on their coats and follow me outside. I took out a box of matches and lit all their papers on fire and burnt them until they were ashes. We had a mini bonfire. Back inside the classroom I told to them the following.
"You just wrote on your papers all the things that made you happy, and I just burnt all of it, its gone,its ashes, you don't have it anymore. All those things that make you happy are GONE! Does that make you sad?"
"Yes" they answered.
"Well then that is not true happiness, Yes those things MAKE us happy. But it's not TRUE happiness."
So then what is true Happiness?

We discussed this question, I then went to the board and in HUGE letters wrote.............. IT'S ALL HP!
"Girls, knowing that EVERYTHING comes from Hashem is true happiness. That means that even if something doesn't go your way, you know that it's from Hashem so there is no reason to be sad. Let say all your friends got to go on vacation and you didn't. That would make you sad. If vacation is what makes you happy and you didn't have it, you would be sad. But if you know that Hashem wants the best for you and wants you to be home for whatever reason, you would not be sad. Lets take another example. Let say hotdogs makes you happy, and your at a Community barbecue in the park. But your mother doesn't let you have any hotdogs. Does that make you sad, YES! But the reason she doesn't let you have it is because later she's planning a surprise ice cream birthday party for your Uncle Harry. She doesn't tell you, because its a surprise, but she wants you to have ice cream later and enjoy the party.
We know it's HP and it's from Hashem. So there is no need to be sad and unhappy. ( Yes it's easier said then done), Look out for the HP in your life, get a notebook and write all your HP stories. Tell everyone that you meet your HP stories. TALK ABOUT IT. Send me your HP stories. JUST DO IT! Even if you don't see a happy ending, It's still HP!" BE HAPPY- ITS HP!

The Shoe Fits

My friend Haddasah had been looking for shoes for her sister's wedding for a while. The wedding was getting closer and she still couldn't find anything. Showing up to the wedding without shoes is not such a good idea. She decided to go back to DSW Shoe Store again - for the fifteenth time. As she was leaving her house, she found a Starbucks coupon in her purse. She knew she wasn't going to use it, so she went to put it in the kitchen drawer, where they keep all their store coupons. Right on the top of the coupon pile was a $10 off coupon to DSW! She went to the store and actually found shoes - the day that she also found the coupon!