Sightings

One of the things along this journey that I really enjoy are the sightings of the name Abigail (or sometimes Abby) in places and at times when I least expect them.  Some are incredibly meaningful, like finding the story of David and Abigail scheduled for as one of my daily chapters on the anniversary of when it all began.

Others are just fun.  Seeing the name Abigail on a placemat in a toy store, right at eye level.   The name of a little dog in a story, things like that.  This week has had a few sightings as I began reading in 1 Chronicles, and have seen a couple sightings on Facebook.  But this morning's sighting fell right into the fun category. 

Backstory:  A few weeks ago we visited my parents.  One of the things we always do on a visit is to check out the local thrift shop there.  This last time, we found an interesting children's book about the Hebrew alphabet.  The book introduces each letter by telling a story about it, based on its shape or some other characteristic.  We've giggled together as the letter Gimel thought he was a gamal (camel), cheered on Peh as he helped the shofar with a sore throat, and celebrated with little Yod as he discovered how important he was, even as the tiniest letter.  Of course as the reader of this book, I turned to my knowledgeable friend Google to figure out how to pronounce the names of the unfamiliar letters.  Sure enough, a video of kids at Hebrew school singing the Aleph Bet song gave us what we needed.

 My two have decided that they really enjoy hearing different versions of songs about the Hebrew alphabet, so we've been watching some online.   Some versions are fun.   Some are simple.   And then there are those that  just really, really, really leave you with your jaw agape.  (Seriously?  A smurf-like conehead, a princess, a half-dressed frog, and toothpaste-like oompa loompas?  Of course, this one would have to be the boy's favorite.)

That brought us to this morning, as we ran across the Israeli version of Sesame Street in our search for other versions.  My sister had just been regaling the kids with tales of her trip to Israel and all the sites she had seen, so we decided to watch some of the videos of Grover visiting Israel.  As Grover was being introduced to the other muppets, I caught a name that sounded familiar - Avigáyil - yes, Abigail.   (That's the Hebrew writing of it below her picture.)   So our fun sighting of the day is a very, very pink and purple muppet from Shalom Sesame.    (Today's post has been brought to you by the letters Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Lamed.)