Thankful Thursday

1. My dad got FABULOUS news yesterday. The urologist at Hopkins said that the oncologist my dad saw last month was wrong. His cancer hasn't returned! PTL!

2. Paul went several weeks without submitting any more job applications (he submitted 18 in 2012), but we're working on 6 more right now, which will bring the total to 27. Those 27 schools are located in the following states: PA, MD, RI, MA, NY, OH, WV, VA, NC, NJ, and TN.

3. Paul is scheduled to participate in a telephone interview tomorrow at 5:30pm! We are SO grateful that he finally made it to this stage with one of his applications. If nothing else, it will give him some interviewing experience. Most of the positions he has applied for have been at 2 year schools (not his first choice because he would prefer to teach physical chemistry, which is only offered at 4 year schools) or for visiting professor positions at 4 year schools (1-3 years in length, which again isn't our first choice as we'd really like to settle down after our next move). This telephone interview is for a physical chemistry position at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. I am trying not to get my hopes up, but this is exactly the type of job Paul wanted, and it's one of the very few applications that was for a physical chemistry tenure track position. We'd appreciate your prayers for Paul on Friday that he will do his very best. They emailed him a list of questions to be prepared to answer.

4. My sister, Yvonne, gave birth to her sixth child. Julianna Kate (their second daughter) was born on Valentine's Day. Oliver is no longer the youngest of my parents' 12 grandchildren. Julianna won't be the youngest for long as Wendy is in the third trimester as well. We'll look forward to meeting Julianna next year. They haven't met Oliver yet.

5. Paul has been meeting the deadlines for graduating in May from PSU. He took a long time to wrap things up at Bucknell with his Master's degree. He didn't officially graduate until January 2010 although he started his PhD at PSU in August 2008. I am relieved to know that won't happen this time. Today he submitted his dissertation for the formatting check. He took today and tomorrow off from work to accomplish that and also to prepare for his interview and to work on another article his advisor wants him to write.

6. Ian has been doing very well with baked milk and baked egg. That is such a blessing.

7. I discovered this week that Nadia likes pulled pork (some refer to it as bbq pork). She's a rather picky eater when it comes to dinner; so I celebrate each food we can add to the list that she likes. I need to start making it more often because Paul and I also enjoy it.

8. It was fun to try to make things special for Nadia and Ian today for Valentine's Day. I gave Ian a bag of iced animal crackers. He has graciously been sharing some with Nadia (he's much better at sharing than she is). I gave Paul a bag of peanut M&M's and Nadia a bag of peanut butter M&M's. I was hoping Nadia would share a little of hers with me (as that's my favorite kind of M&M), but so far she hasn't shared any. It's better for my weight loss goal that I'm not eating any candy today. I gave Nadia, Ian, and Paul cards. This is the first year Paul and I haven't gone out on a date around Valentine's Day. In the years before we had kids we used to exchange gifts and cards and go out to dinner. I received some nice jewelry on Valentine's Day in the past. Lately it's just been a card and going out on a date. This year I didn't receive anything, but I'd much rather be a mom than celebrate Valentine's Day. I dreaded the holiday when I was single, but I enjoy it now! Paul and I started dating 16 years ago. For lunch I made Nadia toast that I cut out the middle in the shape of a heart and fried an egg in that heart shape hole. I put jelly on the little heart shaped pieces of toast. I made the kids and I pancakes for dinner - heart shaped chocolate chip ones for Nadia and blueberry ones for Ian. Over the past 10 days I helped Nadia make Valentine's Day cards (some with paint) for Grandma, Pop Pop, and Daddy. She also got special treats and cards at Cubbies last night. I think the kids have enjoyed celebrating Valentine's Day! I know some complain that it's just a "Hallmark holiday," but I think it's fun to show those in your family that you love them! Ian absolutely adored the Valentine his Grandma mailed him. He proudly showed it to all the mothers at ballet last week. I didn't want to leave Oliver out so I bought him some Cheerios; he ate his first two Cheerios tonight!

9. Actually I did receive something today! A friend from ladies Bible study found a calendar (the kind I'd used for 20+ years) at Walmart and bought it for me. What a pleasant surprise to find it in my mailbox today! Thanks so much, Jann! I really prefer the paper calendar over Google's.

10. A realtor saw our house today. She says we have almost no competition as very few homes are for sale in our school district. I moved a lot of stuff to the basement yesterday, and I have to say I am enjoying having less clutter in the house. I am not looking forward to the keeping the house ready to be shown, but one perk of that process is that my house is going to be staying a lot cleaner! I'm praying that the house will sell for a good price sometime this summer. We told her the soonest we'd move would be June so she said we should list it in April.