Thankful Thursday

 Many times I think of things I want to include in my weekly post, and then I forget about them when I actually sit down to write the list. So some of these didn't happen just this past week, but are ones I forgot to mention in the past.

1. Ladies Bible study resumed on Tuesday morning! I thought it might be cancelled again, but the school district the church is in didn't have a two hour delay like many others did.

2. Oliver hasn't needed a breathing treatment during the night the past few days. I am SO glad he only had a cold this time (not RSV again) and that he doesn't need to go on a medication for reflux.

3. The doorknob to the basement door was getting harder and harder to use, and Paul replaced it a couple of weeks ago. These little repairs mean a lot to the kids and I! It's so nice to have a working doorknob again.

4. Oliver hasn't had any accidents in bed! Two times his underwear was a little bit wet, but he hasn't gotten his sheets wet.

5. Nadia's basketball team is such a great one for her to be on. They are so kind and encouraging! Paul has been working with her in the basement (practicing dribbling and such). Hopefully she'll continue to improve over the next six weeks!

6. I have been forgetting to mention how much I love my new vacuum. It's my first bagless one, and I must I say I find it very rewarding to dump out the canister each time I vacuum, It makes me certain I accomplished something! :)

7. A week or two ago I had taken the bags from the kids' hampers and set them at the top of the stairs, and I was planning to take them down with me in a few minutes to throw the dirty clothes in the washing machine. Before I got around to doing that, Nadia noticed the bags sitting there and assumed they were full of clean clothes and had taken hers to her bed. Thankfully I figured out what happened before she started putting her dirty clothes in her drawers, but this experience put a smile on my face that the kids are so well trained to put away their laundry! They have a long way to go in learning how to put the laundry away NEATLY in their drawers. All Oliver is responsible for putting away thus far is his underwear and socks. We start small!

8. Nadia was reading a picture book we own (Cranberry Thanksgiving), and she came down and asked me if we could make some cranberry bread using the recipe in the book. She told me that she had read the list of ingredients and thought we only needed to buy one ingredient (cranberries). So we bought a bag of fresh cranberries, and Oliver and Nadia helped me make the bread. The three of us have been enjoying the bread. It is very tasty, and not something I would have made if Nadia hadn't asked me to do so.

9. My parents brought up my old rocking chair in November. Oh how I love having this in my house. It was mine when I was a child. I love taking pictures of the kids while they are sitting in it (if you haven't already figured that out, ha ha).

10. My parents are planning to come up this afternoon and stay until about 11:30am on Saturday! They had planned to come two weeks ago but had to reschedule due to snow. We are so excited to spend some time with them! They are looking forward to seeing the kids' ice skating lesson this afternoon, self defense class tomorrow morning, and Nadia's basketball game on Saturday morning.

11. So far we haven't had any sewer problems despite the fact that I think two pairs of Oliver's underwear were flushed down the toilet. Thank you, Lord!!! Also, it has been six days since I've had to clean up a big poop disaster zone. Whew.

12. Paul received an invitation yesterday for a phone interview for a physical chemistry tenure track position at another college in PA. This is encouraging! It's also tempting. Pray for wisdom as to whether to sign a contract for a sure thing (Bucknell) or pursue other possibilities (which are not guaranteed to result in a job offer).