Thankful Thursday

1. Christ died for our sins and then rose from the grave! He lives! Between the Saturday night service and Sunday services, over 2,400 attended our church's Easter service this year! In an urban area this would not be unusual, but we live in a rural area. The church is in a town that has a population less than 7,000. Even more exciting than the number who attended is the fact that more than 20 people came forward at the end of the services saying they had accepted Christ as their Savior.

2. Paul ran to CVS for me over the weekend, and using the coupons and list I gave him, he bought 4 boxes of granola bars plus 2 boxes of Nutrigrain bars for a grand total of $4. I also was very happy with the price of skim milk and eggs at Aldi's yesterday. I love CVS and Aldi's!

3. The kids enjoyed the egg hunts, hotdog lunch, dinner at McDonald's, workshop at Home Depot, and the Peking Acrobats show on Saturday. It was a very busy and a very fun, special day. The only thing that cost us money that day was the show at Bucknell, and we took advantage of the faculty/staff discount for those tickets.

4. It was fabulous to have Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law join us for church and then come to our house to visit for a few hours on Sunday. They brought yummy food for our meal and tasty treats for the kids, which we are still enjoying a few days later!

5. The soccer field has been declared OPEN as of this Monday! I would much rather see the kids putting on soccer cleats than snow boots. I am very thankful that both of their practices are at 5:30 on Thursdays. I'll stay home with Oliver. Paul will take them as he's Ian's coach.

6. The boys and I enjoyed 90 minutes at the playground in Lewisburg on Monday!

7. We were able to go for a walk on Tuesday in between rain showers. The kids greatly enjoyed their rain  boots and umbrellas, and Ian looked so cute in his raincoat!

8. We had a fabulous time with my parents at the Whitaker Center yesterday. It was our first time at that science museum, and we also enjoyed a yummy lunch in Strawberry Square and watching the IMAX movie on pandas.

Experiencing wind as strong as felt in a hurricane!

9. Of my three kids, Ian is the one who sings the most around the house. I love to hear him sing! Lately he has been singing the Armed Forces medley. Now I need to work with Nadia on the song she's going to sing for her Annie audition next week. She has been working on memorizing the lines from the script that are being used in the audition.

10. Oliver can count to eleven! Sometimes he still skips a number, but I have heard him count from 1-11 accurately more than once. I know he's a little late for learning that, but we're still celebrating the accomplishment! He's also doing better identifying more colors correctly.

11. We enjoyed our dinner at Red Robin last night. In the past I only bought one kids' meal so it cost a little more this time, and they didn't give a free birthday dessert like they've always given me in the past, but it was still a treat! We usually only go to Red Robin once a year (always in April). I plan to take advantage of two other free birthday meals this month at Perkins and the Watson Inn. There are perks to turning one year older!

12. The public library we usually go to only had an abridged version of Pollyanna. I was utterly amazed at how quickly they got us an unabridged version through an interlibrary loan. I am thoroughly enjoying reading the books that were my favorites when I was a child!

13. We also got a DVD from the library this week that Paul and I really enjoyed. If you like football movies, I recommend "When the game stands tall."

14. Duke won the NCAA Championship on Monday night! I found a free app for the iPad that enabled Paul to watch the game live for free even though we don't have cable tv right now. Most people around here cheer for PSU for college football and teams from either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh for hockey, baseball, and football. When I first met Paul he had five favorite teams - Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz, Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), and the Giants (NFL). Gradually over the past 18 years he has cut back on watching sports. For most of our marriage he just watched the Steelers, Giants, and Duke, but over the last five years he has really only been watching the Giants and Steelers. I was stunned when he came to bed at half-time on Monday. I thought for sure he'd stay up to watch Duke, but he only saw half of their 5th Championship victory. There is of course nothing wrong with watching sports, but I am glad that spending time with his family and also working to support us are higher priorities to him in this stage of life.

15. We're all healthy, and Paul's mom has been healthy for the past six months. PTL!

16. Oliver was fussy at Aldi's yesterday (since he had a very short nap which ended when I pulled into the parking lot). I just listened to him cry while I pushed the shopping cart around the store, but once we got to the checkout line I held him (which is what he wanted). It was a challenge to get the groceries out of the cart while holding a toddler, and the woman in line behind me ever so graciously came over and helped me unload my groceries onto the conveyor belt. The kindness of stranger is always greatly appreciated!