Happy Thanksgiving!

People talk about how the holidays are hard when you have recently lost a loved one. The holidays I associate the most with my mom are Christmas and birthdays ( mine plus Nadia, Ian, and Oliver's). Growing up, I remember Thanksgiving with my mom - many spent on Long Island at my Aunt Janet's house for example, but over the past 15 years we weren't together at Thanksgiving that many times, and Thanksgiving doesn't involve nearly as many traditions as Christmas and birthdays. All that to say, today isn't overly emotional for me in terms of grieving the loss of my mom. Christmas however is a whole different ball of wax for me. Certain parts of it seem unaffected - I can't wait to start singing Christmas music and look forward to making cookies to give to the kids' AWANA leaders, Sunday School teachers, etc. Usually I decorate for Christmas right after Thanksgiving, but decorating is something I really strongly associate with my mom, and truth be told, if I didn't have kids I think I'd just skip the Christmas decorations this year. First of all Christmas decorations were very important to my mom (she had multiple trees of varying sizes throughout the house as one example), and secondly I vividly remember taking the decorations down for her last year right after her cancer diagnosis. However I don't want my kids to go without a Christmas tree and such just because I personally have no desire to decorate this year, so I think the compromise is that I'm going to wait a bit to decorate. There is no rule that says we *have* to decorate right after Thanksgiving, right? Maybe it won't actually be as emotionally painful as I think it will be. We shall see.

I usually try to write a thankful post each Thursday, and since today is Thanksgiving Day, I will try to write a longer list than normal.

1. I'm very thankful that my mom was a Christian, and I have the assurance that I will see her again some day.

2. We live in a country where we have the freedom to worship in the way we choose, and also the freedom to homeschool our children, if we so desire (many around the world do not have either of those freedoms).

3. At the Kid's Day on Saturday I learned about another history day camp. This one is at a museum in Williamsport. I am not sure of the cost, but assuming the cost is reasonable, I think we'll take advantage of this one like Nadia and Ian did last year at the Priestley House.

4. We enjoyed the free admission to the Little League Museum on Saturday.

5. I got some good bargains on Saturday at the consignment

shop and Target (spent about $6 total between the two stores).

6. Ian loves the Geoffrey stuffed animal he got for free at Toys R Us on Saturday.

7. Our vehicles are very reliable. We only paid for oil changes this year, which meant we spent less than $200 all year on repairs/maintenance for both vehicles.

8. Nadia was not chosen for the Elves and the Shoemaker. She cried a lot about this yesterday, but I am thankful it didn't diminish her desire to try out for other plays in the future. I am still glad she got the experience of going through a 75 minute audition.

9. We finished another art project yesterday! The first project we did this week was winter cabin with oil pastels. The second was called Granny's Crabapples, and it was done with gouache. Last year we took the whole week off for Thanksgiving because Paul got the whole

week off at Bucknell, and I toyed with doing the same this year even though Paul just gets today off, but in the end I decided that this week we'd do reading, math, Bible, piano, and art. I told the kids that we'd spend a lot more time than usual on art and that we'd skip science, spelling, handwriting, English, typing, and Spanish. It has worked out well. I think we'll do the same one week in December.

10. I had a mammogram on Tuesday. I thought I could bring the kids into the inner waiting room, but I discovered they had to stay in the outer waiting room. Thankfully they are very efficient there because Oliver did not behave. He turned off the lights in the waiting room, and when Nadia turned them back on he started crying. I had the kids bring books, but the receptionist gave Oliver some crayons and a coloring book. I felt badly that she had to babysit my kids for me, but I was gone for just a few minutes as they are very efficient. I wish all medical appointments were like that! When I was pregnant with Nadia I had a similar experience with

my OB appointments. I had never brought the kids to a mammogram appointment before. Paul used to be able to watch the kids for me when I had a hair appointment or dentist appointment or doctor appointment, but that's not the case any more. The kids are now pretty much glued to me except for choir rehearsals on Wednesday nights and Sunday School on Sunday mornings. The mammogram experience made me all the more grateful I asked a friend to watch the kids during my GYN appointment next month. I admit in the past I have not been very faithful at getting these screenings done as frequently as you are supposed to have them done, but after what my mom went through, I plan to be very faithful. I got the call yesterday that my results were normal. Now they just need to come up with a less painful way to screen for breast cancer. When we were billed for Paul's strep test, I called the insurance to make sure they would pay for things like a mammogram, pap smear, and BRCA screening as I figured those were all a lot more

expensive than a strep test. It seems if we get sick then we have to pay for things until we hit our deductible, but they pay 100% of preventative tests, which means they will pay 100% for the mammogram, BRCA screening, etc. At least that's what I was told on the phone. Hopefully I was given accurate information.

11. Our refinancing closing is to take place in two weeks. I will be very glad when that is finalized.  I am grateful the end is in sight and that our interest rate will be dropping 3%

12. I ordered a 12x12 photo book (my first time doing one that big) last night, and I paid less than $2.00. I could have gotten it for free but I added one extra page, and that's all I had to pay for. I also received another free shipping code yesterday for Shutterfly so thus far I've used two and have two left to either use or trade away.

13. We were able to FaceTime with our relatives who live in Turkey yesterday. Jenna turned 14 on Tuesday, and Nathan turns

eight today. I'm thankful that we can keep in touch across the many miles!

14. God has given us such a wide variety of foods to enjoy. When we were reading a picture book (one of the Cranberry books by Wende and Harry Devlin), Nadia noticed a recipe for cranberry cobbler. She asked me to make it. I prefer fruit crisps to cobbler, so I made a cranberry apple crisp instead last night. I don't think I've ever had a cranberry crisp or cobbler before, but it was delicious! We had thanksgiving dinner at Paul's parents house this evening. Millie brought several yummy desserts, I brought the yams, and Paul's mom prepared everything else.

15. We're near the end of the biography about Corrie ten Boom, and although I'm familiar with her story, I am again amazed at all that some were willing to go through to help the Jews, and I'm very grateful we (here in America) have never had to live through anything so horrific.

16. I found bargain online this morning of free shipping plus buy one get one free from Sears/Kmart that enabled me to buy two cardigan sweaters for Nadia for less than $10 total. Paul also got a bunch of free items at CVS today (that is the closest I will come to in person Black Friday shopping).

The last picture is of the kids putting the last pieces onto the Lego set that Pop Pop got for Christmas last year. It contains more than 4,000 pieces!