Thankful Thursday

1. The kids were able to go shopping at AWANA last Wednesday night with the shares they had earned the past three months. The first time Nadia came home with Christmas gifts from AWANA (in 2011) I was impressed and grateful. Nadia was very generous this year and didn't pick out anything for herself, but instead she got gifts for her Daddy, Mommy, Ian, Oliver, Adam, Susie, Rachel, and Grace (the cousins who joined us for Christmas this year). How sweet! She loves her cousins!

2. A woman from church sat with my kids for about 30 minutes in the waiting room at the doctor's office last Wednesday. I really appreciated that. I would have felt confident about leaving Nadia and Ian there by themselves, but I wasn't comfortable leaving Oliver. I was also grateful they are very efficient at this office. They called me on Tuesday night to ask if I was Jewish. Then they called me today to say that the lab had discarded my blood because they didn't know if I was Jewish or not. I'm going to give more blood tomorrow. I'm thankful the office is only 1 mile from our house. Hopefully I'll get the results next week as to whether I have the BRCA 1 or 2 gene mutation.

3. Last Thursday I finished a project I had been working on for a couple of months. For 12 years I've had many of our bills paid automatically from a bank
account. Even though we don't live near that bank any more, it hadn't been a problem because our paychecks were deposited automatically. The problem was that the last automatic deposit was in August (Paul's last paycheck from Bucknell). Paul's family's business issues physical checks once a week. So I needed to switch all our bills to being paid from a bank in our town. It was a LONG list and included charitable donations, etc. But now it's DONE. Whew.

4. Nadia enjoyed her day with her grandparents last Thursday. She did a little bit of schoolwork, although I didn't officially count it as a day of school. She finished reading a chapter book and did two math lessons at their house.

5. Last week I gave each child one of the envelopes the church gave us to pass out. Each envelope had a $10 gift card in it. Nadia gave hers to someone in the waiting room at the doctor's office, and the boys each gave one to someone at the library. It's fun to participate in random acts of kindness!
Similarly, because of the money I received from the sale of some of my mom's possessions, I have been able to give more generously to a variety of organizations this month. It's been fun to give more than I usually am able to.

6. The Steelers won on Sunday! The Giants are guaranteed to be a wild card in the NFC, and the Steelers are guaranteed to win their division. Some years we turn off the cable at the end of December, but that won't be the case this year as both of our teams are headed to the Playoffs!

7. It was wonderful to have eight members of my family come to our house and spend 4 nights and 3 days with us. We enjoyed playing games, bowling, ice skating, seeing a movie, and just spending time together.

8. Grace was sick (stomach bug). She threw up many times on December 23, but she only threw up once at our house, and thus far it seems that no one caught her bug. Whew.

9. The kids enjoyed the craft time at the library yesterday as well as getting some new books and DVDs. Right now they are watching "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" which I got in honor of the fact I've been reading them the book Ralph S. Mouse the past two days.

10. Isaiah and his mom came over for a play date today. The kids had fun playing together.

11. The weather was simply gorgeous on Tuesday. I should have gone for a run, but the kids took advantage of the warmer weather. It snowed this morning,

but the roads cleared up after a few hours which thrilled the kids as it meant we were able to go to the pet store.

12. Paul's parents gave the kids a guinea pig cage, and today we became pet owners! Ian had planned on naming his Rose, but when he picked a white one with a few patches of other colors, he decided to name her Patches in honor of my mom's cat. Nadia wanted to pick one that looked like the stuffed animal she's had for seven years. There were five guinea pigs to choose from. Nadia didn't change her mind about the name. Her guinea pig is Jenna (and Susie is the middle name) in honor of two of her cousins. Hopefully in time Jenna and Patches will enjoy being held. Right now they are fairly terrified if we go anywhere near them. I'm glad we got two because they definitely are finding comfort in companionship.

13. I know I've already said it before, but I still love the new flooring, my new camera body, and the new paint color in the dining room. I think I'm going to

tackle painting the living room on Saturday.

14. We received a $50 refund this week from the bank because it turned out the appraisal "only" cost $425. I'll gladly accept any reduction in the closing costs.

15. My Dad joined us at our church's candlelight service. Everything is more special when Grandpa is there!

16. When Wendy got engaged Drayton used a diamond from my dad's grandmother's bracelet for her engagement ring. My dad recently asked Yvonne and I if we would also each like to have one of the diamonds from that same bracelet he inherited in 1981. We both said yes, and my dad gave me one on Christmas Eve. I am very thankful and am looking forward to taking it to a jeweler so it can be put into a ring that I can wear. I remember my Great Grandma (we called her Pat). With the passing of my mom I am finding myself more sentimental about photos, jewelry, and other things that have been passed down to me from my mom and grandparents.