Thankful Tuesday

1. The kids enjoyed racing their cars at AWANA last Wednesday night. I am grateful that the Alliance Church, which is about one mile from our house, offers this program.

2. I was able to watch almost all of Nadia's softball game on Thursday night.

3. All three kids participated in homeschool gym class on Friday, and one hour of the class was held outside because it was so pretty out.

4. I enjoyed having dinner at the Country Cupboard (I had a bowl of chili) with Melissa. She's 11 months older than me, and she has homeschooled her four children. Her youngest is two years older than Nadia. We also enjoyed the Matthew West concert at our church. He sang three songs that I was hoping he would sing - "Heaven is the hope" which was very special to me at this time last year when I knew my mom would be going to heaven a lot sooner than I had previously thought, "Grace Wins," and "Hello, my name is." The last two songs were the last two of the concert; in fact the

latter was the encore song. It was my first time hearing Matthew West in concert, and I would definitely love to hear him again in concert if the opportunity comes around again. Dinner with a Christian friend and the concert was a wonderful way to celebrate my 41st spiritual birthday. My dad gave me a comic book about the 12 disciples, which Nadia and Ian enjoyed reading on Friday. I am eternally grateful for the gift of salvation, which Christ made possible through his death and resurrection.

5. Paul wasn't able to make it to Nadia's softball game on Thursday evening, but he saw part of her game on Tuesday night and also came home from work early on Saturday so he could help me get the kids to their three games. He saw all of Ian's soccer game and part of Nadia's soccer game.

6. The baby robins in the nest in the wreath on our front door hatched from their eggs on Saturday! There are at least 3 baby birds in the nest. I am hoping there are four. It's hard to be certain because they are on

top of each other.

7. We had a good day at Knoebels on Sunday. Last year when we went on Saturday of opening weekend, the lines were insanely long. It was the biggest crowd I had ever seen at Knoebels. The upside to the huge crowds was they kept the park open later and they were running more trains on the roller coasters. This time around the only kept the park open a little past the announced closing time of 6:00pm. The line for the Phoenix, our favorite roller coaster, was very reasonable. We rode it twice within 30 minutes. The line for the Impulse, the newest roller coaster, was much longer. Nadia and I waited in that line for 70 minutes. Ian is very close to 48 inches. He did ride a couple of rides that he needed to be 48 inches to ride, and other times he was not interested in going on the rides that had that height requirement. Without shoes on he is definitely under 48 inches tall. Nadia was tall enough to ride the Impulse without the booster seat. She JUST made that height requirement. Last  year she needed the booster on that ride. Here's a video showing the Impulse experience.

8. The kids have been having fun playing with the neighbors lately. It is such a blessing that a total of fourteen young children live in six of the houses near ours. Oliver spends the most time playing with neighbors, and Nadia spends the least time playing with neighbors. There is one boy almost exactly his age (Westyn), one girl who is about 8 months older than him (Karyss), one girl who is 8 months younger than him (Collette), and one boy who is one year older than him (Camden). Camden is in Kindergarten this year so he's one grade younger than Ian and one grade ahead of Oliver. There are two boys who are the same age as Nadia, one girl one year older than Nadia (Madeline), one girl who is 6 months younger than Ian (Addy), one boy who is a few months younger than Ian (Jack), two boys who are both two years older than Nadia, one boy who is one year older than Ian (Cooper), and one girl who is two years older than Nadia (Elle). There is also one girl who is about two years old. I love that they can get to four of the houses just by crossing

through the backyard of our house and the backyards of other houses (don't have to go on the street at all). Also the street our house intersects has no outlet so it's kind of like living on a cul-de-sac - no through traffic comes in our little development.

9. Yesterday I sold our single jogging stroller for $30, which is what I paid for it when I got it at a yard sale. Most of the time I prefer just to donate clothing and other things we don't need any more, but sometimes it is nice to get some money for some items. I sold three things for $47 total. I'm trying to come up with some extra money to pay for the new carpet in our master bedroom that I'm ordering this week. When he measured the room on Saturday he asked about the closet. The master bedroom closet is inside the master bathroom, and I said I'm fine with leaving the Berber carpet in there. We're getting navy blue carpet in our bedroom. I can't wait!

10. This week I actually have two Bible studies because I'm starting a study of Ruth tonight

that only lasts five weeks, and the study of I Samuel ends this Thursday that began in January. I have six weeks left in the Revelation study I've been in since January. I'm so grateful there are many different Bible study groups at our church. I think this summer I'm going to do a topical one on the names of God.

11. Doing less schoolwork this week has made it easier for me to get my Bible study homework done (especially as I have ten lessons due this week and five more due next Tuesday). I also started being more diligent in working with Oliver. Yesterday we worked on his numerals (he still needs to learn 5, 6, and 9) and shapes (only knows square and oval thus far). We also are doing more art projects this week, which is a good thing as I haven't been very regular with that during the year.

12. I bought two blueberry plants several days ago. We haven't planted them yet, but we are getting closer to achieving that goal. I did plant a new hosta plant yesterday and started working on mulching the flower

beds.

13. During the month of April I could have gotten one free bagel a day at Panera. I only redeemed it once. I tried a second time, but Oliver threw up when we walked into the restaurant. Yesterday I got an email saying I could also get one free bagel a day in May. I got a free bagel plus a free cinnamon roll yesterday (another birthday treat they offered me), and I had a tiny bit left on a Panera gift card which I used to buy one more pastry. The kids and I shared the bagel and two treats last night. They discovered they like cinnamon rolls! Yum!!

14. Nadia has been reading missionary biographies that are a little over 200 pages each. She's reading about Lottie Moon right now. I love that she has a desire to read these books! She also is starting to read the Little House on the Prairie books. She recently bought two more sets of American girl paper dolls. She loves that book series very much! We also got another American girl dvd from the library yesterday.

15. I'm always thankful for my camera and lenses and my three beautiful children whom I love to snap pictures of. I also am thankful for being able to get many photo related items from Shutterfly for free. I am working on an order to place in the next couple of weeks with a free shipping code I just got yesterday, which means I can get a bunch of items totally free!