Thankful Tuesday

1. Last week I received an email stating I had won two free tickets to the amusement park of our choosing. There were a variety of parks listed. There were several on the list that I'd like to take the kids to *someday,* but we picked the one closest to us on the list - Dorney Park. Looking online it seems if we buy a ticket that is valid in May or June, that is the cheapest way to go as far as buying three more tickets so that all five of us can go. I found a coupon that would make it $30 per ticket during those two months. I figure it's better to go then anyhow as the crowds are typically worse in July and August. The last time Paul and I were at Dorney Park was about 20 or 21 years ago (when we were dating). I'm glad we had decided to skip Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland this summer. If I had known about these I probably would have also skipped Sesame Place, but we already bought those tickets. I think we'll end up going to 5 amusement parks in PA/NJ this summer (4 for Nadia as she won't be joining us at DelGrosso's due to Camp Susque) plus 4 in CA (if you

count Sea World as an amusement park). We won these free tickets by entering some Coke caps into a sweepstakes. I usually steer away from the sweepstakes, but they had a special last month that if you entered a certain number of Coke caps in the month you'd get a $5 Amazon gift card. I entered some for a free drink at a movie theater, and then I entered 10 more for the amusement park sweepstakes just so I would have entered enough to get the Amazon gift certificate. Maybe I should enter sweepstakes on Coke's site more often?

2. The pastor has started a sermon series on the book of Acts. I'm thrilled because I prefer an exegetical approach to a topical one, and the book is not super short so it should last awhile. The Sunday after Easter he did the ascension, and then the week after that moved into Acts 2. This past Sunday we finished Acts 2 and did part of Acts 3. I'm looking forward to the series! The kids and I have almost finished reading the New Testament. We are on 1 Thessalonians, and all we have

left after that are four more epistles.

3. All five of us had a great time at Fort Ligonier's homeschool day on Wednesday. None of us had ever been there before. I imagine it won't be our last time visiting there!

4. Last Wednesday Ian finished his extra credit book in AWANA, and Nadia finished her second T&T book. She only did the "Bronze" level both years. I told her next year I expect her to at least finish the silver level as that only requires her to do additional Bible study (answering more questions). The gold level would require a lot more memorization. I doubt she'll attempt that. Both Ian and Nadia will be in T&T next year.

5. Paul took the kids to Saturday Science at Susquehanna University on Saturday. It was about germs, viruses, etc. Then he took the kids to the annual Maker Day event at the Children's Museum. The kids really enjoyed both programs!

6. Because Paul took the kids those places on Saturday, I was

able to #1 attend a ladies breakfast and Bible study and #2 I was able to do some grading in any empty (quiet) house. A lady in the choir started hosting a monthly breakfast plus Bible study at her house for altos. I wasn't able to go last month, but I went on April 21, which happened to be my birthday plus the hostesses birthday. It was a lovely way to start my birthday. She made two delicious quiches plus waffles and fruit salad. There were only five of  us who made it this time (there are more than 10 altos in the choir), but considering I almost never get the opportunity to interact with other women (aside from quick greetings at church), it felt heavenly to me. I am going to try to go to this as many months as possible, but I'm guessing I'll be doing well if I make it there every other month. I contemplated stopping at Panera on the way home to pick up a strawberry salad (one of my most favorite meals) as a birthday treat, but I was too full from the breakfast so I ended up skipping lunch that day. I made tuna noodle for our dinner that night.

7. On Sunday night I took Nadia and Ian to a concert at our church - featuring Micah Tyler and Jeremy Camp. I'm not sure how long it went, but we left at 9pm as the kids were both very tired. Uncle Al and Aunt Millie got there before we did, so we joined them in line. Ian sat on their laps for most of the concert. I was very glad that I was feeling well enough to go as I had missed the three other concerts the kids attended thus far this year (Steven Curtis Chapman, Respasz Band, and Plum).

8. Paul's parents came up and went to our church on Sunday. Then they took us all out to eat at Bonanza (one of the kids' favorite places to go) before coming over to spend some time at our house. The kids always LOVE to spend time with their Grandparents! We appreciated seeing them and also the meal at Bonanza.

9. It seems this time I will be offered a full-time one year contract instead of two separate one semester contracts. At the moment my schedule is to be to teach two sections of the math

methods course I am currently teaching plus ten student teachers (I have fifteen right now as I'm on overload). I might be able to trade 5 or all 10 student teachers for 1 or 2 other courses on campus if the three professors who are supposedly retiring actually do so (and no one else claims all of their courses as overload). I'm very thankful that things will happen in a far more timely manner this time around (as I signed my contract the first week of the semester the past two semesters), which means I won't be scrambling at the last minute for a parking permit, access to the learning management system, etc. It also will be very nice to teach the same course three semesters in a row as I taught different courses this past fall vs. spring. This math methods course is one of my favorites to teach.

10. When something is broken (such as Nadia's doll cradle which has been broken for years), I put it on Paul's "honey do list" and then try to put it out of sight as it's frustrating for me to keep looking at something and waiting months or years for

it to be fixed. However in some instances it's impossible to put the thing out of sight - such as our bathroom floor which I've been waiting 23 months for Paul to fix or the deck which he partially removed last August. Yesterday I found a way to "hide" the kids' red battery operated car that has been broken for a year. It's been in our garage, and it's tricky to fit all the bikes plus our two vehicles in there plus the kids' car. I wish I had thought of this a year ago, but yesterday I moved the kids' red car to the shed. It makes it harder to get the lawn

mower in and out of the shed, but now the car is out of sight for which I am thankful! I prefer to have fewer reminders of the things on Paul's to do list given how long they generally stay on that list.

11. Today Paul is taking the kids to see Huck and Tom in Wilkes Barre. I had planned to take them, but then I needed to visit student teachers this morning. I thought they'd just skip the field trip and spend the day at the babysitter's, but Paul said he'd take them. After many reminders from me, he finally made an appointment (also taking place today) for his car. The inspection had to be completed by the end of May, and it had been 17,000 miles since he had taken his car in for an oil change or tire rotation. I used to take it every 5,000 miles, but a few years ago I stopped taking responsibility for his car. I take the van in every 5,000 miles, but I have left the Prius as his responsibility. The Prius has over 166K miles on it so we are assuming we'll be trading it in for another vehicle before the end of 2018. We've had it for nine years. The van is

getting close to 100K miles, but we're hoping to get a few more years out of the van. The first step will be to decide what make and model we're going to get when we trade in the Prius.

12. Since I'm not on Facebook any more, I don't get deluged with birthday greetings, but it was nice to receive seven calls (two aunts, two sisters, my dad, a lady from church, and my mother-in-law). Four of those people called while I was at the Bible study so they left messages and I didn't talk to them directly, but I did talk to my Dad, the Benners, and Paul's mom. The Benners and my dad/ Margie sang the birthday song to me which I appreciated as Paul and the kids forgot to do that. The kids had made me cards at the babysitter's house. Ian put on a show (with the guinea pigs) that was a reenactment of the Three Little Pigs on Friday that he said was my birthday present, and Nadia wrote me a story that was my birthday present from her. I also received birthday texts from three friends and Paul's brother. I'm thankful for each person who reached out to recognize

my birthday in one way or another! Birthdays are still a bit bittersweet for me in light of my mom's passing, but it definitely was easier this year than last year. My mom really made our birthdays special. I hope to make my children's birthdays special every year as long as I'm alive, just as she did.

13. Last week it snowed on Tuesday and Thursday. It felt like winter was never going to end, but we have had spring weather the past few days! Yesterday I splurged (time wise) by taking the kids to the playground. I certainly could have stayed home and gotten more schoolwork done, but I felt the need to get some fresh air and exercise. I am very out of shape right now. Hopefully in the very near future I'll start getting exercise on a far more regular basis. That's one of my goals for this summer - exercise a lot more and lose some weight! Nadia has helped me a little with getting leaves out of the flowerbeds. Before I know it I'm going to need to start mowing. I don't mind mowing if I have the time as that's another way to get exercise!

14. The dentist and orthodontist both told me Nadia didn't have a permanent tooth to replace the baby tooth that she recently pulled out. I think they were wrong as it looks to me like a tooth is coming down through the gum in that spot!

15. Two weeks from today (May 8) will be my last day to observe student teachers, and May 3 will be my last day teaching on campus. Summer vacation will be here before we know it!!! I have a lot of work to get done between now and then, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.