She made a basket!

In the Upward program the basketball hoop is at three different heights for K/1, 2nd/3rd, and 4th-6th. For the 4th-6th graders it's at the full height. Last year Nadia scored one basket - on March 5, 2018. That day she played all six periods for the first time that season. The same thing happened today in that she played all six periods and made her first basket of the season! I saw her first basket last year, but none of her family saw her make her basket today. Around 8:15am, Nadia, Oliver, and I were waiting for Ian to come downstairs so we could all get in the van and go to her 9:00 game. As he entered the foyer, he started throwing up all over the place. Nadia's coach has been sending all the texts to Paul, and Paul was in Kentucky, which meant I didn't even know how to reach the Coach. I wondered if any of the teammates lived near us and could pick her up. Nadia was in tears because she didn't want to miss her game, and she said her team wouldn't have enough players for the game today if she didn't come as two other girls weren't able to come today. So I cleaned up the floor while Ian took a quick shower (he had stepped in it), and I dropped her off within a few seconds after the game had begun. Her team lost by a large margin, but she scored one basket in the first half. She said someone else passed her the ball when she made the basket. I'm thrilled that she scored a basket, and I'm disappointed I wasn't able to see it happen. I was there for the first six games, but I was with the boys during the seventh game since Paul was out of state and Ian was sick. We didn't bother taking Oliver to his game. We're hoping the it is a short lived bug for Ian and that the rest of us can escape it. Next week they will have their final basketball games for this season I'm hoping maybe Nadia will score one more basket next week. Oliver hasn't score a basket yet. He said he made one in his practice this week. Ian has scored a basket in almost every game this year.

My gratitude lists are never comprehensive. After I hit "publish" I always think of other things I wish I had added to the list. Here are a few I wish I had included yesterday.

1. My throat is finally back to normal. For the first time in over two months it doesn't hurt to read chapter books aloud to my kids. We were using Audible more than usual, and I'm grateful for that service, but it's cheaper for me to read, and not every book I wanted to read to the kids is in Audible. We finished a biography about Daniel Boone yesterday morning, and we're almost done with The Angel knew Papa and the Dog.

2. I went to the dentist yesterday afternoon for my six month check-up. My dental insurance switched on February 1st. We are back on Concordia which we had been on when Paul taught at Bucknell and also through Kennedy Concrete. When we have Concordia our dentist accepts whatever the insurance pays so we never pay anything, which is a drastic improvement. Had I known earlier, I would have moved Oliver's teeth extraction appointment to February instead of January, and that would have saved us quite a bit of money. I had sometimes decline x-rays because of the cost. I didn't decline them yesterday as I knew the insurance would cover it. Yay!

3. Oliver continues to make excellent progress in spelling and reading! He is in Level 2 of spelling, and next week he'll be starting Level 3 in reading!

4. I love it when we're listening to the radio (our local Christian station) in the van and all three kids start singing along with the radio. Melts. My. Heart. 

5. Today I am thankful that Nadia scored her first basket of the season, and I'm thankful that Paul is coming home tonight, that Ian threw up on a tile floor instead of carpet, and that he hasn't thrown up again over the last seven hours.