Thankful Tuesday

1. Our new microwave arrived yesterday. Although microwaves are only supposed to last about ten years, I'm hoping this one will last longer than that. Now to get used to the new microwave. It is possible for old dogs to learn new tricks, right?

2. Paul spent the night at his parent's house last night so he could watch the Giants game on TV as we don't get the channel that Monday Night Football is aired on. Unfortunately, the Giants lost in overtime (although plenty of our friends and family are happy with that outcome as we know many Eagles fans), but staying at his parents saved him two hours on the road.

3. I was able to schedule my mammogram for 4:45 yesterday. Even though the commute to Lewisburg is only twenty minutes, which is short compared to Paul's commute to work, I still try to make as few trips as possible. I scheduled it for that time knowing that Ian and Nadia would have their last Monday night chorale rehearsal from 5:45-6:45 last night. After the mammogram we stopped at

the library, CVS, and a pizzeria before I dropped Ian and Nadia off at their rehearsal. During their rehearsal Oliver and I bought donuts at Dunkin' for our breakfast this morning, picked up the online grocery order at Walmart, and donated some items at Goodwill.

4. The worship arts pastor told us on Sunday that people in our congregation had given over $36,000 on Giving Tuesday towards building wells in Sierra Leone. A quadruple matching offer that day meant it became over $144,000, which is enough to build 14.5 wells that will provide clean water for about 11,000 people!

5. We are so, so grateful for the almost ten years that we've had with Ian Alexander! I pray that the Lord will continue to help him grow into a godly young man! The kids and Paul have been enjoying the delicious cake that Aunt Millie made. Ian built two new Lego sets on Sunday - one of which contained over 1,100 pieces! It was nice to spend about five hours with Paul's brother and parents on Sunday at our house.

6. We used a coupon for a free large one topping pizza at Venarri's last night, which meant I didn't need to cook dinner yesterday or today as we paid for one cheese pizza in addition to the free one. I also used a coupon for a free drink at Dunkin' last night; I love their hot chocolate!

7. We were able to talk with Aunt Janet on Sunday and Monday and with Grandpa today. It sounds like they both have had special birthdays!

8. Nadia has gotten off to a great start with memorizing Hebrews! She has almost learned the first chapter over the past 10 days! The fact that she's going to be doing the Bible Bowl makes me all the more glad that we cancelled her audition to be in Annie. She and I both really like that musical, and she was eligible to audition because she is in the chorus at Meadowbrook, but the rehearsals will take place January through March, which is also when she plans to be on a basketball team and take ice skating lessons. In 2021 she will be too old to play Upward

basketball, and so if we take the year off from ice skating lessons as well, then she can probably try out for whatever musical Meadowbrook puts on in March 2021. She is planning to audition to be in Tuck Everlasting at our church in November 2020.

9. I had planned to take the kids to a free Christmas concert tonight put on by the oldest band in the United States, but I decided just having a day to stay home all day was preferable. I am thankful that I have been exercising the right to delete things from the calendar more often the last few months. When Paul came home from work at 7pm tonight, the kids and I were playing a game of Qwirkle, and earlier today we read some poetry by Robert Frost. Poetry and games are things I've been trying to include more often in our weekly routine, but we don't always succeed. Today we did!

10. I hadn't won anything for about 2.5 weeks on the Coke website, but yesterday I won a free movie ticket. Yahoo!

11. Ian and Nadia have been

playing chess with Paul more often lately.

12. The Steelers won on Sunday. I actually watched the whole game. I haven't watched much football this year. Considering we lost our QB very early in the season and started out with a pitiful record, I am quite amazed that if the season ended today we'd be going to the playoffs.

13. A woman at church who is one of the volunteer photographers emailed me some nice pictures of Ian's baptism. I really appreciate having those and also the video!