Pink to purple to grey

When we purchased this house on September 24, 2008, all of the walls in the house were painted a neutral color (almost all of them white) with the exception of Nadia's bedroom, which had pink walls. The family who previously owned this house had one daughter, and that was her bedroom. Every room also had neutral colored flooring. The rooms that had carpet had a off white Berber carpet. When we moved into our home in Catawissa in the summer of 2004, I painted almost every room in the house and replaced most of the flooring immediately in part because the previous owner was a smoker. When we moved into our current home, we didn't make many changes. Within the first 15 months of living in this house Paul painted our bedroom walls light blue and Ian's bedroom walls light green. Two people from our church painted Oliver's bedroom walls yellow while he was in the NICU in 2012. After taking a 12 year hiatus from painting, I painted MANY rooms in 2016 and also began to change some of the flooring that year as well. After eight years of seeing almost every wall have some shade of white walls as well as mostly white flooring, I was ready for COLOR. When Nadia was a toddler and preschooler, she loved the color pink. When I repainted her room, she was in what proved to be a very brief phase where purple was her favorite color. I was fine with that choice because purple also went with the wallpaper border, comforter, bookshelves, etc. some of which had been in her room since she was born. Shortly after the purple carpet was installed, she then switched to blue being her favorite color, and blue is still her favorite color (turquoise in particular is her favorite shade of blue).

A few months ago Nadia told me that she wanted to change the décor of her bedroom to a Harry Potter theme. When Ian was a baby, toddler, and preschooler, his bedding had a transportation theme, but when he was 6 1/2 years old he requested a change to Mario. He didn't ask me to take down the wallpaper border, but he got new Mario sheets, comforter, and curtains. Nadia mentioned that Ian had already changed his bedroom décor. She thought it was her turn. When Ian switched to Mario I told him he needed to know he'd be keeping that for many years. Nadia has had the butterflies and such for twelve years, and she said she's fine with having Harry Potter for at least the next six years. She purchased a Harry Potter light switch cover and hamper. Grandma and PopPop got her a bedding set that included sheets, pillow sham, and comforter. I got her the matching drapes. She told me that she wanted the border to come down. When I saw the comforter on her bed and the drapes on the window, I realized I also needed to repaint her room even though the paint was in great condition considering it's only been 4 years since I painted that room, and it's not a high traffic room. The purple carpet is not the ideal color for the new décor. If her carpet was dark blue like Paul and I have in our room, that would have been perfect, but carpet is way too expensive to change just because she picked a different décor for her bedroom. 

I selected this border when I was pregnant with Nadia.

I know that grey has been a VERY popular paint color the last several years, but I wasn't interested in neutral colors when I was painting in 2016. It's still hard for me to get excited about grey, but Nadia's room looks much better now that I removed the wallpaper border and painted her walls "Silver Mine." I was shocked at how expensive it was to get a gallon of paint, but I was impressed that it only took one coat of paint considering the color I was applying was lighter than the color I was painting over. I worked on removing the border for 2 hours on Sunday night, and I spent 12 hours working in her bedroom yesterday. Really the actual act of painting is just a small part of it. Moving furniture, applying tape to all the edges, removing the wallpaper border, taking everything off the walls, vacuuming, and cleaning the brush and roller took more time than painting. Paul was a professional painter for a brief stint when he lived in New Mexico. He's a perfectionist. I am not. Still, I am pleased with how it turned out even though I know Paul would have done a more perfect job than I did. He has the skill and more patience, but I'm the one who has the time to do it. I'm going to wait until she comes home to hang things back on her walls. I'll hang the curtains before she comes home, but I'm waiting a few days as I think otherwise the tension rod will likely pull some paint off the wall. I have also been doing some cleaning and organizing in her room. When I removed the wallpaper border the original pink paint was revealed. Now both the pink and purple have been covered with a light grey. When Oliver's room was painted an entire gallon was used. Since her room is much bigger than his, I bought two gallons on Sunday night. Well since this paint only requires one coat, I came very, very close to finishing the whole room with one gallon. If I had been more careful, I think I could have managed it with only one gallon. Lesson learned. You can't return paint once they have mixed it to a particular color. Although I liked the color I chose four years ago for the half bathroom (blue), the paint quality was awful (from Walmart). I had only purchased a quart since it was for a very small room, but really I needed more paint as some parts really needed another coat. So I decided last night that I'd use part of the second gallon of grey paint to repaint the bathroom. 

Yesterday I fed the guinea pigs, eat breakfast, walked 6 miles from 7-9am, and then worked on Nadia's bedroom until after 9pm. I only took breaks to eat lunch and dinner. My back isn't happy with me today so I'm not planning on pushing myself as hard today. While I was walking and painting I listed to audiobooks or music. I never thought I'd listen to audiobooks. First, I began doing it with the kids, and now I'm even listening to books that are just for me. I still love to read a physical book, but I can't read while painting or walking. It can make other tasks more enjoyable. After I cleaned the paint brush and roller, I emailed the kids. I'm writing each of them one email per day. I remember how much I loved getting mail from my parents when I was at camp. My mom would write newsy letters, and my dad would right funny/sappy poems in the vein of "roses are red, violets are blue..." All poems don't have to rhyme, but my dad's poems always rhymed. I don't ever recall writing my kids a poem before. I think I'll have to do that this week at least once. I remember writing my parents a letter every day when I was at camp. I would love to receive a letter from them, but I know I will have to wait until I pick them up on Saturday morning to hear all about their week. In the email last night I told them that one of the butterflies hatched yesterday. We had ten caterpillars, but I'm only expecting at the most eight painted lady butterflies. We shall see!

Kids are at camp

This morning we went to the 9:00 service at our church. There were definitely more people there this morning than last Sunday, but I'd say there were still fewer than 200 people at the 9:00 service, which is FAR less than usual. It seems many are still opting to watch online. Abby went to the 10:45 last week, and I asked her about the attendance, and she said there were very few people there last week. Since the sanctuary normally can seat 1,050 per service, it is quite easy to follow social distancing fewer than 200 people in attendance. It hit me this morning that I highly doubt the choir will resume in the fall. You can't do social distancing in a choir, and singing is considered to be more dangerous because of droplets flying out of your mouth while singing if you aren't wearing a mask. The youth chorale that Nadia and Ian were in last fall asked if we'd be interested in a virtual choir this fall. Nope. I have sung in an adult church choir every single year from 1986 to the present, but I might be taking a hiatus for the first time in 34 years. We shall see. 

When we came home I had the kids change into play clothes as I didn't want them to wear church clothes to camp. We had lunch and had some time at home before leaving for camp around 1:30. I delivered the butterflies (currently chrysalides) to the neighbors house because they are going to emerge while the kids are at camp. What a bummer. I thought other kids should be able to enjoy it if my kids can't. I asked them not to release the butterflies so my kids can see them on Saturday, and then we can release them. The kids at least did get to see them go from caterpillars to chrysalides. We stopped for gas and a bathroom break on the way there, and the registration process took about 40 minutes. We moved through the line in our vehicles because of COVID-19. The kids left the van once to have their temperatures taken and for a lice check. They passed both. To my knowledge the kids have never had lice. Then we helped them carry their suitcases and such near the entrance of their cabins. We weren't allowed on the porch or in the cabin because of COVID-19. Ian and Oliver are in cabin #12, and Nadia is in cabin #14. Normally at this camp the parents eat dinner on Sunday with the campers, but again because of COVID-19 we left right after we brought them to their cabins. We can send them emails if we pay $1 for 3 emails. I plan to send them each five emails. I sent them each one tonight.

On our way home we used gift cards at Panera to get a salad for my dinner and at Wendy's to get a chicken sandwich meal for Paul. I also bought two gallons of paint at Home Depot. This evening I spent 2 hours working on removing wallpaper border from Nadia's room. I put that border up in September 2008. I really liked the border, but it's Nadia's room and she didn't want butterflies and such on her walls. Repainting her room and removing the wallpaper border is a surprise gift from me to her. I hope she will love it when she sees it on Saturday! Oliver asked me if I was going to swim a lot this week while they are at camp. Nope. I won't swim at all until the kids are back. I am focusing primarily on projects around the house this week. I'll take my walks earlier in the morning so that I can go when it's a bit cooler out. I'm meeting a friend on Wednesday and getting my hair cut on Thursday. I already miss the kids, but I'm looking forward to crossing many things off my to do list this week. I can't wait to hear on Saturday morning all about their week at camp. I know Nadia really wanted to sleep on a top bunk. I can't wait to get answers to my questions about their week and also get some big hugs from the boys. I might even get a hug from Nadia since she won't have seen me for six days. I will be doing a better job of praying without ceasing this week. I'm praying they will have a lot of fun, it won't rain very much, they will not come in contact with COVID-19, Nadia won't get many mosquito bites, Ian won't get too much sunburn, Ian won't eat any nuts, they will make friends, they will learn some new skills (kayaking, hatchet throwing, etc.), they will be safe, and they will each draw closer to the Lord. 

Wrapping up the birthday celebration

Nadia's actual birthday was on Wednesday. Her celebration began on Tuesday night when she opened some of her birthday gifts. On Wednesday she had donuts for breakfast, what she requested for dinner, opened her gifts from her grandparents, got to see Paul's parents for about 5 minutes, and had a virtual sleepover with Rachel that night. On Thursday her friend, Abby, came over around noon. For the next 2.5  months they will both be twelve years old. She opened another gift on Thursday, and the doll she ordered on Tuesday night that was partially paid for with some birthday money arrived on Friday. I took Abby and the kids swimming on Thursday and Friday at the pool we joined earlier this week; Friday morning the four kids rode bikes (Nadia rode mine) to the playground that is about 2.5 miles from our house while I walked. The girls stayed up until 12:30am on Thursday night. We picked up pizza from Pizza Hut last night and ate it outside at a pavilion at a playground and then had ice cream at the Purple Cow before meeting Abby's mom at Walmart. The birthday balloons will probably last awhile, but the banners and tablecloth came down yesterday night. The next birthday will be Oliver's in early August.

We received exciting news over the last two days that the Six Flags parks in Maryland and New Jersey are opening the beginning of July. The kids will be at camp through the morning of July 4, so we decided the kids and I will go to the one in Maryland the week of July 6 and the one in New Jersey the week of July 13. All of the Towfighis will join us at the one in Maryland as it's very close to their house. Joe will bring his older kids to meet us at the one in New Jersey. I'm thankful we didn't end up pausing our membership. Darien Lake (the Six Flags park in NY that we also planned to attend) hasn't set their opening date yet, but they are hiring and it seems that will also likely be around the corner. I'm thinking of going there sometime in August. Whether we go to the Six Flags parks in Quebec or Massachusetts in August as originally planned remains to be seen. The one in Quebec is opening in the very near future, but the US/Canada border will still be closed for at least 4 more weeks. So our vacation is still up in the air. 

Originally I had signed Nadia and Ian up for a theatre camp that would have met in Montoursville for 4 hours a day for 5 days in early July. It would have been Ian's first time attending a theatre camp. It was cancelled, and I was given a full refund. Then on Thursday I received an email saying they rescheduled the camp for August. If I hadn't subsequently signed Nadia up for a 2 week acting camp in Lewisburg, this would have been a very easy decision. On the one hand, I really wanted the kids to do it, in part because it will be Ian's first time at a theatre camp, and I think he definitely has talent when it comes to singing and acting. Although I certainly don't aspire to stay at home ALL the time for weeks or months on end like we did during the red and yellow phases, I frankly also want to be more careful about how much we fill our calendars. If we DO end up going to Long Island the first week of August and we DO end up going on vacation from August 21-29, that makes me less inclined to want to sign up for this camp from August 10-14, but then again our trip to Long Island and/or our vacation might be cancelled. This theatre camp could end up being the only thing on our calendar in August. The camp is from 8:30-12:30, and the pool we joined is open from 12:30-7:30 so the camp wouldn't interfere with us going swimming. Nadia said she wants to do it; her only hesitation was she likes to sleep in during the summer, and that won't be possible if we need to be out the door a little after 8:00 those five days. I haven't made a decision yet. Making plans is definitely more challenging than usual in 2020!!! I said I wasn't going to make any new plans for field trips for the 2020-21 school year given how likely it is that things will be cancelled, but I ended up registering all three kids for two field trips at Camp Susque - A program about how they celebrate Christmas in Tanzania in December and a program on weather plus two hours of rock climbing in April. Time will tell if either of those field trips actually ends up taking place. It seems that until a vaccine is developed, there will be a lot of uncertainty when it comes to making plans.

After meeting Abby's mother, Nadia and I ran into Walmart to buy a few things the kids needed for camp. The kids will be outside almost all the time because of COVID-19, and they said they won't ever be given any cups for drinking so they can be sure kids aren't accidently drinking from the wrong cup. They must drink from their water bottle the entire time they are at camp. They said each child needed a small backpack to carry their masks, sunscreen, bug spray, and a water bottle with them. I bought three small backpacks, 3 sticks of sunscreen for their faces, and three other bottles of sunscreen for their arms and such. I discovered this week that Nadia's bathing suit from last year was extremely saggy in the bottom. She had been wearing  shorts (not swim shorts) over her bathing suit when we went swimming. I bought her a new bathing suit that came with swim shorts at Walmart last night. I am going to give the kids each $10 for the snack shop, and Grandma also gave them each $10 for the snack shop. Today we will be packing for camp, and tomorrow afternoon we'll be taking them to camp. I am very thankful that even during a pandemic the kids will be able to spend 6 nights at camp.

Peaceful Day

We had zero drama yesterday. Thank you, Lord! I let Nadia sleep in since she was up later than usual last night. While she ate her breakfast and Ian did a puzzle, we listened to more of Pay Attention, Carter Jones. Shortly after that we went for a walk. All three kids played at the playground for the first time this year. We were the only people at the playground this morning. The boys and I had lunch while we came back. Nadia worked on the puzzle Grandma and Pop Pop gave her yesterday while we were eating and listening to more of the audiobook. Abby arrived at our house around noon. She and Nadia ate lunch a little after that. After they ate, I took the four kids to the swimming pool where they swam for about two hours. The rest of the day the kids played inside and outside the house.

The pool was in my opinion rather crowded in light of COVID-19. It actually made me a bit nervous. There were very few people there on Tuesday evening. I know that they say the virus can't live in chlorine. I felt a bit better once the school age program from a local day care center left the pool. I chatted with one of the day care teachers because she was a student teacher of mine during the spring 2019 semester. I saw some kids from three other homes in our development at the pool today. At least three of the community pools within 20 minutes of our house chose NOT to open this year (Milton, Lewisburg, and Muncy) due to COVID-19. I hadn't planned to join a pool this year. We had been members for several years, but then it seemed we weren't going enough to make it worth the money due to vacations, camps, etc. If I had made the decision to join this pool earlier in the month, we would have saved $25, but I am quite certain we will still get our money's worth. Aside from when the kids are at camp next week and the week we spend on Long Island (if we are able to go), I think we will be making many trips the pool this summer. It's about 15 minutes from our house. They have a diving board. They removed all the chairs and chaise lounges because of the coronavirus. You have to bring your own chair or blanket to sit on. Abby passed the swim test. Oliver and I haven't taken it yet. I don't plan on taking the test as I don't have a desire to go off the diving board and be in the deep end of the pool. Hopefully Oliver will pass it sometime this summer. Addi and Westyn were also at the pool today, which made the time far more enjoyable for Ian and Oliver. I enjoyed finishing reading a book. 

Abby gave Nadia a 1,000 piece tiger puzzle yesterday. We shall see if she attempts it or not. Thus far the biggest she's done is 500 pieces. I realized on Tuesday night I made a mistake. One of the Barbie dolls I got her was Hermione, and she already had that one. I had intended to get her Ginny Weasley. Oops! I asked her if she wanted me to try to sell the second Hermione doll, and she said no it would be okay for her to have two of them. Tuesday night she used her money to order a Ginny Weasley doll on Walmart. I contributed a few dollars toward it since she was a little short, and I was feeling badly about my error. She received some money from the Towfighis on Wednesday, which more than replaced what she spent on Tuesday night. Yesterday I decided to order her another Harry Potter puzzle (also 550 pieces) which was a little less than $10 in light of the fact I goofed up with the Barbie doll. I also bought the kids one more puzzle multipack. I definitely have spent far more on puzzles in 2020 than I have any other year of my life, but the kids have spent far more hours doing puzzles the last few months than they ever have before, and I enjoy listening to audiobooks with them while they do puzzles. The set I ordered for them yesterday has five Frozen puzzles - two 300 piece puzzles, two 500 piece puzzles, and one 750 piece puzzle. Between Nadia's birthday gifts and the set of Frozen puzzles I ordered today, that's a total of 8 new puzzles for the kids to do ranging from 300 to 1,000 pieces each. Hopefully that will be enough to carry them through the rest of the summer. I'd much rather see them do a jigsaw puzzle than stare at a screen of some sort.

What a day!

Yesterday was quite an unusual day for our family. Thankfully, I believe Nadia had a good birthday. It was definitely a very different birthday than normal. Both sets of grandparents attended her first seven birthday parties. Sometimes we met in Lancaster to see a show at Sight and Sound, sometimes at our house, and other times at a swimming pool. Following the passing of my mom and my dad's move to Virginia, the relatives who have typically come to celebrate her birthday have been Paul's parents and sometimes Paul's brother and sister-in-law. The first few times she invited friends to attend her party, she had a pool party. The last couple of years she invited friends to our house for a sleepover. Paul's parents haven't been to our house in more than 6 months. It had been almost exactly six months since the last time we were in their house. Yesterday they met us in the driveway at my friend's house. They watched Nadia open the gifts they gave her and talked to the kids and I for a few minutes. We all were wearing masks. Grandma couldn't resist giving them each a hug  since she hadn't seen them since Christmas Day. Nadia invited four girls for a birthday sleepover. Only one girl said she could come. Abby is coming today around noon, and she'll be with us for about 25 hours. We're planning to go swimming this afternoon at the pool we joined on Tuesday night.

The kids always like to open their presents in the morning on their birthday. Since Paul leaves for work before the kids and I get up, we let her open her presents from us Tuesday night before Oliver went to bed. She opened her gifts from her grandparents yesterday. When Paul got up for work yesterday morning he was having some tingling in his hands and tightness in his chest. I was surprised when I got up and found him lying on the floor in the family room. I assumed he was at work. He said he was waiting until the doctor's office opened and calling for an appointment. When he called the doctor's office, they said he needed to go to the ER. A couple of hours later he went to the ER. I mowed the lawn yesterday morning, and while I was trimming some bushes, a bee stung me on the arm. Ouch! 

Ian ate one cashew at the end of lunch. He immediately realized this was a mistake as his tongue was itchy. He didn't eat any more. He has had reactions to walnuts and pecans in the past but has had no problems eating almonds, peanuts, and cashews. He eats a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich on a regular basis for lunch. We changed into swimsuits and got in the van to drive to my friend's house. On the way there I asked Ian how he was feeling, and he said his throat was really itchy and his chest was really hurting him. Nadia said he didn't look well. I was on I-80 where the speed limit is 70, but I definitely exceeded the speed limit once I found that out! I handed a bottle of water back to him and attempted to take him to an urgent care center where I had taken Oliver years ago, but it wasn't there. So I drove him to the ER at the hospital - not the same one where Paul was in the ER. I parked the van, rolled down the windows so Oliver and Nadia wouldn't get overheated, and started walking with Ian to the ER. He said his chest was beginning to feel better and he wasn't having trouble breathing. I walked with him back to the van. Nadia wasn't happy about my decision. I took him to CVS, bought some Benadryl, gave him a tablet, and found out where the Urgent Care's new location. In the parking lot at CVS he told me he was continuing to feel better so I opted not to take him to the Urgent Care because my friend only lives about 10 minutes away from it so I knew I could come back quickly if things got worse. It turned out to be the right call. He had a blast swimming for about 2 hours. The lessons we learned from this episode were #1 Ian isn't going to eat ANY nuts aside from peanuts. He says he's not allergic to almonds, but I say it's not worth the potential risk. He was scared today so he is in agreement with me now about not eating any nuts other than peanuts. #2 I am going to ask the pediatrician for a prescription for an Epi-pen. #3 I am going to make sure we always have some Benadryl on hand - some at home, some in the van, and some in my purse. He took one more Benadryl this evening.

You'd think a bee sting, Paul going to the ER, and Ian having an allergic reaction to a cashew would be more than enough excitement for one day, but there was one other incident. Early yesterday morning (when Paul was in our family room instead of at work) one of his workers was injured on the job. Another worker took the guy to the hospital where he was given stitches. The good news is that he wasn't badly injured, I'm not allergic to bee stings, Benadryl was enough for Ian's allergic reaction, and the EKG, x-rays, and bloodwork showed that Paul's heart is fine and he hasn't had any heart attacks. They gave him Ativan to see if that would help the tingling go away, but it didn't help. They said he needs to see his PCP to follow up on the cause of the tingling. 

Even with all this drama, I think Nadia had a good birthday. I had gotten her a Harry Potter table covering, Harry Potter plates, Harry Potter napkins, and a Harry Potter birthday banner. I bought her three balloons (one flew up to the clouds so two are in our kitchen). She had two donuts for breakfast, apple juice (rare treat), a chicken patty and nectarine for lunch (from the school lunches), and ziti with meatballs, strawberry Jell-O, and cherry dump cake for dinner. Aunt Wendy and Rachel were the first to call her yesterday morning to wish her a happy birthday. Great Aunt Janet called her while I was mowing the lawn. She got to spend a few minutes with her grandparents outside Cheri's house. Some of her friends sent her happy birthday text messages. She had a Zoom virtual birthday party with Rachel from 8pm to midnight. She swam for a couple of hours at Cheri's house and played with two of Cheri's four dogs. After dinner, Nadia participated in the youth group's online meeting. Although it was a treat for me to be able to talk at length with my friend, the highlight of my day was that Nadia gave me a big hug yesterday morning. That is a VERY rare treat from my girl who lately has not been fond of hugs. On Monday I made tuna noodle casserole and on Tuesday I made breakfast bagels for dinner. We're having leftover ziti and meatballs tonight, and tomorrow we're going to use a gift card Grandma gave her for Pizza Hut as she hasn't had stuffed crust pizza since the fall of 2018. I planned the meals this week around her favorites. She also liked the gifts she received - a skateboard, money, fabric glue, a CD, two Barbie dolls, lip gloss, body spray, Goldfish crackers, Wheat Thins, SunChips, sour gummy bears, Pizza Hut gift card, 500 piece Harry Potter puzzle, Harry Potter drapes, Harry Potter sheets, and a Harry Potter comforter. Addi, who lives across the street from us, gave Nadia some candy and card on Tuesday. Even during a pandemic, a birthday can be a special day.

Paul was napping while the kids and I ate dinner, but he woke up right as we were getting ready to light the candles on Nadia's cake. Because he was home much earlier than usual, he and the boys watched Artemis Fowl on Disney+ after dinner while Nadia was meeting with the youth group online, which was a treat for the boys. 

Twelve Years Old!

Nadia turned twelve-years-old today! One year from today she will become a teenager. Yikes! If she leaves the nest when she turns eighteen, we are 2/3 of the way through her years at home with us. Thinking about that makes me very glad I have the privilege of homeschooling her. I want to savor the next six years as much as I possibly can! It has been my privilege to be her mother for twelve years; I look forward to seeing how she will grow and develop over the next year, and I hope that she has a very special birthday celebration. Here is a description of Nadia Renee, age 12:

1. Loves several different shades of blue with turquoise being her favorite at the moment. Strongly dislikes the color pink.

2. During the school year she becomes irritated if she doesn't get up promptly at 7:00. She likes to start her math lesson on the computer first thing after she wakes up, even before she eats breakfast. In the summer, she likes to sleep in. She's almost always the last person up in our house. In the summer she usually gets up sometime between 8-8:30am. When her brothers were at a sleepover at someone else's house recently, she didn't wake up until 9:05!

3. Her current bedtime is 9:30. When she has a friend over for a sleepover she typically stays up until 1:00-1:30am and once she stayed up until 3am! She's having a "virtual" sleepover with her cousin, Rachel, this evening and her friend Abby is coming over for a sleepover tomorrow night. She definitely didn't inherit her night owl tendency from me! Even when I was her age I fell asleep long before midnight when I attended a sleepover. Why are these events called "sleepovers" when there is very little sleep involved? Because she enjoys staying up late, I said that her new privilege when she turns 12 will be that once a month she can stay up until 10:00. She can choose the day, and sleepovers don't count. Her new responsibility is that she must do the dishes after one meal each week and also whenever she cooks or bakes, she must clean up the dishes she creates while cooking/baking.

4. She loves her two guinea pigs very much. She's now lobbying for a hypoallergenic cat. Jenna will be turning 4 years old in the fall, and Peppa is about four months old. She had a rabbit for two months earlier this year. 

5. She's a member of two youth groups plus a Bible quizzing team. She meets with them online on Sundays and Wednesdays. Thankfully, one of the youth groups split in half to meet the requirement of having fewer than 25 people gathered together and resumed meeting in person on June 7 after a three month hiatus. From December through early May she memorized all of 1 and 2 Peter plus the first nine chapters of Hebrews. She has begun memorizing Matthew, which is the book she will be working on for the next year.

6. She uses my phone more than I do primarily for texting, in part because she knows my password and doesn't know the passwords for the iPads. She uses the newer iPad or my phone for texting, Zoom, FaceTime, Messenger Kids, Marco Polo, YouTube, Houseparty, and Skype. She regularly uses Zoom or FaceTime to video chat with her cousin Rachel and her three Bible quizzing teammates - Abby, Evanna, and Ava. She doesn't use the Wii or Switch. She uses apps on the iPad a little bit. We haven't decided at what age we will let her have her own phone. Considering she and I are almost always in the same place at the same time, I am fine with sharing my phone and the iPad with her for the time being. 

7. I believe that physical touch is the primary love language of both of her brothers. For Nadia physical touch is probably at the bottom of her list. Once my friend, Tab, said that "food" was her love language, and by that she meant preparing food for others was a way she would show love to others. I've never heard of that as a love language. I'm guessing it would fall under "acts of service"? Anyhow, if such a love language exists, that might be Nadia's. She rarely hugs me, but I'm most likely to receive a spontaneous hug from her when she's grateful for something related to food. Last Thursday I gave her two early birthday treats, one of which was an XL Oreo hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts, as they had given me a coupon for a free drink for my birthday in April which I hadn't used. 

8. Nadia usually has cold cereal for breakfast. She also enjoys blueberry pop tarts, apple strudel, and blueberry oatmeal. Her brothers and I enjoy monkey bread, pancakes, waffles, and French toast, but she's not a fan of any of those. Her favorite cereals include Frosted Flakes, Cap'n Crunch, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch; she eats a much smaller quantity of food at breakfast than her brothers. Her first choice for lunch is definitely a ham and cheese hot pocket. When we don't have those, she usually has a hot dog or a grilled swiss cheese sandwich. Nadia enjoys a variety of fruits including grapes, nectarines, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, clementines, plums, and raspberries. If none of those are available, she will have baby carrots with ranch dressing or a banana at lunch. There are many snacks that she enjoys. Some of her favorites include pretzels, raisins, fruit snacks, Wheat Thins, and SunChips. For dinner some of Nadia's favorites include rigatoni and meatballs, tuna noodle casserole, lasagna, macaroni and cheese, fish sticks, pizza, meatloaf, goulash, bread sticks, garlic bread, and Jell-O. If we have breakfast for dinner, her favorites include scrambled eggs or an egg on a bagel. Yesterday in conjunction with Ian's eye doctor appointment we picked up 6 donuts at Dunkin so that we could enjoy our birthday tradition. Two of her birthday gifts from me were a box of Wheat Thins and a bag of SunChips. She requested that I make cherry dump cake for her birthday dessert and rigatoni with meatballs for her birthday dinner. She'll either have a hot pocket or something we pick up at the elementary school for lunch today.

9. She still loves listening to Adventures in Odyssey. Her favorite TV show the last two months was Sabrina the teenage witch, which she watched on the CBS app. Other shows that she really enjoys include Full House, the Brady Bunch, Stuck in the Middle, Worst Witch, and the Cosby Show. 

10. She owns a bike and rollerblades, but the vast majority of the time she uses her scooter. She loves to go skiing, ice skating, swimming, zip lining, climb rock walls, and roller skating.  She asked for a skateboard for her birthday. When I asked her what she wanted to do on her birthday, she asked me what she could do that didn't involve wearing a mask. I suggested that we swim either with the Schrecks or at my friend's house. We are headed to my friend's house this afternoon. We chose to swim there in part because Paul's parents want to deliver her presents to her. Grandma says she'll stay in the car, but at least she can see her grandkids from a distance. We haven't seen Paul's parents for six months. My friend lives a lot closer to their house than we do, and she has an inground pool. Yesterday I purchased a membership at a pool about 15 minutes from our house. Nadia and Ian passed the swimming test, which means they can be in the deep end and use the diving board. Hopefully she will enjoy being able to swim more often this summer!

11. I still have to remind her to brush her hair, but she's doing a better job of taking the initiative to shampoo it more often on her own. Sometimes she sleeps with curlers in her hair so her hair will be curly. Her hair is longer than it has ever been before. We shall see how long she lets it grow! She has been painting her fingernails and toenails far more regularly than she ever has in the past. I told her I would buy her a perfume of her choice last week as an early birthday present. She chose a vanilla scented body spray. I also got her lip gloss for her birthday. 

12. She recently completed an online personal finance class produced by Dave Ramsey. 

13. She has a growing collection of fabrics that she uses to make clothes for her Barbie dolls. She has given most of them haircuts. 

14. Her three most favorite book series include: The Mother Daughter Book Club, Mr. Lemoncello's Library, and Harry Potter. She quickly read four Adventure in Odyssey books recently - three were in the series called Candid Conversations with Connie, and the fourth was a book of mysteries. 

15. Playing the piano is not one of her favorite things to do. Lately I've been considering letting her quit sooner than I anticipated letting her make that decision. 

16. Three of her most favorite things to do are spend time with cousins, ride roller coasters, and go to overnight camp at Camp Susque. I'm not sure how much time she'll spend with cousins this year or whether she'll be able to ride a rollercoaster due to COVID-19, but she is going to spend six nights at a camp in the Poconos next week. Hopefully she'll have a great week even if it isn't Camp Susque. 

17. She loves to listen to Christian contemporary music. Her favorite radio station is WGRC. Her three favorite bands (in order) are #1 For King and Country, #2 We are Messengers, and #3 Lauren Daigle. She was bummed that the Creation music festival was cancelled for this summer and that we probably won't be attending another concert until 2021. Thankfully we did attend one concert shortly before everything began to be cancelled.

Teeth, eyes, and chips

Thankfully, the kids' dentist appointments were scheduled after the dentists were allowed to reopen. Paul's appointment in early May fell during the lockdown, which means instead of going 6 months in between cleanings, he actually will end up going 11 months in between cleanings because they rescheduled his appointment for a date in October. I had to fill out a COVID-19 questionnaire for each of them, and a teenager took all of their temperatures. All three got a good report yesterday.

The free visit to Bee's Backyard in late February didn't end up actually being free because a boy accidently broke Ian's glasses while we were there. At first I had him wear his old pair of eyeglasses, but he said they were tight on his face. Then for a few months it wasn't possible to go to the eye doctor except for emergencies. Once the eye doctors were allowed to reopen, I called to schedule an appointment. He was last seen in October 2018. I wasn't planning to take him to the eye doctor this year, but I figured if I was buying him new glasses I should make sure the prescription was right. Thankfully the exam only cost $45, and later today I will be ordering glasses for him on Zenni, which is a much more affordable way to purchase eyeglasses. I asked her to measure his pupillary distance today as that is something you have to know to order them online. He could have been seen a couple of weeks ago, but they didn't want me to show up with all three kids. They picked this date because fewer patients would be there this morning, which meant they would allow me to have all three kids with me. The receptionist took the temperature of all four of us. I will begin allowing Nadia to babysit Oliver in the near future since she's turning twelve tomorrow. After the eye doctor, I got and returned some books at the library, got the homeschool affidavit for 2020-21 notarized at the State Farm agency where we have our life insurance (they do notarizations for free for customers), and bought 6 donuts for Paul and the kids to have for breakfast tomorrow. Paul will probably eat his tonight. Usually four of us eat one and the person who is celebrating their birthday gets two. Since I'm on a diet right now (I have lost 9 pounds in the past 5 weeks), I am not going to eat a donut. Nadia and Paul will each get two donuts this time. I told the boys that Father's Day was two days ago and Nadia's birthday is tomorrow. I wore a face mask for my trip into the library's lobby, and we all wore masks at the dentist and eye doctor. I didn't wear one in the State Farm agency because they had a sign on the door saying none of their employees are wearing masks. If I don't have to wear one, I don't.

Yesterday when we went to get the kids' free school lunches and breakfasts, I also got a few things at CVS. I used to go every other week when I was putting more effort into couponing. I went very rarely during the two most recent years I was teaching at BU. For the past 10 months I've been going at least once a month. Yesterday I bought four bags of Dorito's (two bags of the nacho kind as they are one of Paul's favorite and two bags of the Ranch kind as they are one of Nadia's favorite), six 2 liters of Pepsi/ Mt. Dew for Paul, and four boxes of cereal for Paul and the kids. I paid a total of $10.13 for those 14 items. Later in the day Oliver asked me if he could ride his bike with two boys who are 12 years old to the Country Store. It's six tenths of a mile from our house. He's gone there with them before, but he hadn't bought anything before. He asked if he could buy a popsicle or some other snack with his money. I made the mistake of giving him a $5 bill from his bank, which was almost all the money he had. I told him to put the change he received after he made his purchase into his pocket. I never shop at this Amish store because of the prices. Oliver came home with a big smile, no money, and a grocery bag that contained five small (one ounce) bags of Doritos. They cost $1 each. I explained to him that at CVS earlier than day I had paid less than $1 for each 9 ounce bag. Without coupons he could have gotten two 9 ounce bags for $4 - 18 ounces for $4 instead of 5 ounces for $5. Hopefully he learned something through this shopping adventure. At camp next week I'm going to put $10 on each child's account for the snack shop. Hopefully he won't spend it all on the first day! They said the snacks range in price from 50 cents to $2.50 each so I figure $2 per day should suffice. The snacks are free at Camp Susque, but we pay far more for them to attend Camp Susque. 

I walked to three different playgrounds in the past three days. Oliver and Ian played at the one we walked to on Sunday. Oliver was the only one who played yesterday and the only one who joined me today. Yesterday we were able to go in the morning, which is definitely preferable when it's a hot day. Sunday and today I came home a sweaty mess. Yesterday a day care center had some school age kids at the playground, which intimidated Ian and Nadia. Oliver played with one of his teammates from basketball. Ian told me he didn't think he should be around other people because of COVID-19. It broke my heart to hear him say that. I would never have guessed that playing at a playground with a handful of other kids would seem frightening to my 10.5 year old. 2020 is such an unusual year. I usually mow the lawn once a week, but it's been ten days since I last mowed because we went more than a week without any rain. I think I'll mow tomorrow, which means we won't walk to a playground tomorrow. It is nice to be walking to a playground instead of just walking for the sake of getting exercise.

Playgrounds, Dads, and Church

Our governor had said that in the green phase child care centers could use a playground, but public playgrounds could not be reopened. In the red and yellow phases I had seen yellow caution tape on playground equipment. Yesterday morning when we went for our daily walk we decided to walk to the playground closest to our house and see if there was any tape or any other indication that we weren't allowed to use it. Nadia didn't go all the way to the playground, but the boys rode their bikes there while I walked. It's a little less than a mile from our house. I didn't have my camera but did take a few pictures with my phone. No one else was there. In the summer we used to walk to this playground on a regular basis in the morning. For the first several years I walked there pushing either a single or double jogging stroller. There are three public playgrounds in our town. The one that is the farthest from our house (about 2.5 miles) is the kids' favorite. They chose to go there this afternoon after lunch. This is one of the playgrounds that I had seen covered in yellow caution tape last month. We walked pass another playground to get to this one so now we know that all three playgrounds are open. YAHOO! I wish I had realized this last week as I imagine Yvonne's kids would have enjoyed playing on a playground last Saturday. I brought my good camera today. Over the last couple of months we've been taking walks on a regular basis. Last week according to my phone I walked a total of 43 miles. We have a few different routes that we've been alternating between. I don't believe we'll be going on those routes now that we know the playgrounds are open. I predict that our walks will be to one of the three playgrounds. If they choose the playground nearest our house, I'll walk on around the outside of the baseball field while they play on the equipment as I've been trying to walk at least 5 miles a day. I've lost 9 pounds over the past almost 5 weeks.

Today is Father's Day! I had the kids each make Paul a card that included a list of what they love about it or love to do with him. I got Paul a big bag of his favorite chips and two candy bars. He requested that we watch the eighth episode of The Chosen after we got home from church this morning, the last episode of the first season. My favorite episode was the sixth one. The Father's Day that sticks in my mind the most is the one in 2005 when I was pregnant for the first time (ectopic). I'm very thankful that Paul pushed for trying IVF. If I could go back in time, I'd have tried that first instead of pursuing adoption first. I'm also very thankful that he had the idea for me to homeschool our kids. Paul took a long nap this afternoon, which was something I'm sure he really appreciated. He's been working very long hours. He gets home a little earlier on Saturdays, but M-F he leaves for work before the rest of us get up and has been getting home between 8-9pm most nights. His job has also been more physically draining that usual because they are short staffed so Paul has been helping with pouring concrete, stacking, etc. We are thankful for Paul, PopPop, and Grandpa, and we hope all three have had a special day today.

This morning we attended our church in person for the first time since March 8. Far fewer people attended in person than usually come on a Sunday morning. They are continuing to offer the service online. We were very thankful to return to our church. We were asked to wear masks on our way in and out of the building, but everyone took their masks off in the sanctuary. We were very grateful that we didn't need to wear masks during the service. They are only offering a worship service for three weeks. Beginning on July 12 I will teach a class for elementary girls and the kids and Nadia will be able to attend their classes in addition to the worship service. 

Oliver's first sleepover

Last year in May Isaiah and Micah came over to our house for a sleepover at our house and then a few weeks later Ian attended a sleepover at their house, which was his first time sleeping over at someone a friend's house. Nadia attended a sleepover at Grace's house in 2018 and 2019. Prior to the beginning of the pandemic, I had invited Micah and Isaiah over for a sleepover at our house in May. When we entered the yellow phase, I talked with Tab about rescheduling a sleepover, and she told me that Isaiah (who will be turning 7 at the end of this month) didn't feel comfortable sleeping over at a friend's house. She invited the boys to a sleepover at her house. Oliver kept saying he didn't want to sleep at their house; just like Isaiah he preferred for them to come here. On Tuesday night the boys had planned to sleep outside with Camden, Damien, and a few others. They had set up four tents, but since we don't own a tent Ian and Oliver were just attempting to sleep in a sleeping bag on the ground. My boys had fun playing hide and seek in the dark with their friends, but they were ready to go to sleep around 10pm. I had left the back patio light on and left the sliding glass door unlocked in case the boys needed to use a bathroom, get a drink, or wanted to sleep in their beds. They came back to sleep in their beds shortly after I went to bed. Paul was still up when they came back home. Oliver usually goes to bed at 8:30, and Ian usually goes to bed at 9:00 so they were both up later than usual.

Yesterday we arrived at Tab's house at 1:45. The kids tried out the boys' new zipline, and Nadia enjoyed a little bit of time with Ruby and Maggie. Then we all went to Dan's parents' house to swim in their swimming pool for about three hours. Jan, Tab, and I sat outside while seven kids (a niece and nephew of Tab were also there) had fun swimming together. Nadia and I came home and ate dinner before Nadia went online for the 6:05 Wednesday night youth service. Nadia and I will be picking the boys up this afternoon. Hopefully the four boys are having an enjoyable time together! I am very thankful for Tab and her family. For the last year or so I have been listing Tab as the emergency contact on forms I fill out that require me to list more than just Paul and I. Hopefully no one will ever have a need to call her in that capacity. Prior to Maurice's passing filling out the emergency contact portion of a form was not an emotional task. Since that dreaded phone call from the campus police last year began with the statement that I had been listed as Maurice's emergency contact, I think of him every time I see the words "emergency contact."

Social Weekend

The boys were both up at 6:00am on Saturday because they were SO excited that their cousins were coming. Yvonne had texted me on Friday night to let me know that they were shortening their visit. I had told Ian and Nadia before they went to bed that night, but Oliver was already asleep when I received the text. He was very disappointed, but I reminded him that seeing them for a few hours was definitely better than not seeing them at all. Before their van even pulled away from our house that evening the kids were already asking me, when will see them again? They love their cousins very much! It was a beautiful day to be outside (much cooler than it had been recently). Before they shortened the trip we had planned to meet at Ricketts Glen State Park to go on a hike together, but in light of the fact they were driving from MD to Hershey to our house and back to MD all in one day, I thought we should skip the state park as that would have meant spending even more time in the church van they use. They were at our house for 7 hours. The kids played outside some of the time. Several of the kids played a game together that the Towfighis had brought with them. Joshua, Andrew, Jenna, and Nadia played Racko. I joined those four for a game of Balderdash, which Jenna won. Paul and Joe played a game of chess. I also enjoyed playing piano duets with Jenna and then with Yvonne. My kids were grateful that Andrew had requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner because #1 that's one of their most favorite meals and #2 I haven't been buying ground beef lately because of the fact the price has doubled. I made 2 pounds of spaghetti, 2 pounds of ziti, and a little over 2 pounds of meatballs, and every bit was consumed that night. Nadia made the brownies that Andrew had requested while I mowed the lawn that morning. I didn't eat any of the pasta or meatballs or brownies because I've been on a diet. Over the past 5 days I lost another 3 pounds, which means I lost 8 pounds total in 4 weeks. 

I had planned on serving a special French toast for his birthday breakfast on Sunday morning, but since the Towfighis weren't here on Sunday, the boys and I had it for dinner this evening. Yummy! On Sunday we were able to go to a church in person for the first time since March 8! We could have opted to sit in the gym without masks, but we chose to sit in the sanctuary, even though we don't like wearing masks, so we could see a 3D pastor instead of one on a screen. Next Sunday our church will be resuming in person services, and the kids and youth classes will resume (Lord willing) on July 12! Yahoo!!! In addition to wearing masks, it was sort of like attending a wedding as an usher guided us to where they wanted us to sit and also at the end came and let us know when our pew could exit the sanctuary. They had every other row roped off, didn't pass an offering plate, and had removed the Bibles and hymnals from the pews. It was much closer to normal since we were actually in a church with other people instead of staring at our TV in our home, but it wasn't normal. Sunday night we attended a picnic at Pastor Ken's home, and aside from the fact that no one was hugging or shaking hands, it was TOTALLY normal! Pastor Ken grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and people brought a variety of desserts and side dishes. I brought macaroni and cheese. I think everyone touching the same serving spoons at a potluck is definitely "taboo" right now, but that's what we did. No one was wearing masks. It was just like the picnics we had outside at their home last summer. It was definitely the most normal thing I've experienced outside our home in three months. We didn't stay at the picnic as long as I would have liked to because Nadia wanted to also attend the youth group meeting at 6:30pm. While Nadia was at the youth group meeting, Evanna and her mom dropped off Evanna's two gerbils, who are named Chocolate and Vanilla, at our house as Nadia is pet sitting them while they are in Montana. So we currently have 10 caterpillars, 2 gerbils, and 3 guinea pigs in the living room/dining room! 

Considering all the time we've spent isolated at home the last few months, this was a very sociable weekend between Yvonne's family spending 7 hours at our house on Saturday, going to a church Sunday morning, going to the picnic at 5pm on Sunday, and Nadia attending a youth group meeting at 6:30. This week from Monday through Saturday we only have one thing on our calendar. We're going to the Schreck's house tomorrow afternoon for a play date, and then Ian will be staying at their house about 24 hours. Oliver was also invited, but he wasn't interested. This evening both boys are sleeping outside. Several boys set up tents in our neighbor's backyard. We don't own a tent, but the boys took their sleeping bags and pillows out so they could sleep on the ground near the tents. Ian hasn't played outside as much as usual the past three days because he's been working on a huge Lego set (more than 3,000 pieces!). Pop Pop built it a few years ago. He gave it to the kids last week, but we decided to wait until after the Towfighis left to get it out and start building it.

Yesterday I received confirmation that the acting camp I had signed Nadia up for (after the other one was cancelled) WILL be taking place the last two weeks of July. They will be putting on a production of Cinderstein (a mashup between Cinderella and Frankenstein). Yesterday we also found out that the production of Tuck Everlasting that Nadia was really hoping to be a part of has been postponed from November 2020 to November 2021. So I'm glad she can at least be in this 40 hour acting class. The overnight camp also emailed us yesterday. They cancelled one week of camp but all the others are going to be held as planned. This was actually a blessing for us because now all three kids can go the same week, which means I've been spared two round trips (6 hours of driving). I ordered more masks on eBay today because they are each supposed to bring at least 2 masks to camp. The caterpillars I ordered came much faster than anticipated. This is the only potential downside to the fact that the boys are now going to camp much sooner than expected. They will be able to see them become chrysalides, but they might emerge as butterflies while they are at camp. It says it can take up to 20 days. That would be perfect if it took 20 days because the kids will be coming back from camp on July 4. 

Cousins are coming!

My kids LOVE spending time with their cousins. Due to cancelled travel plans in April and May, they haven't seen Wendy's kids since August or Yvonne's kids since December. Nadia told me yesterday she was counting down the hours until her bedtime because when she wakes up, it will be the day they are coming. All three kids have been very excited. One said to me that being with their cousins is better than being at Knoebels, unless they could be at Knoebels with their cousins. And my kids LOVE to be at an amusement park. On Thursday we purchased two birthday balloons. One is for Andrew who will be turning 15 tomorrow, and the other is for Joel whose birthday was on May 30. We mailed birthday cards to Joel prior to his birthday. The kids have each made a card to give to Andrew this weekend, plus they decorated the driveway yesterday in honor of his birthday (we can check sidewalk chalk off the summer bucket list). Speaking of the bucket list, I added something to it as I ordered 10 caterpillars through Insect Lore. It's been quite a few years since we did that. The cost is what had seemed prohibitive, but considering I've been getting refunds in the mail from Camp Good News and PA Wilds Child, I thought we'd splurge. I did use a BOGO coupon so we got 10 for the price of 5, which helped make the price seem not as ridiculous. It is very special to see them go through metamorphosis! 

One of the neighbors has only one child, and she's a toddler. Some of her cousins were camping in their backyard on Thursday night. One of her cousins is eight years old. Oliver quickly became friends with Deacon. Oliver gave Deacon and his younger brother each a freeze pop. Deacon borrowed Ian's bike to try out our ramp. Oliver swam in their little kiddie pool with them. No one is a stranger to Oliver! Learning someone's name is unimportant to Oliver, probably in part because he has a very hard time remembering names. He uses words like "friend" or "buddy" when talking to someone if he doesn't know his name. 

The last three months have been really crazy in more ways than one. I've been taking a break from spending any time on Facebook or reading any news articles. The stock market takes a huge nosedive one day and then another day it's soaring up. It seems like so many responses to things the past few months have been without any moderation but from one extreme to another. I feel like sometimes we've been treating COVID-19 as if it is as deadly as Ebola. It's definitely VERY bad for certain people such as those in nursing homes, but quarantining healthy people who don't have any pre-existing conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, etc.)? There are several counties in our state that over the past 3 months have had a total of fewer than 10 cases of COVID-19. Why were the schools, churches, libraries, and most businesses closed in those counties? Our governor hasn't been working with our legislature. He has been vetoing like crazy. Evidently if they put an end to the "state of emergency" he can't veto that. Checks and balances are a good thing! They are trying to enable all businesses in PA to be allowed to reopen. On the one hand people have been arrested, charged, or fined for things like attending a funeral, cutting someone's hair, and a dad playing t-ball with his daughter outside. But it's okay if social distancing and "stay at home" orders are violated if large numbers of people are protesting George's murder?

What the police officers did was very, very wrong. I have often wondered why people video these tragedies instead of intervening and potentially saving the person's life? One of the drummers at our church is African American, and he posted on Facebook that if anyone ever sees someone doing harm to him, don't take a video but rather help save his life! In every profession there are some abusive people. There have been teachers, parents, pastors, priests, etc. found guilty of doing very bad things to children, for example. However I don't see people marching against all teachers or pastors or parents because some deserve to be in jail. We aren't considering defunding schools or abolishing churches. It feels like we are throwing the baby out with the bath water if we talk about defunding the police. I remember on 9/11 when so many fire fighters and police officers gave their lives trying to rescue people from the twin towers. Hopefully good will come of all of this. I think no-knock warrants should never have been permitted and should be abolished. The same goes for "qualified immunity." The Supreme Court has been known to do great harm at times along the way (Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe v. Wade, Buck v.. Bell, and Korematsu come to mind as a few prime examples of some horrible decisions they've made over the years). They are responsible for the creation of "qualified immunity" which hopefully will become a thing of the past.

I've been listening to audiobooks and also reading books quite a bit this week. I listened to the audiobooks while I was walking. I read Everybody, Always and listened to Love Does, which are both by Bob Goff. I've also been reading Get our of your head by Jennie Allen and The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate and listening to Love Lives Here by Maria Goff. After I finish The Book of Lost Friends, I am going to start reading Two Weeks by Karen Kingsbury. I used an Amazon gift card to get the book by Jennie Allen, but I got all the rest for free through either the Lewisburg library or Hoopla (which I access through my library card at the Free Library in Philadelphia). I have always loved reading, and it's such a treat to have more time for that this summer!