First Place!!!

Faith (5th grade), Ava (8th grade), Jill (5th grade), and Nadia (7th grade)

I hadn't heard Nadia's voice since about 6:30am on Tuesday, but she called us via her friend Ava's phone this evening! It was great to be able to chat with her some. Usually our church sends more than one team to Nationals, but there were only six kids participating in Bible Bowl this year because of COVID. Only four kids could compete at one time but substitutions were made if a quizzer quizzed out (answered 5 questions correctly during a 12 minute round) and also the last four minutes of each round they made switches so that Nadia and Faith could also participate. Our church's team won first place for the first time in five years! The last time they won first it was also held in Oklahoma. Usually it's there every four years, but it wasn't held last year due to COVID so in terms of years when the competition was actually held, it had been four years since our church came away with first prize. The kids can earn scholarship money based on how well they do on individual tests and with the team, and Nadia was awarded $1,100 in college scholarship funds today!! There were four girls (pictured above) and two boys on the team this year - two 5th graders, two 7th graders, one 8th grader, and one 10th grader. We are very thankful for all the time the coaches put into the team over the course of the year. Next year, Lord willing, Ian and Nadia will be going to South Carolina with the team. They will start their drive back tomorrow and plan to be back at our church by Monday evening. We are again praying for their safety as it's a very long drive from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania!

I took the boys to an outdoor stream exploration led by a biology professor at Bucknell. It was a warm day so it felt good to get our feet wet. Oliver caught several crayfish. We saw a variety of aquatic creatures such as water striders and damselflies. I took a picture of two damselflies while they were mating. I thought it was pretty neat that they make a heart shape when they're mating! It's not the best picture as I should have increased the shutter speed more than I did. I don't normally take pictures of insects.

When the kids were younger we used to take them to two parades in our borough every summer - once in June (fire department's parade) and on July 4th. We have had schedule conflicts for awhile (ex. have been on Long Island on July 4th) plus there weren't any parades last year. This year we can't go to the 4th of July parade because it's being held on July 3rd at 10:00 (since the 4th falls on a Sunday), and I am to pick up the boys from overnight camp at 9:30 that morning, and the camp is 90 minutes from our  house. Oliver didn't even remember being at a parade. I remember when he was young he was so thrilled to see each and every fire engine go by. The parade lasted about 30 minutes today, and the boys both came home with a lot of candy. We finished our day by watching Luca, a new movie on Disney+.