Thankful Thursday

Life is full of twists and turns. Some represent little bumps in the road, and other times major changes. Rolling with the punches is an important skill to have, and we had more opportunities to refine that skill than usual in 2020. Awhile back I had signed my kids up for a (free) 4-hour fishing/kayaking trip. They were originally scheduled to do this from 1-5pm next Monday. The director of the program emailed me last week and asked if they could come on June 6 from 8:00-12:00 instead. We had very little snow this past winter, and then the last few weeks we've been in a significant drought. The lawns around here usually look lush in June, but now they mostly are brown. The historic low water level wasn't helpful for kayaking, but the kids still had a good time. On Monday and Wednesday, I took five kids to the Kid's Cafe (free lunch) in our town's park. One of our neighbors is teaching summer school so I also took her two kids with us. Her kids also hung out at our house for a few hours this week on those two days.

Today I thought that I'd be driving those 5 kids plus Cheri and myself to a field trip located one hour west of us. This morning as I was walking Milo around 7am, I received a text from one mom who was backing out because of the poor air quality due to the fires in Canada. I called another mom who I knew was on the fence because of the same issue. When she also decided to back out, I decided to reschedule the trip because those 11 people represented half of the group. Cheri was on her way out of her driveway when I texted her to tell her that we were going to reschedule. She had lined up an aide to watch her uncle and really wanted to go somewhere with us today. As I ate my breakfast, I tried to come up with another idea. I remembered that the Rodale Institute offered tours on Thursdays in the summer. I went on their website and paid for a tour at 11:00 for the five of us. Cheri had also mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she hadn't toured a cave since she was a child (and she's 66 years old). She asked that we schedule a tour of a cavern. I had previously taken the kids to two other caverns in Pennsylvania, but we hadn't been to Crystal Cave which is about 15 minutes from Rodale Institute. These places are 2 hours from our home. To be honest I wasn't thrilled with the idea of driving for more than 4 hours today, but my friend has been dealing with some really challenging situations as the primary caregiver of her uncle who has Alzheimer's. The kids and I left our home at 8:45 and picked her up at a meeting spot at 9:10. A little after 10:00 we found out from the Rodale Institute that they had cancelled the tours for today because of the air quality. At that point we were only about 20 minutes away from the site, so we opted go in the Visitor Center to get a map and take the self-guided tour. Several other individuals showed up for the 11:00 tour, but it didn't happen today. Air quality was not an issue in an underground cave. I wasn't impressed with Crystal Cave. It definitely wasn't a great field trip, but Cheri was very grateful, and I enjoyed having hours to talk with her in the van. I also am very grateful that we plan to stay at home sweet home tomorrow and Saturday. Actually, over the next seven days I don't plan to drive farther than 15 minutes away from our home which is fine with me! Since Paul enjoys history, I've decided to reschedule the tour of Curtin Village for some time when he will be able to join the group. 

Nadia is starting her job at Reptiland on Monday at 10:00am. We only found that out a little before 5pm today. The school district is closed on Fridays in the summer, and I need to get her a work permit. Hopefully I can get that taken care of prior to 10:00 on Monday morning. I'm hoping that this will be a good experience for her! It's much easier to get a job when you are sixteen years old. I am grateful the manager was willing to hire her albeit she will only be turning fifteen on June 24. 

Margie had an appointment with her oncologist today. She had planned to request to be switched to hospice, but she changed her mind and is going to have one more radiation treatment and try some other medications. We are praying that these will not result in difficult side effects and will be helpful in improving both her quality of life and possibly extending the length of her life here on earth.

Last August I purchased four tickets for a Christian music festival to be held at a Six Flags in NY in July. I purchased four at first because Nadia was at camp, and I didn't know if she wanted to go. At first, she said she didn't want to go because she thought she had a schedule conflict, but then she changed her mind, and I bought a fifth ticket (and there actually wasn't a schedule conflict). Then a few months later Paul found out that he won't be able to attend with us as his brother will be on vacation that week. Cheri was telling me today how she really wanted to be able to get away with someone for 3 days. She had tried to work something out with one of her sisters. Long story short, she found someone who will care for her uncle and her dogs for the three days of the music festival, and she is going to use Paul's ticket! She hasn't been able to travel away from home for quite a while because she is her uncle's caregiver. I am thankful that she will be able to enjoy the Christian music and also the rides with us for three days in July!

Although Paul can't go with us to Darien Lake, it seems he will be able to travel with us a lot more in the future. He is scheduled to sell the company to someone at the end of this month. This is a HUGE answer to prayer. It feels like a miracle to us. Provided this actually comes to fruition in three weeks, he will continue to work FT until the end of July and then will work PT for the new owner for an undetermined length of time, but the end goal will be for him to transition to a job that he can do from home which will be fabulous because he currently drives 100 miles a day (round trip) to work six days a week. He also will have more flexibility in terms of taking a day off for a field trip or taking a week or two off for a vacation. The kids and I are very excited about the idea of spending more time with Paul starting in August!!! Thank you, Lord!