Thankful Thursday

 

1. Monday was our first day of school for the 2023-24 school year and Nadia's first day of General Psychology through Grand Canyon University. Ian also had his first piano lesson with someone other than me on Monday. He is working to play Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky with Josh as a piano duet at a recital in November. I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to homeschool my three children and that we have the money to pay for Ian's piano lessons. In light of the fact that Nadia might attend Meadowbrook for her senior year of high school, it seemed wise to have Nadia start taking college classes in her sophomore year of high school. Most colleges only offer dual enrollment for juniors and seniors. A few months ago, I had narrowed it down to Boyce, Grand Canyon, or Bluefield. After we applied to Bluefield, we found out that sophomores had to have taken the ACT or SAT prior to applying. Boyce's course selection was rather small, so she submitted an application to Grand Canyon. I'm hoping she'll take five general education classes through Grand Canyon this year, take her Bible classes through Liberty next year, and take only one class (Calculus) through Liberty during her senior year.

2. I had my first Sound of Music rehearsal on Tuesday night. Tonight, those who are nuns will be rehearsing our music for three hours. I'm grateful for this opportunity and hoping I have the stamina for rehearsals that end at 9:30pm. Next year they will be doing Anastasia. We shall see if Nadia, Ian, and I audition for that one.

3. Yesterday we had an appointment at the Post Office to submit the kids' passport applications. Both parents need to be present. Between the fees to the US Department of State and the Post Office, we paid a little over $700 for five passports. Ouch! The kids' passports will only be good for five years since they are all under 16 years of age, but the other two will be good for ten years. We shall see what passport stamps we get in those books over the next 5-10 years! It's Oliver's first passport. Ian and Nadia got their first ones when they were babies, so they've been expired for many years. I'm thankful we have the money to pay for these passports and look forward to traveling to other countries with our kids in the coming years! We think the first stamps will be in February in Ecuador. 

4. We had a safe trip to Lynchburg and back on Sunday. If Nadia goes to Liberty for three years, we will be making that trip many more times in the years to come. Hopefully, we won't typically make the round trip in one day. We were in Lynchburg for 3 hours as we arrived 90 minutes before Margie's funeral, and the funeral lasted 90 minutes. We didn't get to spend much time with anyone, but the Towfighis (minus Andrew), Benners (including Drayton's parents), Lisa, Joel, Michael, Nate (and his family), and Aunt Tina were also in attendance. Becca also made a very brief appearance prior to the funeral. I'm very thankful that Margie's suffering has come to an end and that she is with her Savior.

5. Yesterday we had our third field trip of the 2023-24 school year. Our first stop was George's Furniture where we had a one-hour tour. The handmade furniture was gorgeous. None of the furniture we own compares to what we saw there. The kids really liked this one very unique "Do it all" desk. What interested me the most was the tables that had the ability to add MANY leaves and become VERY long, and there were also benches that had leaves and could be expanded. The prices were much higher, so I doubt we'll actually ever buy anything, but it was interesting to see them working and learn about the company. The primary reason we headed down to that area was to see Moses at Sight and Sound with Paul's dad. Originally, I thought we wouldn't go to Sight and Sound this year because we had seen Moses before, but I changed my mind because we saw it in 2014. 

6. It was looking like we wouldn't be able to take a boat tour of Crater Lake, and then finally in the middle of August they began to announce what dates tours would be available this summer. We have tickets for a tour on Labor Day! I recently discovered that the Oakland Zoo is going to be closed on the day we planned to go there, but thankfully I was able to modify our plans for our time in San Francisco so that we could go there on a different day. We are looking forward to our upcoming vacation and praying things will go as smoothly as possible.

7. Ian wore his retainer for a little over two years, and then it was accidentally thrown away on August 8. Thankfully, the orthodontist said it was fine for him to stop wearing a retainer. He's thrilled to have a break from that! Oliver still sees the orthodontist every month for an adjustment on his braces. While Yvonne was at our house, she adjusted Ian's eyeglasses, and they are no longer sliding down his nose!

8. Our home was built in 1999. All of the rooms that had carpet in them had an off-white Berber carpet. Over the years we've been gradually replacing that carpet. Earlier this month we replaced the carpet in Oliver's bedroom, the hallway, and the stairs. We love it! It's definitely the plushest carpet we have ever had in this home or any other that we've lived in over the last 22 years. The only area in our house that still has the Berber carpet is our master bedroom closet. The next project I think we'll do on the house will be to waterproof the basement. We had water in the basement again recently. 

9. Due to Paul selling the company, his days of driving down to Gordon to work six days a week are numbered. Because of that, I asked him if he'd like to join us in attending church on Wednesday evenings. I showed him the options for adults, and he chose The Chosen small group. The group will be watching and discussing episodes of the show on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:00 starting on September 20. This will be the first time in our 22 years of marriage that we've attended church together on Wednesday evenings. I had been in a Bible study on the book of John which hadn't quite finished, and the group was going to start a study on Romans after finishing John, but I'm excited about being in a study with my husband. 

10. On our first day of school I continued the tradition of having the kids each draw their self-portraits. Oliver showed VAST improvement over any he's done in the past, but he asked me not to post it anywhere, so I didn't include it here. Last year I also started a tradition of having the kids write their goals for the year, and we did that again on Monday. Hoping that we all make a lot of progress toward achieving our goals! 

11. Last week when the Towfighis were here I forgot to take out the recycling. It only goes out once a month, so this was a problem. When I realized it this week, I called the garbage company and thankfully they made an exception and picked up our recycling this week. I was very appreciative of their kindness! Thankfully we live less than a mile from where they keep their trucks. 

Cousin Time!

 

My kids love their cousins. All ten Towfighis plus Toby arrived at our house on Monday afternoon. Seven of them left on Tuesday morning to take Andrew to Cedarville. Joel, Micah, Wesley, and Julianna stayed with us through Friday evening. Nadia spent a lot of time with Wesley - they did puzzles, colored with crayons, colored with sidewalk chalk, played games (especially Loot Letter), etc. I think she'd make a great babysitter! We had lunch at Kids' Cafe every day, which was a blessing to me, and the kids enjoyed all the snacks they were given to take home each day (cereal, chips, rice Krispie treats, juice boxes, pretzels, etc.). One day the police officers were also distributing free backpacks and school supplies, which the kids loved receiving. Micah was very attached to his backpack for the rest of the time they were at our home. Aside from Kids' Cafe, we only had one other outing - a hike at the Milton State Park with other homeschoolers. The outing was also supposed to include tubing in the river, but we've had TOO much rain lately (including water in our basement) so the water conditions weren't safe for tubing. Oliver and Julianna were the only ones who got in the water at all. 

Margie passed away on August 10. Because the funeral is happening tomorrow in Virginia, Nadia rode to Maryland with the Towfighis on Friday evening so that she could have more time with her cousins. The Benners flew from Chicago to Virginia today, and Joe drove 6 of his kids plus Nadia to Virginia. Nadia was looking forward to spending the night with Rachel, Julianna, Susie, Grace, and Wendy in a hotel room. Jenna and Yvonne are driving from Maryland to Lynchburg tomorrow. Paul, Oliver, Ian, and I are heading to Lynchburg in the morning. It will be a new record for Oliver and me as far as time spent in the van in one day (about 12 hours total). The service is at 3pm. There is a meal for family members at 5pm, but we aren't staying for that due to how late we would get home if we did. 

11 Years Old!

 On Monday Oliver turned eleven years old! I had planned a two-day getaway in Pittsburgh for his birthday. We ended up being away for three nights. On Saturday morning I picked Nadia up from Camp Susque and Melinda and Ed picked up Ian, Oliver, and Xandir. That afternoon we began driving to the western part of Pennsylvania. Our first stop was a free Christian music festival in Brockway. The headline artists were supposed to be Katy Nichole and We are Messengers. We are Messengers backed out a couple of weeks before the event, but Consumed by Fire came in their place. We spent Sunday morning at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. We had to pay full price because they had left AZA in June. We spent the afternoon at the Bushy Run Battlefield and Fort Pitt before having dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse with Charlie and Nadine Beares. On Oliver's birthday we spent the day at Kennywood. Oliver rode one of the big rollercoasters two times. Unfortunately for Nadia and Ian, the biggest roller coaster was closed. Oliver forgot to pack his birthday t-shirt. Instead of a birthday cake, we splurged and got the kids each a large dish of Dippin' Dots. We ate dinner at Subway and then instead of driving home, we drove for four hours into Virginia so that we could spend five hours with my dad and say goodbye to Margie who passed away today. Yesterday, Xandir and Faith came over for five hours. The boys played the Nintedo Switch for a couple of those hours. All six of us played three rounds of Codenames.

Oliver received Gatorade powder from Nadia, money from Ian, Grandpa, and Pop Pop, and 8 puzzles, $11, a watch, 5 pounds of peach rings, and a bag of Fritos from Paul and me. Oliver used his money to buy a drone, a watch, a cotton candy machine, and the supplies for making cotton candy. He spent $20 more than he received, but he'll be earning money from doing Junior Ranger badges on our upcoming vacation.

Oliver had his physical today. He only received one injection because they were out of stock of Menactra. Today he weighed 72 pounds and 6 ounces (32nd percentile) and was 59.25" tall (84th percentile). His BMI was at the 5th percentile which means he's not technically underweight as they define underweight as less than the 5th percentile. Over the past year he gained 5 pounds plus 4 ounces and grew 2.5 inches. Fifth grade here we come! 

Home Alone

The Home Alone movies, which Oliver has watched umpteen times, are about a child accidentally ending up either at home alone or alone in a hotel. I'm referring to a fifty-one-year-old woman having a week alone at home. Last year while the three kids were at Camp Good News, I told myself I didn't want to do this again; so, I signed the boys up for a week of camp in June, but then the Bible quizzing competition was scheduled later than usual, which meant I had to contact the camp and move the boys' registration to the end of July into early August. The upside of all three kids being at camp at the same time was that Paul and I were able to have a date on Sunday. We hadn't been on a date since September 2022. Our first stop was Lowe's to get three things for the house. Then we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and shared a dessert at TGI Fridays because I had about $7 left on a gift card for that restaurant. Prior to coming home, we stopped at Lingle's to get Coke for Paul. We watched part of a movie together, and I asked Paul to sit on the couch with me. We finished the movie on Monday evening. On Sunday afternoon before the boys left for camp Paul did some spackling in the family room. I'm hoping he finishes the spackling and sanding either today or tomorrow because I'd like to do the painting by Friday. 

On Monday I took the van to the Honda dealership for some factory recall repairs. I was there for three hours. I also talked on the phone with Aunt Janet and Charlie Beares that day. Yesterday I met Tab for lunch as an early birthday celebration, and we also walked around Lewisburg talking for a while. I did some shopping at Walmart and the Dollar Store before lunch and picked up ice cream at Old Mill Creamery afterwards. I don't have any plans today through Friday, so I am at the point where I am REALLY missing my kids. Milo is a nice companion, but he doesn't talk! Paul and Al sold the company yesterday, which is an amazing answer to prayer. I'm looking forward to being able to go on dates with Paul more regularly in the coming years. I was hoping to take a ballroom dancing class with him this fall, but I think that will have to wait until 2024 in light of my participation in the Sound of Music. If the kids end up being at camp at the same time next summer, I shouldn't be home alone. I should have the company of my husband! When I first moved to Pennsylvania in 1996, I was frequently at home alone as I lived by myself. It's a blessing that this hasn't been the norm, especially for the last 15 years that I've been a mom. 

Many months ago, I had planned that we would spend August 6-7 in the Pittsburgh area so that we could visit the Bushy Run Battlefield on their annual battle reenactment and spend the day at Kennywood on Oliver's birthday. At one point we thought those plans might be cancelled because we'd be spending the week in Maryland, but since the Benners bought a home, they aren't traveling east next week. When I learned of a free music festival that is taking place near I-80 in the western part of the state on Saturday evening, I decided to have us leave on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday morning. Katy Nichole is one of Nadia's favorite artists, and she will be performing there. Originally, We are Messengers was supposed to be the headliner, but they backed out a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, Consumed by Fire is coming as well as some other groups. Sunday morning we'll visit the Pittsburgh Zoo/Aquarium and then go to the battlefield. After that we'll have dinner with Nadine and Charlie Beares before we spend the night at a Holiday Inn in Pittsburgh. On Monday, which is Oliver's birthday, we'll spend the day at Kennywood Amusement Park and then drive to Virginia. Tuesday we'll spend several hours with dad and say goodbye to Margie before we return home.