Thankful Thursday

 

1. The Schrecks came over for dinner on May 25. We always enjoy spending time with their family. Another family was supposed to come over for dinner on June 8, but they accidentally forgot. Because we've been hosting the co-op and homeschool game nights at our home, I haven't been attempting to have one family over for dinner every month, but we still have more people coming over for dinner than we used to.

2. Cheri joined the five of us for the movie Sight at the theater on May 26. we're so thankful there are many more Christian movies now than ever before

3. We had a nice vacation in Virginia from May 27- June 2. The weather was wonderful which was an answer to prayer. The top three highlights for Ian and Oliver were the two amusement parks, Virginia Beach with their cousins, and water skiing. Paul really enjoyed the Udvar-Hazy Center and the Virginia Aquarium. The fact that we also got to spend time with 8 of the Towfighis and Grandpa while we were in Virginia was definitely icing on the cake! 

4. One of my most favorite desserts is chocolate peanut butter twist soft serve ice cream or custard. I never had it in 2023, but I've had it on two different days over the last few weeks as I had some at a Kohr's in Virginia Beach and then again at an ice cream shop on the way home from Hershey Park last week. 

5. We've been enjoying watching season four of The Chosen. We've seen five episodes so far, which means we have three to go. Lazarus is going to be raised from the dead next Sunday! 

6. While we were on vacation, I received word that my mammogram was normal, and while we were at Hershey Park last week, I received word that my pap smear was normal. Those two tests cost us $614.90. I am very grateful for the $18K we received from the insurance company. I think that will end up covering all our medical, dental, and orthodontic bills for this year. 

7. Paul and I have enjoyed the first two weeks of our Intermediate Cha Cha class. We will miss the class tomorrow because of the Bible quizzing, and we will miss next Friday because Paul and Oliver will be camping for one night, but we hope to attend the last four weeks of the class. It had been ten years since the last time we took a class. Hopefully not nearly that much time will pass before we take another class!

8. On June 8 I had a belated birthday lunch at Panera with Cheri. I always greatly appreciate having time to chat with a friend!

9. I was the substitute teacher for our Sunday School class on June 9. We discussed the first half of the book of Amos. It went well. 

10. The kids and I saw a movie at a Drive-In theater for the first time. It wasn't a first for Paul. In hindsight, we shouldn't have brought Milo. He just couldn't settle down! We saw Garfield. I think we all decided we prefer to see a movie in a theater, but I'm glad we got to try something different. 

11. On June 11 Pop Pop and three of Nadia's friends joined us for two hours of bowling. The girls then spent the night at our house. It was an early birthday party for our girl who will soon turn sixteen!

12. Oliver is very glad that he has been promoted to the youth group at church. He attended his first social on June 5.

13. On June 13 Paul and I were fingerprinted in Hershey for TSA PreCheck. The closest location is in State College, but since we didn't have any plans to head that direction, we went to the one in Hershey on the same day we met eight of the Towfighis (plus three of their friends and Joe's sister) at Hershey Park. It was a very hot day, but at least it was a dry day. Paul and I spent the first six hours with Wesley, which meant we rode a lot more rides than we typically do when we are with our kids at an amusement park. He's seven years old, but he's very small for his age. We walked through the Zoo and saw the show featuring seals and sea lions in addition to riding rides. The other kids exclusively rode roller coasters all day. My kids love spending time with their cousins, and they love roller coasters, so the combination of the two is amazing for them!

14. The kids had extra 2.5-hour Bible quizzing practices on Friday and Monday. They missed the one on Thursday due to our trip to Hershey. I'm thankful for all Dave Seibert does for the teams!

15. Paul's dad came over on Saturday for Father's Day. The kids played Mario, foosball, and Labyrinth with him. We had shrimp, prime rib, Nadia's favorite kind of macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, and cheesecake for dinner. I sent some shrimp and corn home with Pop Pop. Paul had prime rib again on Sunday and Monday. 

16. On Sunday afternoon the five of us saw a production of the musical Oliver. Nadia had read Oliver Twist earlier in the school year. Some of the kids' friends were in the musical. The man who played my husband in Sount of Music was also in Oliver. Next year one of the productions they will be doing is A Wrinkle in Time, so I've decided to require Ian and Oliver to read that book next year. Nadia already read it several years ago. 

17. Nadia was supposed to babysit for the youth pastor on June 3, but several of us had a stomach bug that week. She was able to babysit for them on June 17. 

18. On Tuesday Julianna joined the kids and I at Montage Mountain. The weather has been hotter than usual lately (highs in the 90's!), but that weather was ideal for a day at a water park. I spent more time in the water than I usually do when we go to a water park!

19. Nadia and Ian have been working diligently to prepare for the national competition for Bible quizzing. Paul, Oliver, and I didn't arrive up here in time to see the first rounds of the individual competition today, but we were able to watch the team competitions. The team Ian is on won all their matches today. I was rather impressed with how much Nadia improved over the last year. She is the captain of our church's B team. Ian is on our church's A team for the first time. 

20. Someone picked up our spinning seesaw on Monday. Given how many people contacted me after I posted it on Facebook, I probably could have sold it instead of giving it away, but nonetheless, it has been taken away. The kids had stopped using it, and the seat covers needed to be replaced. The concrete pad it was attached to is still on the lawn, but we've made progress. Paul and I have made significant progress with removing our fence. I probably also could have sold that. I buy things second hand sometimes, but I almost always just give our unwanted stuff away instead of selling it. I'm looking forward to NOT needing to clean the fence every year, and I will also be doing a lot less weed whacking once the fence is totally gone. Yay! The concrete pad the shed was on is still in the yard, but I think we'll save that project for another year. Unfortunately, the fence was installed incorrectly 14.5 years ago, and we didn't figure it out soon enough, so it's never done us a lick of good, but that's how it is in life. Some purchases end up being worth far more than you paid for them, and other times you realize it was a waste of money. Thankfully, most of the time I haven't regretted purchases that cost us thousands of dollars like the fence did. 

21. Paul, Oliver, and I saw the movie Arthur the King on Wednesday afternoon. Aside from the fact it had some language, it's my kind of movie - heartwarming and based on a true story. 

22. We received our "known traveler numbers" through the TSA. The kids need to be on our reservations in order to go through TSA Precheck with us. Thankfully, Alaksa Airlines was able to make a switch so that all our kids will be able to go through the Precheck. They were able to fix it only because Oliver is under the age of 13. I'm grateful as I had a bad experience with TSA in March, and we're hoping using TSA Precheck will prevent that from happening again.