Thankful Thursday

1. On July 12 and 19 Paul and I attended two more lessons of Intermediate Cha Cha. Paul didn't want to go on July 26 and doesn't want to go tomorrow, so it seems we only will have attended 4 of the 8 lessons we paid for. Maybe this means we should just wait seven years before we try again, but I'm thankful we had at least four nights of dancing together for an hour and learning some new steps.

2. On July 13 four of us toured Fort Roberdeau and attended the Napoleonic Grand Tactique at Old Bedford Village. 

3. The boys attended a manufacturing camp from 9-3 July 15-18. It wasn't their favorite camp, but there were parts of it that they enjoyed such as the tour of Playworld. 

4. On July 20 we were able to visit Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site for the first time and spend four hours with 10 members of the Towfighi family, which meant we met Brenden for the first time. 

5. From July 20-27 Micah, Joel, Nathan and Julianna spent a week with us. The cousins had a blast! Five of those days they attended a Stronghold foam sword fighting camp from 9-12 in Danville and then had a free hot lunch and played on the playground in Watsontown.

6. I enjoyed teaching a lesson (as a substitute) on the second half of Amos in our Sunday School class on July 21. 

7. We were able to talk to Nadia on the phone on July 21. Talking only one time over a span of four weeks has been challenging for me, especially as I've also received very few text messages from her. Hopefully I'll hear from her more often when she goes to college as this has been hard for me, but I'm grateful she could have this opportunity to serve at this Christian camp. Now it's only TWO days until she's back at home. I can't wait to hear all about her time there!

8. Paul has done really well on the stock market over the last two months. We are grateful! 

9. Yvonne got a good report at the cardiologist this week. This is an answer to prayer! 

10. My nephew, Adam, was baptized this week in Lake Michigan in Chicago. I really enjoyed watching the videos of his testimony and baptism! This was also an answer to prayer!

11. The boys have been participating in a theatre workshop at our church put on by a Christian radio station in New York (Family Life). Nadia and Ian had attended their workshops at another church (farther from our home) in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Last year they didn't participate due to schedule conflicts. Ian and Oliver both have small parts. Ian is Galileo, and Oliver is C.S. Lewis. Pop Pop plans to come up tomorrow to see their performance at noon. 

12. Oliver's birthday party was a success. We celebrated early so that four of his cousins could participate. Micah, Isaiah, their cousin Dominic, Nathaniel, Xandir, Sincere, Andrew, Pop Pop, and Ben also joined us for bubble ball soccer, glow in the dark dodgeball, pizza, chips, and cake!