Thankful Thursday

 1. Paul and I had our first merengue lesson on July 11. So far, we prefer salsa, but maybe the next three lessons will change our opinion. 

2. Ian and Oliver came home on Saturday!!! They had a good week at camp, and I am very grateful to have them back at home. We saw Nadia for a few minutes before we left, and we talked to her on the phone a little on Monday. I loved hearing all the boys sing (very boisterously) "Victory in Jesus" at the closing ceremony of camp on Saturday morning. 

3. The Seiberts picked Cooper up on Saturday evening. I'm so glad we can swap dog sitting services. I would estimate the dogs spend about 3 months a year together (some of that at our house and some at theirs). 

4. I received a lot of positive feedback after I taught a lesson on Titus on Sunday morning. 

5. Ian enjoyed participating in the youth group's talent show on Wednesday night. 

6. The boys and I were able to help at Experience Missions this morning. One of the projects we were working on was packing aid for moms/newborn babies in Zambia.

7. We've lived in this house for seventeen years, and we've never had the house pressure washed. One side in particular was needing to be washed. The house was pressure washed today. Given how much it costs I don't want to do it frequently, but I have a feeling it's the first time it's been done on this house, and the house is 26 years old. The exterior of our house looks much better now!

8. Last Friday we discovered that the ice cream in our freezer was melting, which led to the discovery that both sides of the refrigerator were not at the correct temperatures despite the fact they were set to the correct temperatures. On Saturday Paul began to try several different things to see if he could fix it. Once he figured out at least one of the problems, we decided it was better to just get a new refrigerator because there was no guarantee replacing one part would be sufficient. The refrigerator is nine years old, and it seems the average lifespan for one is 10-15 years. In light of that, it seemed it wasn't worth it to put significant money into one that was 9 years old. Thankfully, we have a freezer in the basement, so we were able to move everything that had been in the freezer side of our refrigerator downstairs. The trickier part was keeping what had been in the refrigerator side chilled. We moved some things to the freezer side. I did research on Saturday and chose a freezer from Lowe's. I paid for two-day delivery. On Sunday night we were told they would deliver it between 1-5pm on Monday. At 2:11 on Monday I got a text saying we were their next stop. We unplugged the refrigerator, emptied it, and put Milo in the crate as instructed. Two hours later I called to ask where they were and was told that I had requested the delivery be rescheduled. What?!?!? After several phone calls with the delivery service and also with Lowe's, I found out that the soonest they could deliver it now was Wednesday. Given I had paid extra for two-day delivery and that I had narrowed my search to those available for delivery on Monday, I cancelled my order. I also wasn't wanting to give my business to Lowe's if the delivery service they use was going to outright lie to me. On Tuesday I called a local (small business) appliance store. I selected another refrigerator. It was supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but he called me this evening to say that the delivery truck was missing three items, and my refrigerator was one of them. Now it's scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday. Wow this has been an ordeal. Thankfully, a family member has generously offered to pay for our new refrigerator, which was unexpected and greatly appreciated as aside from a tax refund from the IRS, we haven't had any income for 9 months. I'm also thankful that our refrigerator is partially working. We have our milk in the section that's supposed to be the freezer. I'm hoping that it will continue to at least partially work until our new one comes, and hopefully there won't be any more delays. Patience is a virtue, right? 

9. The last several days we've been playing games together. The four of us played monopoly three times (I won twice, and Oliver won once). The boys and I have also played Quiddler, Connect Four, Milles Borne, and Backgammon multiple times. Ian and Paul played chess. 

10. Today is my sister's 49th birthday. We typically go many months without touching base, so it was nice to chat with her today for about 30 minutes.