1. Paul and I enjoyed our Intermediate East Coast Swing class. We made it to 7 of the 8 classes.
2. All of us (except Nadia) attended a performance of Arsenic and Old Lace at a church in our town. None of us had seen that play before.
3. Nadia has completed two courses so far this semester through Liberty University. She earned an A in her theology class, and she currently has an A in her Developmental Psychology class. She had an A in her astronomy course, but she accidentally didn't complete one of the quizzes due the final week of that class, and that zero brought her grade in the course down to a B. Ian's Bible and the Gospel class came to an end through Cedarville University on November 21. He earned an A- in that course. His speech class doesn't end until December 11. I will say that the courses Ian has taken through Cedarville are MUCH more challenging than the ones Nadia has taken through Grand Canyon and Liberty.
4. I've been able to play hymns on the piano at our church in between the first and second services and after the second service in the foyer three of the last five Sundays. I also enjoyed teaching our Sunday School class on November 9. Paul and I enjoyed packing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child at our church on November 15.
5. Unfortunately, Nadia was in a car accident on November 7 on her way to Camp Susque. She had only had her driver's license for six weeks. Thankfully, she wasn't injured, and she didn't hit any other vehicles. She was driving Paul's Mazda 3, which is a very low riding vehicle, and she ended up in some mud and tall grass. She had no cell service. We feel the Lord did a miracle in that #1 the vehicle wasn't stuck in the mud and #2 that she was able to drive another 10-15 minutes despite the fact the radiator fluid was draining out. Paul worked on the vehicle on November 14 (removing the bumper that was barely hanging on, etc.), but after he discovered the condition of the radiator, he knew we couldn't drive it home. We are supposed to be receiving $800 for it from a salvage company; they retrieved the car from Camp Susque for us on November 17. We opted to take the loss of the vehicle without reporting it to our insurance so that our rates wouldn't skyrocket. Nadia has been saving up money, and we're planning on going in with her to purchase a vehicle in January that she and Ian can use. We don't allow her to drive our minivan so for now I've gone back to being the chauffeur. Cars are replaceable (even if that doesn't happen immediately), but daughters are irreplaceable!
6. Nadia has been working at Camp Susque most weekends. The weekend of November 14-16 all three kids attended a retreat there with our church's youth group. Nadia has earned the nickname of the "dish fairy" because she often does the dishes in the morning at 6:00 am so the dishes are done before the others show up in the morning. Even the weekend she was there on a retreat she (without earning any money) went into the kitchen bright and early and did the dishes and helped prepare breakfast. I'm very proud of her and glad all three kids had a good weekend there with friends.
7. Paul and I attended our first Classics social. We played games for about three hours. Paul had an easier time guessing the name the pastor had put on his back (Shakespeare). I had a much harder time coming up with Roy Rogers. Another man at our table had a very challenging one - solar eclipse! We introduced another couple to the game Quirkle.
8. Twenty-one months ago, we purchased 1/4 of a grass-fed cow from someone in our church. We finished that beef recently and this month bought another 1/4 of a cow from him. It's definitely more affordable than buying beef at the grocery store, especially considering how lean it is.
9. The kids were able to audition to be in Little Mermaid at the Christian school. Nadia will be Aquata (one of Ariel's sisters) and also a princess, Ian will be Chef Louis, and Oliver will be in the ensemble. Ian was really hoping to be Sebastian, but we think he'll also have fun being Chef Louis. Their friend, Lydia, (who is also in our co-op and was Tinkerbell in Peter Pan) did get the part she auditioned for - Scuttle, and we were very happy to hear that. One of Nadia's closest friends, Leila, will also be a mersister, and that is also a blessing.
10. Our performance of Peter Pan went well on November 21. Nadia was Wendy, Ian was Captain Hook, and Oliver was Nana (the dog) and the crocodile. A little over 40 people came to watch the show so there were about 60 of us eating dinner together afterward. After the play was done the kids surprised me with flowers, a card, gifts cards to Red Robin and Panera, and one of the girls gave a little speech about how much she appreciates being in the co-op. It was very sweet and unexpected. The flowers are very pretty! We had a dress rehearsal at 4:30 and let the guests come in at 5:20 for the performance. Thankfully the performance went far more smoothly than the dress rehearsal. Ironically, when I was a child, I directed a performance of Peter Pan that my sisters and some of our neighbors put on for our parents. In that instance we wrote the script ourselves and had far fewer people in the cast. I didn't write the script we used this time, and we had eighteen kids in the play. Ben was the only student from our co-op who didn't participate in the play. He went and picked up the pizzas from Domino's during the performance.
11. Nadia had been driving herself and her brothers to art class twice a week, but I've been driving them since her accident. Last Monday I was able to sit and talk with a friend (another homeschool mom) during the art class, which was a treat!
12. We began another week of dog sitting last Friday. Thankfully, Cooper is doing MUCH better than he was the last time he was with us. Also, Milo has been sleeping in a crate in Oliver's bedroom for several days. I really, really appreciate not having a dog in my bed at night. PTL!
