What a week!

 Last Friday, while Nadia and Ian were at work, we learned two things. First, Paul needed to show up for jury duty on Monday morning, and Oliver discovered that our basement had flooded. This meant that the boys and I had to leave at 8:00am on Monday morning to take Paul to the courthouse in Sunbury before I took the boys to their Stronghold foam sword-fighting camp in Danville. Although Paul had to stay at the courthouse until 4:00, we were very grateful that he wasn't one of the fourteen people selected to serve on the jury for a murder trial. 

The boys enjoyed their camp. It was the fourth consecutive year that they participated in this half-day camp. The first two days, I walked while the kids were in the camp at a playground. The director decided that they should spend part of the time indoors on Wednesday because the temperatures got above 90. So we were told to take the kids to a church that morning. Cheri planned to spend time with me on Wednesday and Friday while the boys were at the camp. Typically we've walked in the past, but this year we had a late breakfast at one of her favorite restaurants on Wednesday due to the heat. On Thursday, the campers stayed inside the entire time because the air quality was awful due to the fires in Minnesota and Ontario. The air quality was much better on Friday, but it still wasn't normal, so the campers were inside for at least 2/3 of the time on Friday. Cheri asked me to come to her house on Friday due to the air quality. She lives about 15 minutes from where the camp was held. On Thursday, I read The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau in the public library while waiting for the boys. It wasn't as good as Theo of Golden (best book I've read so far this year) or The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, but I did like the book. 

Every year while he's in this camp, Ian talks about joining a Stronghold club. This year is no exception. We discussed purchasing more equipment so it could be one of the electives in the co-op that meets at our home, but Ian really wants to join a club so he can learn more from Sir Estivan. Paul and I are not sure this is a good idea because Ian wasn't successful in keeping up with all his schoolwork in tenth grade, and he's already added three new things to his schedule for the upcoming year: voice lessons, chess club, and a job. Ian has no lack of ideas about what he'd like to do. For example, in the last couple of weeks, he asked me to get him some books so he could learn more about other religions (I got him three books on Mormonism, Islam, and Jehovah's Witnesses). He also mentioned he wanted to get back to learning a second language (which is a wonderful idea, but again I think he might be biting off more than he can chew). I don't plan on signing him up for a Stronghold club until I see he can successfully keep up with everything else. He's gotten off to a good start with John as he's memorized all of the first chapter (51 verses) and has started memorizing chapter two. He's also finished one book from his list for 11th grade English (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and has begun reading Screwtape Letters, which is also on his list for next school year.  He's also been practicing for his piano and voice lessons as well as playing a lot of chess and Fall Guys, which is currently his favorite video game. He has improved a LOT in chess over the last several months, but he still hasn't beat Paul. 

Last Saturday I enjoyed a lunch date with Ian prior to taking him to the library to play D&D with some friends from church. On Monday night, the boys joined me in singing Christmas carols at a nursing home. I was the pianist for the group. Another mom brought four of her kids along, but mostly it was adults from the choir at our church who were singing Christmas carols (Christmas in July). On the way home, I treated the boys to some ice cream. Yum! Oliver enjoyed attending youth group on Wednesday night while Ian was at work. On Thursday, our new garage door openers were installed. We also enjoyed a movie together through Prime that I would recommend - Sheep Detectives. Wendy had suggested that one. I assisted a doctoral student with the survey instrument she's going to use in her pilot study, and I was asked to join the board of a local homeschool organization. 

All this to say it was a busy week. It was definitely busier than normal and involved more driving than normal. But for two members of my extended family, it was a VERY special week. My sister gave birth to her eighth son (Trevor James) this week. All ten of her kids have either a first or middle name that starts with "J." And my dad married Karen today. Wendy played a violin duet with Karen's daughter. Yvonne and I weren't able to attend the wedding. Paul and I are looking forward to meeting Karen next month when we help Nadia move into her dorm.  Not counting Karen or Margie's grandchildren, my dad now has 17 grandchildren from his three daughters. My mom never met three of her grandchildren (Wesley, Brendan, or Trevor). We'll probably also meet Trevor that same week because we are planning on dropping the boys off at Yvonne's house before heading down to Liberty.

Thankful Thursday

It's been exactly one month since my last gratitude post so here are some things I've been thankful for over the last month.

1. Ian enjoyed the cybersecurity camp at Messiah University as well as the time spent with Nathan, Jenna, and Toby.

2. Oliver enjoyed having time with Micah, Julianna, and Wesley at our house for several days. Micah, Julianna, and Oliver enjoyed bowling with our youth group on June 10. 

3. I was very relieved that the it was a simple fix to eliminate the strange noise the van was making that week.

4. Ian has been enjoying his job at the kennel and earning money. He spent most of what he made the first few weeks when he bought himself a Nintendo Switch 2. 

5. The boys and I enjoyed helping with VBS at our church from June 16-19. 

6. I am grateful to be able to serve on the board of Meadowbrook Christian School. My first meeting was on June 16. 

7. In June I managed to escape the bug that the rest of the family had. Nadia had the mildest case. Oliver and Paul were each sick for about two weeks. Thankfully we're all healthy again.

8. Paul was able to attend his Aunt and Uncle's 50th anniversary vow renewal ceremony and lunch. 

9. I'm very, very thankful that Nadia was born eighteen years ago on June 24! Four of Nadia's friends joined her at an art studio to celebrate Nadia's birthday on June 23. The staff member was so impressed with Faith's artistic skills that night that they hired her and she started working there on July 6!

10. I'm very thankful that Milo is fully recovered from his anal gland problems. It was such a relief when he finally ate some dog food (after 4 days of not doing so) and started walking again. The vet bills were over $600 which we weren't anticipating, but we've saved a lot of money over the years by me being his groomer and trading dog sitting duties with the Seiberts. Hopefully it will be a long time until we enounter another large vet bill.

11. Bible quizzing went well in New York last month. Ian's team finished in second place. They won seven of eight matches. Nadia's team finished in third place. They won four of eight matches. Nadia finished in 10th place in the individual competition, and Ian finished in seventh place. Ian has been listening to the whole book of John two times every day he works at the kennel. He's also memorized the first 40 verses of John chapter one so far. Hopefully he will continue to stay motivated!

12. Amazon offered us a deal of paying $3.50 per month for three months of Amazon Prime and then it is $6.99/ month after that. We usually only have Amazon for a month every now and then throughout the year, but at $3.50/ month I plan to keep it for at least three months. 

13. I found out rececntly that the place where I've had my mammogram done lately isn't doing them any more. I picked them because they only charged $200, which is much less than most places. Thankfully, I found a place in Williamsport that does them for $55 for two days in October. I'm hoping to get an appointment on one of those days.

14. Our kitchen sink faucet has been leaking for a few months. Paul replaced it last week. This new faucet has a lifetime warranty. I was happy to see that because our last one only lasted nine years.

15. On Sunday morning we weren't sure we were going to make it to church because we couldn't get the garage door to open. Thankfully, Paul was able to get it open eventually. We parked the van in the driveway when we came home. We got new garage doors in September 2020, but the garage door openers are about 27 years old. Lowe's delivered new ones today, and they are supposed to be installed next week. Since our other car is at Camp Susque right now, I've been parking the van where we usually park the Subaru since that garage door opener is still working. 

16. Oliver and Xandir had a great week of camp at PMBC. 

17. Ian has enjoyed his first two voice lessons. He's been working on Olaf's song "In Summer" from Frozen. Thankfully, his voice teacher lives only five minutes away from our home.

18. Ian really enjoyed playing cornhole with the Creegers at Ben's graduation party.

19. In light of Amazon offering us a deal on Prime, Paul and I watched the movie Sarah's Oil last night. Movies based on a true story are typically my favorite genre, and this one did not disappoint!

20. I *think* we've done all the paperwork and such for Nadia to start at Liberty this fall. Recently her PCP signed the immunization form for LU, and I requested that LU send LU her transcript (for the third time in 13 months) as ridiculous as that might sound. I also had to remind them that MCS doesn't issue transcripts for homeschoolers (as they requested that again, even though MCS sent them a letter last year saying that ). She got her ID, requested a loft kit for her bed, and completed a new student orientation course online. The only thing I'm not positive that she has completed is the technology assessment. It's all very, very bittersweet. We want our kids to become independent, but at the same time it's hard to let them go! I'm very thankful I'll still have two boys at home with us. 

Travel Agent

Ian with most of the employees at Joyful Petcare

Years ago, the earliest I would begin planning a vacation would be about one year in advance. Once I had the goal for our family to visit all fifty states, I started sketching out possible future vacations much farther in advance. In 2021, we had our longest vacation (25 days), and I tweaked the plans for that vacation many times over a few years. A month ago, I only had planned out two more trips for the future - one to four of the eastern provinces of Canada for August 2026 and a short trip to Quebec that I was thinking we'd take in August 2027. Over the past month, I've sketched out some more trips to possibly take in the coming years. If these trips actually happen, we will have visited all ten Canadian provinces and visited at least one National Park site in all fifty states. At the moment, the kids have only been to Ontario, and we've been to an NPS site in forty-five states (plus DC) so far. If we visit the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin, City of Rocks in Idaho, Little River Canyon in Alabama, Lake Mead in Nevada, and Indiana Dunes National Park, we will achieve the goal of visiting an NPS site in all fifty states. These plans also include almost all of the national park sites that caught my attention while I was listening to the Dear Bob and Sue books. I *think* the only two national parks that aren't included in these plans that I had hoped we could visit together sometime are Big Bend in Texas and Glacier in Montana. I went to Glacier with my family decades ago, but I don't think I've ever been to Big Bend.

I think that for most members of our family, a ten-day vacation is the ideal length. With that in mind, I have come up with several vacations, five of which are about ten days long. These are listed in no particular order, as I'm not even sure which of these we might go on next year. Ian and Paul's first choice includes Michigan. Nadia's first choice is Western Canada, and Oliver's first choice includes Utah. If there's a chance Nadia will join us for a vacation next summer, I'll probably have to wait longer than usual to plan the trip, as I need a better idea of what she'll be doing next summer. For quite a few years we've been going on a trip in May, and many times we've gone on another one in August or September. If we end up picking Michigan and Western Canada for our trips next year, I don't think we would go in May because the insects are really bad in the Upper Peninsula in May and June, and some of the lakes are still frozen in British Columbia and Alberta. Time will tell. Ian's request for several years has been to go to Japan in 2028. I'm still not sure about that.

Years ago, I used to take the kids on about 80 field trips a year. That number has drastically decreased for a variety of reasons such as having more weekly commitments (co-op, art at MCS, piano lessons), there are more programs available for elementary students than high schoolers, the naturalist at R.B. Winter state park retired, and we've now visited many different sites in Pennsylvania. That doesn't mean we've been to every possible field trip site in the state. The Harley Davidson tour has been closed in York ever since COVID. I keep hoping that one will reopen as my students enjoyed going there decades ago. I didn't take the kids prior to 2020 because I was waiting for Oliver to be old enough to participate in the tour. Two state parks have been on the back on my mind - Kinzua and Sinnemahoning. I could have made it a goal to visit every state park in Pennsylvania, but I've not done that. I think I've only taken the kids to seven state parks (Black Moshannan, Bald Eagle, R.B. Winter, Ricketts Glen, Nescopeck, Milton, and Leonard Harrison). Not counting places we will visit on vacation, I only have four field trips planned so far for the 2026-27 school year - Army Expo in Carlisle on September 12, Elk Country Visitor Center on September 24, Kinzua Bridge State Park on September 25, and seeing a performance of Treasure Island in Lewisburg on October 11. I am particularly excited about hopefully seeing the herd of wild elk during mating season. I booked one night at an Airbnb so that we could go to a viewing area at dusk one night and at dawn the next morning. That is something I've wanted to do for quite a few years, and I'm happy I finally made a reservation (which greatly increases the odds it will actually take place). 

Ian, Ben, John, Randy, Julia, Leila, and Nadia in an individual round

1. Western Canada - Granville Island, Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium. Capilano Suspension Bridge, Butchart Gardens, Pacific Rim National Park, Wild Pacific Trail, Cathedral Grove, Peak 2 Peak Gondola, Banff Gondola, Yoho National Park, Columbia Icefields Skywalk, Mistaya Canyon, Emerald Lake, Moraine Lake, Abraham Lake, Maligne Lake, Peyto Lake, and Lake Louise- flying and renting a vehicle

2. Michigan - Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mackinac Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Picture Rocks, Apostle Islands, Perry's Victory (OH), Milwaukee, Chicago, and Indiana Dunes (if we wanted to visit Isle Royale National Park, this would be the trip to do it, but I'm leaning against including it at the moment) - driving in our vehicle

3. South Dakota/Saskatchewan/Manitoba - Hy-Wire Zipline, Tunnels of Moose Jaw, Stone Hall Castle, Mount Rushmore (again), Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Custer State Park, Minuteman Missile, Badlands (again), and Falls Park  - flying and renting a vehicle

4. Quebec (less than a week) - Watkins Glen, Women's Rights, Harriet Tubman, Parliament buildings in Ottowa, Byward Market, Canadian War Museum, Rideau Canal, white water rafting and zipline tour in Quebec, La Citadelle, Plains of Abraham, Terrass Dufferin, Montmorency Falls, Montreal Botanical Garden, Saint Joseph's Oratory, Mount Royal Park, Notre Dame Basilica, Utica Zoo, and Fort Stanwix - driving in our car 

5. California - Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks - flying and renting a vehicle

6. Utah - Las Vegas, Death Valley National Park, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire State Park, Grand Staircase Escalante, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, and City of Rocks National Reserve - flying and renting a vehicle with 4WD

7. If the Nationals for Bible quizzing are held in South Carolina in 2027 or 2028, I'd like to visit these places either before or after the quizzing - Billy Graham Library, Biltmore Estate, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, and Little River Canyon National Preserve - driving in our car