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.