ABC's of 2020

Doing a puzzle in January - long before I knew we'd do MANY puzzles in 2020.

I decided to do an alphabetical "year in review" post and include some of my favorite photos from over the past year.

A - One of our two stops on the first day of our vacation was to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. This was a highlight of the trip for Paul, Ian, and Oliver! Nadia and Ian had taken art classes at the Christian school the past three years, but due to COVID we didn't pursue that for this school year. The kids are enjoying taking art classes online through our membership with Creating a Masterpiece; Nadia has done 25 art projects over the past few months and the the boys have done 21. We love to listen to audiobooks! Not counting the ones we're in the middle of right now, the kids and I listened to 143 chapter books together this year!  We've begun saving one book for just when Paul is able to listen with us (usually Saturday night and all day Sunday) - typically a biography. I paid for some through Audible, but the vast majority we got for free through Hoopla or Overdrive via the library. Nadia has been enjoying playing Among Us the past two months online with Ava.

B - In January Nadia joined a Bible Bowl team at our church. At that point she was on a team with three seventh grade girls, and they were memorizing the books of Hebrews and I and II Peter. Because of COVID, the annual competition wasn't held. In September Nadia joined a team with two fifth grade girls and one eighth grade girl, and they are studying the book of Matthew. Because she turned twelve years old in June, Nadia is now allowed to babysit. She and her friend Evanna babysat a preschooler together for several hours once, and I have paid her to babysit Oliver on multiple occasions. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, she has been able to babysit more than I anticipated. She likes being able to earn more money! All three kids got new bikes this year. Nadia sold her 24" bike and claimed my bike as her own. Ian and Oliver received new 24" mountain bikes this year, and Pop Pop built Oliver a bike ramp. Birthdays were very different in 2020. For the past 12 years we've had extended family at the kids' birthday parties. No relatives came to our house for Nadia or Ian's birthdays. We spent Oliver's birthday at Aunt Janet's house, and we saw Grandpa and Margie a few days later. 

A field trip to Gettysburg in February before I had any idea we'd go on very few field trips this year!

C - Although COVID-19, coronavirus, and cancelled are probably the first three "C" words that come to mind for 2020, I'm going to pick Cincinnati because we enjoyed our time that area in October. The playgrounds along the riverfront, the IMAX movie about dogs, the Ark Encounter, and the Creation Museum were among the top six experiences of our family vacation this year. In January and February the kids took a computer hardware class for four weeks, Oliver began learning how to write in cursive in August, and as always friends and family have been fighting cancer. One of my friends died of cancer in October, and two of my friends lost their spouses to cancer in August and November. Margie was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery on November 9. Once Nadia finished watching all the episodes of Full House, she switched to working through all the seasons of the Cosby show. I've sung in an adult church choir consistently since the fall of 1986. COVID brought an abrupt end to our choir season at the beginning of March, and it looks like the choir break will last at least one full year.

D - We paid for a subscription to Disney+ in December 2019, and due to COVID-19 some movies that were originally going to be released in the theatres went straight to Disney+ instead. Paul and the boys have also really enjoyed watching two seasons of Mandalorian this year. Baby Yoda is so cute! Last year I assumed we'd only have the subscription for one year, but we paid for another year earlier this month. One of the reasons we made this decision was because we usually pay for at least four months of cable tv each year to watch the NFL, but we didn't do that this year. The kids get a new privilege and a new responsibility each time they have a birthday. Nadia's new chore now that she is twelve years old has been to do the dishes at one meal each week. Thankfully, the five of us rarely see the doctor aside from annual physicals. This year we spent more than usual in the "medical" category of our budget ($1,500) because Paul saw the doctor a lot more than usual. Thankfully all the test results came back normal (aside from showing he has carpal tunnel). He had a colonoscopy, stress test, upper EMG, and lower EMG. 

I had no idea when I took this photo that the rabbits would only be in our house for two months.

E - We are finally making progress with learning a foreign language as the kids and I are speaking more and more Español!  Hopefully we'll make even more progress towards becoming bilingual next year through our subscription with Talkbox.mom. The three topics which I think were in the news the most in 2020 were COVID-19, riots and protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Election. As usual, the candidate I voted for didn't win. I'm praying about the special election in Georgia that is taking place in a few days. 

F - Paul turned fifty years old this year! We have been wearing face masks or face shields for the first time in our lives. Paul wears a face mask far more than the rest of us because he wears it at work. We hope that sometime next year they will no longer be mandatory. Nadia completed a personal finance class online this summer, and she also finished watching every single episode of Full House. We got our first chest freezer this year, which was somewhat of a miracle given the shortage on them due to COVID.

G - Four different guinea pigs lived in our home this year. Jenna is four years old. Sadly, we experienced the death of a pet for the first time this year as Ian's first guinea pig, Patches, suddenly died in February at the age of three. In April we brought home two more guinea pigs - Peppa (Nadia's) and Buttercup (Ian's). Unfortunately the younger ones sometimes wake me up in the night with their loud chirping. Nadia has Peppa and Jenna out a lot. They are accustomed to being held and purr quite a bit.  - - This year we also got new garage doors, and Ian got new glasses because his second pair of eyeglasses were broken by another child at Bee's Backyard in February. During the quarantine, the kids and I played 74 different games at least once! 

H- is for hoverboards! Grandpa and Margie gave Oliver a hoverboard for his birthday in August, and Nadia bought one during a Prime Day sale at Walmart in October. 

Two of Nadia's friends who came over for sleepovers several times this year.

I - The kids and I spent a week on Long Island with Aunt Janet the first week of August. It was different than our previous three trips there due to COVID and also a lengthy power outage, but we still had a great time. All three kids participated in group ice skating lessons this year, which was a first for Oliver. 

J - Although MANY our trips to National Parks were cancelled this year, the kids have earned 72 Junior Ranger badges altogether, and 50 of those were earned this year. That would never have been possible if it weren't for the fact that some can be earned from home without actually visiting the site.

K - Although some science museums have been closed since March due to COVID-19 and others have only partially reopened, the kids had a blast at the Kentucky Science Center. We also enjoyed visiting the Kentucky Derby Museum. 

L - It was a shock to have all the libraries closed for four months this year. This fall I got another library card and switched to using the Lycoming county library system as our primary library. 

M - We got a Bichon Frise puppy on December 12 named Milo! On the first day of 2020 we had two pets, I would never have guessed we would have six pets in our home by December 12. Because Nadia began studying Matthew in September and we opted not to have the boys join AWANA by Zoom this fall, the kids and I have been memorizing the Sermon on Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). So far we have memorized chapter 5 (which has 48 verses). Ian and Nadia have been playing Minecraft lately.

N - We have had very brief shortages at other times in my life due to a snow storm or something like that. I can't ever recall any other time in my life where we had SO many national shortages this year. The list is lengthy and contains a wide array of items such as: toilet paper, napkins, pasta, bicycles, freezers, bread, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, etc. Thankfully the grocery stores have been close to fully stocked lately. 

O - We had to attend church online for three months. Church still isn't back to "normal" - no choir, for example, but we're very thankful we can attend in-person again. We also picked an orthodontist for Ian this fall. He will begin phase one (expander) in January.

P - Puzzles is the "p" word that first comes to mind. We spent FAR more hours doing puzzles this year than ever before. I spent FAR more money on puzzles than I had ever spent before. Oliver has moved beyond 100 piece puzzles. With assistance, Nadia has done up to 1,000 piece puzzles. We listened to audiobooks for many hours while doing puzzles together during the spring. The kids couldn't attend Camp Susque this summer as they usually do, but they were able to attend Pocono Mountain Bible Conference instead. Ian continues to excel at playing the piano, and Nadia has been enjoying taking an online photography class.

Q - It's usually challenging to come up with a "q" word, but this year it's easy. In 2020 Q is for quarantine and Queen Esther. The kids and I were quarantined for three months this year. Paul continued to go to work, and he took over the grocery shopping during that time period. We originally had tickets to see Queen Esther at Sight and Sound in April, but due to the lockdown we actually went in December.

R - Nadia didn't make it to any of the WGRC skate nights in 2020 for a variety of reasons, but the boys dramatically improved in their rollerblading skills this year. All three kids own their own pair of rollerblades, and I've been taking the boys to a roller skating rink once a month. 2020 is also the year when Ian enjoyed rock climbing for the first time. He learned to enjoy ziplining in 2019. I love seeing him conquer his fears! We also had two pet rabbits for two months this year. Unfortunately, we had to take Cocoa and Coal back to the SPCA as they were spraying pee on each other and our house as well as chewing baseboards and such. We all love to READ. I'm not sure how many books Paul and I read, but I can say that both of us read more books this year than we had read in one year in quite awhile. Ian and Nadia each read at least 60 chapter books this year. I tried a lot more new recipes than usual - 87 over the past four months. We usually go to several concerts each year. This year Paul and Oliver didn't attend any concerts. Ian, Nadia, and I were able to attend The Roadshow (put on by Compassion) in Wilkes Barre in early March. 

S - We went skiing twice in one year for the first time this year! I took the kids to Elk Mountain (first time any of us  had ever been there) in January, and all five of us skied at Ski Sawmill in February. 2020 was the year Oliver learned how to ski! Probably the words that come to most people's minds for 2020 that start with "s" are safe, social distancing, six feet, and hand sanitizer. I signed us up for a Six Flags membership in early January thinking that we would visit five different Six Flags parks this year. Because of COVID we only made it to two of them, but the kids and I did spend five days at Six Flags this summer, and Paul joined us for one day. Because the parks opened later than usual, we will be able to go to Six Flags for free through the end of July 2021. Ian and Nadia received scooters for Christmas last year, and so all three kids rode their scooters quite a bit during the lockdown. We started the year without the use of either of our showers. In November we agreed to hire someone to finish the master bathroom shower which was been a project Paul began in May 2016. I  believe that project will be completed in early January. So in early 2021 we will likely have the use of TWO showers for the first time in years!

T - I think we all would agree that we've had our temperatures taken FAR more in 2020 than any other year of our lives! In past years we've seen Paul's family the most (since they only live an hour away) and the Towfighis the least (since they lived in Turkey for 15 years). This year we haven't seen Wendy's family at all, whereas usually we see them 1-2 times a year. So in this upside down year, the kids and I saw the Towfighis more than any other extended family member (I'm not counting Paul as he sees his brother and dad at work). They came to our house in June, we met at least some of them at Six Flags (MD/NJ) on three occasions, and we saw most of them at Refreshing Mountain in September and again at our house for a couple of hours in November. Finally in November we were able to spend time with Paul's extended family after not doing so for more than 10 months.

U - 2020 was Nadia's seventh and final year of playing Upward Basketball. The first several years my parents would come to at least one game, and Paul's parents would attend several games. 2020 was the first year that we didn't have any extended family members attend any of the kids' games. Thankfully their season ended right before the lockdown began. 

V - Nadia took one semester of voice lessons this fall for the first time ever (by Zoom). She was motivated to complete her piano books so that she wouldn't have to pay for the voice lessons. Originally I thought that the kids and I would be going on five vacations this year - three without Paul and one with Paul. Three vacations were cancelled (to Chicago in April, to MD/DC in May, and to Canada in August), but the kids and I did go to Long Island in August and our eight day family vacation in October to Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, and Pennsylvania DID take place although it certainly was far different than what it would have been if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic.  I prayed for a vaccine this year more than I've ever prayed for a vaccine before.  Paul and I had never paid a bill at a veterinarian  prior to this year, but we visited three different vets this year -in February for Patches (guinea pig), then for Cocoa and Coal (rabbits), and finally this month for our puppy, Milo.

W - In previous years we haven't had a plan for regularly incorporating current events into our curriculum. This fall I subscribed to a year of World Watch News, which is an approximately 10 minute show that is aired M-F. I expect we will continue to keep this subscription, as the kids and I find it to be enjoyable and informative. 

X - Although we have belonged to swimming pools in the past, we hadn't done so recently and didn't plan to join one this summer, but in light of everything that was cancelled this summer, we joined the Exchange pool in June and swam there for quite a few days this summer. 

Y - Nadia joined two youth groups in January. She attends First Baptist's youth group on Sunday nights and CWC's youth group on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Nadia has participated in a theatre camp every year from 2013 to the present. She participated in two this summer, and Ian participated with her in the second one called Youtheatre. It was his first time ever participating in a theatre camp. It was NOT his idea, but he loved it. 

Z - Oliver asked for a pet for the first time this summer. In early August he received two zebra danios. We enjoy watching them swim around when we're sitting at the kitchen table. He named them Henry and Zuma. Sadly, this morning we discovered they had both died. Probably the "z" word that comes to mind first for 2020 is Zoom. I had used Zoom previously to participate in faculty meetings from home, but Nadia used Zoom a lot this year - to just chat with a friend or her cousin Rachel OR for Bible Bowl and youth group meetings during the lockdown, and she even participated in a play that was performed on Zoom in October.  Nadia usually is on Zoom, Facetime, or Kids Messenger video from 8:45-9:30 each night, and she stays on it until 10:00pm one night per month. 

Social Distancing

The last time I recall a pandemic being declared was in 2019 with H1N1 (swine flu). That time the only way the pandemic affected my life was because the hospitals were being stricter about screening guests, and because of H1N1 Nadia wasn't allowed to enter the hospital following Ian's birth and NICU stay. Once we got home after staying in the hospital for about 10 days, H1N1 didn't really impact our lives in any noticeable way. Over the years I've been aware of other viruses that have made the news (SARS, Ebola, and Avian flu all come to mind), but they never seemed to be an issue here in central Pennsylvania. So when Paul first told me about the coronavirus, my first instinct was to assume it would be like the others. Also, I looked up how many people typically die each year from the flu, and seeing that number made me wonder if this was going to be any worse than the flu we deal with every year (for example, according to the CDC over 80,000 died from the flu in the 2017-18 season). Well I don't know if more will die this year in the US from the coronavirus than from the flu, but life certainly has quickly become very different around here over the past few days.

First, our governor said on Thursday that we should try to avoid being in groups of 250+ people for two weeks. This caused our church to decide to only offer a service by live streaming on March 15 because our church has an average attendance that far exceeds 250. Then on Friday our governor said all the schools in PA should be closed for two weeks. The soonest they can return is March 30. The local universities had extended their spring breaks by one week, and now some are contemplating moving to an on-line format for the remainder of the spring semester. I have received a barrage of emails from museums, restaurants, AMC, and many more organizations stating how what they are doing in light of the coronavirus. In some cases that plan of action has changed multiple times in a short time span. Yesterday morning I received texts from the kids' basketball coaches that they would still be having their final practice last night, final game today, and awards assembly this evening. Then the next texts said that everything was cancelled. The third round of texts said that there wouldn't be any more practices or games but they would hold the awards assembly in a different location (the church rather than the public school auditorium) and only for grades 4-6 instead of grades K-6. Similarly, we received an email this morning from the AWANA commander saying they would have AWANA next Wednesday as usual, but then within an hour I received a recorded phone message stating that the Alliance Church (where the kids attend AWANA) would not be having any programs or services through March 28.

Up until Thursday our schedule went on as usual. We attended an ice skating party Thursday night, and the kids attended art and chorus at Meadowbrook on Thursday afternoon. Yesterday was the first day in which our schedule was changed because of COVID-19. Oliver's pizza party with his basketball team was cancelled last night, and his last game was cancelled today. Far fewer people attended the Upward award assembly this evening. Nadia was the only member of her team who showed up. We had planned to attend a maple sugaring program at Montour Preserve this afternoon, but they cancelled because of the virus. We've had a few other field trips cancelled thus far that we planned to attend this month - Saturday Science at Susquehanna University, an art program at the Children's Museum, and a homeschool day at the Hershey Museum. That field trip was postponed until June 4. The others were just cancelled. The kids and I had planned to take a ten day trip to Ohio, Chicago, and Detroit in April. It seems very likely that we'll have to cancel that trip. If that happens, I'm hoping Priceline will refund what I paid for two nights at a hotel in Michigan. We were really looking forward to spending time with Wendy's family as well as with one of my cousins in Ohio. We haven't made a firm decision, but I'm not feeling very optimistic at the moment that it will take place. The other closure that rocked our world was finding out the public library will be closed for at least two weeks. I will adjust the lesson plans accordingly. I'm hoping that these closures will really only last for two weeks. Time will tell!  I'm thankful I was just at the library on Thursday, we have many books at home, and we can access many books through digital means. From what I've read, the virus doesn't do well in temperatures above 70 degrees so I'm praying the temps will rise to that point sooner rather than later! We're especially praying for senior citizens as it seems those over the age of 80 and those with some pre-existing condition are the most at risk. If this happened when Oliver was younger, I would have been very nervous about what might happen if he contracted COVID-19, but thankfully he seems to have outgrown the lingering respiratory effects of being born prematurely. We've never been swabbed for the flu. I don't know if any of us have ever had the flu. I know Oliver has had RSV twice as well as HPMV once.

Nadia is thankful that First Baptist (where the kids play basketball) hasn't cancelled their services. She can still attend youth group there tomorrow night. She had planned to attend Winter Jam (concert) with our church's youth group (both youth groups had planned to attend), but they've cancelled the rest of that tour because of COVID-19. Nadia, Cheri, and I have tickets to attend a Sidewalk Prophets concert in April. That band has cancelled their concerts for a month, but not the one we have tickets for (yet anyhow). Sight and Sound has cancelled their shows in March, but thus far they haven't cancelled Esther in April, which is when we plan to attend. Our church hasn't made any decisions beyond tomorrow thus far. We shall see if Nadia and I go there on Wednesday for Bible bowl, choir (me), and middle school youth. Here's to hoping life returns to normal as quickly as possible. For one thing I assume it's not good for the economy to have a lengthy time when most people are staying home as much as possible. We might homeschool our kids, but we certainly don't typically stay at home all day most of the time.

I typically don't read news articles on the web, but I have certainly done that more recently both in terms of the virus and also the stock market. I have no desire to check and see what has happened to my retirement accounts recently. I can't actually use those funds for I believe at least 14 years, and after seeing what happened to my brother, I'm reminded there's no guarantee I will actually live long enough to use any of it. So ignorance is bliss in my opinion. I don't want to know how much money we "lost." We escaped the worst of the crash in 2008 because I borrowed money from my retirement account to buy our current home, but I assume we didn't dodge the bullet this time.

Winding Down

Winter is almost over. Yahoo! I am not a fan of cold weather. Thankfully this has been for the most part a fairly mild winter. We have had several days over the past two weeks where the temperatures were in the 50's. Tomorrow Nadia and Ian will have their last basketball games for the year. In Nadia's case, it will be her very last game. She has been on Upward basketball teams for seven years, and she has aged out of the program. Oliver's last game will be on the 14th. For three years we've had three basketball games each Saturday. Next year I think we will just have one game a week as Ian said he does want to play again. Yesterday was the last ice skating class. The ice skating classes are having a party next Thursday. After that party, we won't be ice skating again until December. As you can see below, I took a few videos last night. I intended to use our video camera, but the battery was dead. The quality isn't as good with my phone, but it's better than nothing! Because Nadia wants to be in Meadowbrook's spring musical next year, I don't think the kids will be taking ice skating lessons next year. I'm thankful all three of them know how to skate. Nadia definitely has more of a knack for skating than her brothers do, but all three of them can ice skate. I'm hoping this summer to take them roller skating a few times in the hopes that the Oliver will also learn how to roller skate.

Although we've periodically had some very pleasant days lately, it was rather chilly last Friday. I took the kids to Gettysburg for a homeschool day. We were inside rotating through nine learning stations in the morning, and in the afternoon we drove around the battlefield to complete a digital scavenger hunt. We were given a list of ways to earn points by taking pictures of specific items or making videos that contained specific things. We earned enough points that each child received a blue ribbon. The program was very well done. The children were divided into eight groups, and the other kids in our group were from Annapolis, Maryland.

Looking at our textbooks, we can also see that our school year will be winding down before we know it. Not counting field trip days, I think we only have 31 days left of school. I've already been putting time into planning for the next school year. The past two school years we have had a plethora of options for field trips that related to what we were studying in history (Colonial period to the present over two years). Next year we are studying different countries and cultures. Nadia isn't much of a fan of battlefields, although she did enjoy the homeschool day last week. She's probably glad we won't be going to any during the next school year. Some cultural field trips that I've planned next year include a Native American Powwow, Polish festival, a couple of other trips related to Native Americans, Celt Fest, La Festa Italiana, Christkindl Market, Christmas around the world, Sakura Matsuri (in DC), Greek Fest, Chinese Lantern Festival (Philadelphia), Poland through the ages, and Around the World Embassy tour (DC). 

Recently I finalized with my Aunt when we would be going to Long Island, which meant I was then able to make reservations for our lodging during our family vacation. Over the past 20 years most of our vacations have involved staying at a resort for a week through my time share, but that won't be the case in 2020 or 2021. Although my 20 year time share ended a few months ago, we still have a membership with Interval. I spent a lot of time researching lodging options via Interval, Hotels.com, Priceline, and Airbnb. I didn't use Airbnb yet this year, but I used the other three websites to make reservations for a 9 day/8 night trip the end of August to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City, that includes stops in NH, VT, MA, and NY and for an 8 day/ 7 night trip in early October to Ohio and Kentucky which includes stops in PA and WV. Together the two trips include two Six Flags amusement parks, 19 national parks, 7 industrial tours, 9 science museums, 2 cathedrals, and other sites that are harder to neatly categorize such as Parliament Hill, National Museum of the US Air Force, Creation Museum, Ark, Underground Freedom Center, Cincinnati Art Museum, Shaker Village, Kentucky Derby Museum, Kentucky Horse Park, Rideau Canal, Byward Market, La Citadelle, Chinatown, Montmorency Falls, Terrasse Dufferin, and the Plains of Abraham.

When I saw Oliver was doing spelling on his hippo, I had to take a picture.

Giving Thanks

1. I got my van back on Friday afternoon! Paul came home early because it was snowing, which meant I didn't have to walk to the auto body shop as I thought I would need to do. Ian and Nadia were thankful they could stay home with Daddy while I took Oliver to basketball practice on Friday night.

2. We spent some time with friends on February 29, which included visiting a sheep farm. We always enjoy spending time with them. Unfortunately we learned that Nadia is very allergic to hay. She had hives on various places on her body after crawling through some tunnels Micah and Isaiah had made the previous day with bales of hay.

3. We used a gift certificate to get pizza from Papa John's after we left the computer programming class on January 31 while we were en route to Oliver's basketball practice.

4. Oliver had his best basketball game  on February 1. Nadia had her best game of the season thus far on February 8. Paul joined us for Ian's game on February 1, and he saw all three games with us on February 8. Nadia helped in the concession stand for 5 hours on 2/1 and for 3 hours on 2/8. I'm thankful she likes to help! Nadia has three games left, and the boys have four games left as they each had one game cancelled due to snow. This Saturday is a bye week. Yahoo!

5. Nadia enjoyed the Super Bowl party at our church. She didn't actually watch the game. She played bubble ball with her friends for about three hours. I was very thankful the Chiefs won because SF already has 5 rings.

6. The youth pastor's wife gave Nadia a ride to church on Wednesday afternoon so she could attend Bible bowl.

7. Oliver did a great job in AWANA on February 5. He recited all the books of the Bible, a few verses, and located 10 books of the Bible that they asked him to find in his Bible. Way to go, Oliver!

8. My dad gave Paul some money for his birthday that he said was for a steak dinner. Paul joined us at ice skating lessons on February 6, and after the lessons we went straight to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I don't order an entrée there - just a side dish (a sweet potato). We all love their rolls. Paul and Ian enjoy the peanuts, and Paul enjoyed his steak!

9. My brother's birthday was February 1. It was a hard day for me. I had an awful nightmare related to him on Sunday night. I am thankful for the 35 years I had a brother, and I am thankful he's with our mom, his body is whole, and I will see him again one day.

10. I'm thankful Patches was such a sweet little guinea pig. We miss her very much!!! Her little white hairs are still throughout our house....

11. The kids were so excited to go pick out two rabbits at the SPCA last week. Hopefully Cocoa and Cole will be as good of pets as Patches was. Rabbits are more expensive because they need to be neutered, which costs $259 per rabbit. Ouch!! We plan to have that surgery done next month. Now if we could just figure out how to tell the two apart!

12. I don't normally drive Paul's car, but I did last week because we only had one vehicle. We saw more of Paul than usual (which was good!) because he came home from work earlier than usual on Tuesday and Friday, and he stayed home from work on Thursday (so I could have the car) and on Saturday (so he could attend all three basketball games). When driving his car I noticed he was very overdue with getting his oil changed and tires rotated. He is taking the van to Walmart to have that taken care of right now.

13. We're in the middle of three read alouds right now, and Paul really is glad we're listening to Breaking Stalin's Nose.

Giving Thanks

1. My dad's quadruple bypass surgery went smoothly last Wednesday.  He left the ICU and was transferred to another room in the hospital on Thursday, and today he came back home!

2. I was in a car accident on January 17. It shook me up. It had been 17 years since my last accident. I was going straight through an intersection, and a woman turned left into our van. When I realized she was doing this, I came to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection and honked the horn. This got her attention, and she tried to come to a stop, but part of her SUV hit the driver's door of our van. She decided to pay for the repair bill herself instead of going through her insurance. She asked me to get two estimates. I got one last Monday at a body shop one mile from our house, and I got a second quote last Wednesday in Milton after Oliver's dentist appointment. The one closer to our house was almost $500 cheaper, so naturally she picked that one. I received the $1200 check from her in the mail on Saturday.  I'm thankful that no one was injured, that the woman

has paid for the repairs, and that the accident wasn't any worse than it was. Here's to hoping I go at least 17 years without another accident. I'd prefer to never be in another accident as long as I live! The van is scheduled to be dropped off at the body shop on February 3, and I was told it will take five days to fix it. Typically the kids and I stay home all day on Monday, but it seems we'll be home for five days, with the exception of Wednesday night. I assume the kids will miss their basketball practices, art class, chorus, Bible quizzing, and ice skating lessons next week, but I think Paul can come home on Wednesday night by 6:15 so that the boys can go to AWANA and Nadia and I can attend part of choir rehearsal (me) and middle school youth (her).

3. The kids and I enjoyed seeing the new Maleficent 2 on DVD through a free rental from Redbox on January 17.

4. We got more snow on January 18, and I was thankful that Paul got home safely from work that afternoon. It took him 30 minutes longer than usual. I was

also thankful that the boys' basketball games were cancelled that day. I really, really don't like driving in the snow and driving in the snow one day after being in a car accident was nerve wracking for me, but we got home safely after Nadia's basketball game.

5. On January 19 Nadia decided to attend the youth group meeting (for grades 6-12) at First Baptist where they play basketball instead of the Bible study at the Methodist church (for grades 4-8). She's attended the Middle at the Methodist church for 1.5 years. The Methodist church is 4 minutes from our house whereas the Baptist church is 13 minutes from our house. I agreed to let her switch if Paul was willing to do one of the trips. He agreed to drop her off at 6:00 each Sunday night if I pick her up at 8:00. She knows a few of the kids in that youth group because they attend our church and/or the Christian School. There are a lot more kids in that youth group than the Middle, and the group regularly schedules social events, mission trips, and service projects. She wanted to

join their laser tag event on January 21, but she had basketball practice that night. She talked about things like a progressive dinner and such, which reminded me of my days in the youth group in Maryland. I doubt she'll return to the Methodist church aside from VBS, but she's looking forward to continuing to participate in the youth group at our church and also at First Baptist. She was invited to three different Super Bowl parties - one at each church! She decided to go to the one at our church.

6. We celebrated Ian's 6th spiritual birthday on January 20! He chose to have dinner at Bonanza, and we were able to use the gift card my Dad gave us for Christmas. it cost a little less than $25 for the five of us to have dinner, which included drinks for everyone except me. It's certainly cheaper to eat there compared to most sit down restaurants, especially considering it's a buffet that includes dessert, which we never get at sit down restaurants. We had donuts for breakfast on January 24 also in honor of his birthday. I let him pick

something out at the bookstore at our church, but the manager told us all the kids' books will be on sale 25% off in February so he's waiting until then to pick out his gift from his parents and also from my Dad.

7. Oliver had two teeth pulled at the dentist last Wednesday. He was a trooper! The teeth still had their full roots so there was quite a bit of bleeding. Because the teeth came out in a much more painful way than usual, the tooth fairy gave him $10 and Grandma gave him $3. He used his money to buy a pretzel at the basketball game on Saturday and ordered a Paw Patrol toy on Amazon.

8. Nadia has memorized the first two chapters of Hebrews and is half way through chapter three. Her goal is to memorize all of Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter by the middle of June. Next year she'll be memorizing the book of Matthew. Ian isn't too sure about joining her in this in September 2021, but I am expecting both of them to memorize the books of Romans and James during the 2021-22 school year. Memorizing comes VERY

easily for Ian so I sure it won't feel as daunting once he actually starts working on it.

9. The kids have enjoyed their last two computer hardware classes. Their last class will be this Friday, which will be an introduction to programming. The second class was about putting together a desktop computer. They each had to connect the cords for the keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. The third class was about setting up a network. The kids set up a network that included all of their desktops.

10. Paul usually works six days a week, but he took a day off this past Saturday to attend the kids' basketball games. Ian's was the most exciting as he stole the ball at least four times. The first game was at 9:00 and the last game started at 2:00. Oliver and Paul weren't able to come home in the middle. Ian, Nadia, and I were home for about 90 minutes in between Nadia's game and Oliver's game. I'm thankful this is the last year of having three basketball games on Saturdays. At the most we'll have two games next year, and I'm really

questioning whether Oliver should continue to play basketball. Nadia helped out in the concession stand from 12:00-3:00, which she greatly preferred to watching the games.

11. Oliver has been enjoying reading Mouse and Mole books from the library as well as a Bible reader since he finished Level 4 of All About Reading in December. Ian has been reading FAR more than usual this month. Usually he'll only read if it will earn him a turn on the Wii or Switch, but he's actually been doing some reading "just for fun" WOOHOO! His favorite author these days is Nathan Hale, and Nadia's favorite is Heather Vogel Frederick. I'm grateful all three kids like to read!

12. We started a new Spanish curriculum today. We had not really done much with sign language in the fall. We own the Rosetta Stone cds for Spanish, and maybe we'll go back to those at some point, but today we started using Excelerate Spanish, which I bought on eBay. I was looking for something all three kids could

do together. Hopefully this will work well for us. Things were going along smoothly in our homeschooling so I thought it was time to add another subject. Nadia wants to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, which means it would be very helpful for her to know more Spanish than she knows from her past use of Duolingo and Rosetta Stone.

13. Paul finished his repairs in the kids' bathroom on Wednesday night, and Nadia and I had showers in our house for the first time in months on Thursday. We had gone almost a month without taking a shower as our last shower had been on Christmas Day at Paul's parents' house. When he started taking out the silicone the end of September, I had no idea it would take almost four months for him to complete the project. I'm very thankful to be able to take showers again. I'd be thrilled to never take another bath the rest of my life. Because we were allowed to use it for a little bit at the end of October, I am still nervous that the project isn't actually complete, but I'm assuming as more time passes I will become convinced that being able to take a shower isn't just a temporary situation. In addition to being able to take showers, it means that things from that bathroom which had been stored in our master bedroom, our bathroom, and the half bathroom have now been returned to their rightful places, which means less clutter in the other rooms, which I greatly appreciate. Maybe some day there won't need to be a circular saw in my closet? That will be removed whenever Paul finishes the master bathroom project.

14. Last week we received junior ranger badges in the mail from two different national parks. Some parks allow you to complete the booklets from home! They've completed 6 or 7 so far this month! They've almost completed 30 altogether, and my current goal is for them to each earn 150 Junior Ranger badges.

Thankful Tuesday

1. The kids and I had a great time skiing on Thursday. I really, really appreciated that they had only chair lifts - no t-bar lifts! Woohoo! Oliver still needs to learn how to properly stop. His method is to sit down on his bottom, but I was very, very thankful that he never pulled me down as that happened quite a bit the first time he went skiing.

2. Children's Place sent me a $5 coupon, and they always have free shipping. I used the coupon to buy Nadia a shirt for 97 cents. I like paying yard sale prices for brand new clothing!

3. Paul made it back safely from Baltimore on Friday night. He arrived at our church around 10:30pm, and Nadia was done with Bible quizzing around 11:15pm. I was thankful he could bring her home as the boys and I were asleep at that hour!

4. I'm thankful the kids can take part in the group ice skating classes this year. Hopefully they'll make a lot of progress over the next nine weeks!

5. I'm thankful Nadia is working on memorizing the book of Hebrews. She wasn't much help to her team last weekend, but she enjoyed participating in the competition and it helped her learn how these events work. Meadowbrook was having a basketball tournament on Friday and Saturday, and she stayed with her friends and watched one game after the quizzing was over. Because she takes art and chorus there she was allowed into the game without buying a ticket. She wanted to skip her basketball game on Saturday morning so she wouldn't miss any of the quizzing, but I didn't think it was right to back out at the last minute. My compromise was to ask her coach if it was okay if she left at half-time. He agreed. There are 10 kids on the team, and only five play at one time. Normally each child would play three of the six (6 minute) periods. He only had her play one of the first three periods so she only played six minutes on Saturday since she left at half-time. This is her seventh and final year of Upward. If Ian and Oliver play through sixth grade, we will have four more years of basketball after this year.

6. The kids and I enjoyed getting two subs at Subway on Thursday with a gift card. On Friday we used part of a gift card to get tacos for Oliver and I and a bucket of chicken from KFC for Paul and Ian. This week we only plan to eat out once - on Friday night.

7. I think the kids learned quite a bit during their first computer hardware class on Friday afternoon!

8. The weather was GORGEOUS on Saturday and Sunday! It was unseasonably warm!!! We didn't even wear coats to church! The kids played tag with two neighbors, rode their bikes and scooters, etc. while I raked and bagged four bags of leaves, vacuumed the minivan, swept out the garage, etc. I don't normally do those tasks in January, but it was great to get some fresh air without being cold.

9. My dad's bypass surgery was postponed until January 22 because another patient needed to have a surgery more quickly than my dad does. This seems to be a blessing because Margie was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, and this gives her time to hopefully be feeling better before he comes home after his surgery.

10. The kids, especially Nadia, have really been into doing puzzles lately!

11. Paul started painting the kids' bathroom on Sunday. Hopefully that means we can take SHOWERS in the near future. I never thought I'd have to go more than three months without a working shower in our house.

12. The boys and I watched the new Lady and the Tramp movie on Disney+. We enjoyed it!

13. Yesterday the kids and I stayed home ALL day, which felt heavenly after being out and about more than usual last Thursday through Saturday.