State #49

On Monday I began the final preparations for our vacation which included packing our suitcases, giving a garage door opener to a neighbor who will be caring for our guinea pig, mowing the lawn, and giving Oliver and Paul haircuts. Nadia worked on Tuesday morning. After lunch an old crown fell off one of my molars. I called the dentist and explained that I was leaving on a two-week vacation. I was thrilled when they said they could cement it back on if I got there within twenty minutes. I loaded up the kids and the dog and went to the dentist. I am so very thankful they were able to repair it for me before we left on our trip. After the dentist appointment, I dropped Milo off at the Seiberts, got a dozen glazed donuts at Weis market, and then dropped the kids off at MCS for their final choir rehearsal. After we ate dinner, we loaded up the van and then drove to MCS for the spring concert and art show. All the middle and high school boys were supposed to wear long sleeve black shirts, black pants, and black shoes. Some wore ties. Oliver had a tie (and no belt for his pants). Ian had a belt but no tie. Nadia wore one of my black dresses with a black cardigan that helped disguise the fact that the dress was too big for her. Pop Pop also attended the concert. We left directly from the concert to drive to Maryland. Yvonne and her family are also on vacation this week so the house was empty aside from their two cats. I gave the cats food and fresh water and cleaned out their litter box. We tried to get to bed as quickly as possible as we didn't arrive at their house until 11:00pm. 

I had booked a flight that left BWI at 9:00am, but American Airlines changed the departure to 6:30am, which meant we had to be out the door around 4:40am to allow time to drive to BWI, go through TSA, and get to our gate before they began boarding. We could have left my sister's house at 5:00, but we figured it was a case of better safe than sorry. Although we had to sit on the runway for a while with the engine turned off before we took off, our flight arrived in Charlotte on time. Paul, Ian, and Nadia sat together, and then Oliver and I sat across the aisle from them. Our third seat was empty. We landed in Charlotte a little before 8:00 am and hustled as quickly as we could to get from the D terminal to the C terminal. We *thought* we had very little time in between our two flights. Due to a mechanical problem that needed to be fixed, we actually had a lot of time in between the two flights. Eventually we were able to board our flight. Nadia and Ian sat together across from Paul, Oliver, and me in the hopes that there would be one empty seat again on that side, but the flight was full, and a woman had the window seat on that side. On both flights we were served a drink and Biscoff cookies. I had purchased 12 donuts for $5 on Tuesday at the grocery store as I knew that it would be expensive to buy food at the airport for breakfast. We didn't eat all the donuts, but $1 per person for breakfast is very affordable. Proof that the kids are growing up, After we arrived in New Orleans, we took a shuttle to the rental cars. I had booked the rental car through Priceline and had paid for their rental insurance because it's a lot cheaper than Dollar's. We declined the fuel charge, which just means we need to make sure we return the van with a full tank of gas. I did end up opting to pay for the tolls. We have an EZ pass, but those aren't accepted in this area of the country. I'm not sure if I made the right choice or not. They said many places only have electronic tolls and we could end up having to pay a lot of fees.

After we got our black minivan, Paul drove us to Wendy's for lunch and then to the Audubon Zoo. It is rated as one of the best zoos. We aren't sure why it's considered above average. I contemplated also going to a zoo in Houston and Dallas. The only other zoo that is in our itinerary is the one in Fort Worth. We also could have visited multiple aquariums. There is one here in New Orleans, for example. I chose the one in Corpus Christi, Texas. There also is an Insectarium here in New Orleans, but that also didn't make the cut. I can tell you that the Wendy's we visited near the airport is definitely below average. Nadia ordered a salad, and I ordered a chili. As we went through our bag of food, we noticed we didn't have a spoon or a fork (only one knife). When Paul asked for one, they said they didn't have any. Then why in heaven's name are they selling food that you need those things to eat them?!? Oi vey! After we walked around the zoo, we drove to the French Quarter. Our first stop was the St, Louis Cathedral, which dates back to the 1700's. We made a brief stop in the National Park Visitor Center which is the visitor center for both the French Quarter (part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park) and the Jazz National Historical Park. It was very unimpressive. The kids had already earned both of those Junior Ranger badges through the mail several years ago. For the next couple of hours, we walked around the French Quarter and ate dinner. We had hot dogs at Dat Dog. Oliver had wanted to eat some alligator in Florida last year, and it didn't happen. He chose an alligator hot dog topped with crawfish etouffee and cheese. None of the rest of us were that adventurous. Our last stop before we returned to the van was Cafe Beignet. We ordered two orders of beignets to share amongst the five of us. We all enjoyed them and thought they tasted similar (even better) than a funnel cake. Many trips we have tried to spend as little as possible on meals by eating a free breakfast at the hotel, skipping lunch, and using a gift card for dinner. Sometimes we are doing that on this trip, but this trip I made more efforts for us to try different foods. 

New School Year!

I haven't finished writing about our trip to Alaska. I will get caught up on that eventually, but this is our first week of school. The schools in our area had been in session for about 8 days before we got started due to our trip. We started our school year on Labor Day as that isn't really a holiday we celebrate. To celebrate our new school year, I told the kids we'd go to Becky's, which is an ice cream place not that far from us. On Tuesdays from 6:00 to closing, they offer dogs a free small dish of vanilla soft serve, and we had never taken advantage of that offer although we'd talked about doing it many times over the last few years. Today was the day! After we ate dinner, Nadia drove the kids and I to the park for our back-to-school pictures, and then she drove us a few more minutes to Becky's for ice cream. Milo didn't finish his treat. It was too much for a little dog. He loved it, but he was shivering like crazy after he stopped eating. He's never had something that cold before to eat! I said it was also an early birthday treat for him as he turns four at the end of this month. 

Nadia will begin her classes with Liberty University on September 16, and the co-op at our home will begin on September 24. Two other kids might be joining our co-op later this year. Nadia had her first voice lesson today, and Ian will continue to have piano lessons on Mondays with Lyn DeVito. Nadia has been faithfully practicing the piano, and she's planning on auditioning for district chorus. She has set a goal of finishing two levels this year in piano. Tomorrow the kids will attend art and chorus for the first time this school year at MCS. It will be Oliver's first time ever taking any classes there. All three plan on auditioning to be in the spring musical. We've been told they'll either be doing Willy Wonka, the Wizard of Oz, or Barnum. Bible quizzing and youth group also resume tomorrow, which again are firsts for Oliver. Our first field trip (not counting the ones we took in July/August) will be to the PSU Nuclear Reactor on September 17, and their first homeschool party is at the roller-skating rink on September 18. Here are some things the kids will be studying this year:

1. Ian and Nadia are studying chemistry (Life of Fred and Apologia). Oliver is completing an elementary level chemistry/physics and also an elementary level botany science textbook. Paul is doing a chemistry lab during the co-op.
2. In math the kids are doing Pre-Calculus (Nadia), Geometry (Ian), and 6th grade math (Oliver). We use Life of Fred plus Teaching Textbooks. Ian will also be using Art of Problem Solving. 
3. In history we are studying from 1708 to the present. 
4. Oliver is working on his typing skills, level 7 of spelling, and level 3 of Fix it Grammar. 
5. Nadia and Ian are completing a University Ready Writing course through IEW. 
6. Nadia is learning French through Duolingo, and Ian is studying Spanish.
7. Nadia is learning how to drive, and she wants to get a job so she can have enough money to pay for her car insurance once she gets her license. She has applied for a job at Lingle's (grocery store) but is hoping to get a job at a horse farm or Warrior Run Petcare. 
8. We are working on memorizing verses (or in the case of Ian and Nadia chapters) from the book of Luke. 
9. I'm giving more specific assignments for literature for Nadia and Ian. This week they both started reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and soon they will also be starting The Two Towers, as that is a book many of the kids will be discussing at co-op this fall. Sometimes I will choose what Oliver needs to read on school days, but other times it will be his choice. Right now he's reading books from the Dead Sea Squirrels series, but he'll be reading Sign of the Beaver for co-op later this month.
10. We've started our fifth year of watching World Watch News five days a week all year long. 
11. We continue to listen to audiobooks together as a family. Currently we're listening to The Night War by Kimberly Bradley and Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger. 
12. In our fall session of the co-op we'll be doing chemistry lab, art, book groups, debates, and geography. In the spring session we'll be doing book groups, personal finance, drama, and chemistry lab.

I'm very grateful to be starting my twelfth year as a homeschool mom! Praying for the kids to grow physically, academically, spiritually, and emotionally over the coming year! 

Winding down

Our 2023-24 school year is almost complete. We already finished history, Life of Fred, Fix it Grammar, and the classes we were doing in our co-op. We had a dress rehearsal at 5:00 last night for our production of Alice, and put it on for the parents and some other family members at 6:00. After the show was over, we shared a meal together. We didn't have a set, but we had some props and costumes. The kids did a great job. Nadia had a LOT of lines to memorize, and she did a great job of projecting as we didn't use any microphones. Ian, who played the Mad Hatter, was definitely the funniest character. Julianna was sick, but her older sister filled in at the last minute as the Queen of Hearts and the March Hare. She had to read her lines as obviously she didn't have any time to memorize them. She did a great job with her part albeit she only joined us at the last minute. Nadia and Ian have also finished their art class at MCS. Today they had their last chorus rehearsal, and this evening they had their last concert for the school year. Field trips are a constant for us all year long. For example, over the next two weeks we plan to go to Hopewell Furnace NHS, Emergency Preparedness Day, a production of Little Women, Young Eagles flight, Shaver's Creek Environmental Center, Monocacy National Battlefield, Wolf Trap National Park, and Maggie Walker NHS. Although some things will continue throughout the summer such as reading and listening to audiobooks (all three), practicing the piano (Ian), and practicing the guitar (Nadia), here are the things that the kids need to finish to completely wrap up this school year:

1. Ian and Nadia need to finish Algebra 2. Ian should finish next week. It's going to take Nadia longer than that.
2. Nadia needs to finish Marine Biology, and she has until June 9 to finish her World History course through Grand Canyon University. 
3. Oliver needs to master the spelling of twenty-four more words.
4. All three of them are at varying places in demonstrating to me that they know the countries and capitals of Europe and Africa.
5. Ian and Nadia will continue to prepare for the Bible quizzing nationals which will be taking place in New York June 19-22. Ian wants to memorize the book of Colossians between now and then as he was recently told that he'll be on our church's "A" team. Nadia will be the captain of the "B" team. At the recent quiz in Indiana, the team Nadia was on placed first, Ian's team placed third, Ian tied for 2nd place in the individual competition, and Ian and Nadia were in 5th and 6th places in the written portion of the competition. Nadia won $30, and Ian won $40 at that competition. 

Because school has been winding down, I've been scheduling other types of appointments. Nadia had her first guitar lesson last week. While Nadia and Ian were in Indiana for a Bible quizzing competition, I took the van for an oil change, tire rotation, and annual inspection in the morning and then that afternoon took the van to the Honda dealer for a safety recall I had received notification about in January. While the van was being serviced in the morning, I got my first pedicure in five years. My dad gave me $100 for my birthday, and I decided to follow the advice Margie had given me when she was alive about using it for something I wouldn't normally have gotten. My first plan was to use the money towards a crockpot because the one my mom gave me in 2016 died recently, but for me a crockpot is a necessity not a splurge. I decided to use the birthday money towards my nails instead. Not that a pedicure cost $100! I'm planning to use more of that money towards a manicure next week when I take Paul's car in for an annual inspection, oil change, and tire rotation. Tomorrow Nadia and I are getting our hair cut. She typically gets hers done once a year, and I usually go 3-4 times a year. I cut Paul, Oliver, Pop Pop, and Ian's hair. I'm scheduled to have a mammogram on Thursday morning, and Ian has a cardiology appointment next Monday. Year round the boys go to the orthodontist once a month, Ian has a weekly 45-minute piano lesson, and Nadia has recently started taking a weekly 30-minute guitar lesson in Lewisburg. Ian is working on some music he's found online as well as Chopin's Military Polonaise, and a piano duet arrangement of Beethoven's 3rd Symphony. He's playing the primo part, and our neighbor, Addi, is playing the secondo part with him. 

Planning lesson plans, future vacations, and field trips is something I do regularly throughout the year. This morning, I booked an Airbnb for two nights in Houghton for Paul, Oliver, and I so we can watch part of the quizzing competition. We could also have stayed in the dorms like Ian and Nadia, but it was unappealing to us to pay $18.50 per person per night to stay in a dorm that doesn't have air conditioning. Sometimes those plans lead me to apply for a new credit card. This time I applied for an IHG credit card because the points we will be awarded after the first month of using it will be enough to pay for three nights at a Holiday Inn on Long Island in August, and whenever you use points for three nights, they give you a fourth night for free. The card has a $99 annual fee, but the card also reimburses up to $100 toward the cost of TSA Precheck, and Paul and I have a TSA Precheck appointment next month. This means we won't really be paying an annual fee, and we'll be able to stay for four nights for free on Long Island at a hotel that costs more than we usually pay per night. In the past we always stayed at Aunt Janet's home, but she moved to Reno a few years ago. It's much easier for us to travel to Long Island than to Reno. She spends a month on Long Island in August at a friend's house. We are looking forward to a wide variety of experiences over the next 3.5 months before we start the next school year. 

Birthdays!

This year we were with three of our nieces/nephews on their birthdays, which isn't typical because they live far away from us. In May we celebrated Joel's 12th birthday at Great Wolf Lodge, and last month we celebrated Jenna's 21st and Nathan's 15th birthdays at our home. I made Joel a carrot cake for his birthday and bought donuts and cookies for everyone another night on that trip. Jenna's birthday was the day before Thanksgiving this year. There were eleven people here for Jenna's birthday dinner: our family, Grandpa, her mom, Jenna, Toby, Andrew, and Nathan. She requested chili, rice, and peanut butter cookies. Nathan's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving. He requested sausage biscuits for breakfast. I bought four mylar birthday balloons, and the kids hung birthday banners throughout the house. We watched the movie "Sound of Freedom" and played games which included using our new foosball table. Grandpa slept in Oliver's bedroom. Nathan slept on the bottom bunk in Ian's bedroom, and Oliver slept on an air mattress in Ian's bedroom. Toby, Andrew, Yvonne, and Jenna used the two sofa beds downstairs. 

Ian's birthday (Dec 12) is very close to Aunt Janet's (Dec 9), my dad's (Dec 10), and Paul's dad's (Dec 20). From 2010-2017 we celebrated my dad's birthday and Ian's birthday together with my dad (2010-2015 also with my mom, 2016 just with my dad, and in 2017 with my dad and Margie). The last five years we only saw my dad at Christmas, not in conjunction with his birthday or Ian's birthday. In 2018 we started a tradition of going to Great Wolf Lodge for one night to celebrate Ian's birthday. We weren't able to go in 2020, but we went every other year since December 2018. Because we spent 3 nights at Great Wolf Lodge with the Towfighis earlier this year, we decided to give Kalahari a whirl this year for Ian's birthday. Although we're still getting a discount because we're going with a homeschool group, it costs a lot more than Great Wolf Lodge. We decided to try this Kalahari at least once. The kids and I were at the Kalahari in Ohio once in 2016. My dad is planning to drive up to Pennsylvania on Saturday so he will spend his 80th birthday with us this year. He'll then be seeing a show in Lancaster with Andrea. It will be the first time since 2017 that we were able to celebrate his birthday with him. 

Over the past 25 years I can only think of two times when we didn't spend time with several members of both sides of our family at Christmas. In 2020 we weren't with any relatives. In December 2022 the only person from Paul's side of the family that we saw was his dad. It had been almost exactly two years since Nadia, Ian, or I saw Al or Millie. Oliver had seen Uncle Al in March of 2022 when he took him to a concert. Because we are going to Chicago for Christmas this year, and because Al and Millie are very busy at their bakery in December, we ended up celebrating Ian's 14th birthday, Pop Pop's 82nd birthday, and Christmas yesterday. Shawn lives with Al and Millie. My kids haven't seen their cousin since 2021. He didn't come yesterday. I served ham steaks, au gratin potatoes, sweet potatoes, applesauce, cranberry sauce, mixed vegetables, and homemade rolls yesterday. Al and Millie brought cookies and a birthday cake. I think it was the earliest Christmas gift exchange we've ever had, but the kids weren't complaining about that, ha ha! 

The pictures in this post are from Nadia and Ian's concert in November, the day we volunteered at the Operation Christmas Child distribution center in Baltimore, the birthday cake from yesterday, and from the night Nadia and Ian sang at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Lewisburg. Other highlights from the past two weeks would include seeing the movie The Shift in the theater, seeing the musical "Not so perfect Christmas" and having dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Jenna, and getting a new dishwasher installed in our home. The one we bought eleven years ago decided to stop working over Thanksgiving while there were eleven people under our roof. The new one is much nicer than the one that was hauled away last week! I'm very appreciative of dishwashers, especially when we have company! 

First piano recital

I taught Ian to play the piano up until this August. One advantage of me being his teacher was the only cost involved was buying him music. One advantage of him taking lessons from someone else is he was able to participate in his first recital. It was a duet recital. In February he will participate in his first solo recital. The boys performed The Waltz of the Flowers on Saturday evening. All of the pieces in the duet recital were by Tchaikovsky. Paul's dad came to the recital and then spent some time at our home. He beat Ian in a game of chess and played a Mario game on the Switch with all three of his grandkids.

Yesterday Nadia and Ian sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale's fall concert. They sang in this group in 2019 and 2022. The group was on hiatus in 2020-2021 due to COVID. The group was much bigger in 2019. Because they had fewer students, the concert had a LOT of solos. Neither of mine tried out for a solo so they spent a lot more time sitting in the audience at this concert compared to the other two fall concerts. In 2019 it was a patriotic theme (for Veteran's Day). Last year they performed music that was about music (ex. Do, Re, Mi). This year it was all Disney music. They accidentally omitted Nadia's name from the program. Ian needs to OPEN his mouth more, and both kids need to work on smiling. Nadia did smile during when they sang the original Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song. Paul's dad came up for the concert. One of Nadia's small group leaders and two girls from her small group also came to the concert. Nadia left with them because her group went to Olive Garden for dinner tonight. Pop Pop came back to our house. I gave Pop Pop and Oliver each a haircut. Pop Pop used our foosball table for the first time. He beat Oliver, and Ian beat Pop Pop. 

Thursday night the kids and I met Cheri at the movie theater where we saw the (musical) movie "Journey to Bethlehem." On Friday night, Paul took Oliver to Lancaster Bible College for a concert featuring Jordan Feliz and Colton Dixon. Ian had his piano recital on Saturday evening, and Nadia and Ian had their choir concert yesterday afternoon. Paul went to work today. Oliver and Nadia were home all day today. I took Ian to his piano lesson. Tomorrow Nadia will again stay home all day. I'm taking the boys to an orthodontist appointment. We don't have any plans to leave the house Wednesday through Saturday. 

Winding Down

 Sunday was my last day for doing anything with the Sound of Music. There is a cast party at 4pm on December 10, but I won't be attending due to the fact that it's my father's 80th birthday (and he'll be up here that day) plus Nadia and Ian have a Christmas candlelight concert that same afternoon. Monday was Nadia and Ian's last regular Monday night rehearsal with the youth chorale. They have a dress rehearsal on Saturday morning and a short rehearsal on December 4, but we're done with the 2.5-hour commitment on Monday nights. Next fall it will be only a 1-hour commitment because Nadia and Ian will both be in the Valley Singers (high school group). Our six-week session of a small co-op in our home came to an end on Tuesday. I asked Paul to use Oliver's cotton candy machine to make the kids cotton candy as a treat on Tuesday, which contradicted what we talked about in the Health and Nutrition class I taught. The kids did a great job with their speeches. On Tuesday we had seven demonstrative speeches - Ben demonstrated how to clean a gun, Nathaniel demonstrated (outside) how to build a fire, Juliana demonstrated how to make a cheese pie, etc. She served that cheese pie at lunch after it had chilled in our refrigerator for a few hours. Last night was also the last night of The Chosen Bible study for the fall session for Paul and me. The study will resume on Wednesday nights in January.

We are planning to start another session on March 5. That session will likely last somewhere between 8-12 weeks. We're bouncing around ideas as to what classes we will offer during that session. Ideas have included drama (me), continuing the health and nutrition (me), geography (Paul), simple circuitry (Paul), book clubs, and chess club. If we continue the co-op next fall, Paul will teach a chemistry lab as Nadia and Ian will be taking chemistry next year. We've determined that one of the book groups will be discussing The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien, and another group will be discussing a Magic Treehouse or Imagination Station book. If we have a third group, we haven't determined what book they will be reading. I lead the discussions for two of the groups this session (Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince and the Pauper). The Much Ado about Nothing group was on their own although I did supply a list of questions for them to discuss each week. 

Next week, because it's Thanksgiving, we also get one week off of art and chorus at the Christian school. Nadia and Ian usually have those two classes on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Next week is Nadia's last week of her U.S. History class through Grand Canyon University. She will get a week off and then will begin a communications class on December 4. 

More pictures were posted on Facebook from the musical. The photographer took the photos during our dress rehearsal. We were in costume, but we hadn't done our hair or makeup. I wore different jewelry for the performances than I wore for the dress rehearsal, for example. The lack of makeup/hair wasn't a big deal for the pictures of the nuns, but it was more noticeable for all of the other photos. Still, I'm very thankful for these photos to remember this event as I doubt that I'll audition to be in another musical. 

Since I don't have rehearsal tonight, I decided to make plans to do something with my friend before she has shoulder surgery and won't be able to drive for a few months. The kids and I are meeting her to see the movie Journey to Bethlehem and then have dinner with her at Panera.

Giving Thanks

As a child, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my Aunt Janet on Long Island many times. Since Paul and I got married, we typically celebrated Thanksgiving with Paul's family. Sometimes I hosted, sometimes it was Paul's sister-in-law who hosted, and other times it was Paul's mom who hosted. In the early years the kids at the meal were Paul's niece and nephew and the eldest family who joined us were Paul's grandparents. As various family members have either passed away or moved to Florida, the number of family celebrating Thanksgiving together has grown smaller and smaller. In 2020 we celebrated the holiday with just our immediate family because of COVID and the same thing happened in 2021. I prefer to celebrate the holiday with more than just our immediate family so when I realized we weren't going to be seeing any extended family on Thanksgiving again this year, I invited my friend Cheri (who is 65 and lives by herself) and her uncle who has Alzheimer's and diabetes. Cheri is his primary caregiver and has been doing some remodeling at his house before she moves in with him and puts her house on the market. One tradition that hasn't changed, is that the kids and I each write a list of things we are thankful for in our Thanksgiving journal. It's also fun to read lists that the kids wrote in past years. Paul's brother took this week off of work, which meant Paul worked longer hours than usual Monday through Wednesday, but Paul won't be going to work today or tomorrow. Because we are taking several days off of school in December for overnight trips, I only gave the kids a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving, which is a shorter break than usual in our area. 

28. Thinking of Veteran's Day which we celebrated earlier this month, I'm thankful for all of those in the past who have served in our country's military as well as those who are currently serving. 

29. Although I wasn't exactly happy with the results from the election earlier this month, I am very thankful for the freedoms we have in our country, including the right to vote. 

30. On Sunday afternoon Oliver, Paul, Paul's dad, and I had the privilege of attending Nadia and Ian's concert with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale. There are three different choirs in the chorale. Nadia is a member of the Valley Singers (HS), and Ian is a member of the Camerata (MS). Some songs were sung by only one choir, and others were sung by all three choirs together. At their concert in 2019 they sang all patriotic songs in honor of Veteran's Day. This year the concert's theme was singing. They sang a wide variety of styles of music including traditional spirituals, a patriotic song, religious anthems, Do-Re-Mi from the Sound of Music, etc. Since they are not in a school choir, I am very grateful for this opportunity. I'm looking forward to their Christmas candlelight concerts in December! Nadia would like to participate in the next semester that starts in January, but I'm not signing them up because she has drama and art at the co-op on Mondays starting in January. I'm planning to sign all three kids up for the Chorale next fall, and since Nadia wants to switch to a different co-op, the kids might be able to participate in both sessions during the 2023-24 season. 

31. A homeschooling family I met at the swimming pool came to our home for dinner on November 5. Two of their three kids are very close in age to Nadia and Ian. Everyone had a nice time!

32. I enjoyed teaching a lesson on Habakkuk as a substitute in our Sunday School class on November 6. 

33. Nadia and Ian participated in a Bible quizzing competition over Acts 1-10 in Ohio earlier this month. Teams typically have four members. Because some team members were on a mission's trip and others were in a dramatic production that weekend, only five of our church's ten team members were able to attend. Ian and Ben came in second place even though they were a team of two! I am very thankful that both kids can participate, and I'm thrilled with how dramatically Ian has improved over the last year. 

34. Nadia and Paul really enjoyed attending a Matthew West concert at Lancaster Bible College on November 17. I had attended a Matthew West concert in 2017 with a friend at our church so I thought Paul should be the one to take Nadia to this concert. I'm thankful we've started this tradition of taking the kids on three dates a year. This was Nadia's second date. She used some of her money to buy a sweatshirt at the concert, and Paul paid for a t-shirt that she will receive as a Christmas gift. 

35. Nadia and Ian enjoyed the Outdoor Adventure Skills class which ended this month. Their final class session included a field trip from Camp Susque to Mansfield University where the eight students spent time rock climbing and bouldering in an indoor gym. Oliver, Milo, and I did some hiking every time they had class. 

36. Aside from our dinner today, the kids and I didn't have anything on our calendar from Monday through Saturday this week. I ran a few errands earlier this week (library, grocery store, and hardware store), but otherwise we have stayed/will be staying at home for six days. I wouldn't want that to be the case all of the time, but I am grateful that is the case sometimes. 

37. We are all healthy at the moment, and none of our relatives have passed away over the last 18 months. I still really miss my mom, my brother, and Paul's mom. I don't regularly communicate with any extended family members, but Nadia regularly talks with her cousin, Rachel, and Ian regularly communicates with two of his cousins (Nathan and Joel). I'm thankful that they can interact regularly even though they live many miles apart. I had a nice conversation with Yvonne this week which was a treat and also talked with Jenna on her 20th birthday. I remember she was an infant at my (doctoral) graduation. I've been Dr. Kennedy for 20 years already! Time flies as the saying goes. We're looking forward to spending time with Jenna and her boyfriend next weekend. 

38. After I picked Nadia and Ian up from their dress rehearsal last Saturday, I took the kids to Old Mill Creamery, which has recently become our favorite place to buy ice cream. The price of their ice cream is FAR more than what I am willing to pay at a grocery store, but it is SOOOOOOO delicious. I bought a gallon of peanut butter Oreo which cost about the same as if I had bought the four of us each a cone or dish, and the four of us were each able to eat the ice cream four times by purchasing a gallon. Nadia suggested we should make it a tradition to buy a gallon of this ice cream at every holiday. That sounds like a delicious tradition to me! 

39. We are making good use of the chest freezer that I was given two years ago. For example, I buy (expired) bread at Surplus Outlet and put it in the freezer to store until we are ready to use it. I am able to stock up on things when they are available or on sale for a good price.

40. We had enjoyed listening to the audiobooks on Lamplighter through a Christmas gift last year from dad and Margie. We finished listening to them a few months ago, and I intended to check to see if they added any more books before our membership expired at the end of this month. I completely forgot about that plan, but thankfully, we got a catalog in the mail from them last week which reminded me in the nick of time. This week we listened to the two books they had added since I last logged into their website. We listened to over 30 audiobooks through that membership! It was well worth the money spent, but it wouldn't make sense to renew the membership.

41. Speaking of memberships, we have listened to audiobooks from Audiobooks.now, Audible, Hoopla, and Overdrive over the years, but I just recently stumbled upon Scribd. I was trying to access a document on that site and found out that they have a lot of audiobooks. We have a one-month free trial, and I've started making a list of books either the kids and I or just I could listen to that we can't get for free through the library. Instead of paying per book as it is on Audible and Audiobooks.now, you pay per month with Scribd so I might pay for a month there from time to time if there are multiple audiobooks that we can access there that we can't borrow elsewhere for free. 

42. Last Saturday Oliver and I helped at an Operation Christmas Child shoebox packing party at our church. Last year our church only packed 224 shoeboxes, but this year we packed 828 shoeboxes! We are praying for the kids around the globe who will receive these gifts and also hear a presentation of the gospel. 

Boys are back!

On Friday I had a few brief spurts of energy, which were greatly appreciated after not having any energy for the previous seven days. Thankfully I had even more energy yesterday. I still have a little bit of a cough, but aside from my left ear, I mostly feel back to normal. My left ear is still painful, and my hearing in that ear is still pitiful. On Friday morning the contractors came back to install our front door. The first time they showed up to do that was in June, but due to some complications they couldn't install it that day. My PCP sent a prescription to CVS for ear drops for me on Friday morning, but I waited until the contractors were done to go to CVS. Since I was home alone most of the week and also lacked energy, it was a boring and lonely week for me. The first few days I kept myself occupied with reading books, watching a movie, doing Duolingo, and working on vacation plans, but as the week progressed, I struggled with loneliness and boredom. The last time I remember feeling either of those feelings was when I was hospitalized for many weeks in 2012. One of the significant things I learned while planning future vacations last week was that I needed to make a specific reservation for what time we wanted to drive on the road that takes you up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. I hadn't planned on being that specific with our itinerary that day. Hopefully my choice of 2:00pm will work out. Another was that they have a rodeo in Puyallup (near Seattle) in early September. I had tried to include a rodeo in our trip last fall, but in those states, I couldn't find any that took place after Labor Day. I thought the only chance we'd have to take the kids to a rodeo would be in Houston in March 2025. If we go to the rodeo in September 2023 in Washington and the kids don't want to go to another rodeo, then we can be more flexible about when we go to Texas/Louisianna in 2025. 

Saturday morning, I drove to Mountain View Bible Camp to pick up all three kids. In 2019 at Camp Good News (day camp), Ian was chosen to receive a cooperation award and Nadia was chosen to receive a leadership award. Yesterday at Camp Good News overnight camp, Ian was chosen to receive a sportsmanship award. Those are the three awards for character traits that they give out each year. Nadia was a junior counselor for a group of eleven-year-old girls. For the morning activity she and Macey led a group of girls who chose macrame as their activity. In the afternoons she helped with crafts on Monday and then helped with a group of girls who chose chess as their afternoon activity the rest of the week. They didn't have Wi-Fi, so she didn't actually use her phone at all at camp. The kids each received one letter from me in the mail, and Ian sent me a postcard from camp which arrived in our mailbox on Saturday afternoon after I picked them up. Oliver really wanted to pick riflery as his morning activity, but he missed the minimum age by 8 days, so he chose tie-dye because that is what his friend, Xandir, chose. He is proud of the things they made at camp. In the afternoons both boys chose outdoor games. The other afternoon choices were crafts or chess. In the morning Ian chose archery. He received an award for winning third place in his age group. Unfortunately, the boys came down with an illness the last couple of days at camp. We stayed home from church today and aside from an orthodontist appointment tomorrow morning for Oliver, we don't have any plans for the next several days so we can just stay at home sweet home. We haven't decided if we're going to give them COVID tests or not.

Nadia wants to be a junior counselor at Camp Good News again next year. She would be old enough to be a full-fledged counselor in 2024, but she'd rather be on staff at Camp Susque in 2024 because that's a paid position whereas the counselors at Camp Good News are volunteers. Ian wants to be a junior counselor at Camp Good News in 2024. Of the three camps where the kids have gone for overnight camp, Nadia ranks Camp Susque #1 and Camp Good News #2. Oliver ranks PMBC #1 and Camp Good News #2. Ian ranks Camp Good News #1 and PMBC #2. Next year I plan to send the boys to PMBC as campers, and Nadia to Camp Good News as a junior counselor and Camp Susque as a camper. The last year Nadia could be a camper at Camp Susque would be 2024, but she has decided that next year will be her last because she wants to be in their "staff in training" program for four weeks in 2024 which means she can be a counselor there for 5-8 weeks each summer starting in 2025. Nadia fell in love with Camp Susque in 2015. She only attended PMBC in 2020 because Camp Susque didn't have camp that summer. They do take pictures at Camp Good News and show them during the closing program, but they don't provide access to any of them so I don't have any pictures from last week. I'll receive pictures this week from Camp Susque, and I can send Nadia an email every day this week that they will print out and deliver to her. 

After we got home, I started a load of laundry so that Nadia could have clean clothes to pack. We had lunch and then the boys both fell asleep. They can go years without taking a nap. They are sick! Nadia is in the Apache tent this week. A friend whom she made at camp last year is in her tent again this year. I am thankful that my energy had returned because I drove for more than 2.5 hours yesterday. Nadia was home for a whopping 3.5 hours yesterday, but I appreciated getting a little bit caught up on what she had been up to at camp. I'm thankful that when I pick her this Saturday morning, she'll be home a lot longer than 3.5 hours! Hopefully she will have an awesome week this week! If she wasn't at camp this week, I'd have signed Nadia and Ian up for a choral workshop that's taking place next Saturday. I did sign them up for auditions on August 18 to be in the youth chorale. Nadia wants to move up to the Valley Singers (high school group), and Ian wants to move up to Camarata (middle school group that Nadia was in back before COVID). Oliver is old enough to be in the youngest choir, but he chose instead to be in a Ninjastics class on Monday nights.

Choir

 

Nadia painted this during art camp last week

"The only constant in life is change." From September 1986 to February 2020, I sang in an adult church choir. I lived in three different states during those years (Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania) and attended churches from five different denominations (Baptist, Evangelical Free, Presbyterian, Evangelical Congregational, and Wesleyan). When I would consider churches to visit after I moved to a new area, I had a few things I wanted to know about the church before I'd visit it. One of those was whether the church had a choir. My favorite choir was the one I sang in from 1986-1990 and 1992-94. I loved the music the music pastor selected, the choir was large (around 100 people), and we were accompanied by a full orchestra (woodwinds, brass, strings, timpani drums, etc.). Most of the choirs have been much smaller than that. At one point I actually was the director of an adult church choir, but the vast majority of the time I've sung alto (first alto when the altos split). There have been many differences in how the conductors have lead each choir. Some included a time for sharing prayer requests and some haven't. The worship arts pastor who has been my director for the past 7 years had two choir members alternate sharing a devotional at the end of the rehearsal. Some directors spend almost the whole rehearsal working on just one or maybe two pieces of music. Others (such as the woman who was my director from January 2009 to May 2014) had us practice MANY different pieces of music in each rehearsal. Each director has had something different that they spent a lot of time focusing on. The woman I just mentioned really focused on "messy s's" meaning words that ended with an "s" - making sure we cut off at the same time or attaching the final sound of one word to the first sound of the next word. My current director often mentions unifying our vowels (which sound to emphasize in diphthongs). I've been accustomed to singing once a week on a Sunday morning during the school year, having a rehearsal on Wednesday night, and presenting a cantata of some sort at Christmas and Easter. That was something I've missed the past 7 years as we've only sung one song on Sunday mornings - no special programs (cantatas). 

Oliver in the Friends' church building in Sturbridge

It seems at least for now that my time singing in a choir has come to an end. I have confidence that I will be able to do it again in the future, but I think it might not be for another nine years. Sob! Our senior pastor retired two months ago. Our new senior pastor decided that the choir would only sing once a month. There have been many Bible studies I've been interested in joining on a Wednesday night over the past 7 years, but I didn't because it conflicted with choir rehearsal. If the choir is only singing once a month, I would rather be in a Bible study on Wednesday nights. From 2004-2008 I played in a handbell choir and sang in a choir. From 2004-2012 I was asked to play my flute many times at church either to accompany the handbell choir or the choir or as a soloist. I've never played the flute at our current church. Singing in the choir was something I enjoyed musically, spiritually, and emotionally. It also was one of the ways that I could serve in a ministry. I'm trying to figure out how to fill those voids - a musical outlet of some sort and also another ministry to serve in. I considered offering to teach an adult Sunday School class starting in October, but then I found out that Bruce, who had been my SS teacher from 2012 until COVID, is going to resume his class in September. My areas of ministry the past 7 years had been helping in the children's ministry and singing in the choir. I stepped down from the children's ministry in February for another reason. If our kids were younger, I think we would be switching churches right now. That's how highly I value being able to sing in a choir, but Nadia's friends are almost all at this church. Presuming that Ian and Oliver develop friendships with kids at church over the coming years, I don't think we'll switch churches until Oliver graduates from high school. If that doesn't happen, then maybe we'll switch in five years when Nadia graduates. I really, really hope that church choirs don't become a thing of the past.

My observations have been that #1 governments almost always only get bigger over time and #2 when churches eliminate or decrease a program in some way, it rarely ever comes back. One of the reasons that Coolidge is one of Paul's most favorite Presidents is because he actually did take actions to reduce the size of the government. When I was growing up, we went to church on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights on a weekly basis. Over the years I've noticed that many churches have eliminated Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, and also many people only go to the worship service on Sunday morning rather than Sunday School and the worship service on Sunday morning. I haven't attended Sunday School for 17 months due to COVID. I'm grateful that will be resuming in the fall. We've been attending the second service, but I think we'll switch back to attending the first service in the fall and then the kids go to the youth service (N/I) and Oliver can go to Kidzway during the second service while I attend Sunday School. Nadia and Ian attend youth group at a different church on Sunday night and at our church on Wednesday night. Whether Oliver attends AWANA at the Alliance Church or the midweek Kidzway program at our church will depend on where I end up attending a Bible study on Wednesday night. Speaking of choirs, my kids sang in choirs since they were four until COVID. Nadia and Ian sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale in the fall of 2019. When COVID hit, Nadia was in the middle school chorus at Meadowbrook Christian School, I was in our church's adult choir, and Ian and Oliver were in the kids' choir at our church. Ian is now too old for our church's kids' choir. I haven't heard if the kids' choir will be resuming at our church or not. If it does, Oliver might be the only member of our family in a choir. 

Thankful Tuesday

1. I'm thankful for the 76 years of life God granted to Paul's mom. We miss her. It's an adjustment to accept the fact that I can't call her on the phone any more, but it's a comfort to know her time of pain and suffering has come to an end. 

2. Micah and Isaiah did an excellent job taking care of Milo on May 9. We are so thankful that they plan to pet sit him various times over the next four months. 

3. Those who have been vaccinated don't have to wear masks, and the end is in sight for everyone being given the option to stop wearing masks. Our church has made the decision that starting next Sunday masks will be optional for everyone. Woohoo! I got my first vaccine injection yesterday, and thankfully my only side effect was a sore arm.

4. I've been enjoying attending some choir rehearsals again! We are singing four anthems from May through August, and one of the ones we are singing is one of my top five that I've ever sung in my life - The Majesty and Glory of Your Name. I sang it in Maryland in the 1980's, had the choir I directed sing it in Pennsylvania about 20 years ago, and now am singing it again in 2021.

5. The kids had fun playing arcade games and laser tag with Micah and Isaiah on May 6.

6. I purchased some clothes for the kids at yard sales on May 7. I also bought Paul a Rubik's cube.

7. The kids had fun playing with seven other kids at a friends' house on May 7 - exploring their pond and stream, roasting hot dogs over a fire, etc.

8. The kids enjoyed the time spent at Six Flags on May 9. They were avoid standing in line most of the time. Nadia had a great time in Maryland with four of her cousins for four days, and Ian and Oliver loved having four of their cousins here for four days. 

9. Ian's expander is back in his mouth and so far we have been successful at turning it six times. Hopefully the next eight turns will go smoothly and then hopefully we will be done. 

10. Nadia had a good experience with her first quizzing event in Indiana on May 14-15. She also had her first experience sleeping in a college dorm and eating in a college cafeteria.

11. The kids have been sleeping in lately (except for when their cousins were here), and Milo has even been cooperating most of the time! 

12. The kids selected a song to sing at Grandma's funeral this Saturday - 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord). My choir director sent me music for the piano accompaniment this afternoon.

13. We enjoyed watching the ladybugs go through metamorphosis. The boys also enjoyed the lesson on insects by the Biology professor at Bucknell on May 15. 

14. Vennari's, which is my favorite place to get pizza, gave us a free pizza on Saturday because they thought they had mixed up our order. 

15. I got a lot of exercise through walking the last two weeks. 

16. I finalized what the kids will be studying in science the next school year. Ian and Nadia will be doing a physical science textbook together. I am determined to do a better job with gathering what they need for the experiments. Oliver has been very interested in birds lately so that's what he'll be studying for the first semester. It turns out three of their cousins will be using the same Physical Science textbook in Ecuador so Yvonne and I are planning on having the kids discuss some things together via Zoom. It will be a 6th grader (Ian), 7th grader (Nathan), 8th grader (Nadia), and a 9th grader (Joshua) doing science together! This past year Nadia did science independently, but I decided to have Ian join her this coming year again rather than having him join Oliver again next year. 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. My new cellphone arrived on Friday, and I got it activated at a Verizon store on Saturday. The battery and the camera are MUCH better on my new phone, and I like the face scan feature better than the fingerprint one that my old phone had. The pictures in this post were taken with my cell phone. I definitely won't totally abandon my DSLR, but I expect the ratio of cell phone pics to DSLR pics to definitely shift now that I have a better phone. I'm also thankful for the cell phone stabilizer that my Dad and Margie got me for my birthday. I haven't used it yet, but I know I will!

2. We didn't do anything special to celebrate my birthday on the actual day (aside from me opening the Amazon package from my Dad), but my friend, Cheri, met me at 3:30 at Panera on Saturday. If you combined late breakfast/ early lunch, you call it brunch. What do you call a meal that's either a very late lunch or an early dinner/supper? I needed to work around Paul's work schedule, and Cheri had to work around her uncle's schedule. She's his caregiver at the moment, and he has Alzheimer's. Paul met us there on his way home from work and took the kids home. At first I was going to cook a meal for them to eat while I was eating out, but then I decided to ask Paul to make omelets. He can make those, and it had been a very long time since the kids had eaten one. I really enjoyed my strawberry poppyseed salad that Cheri paid for, and I also really enjoyed talking with her for about 90 minutes. We hadn't talked much recently so we actually needed more time than that, but I was thankful for the time we did get together. I hadn't seen her in person since I took her out for her birthday about 3 months ago.

Do you see the vehicles after the fields? That's where we parked. We got a workout going uphill!

3. Although the weather was cold and windy, the kids enjoyed the day at Camp Susque on Thursday. I think the highlights for them were lunch (playing on the playground and chatting with friends) and the climbing wall.  They came home with three tornado tubes that were each connecting two 2 liter bottles from the weather lesson they had that morning. 

4. I placed an order for Lego sets last August through an advertisement on Facebook. Big mistake. I will never, ever click on any ads on Facebook again. The company sent me one scarf instead of four Lego sets. I tried to dispute the charge through the credit company to no avail. In September they said they would resend the Legos after they acknowledged their error, but then in December they told me they would give me zero Legos and a 50% refund since I had received a scarf (that I didn't want and never plan to use). They supposedly put the partial refund through in January, but I still haven't received any money back. I asked Paul to try calling the credit card company, and he did so yesterday. Would you believe they offered him a credit for the full amount we were charged by that company last August? I'm not sure if it's because a man contacted them or if it's because we hadn't used the credit card at all for a few months whereas it had been our primary card, but I'm very thankful. I had mailed them all sorts of documentation and that never got me anywhere, but Paul's one call was a success, if the guy he talked to at Citi today was telling the truth. As a side note, my friend, Cheri, had a similar experience when she clicked on an ad on Facebook. She purchased boots, and they sent her the wrong size and only gave her about $10 back (and she had paid a lot more than that). So that makes me think my experience might not be a fluke.

5. We had pretty weather on Friday, which meant I took a walk with Oliver and Milo and also mowed the lawn. On Saturday the kids and I attended a program by a Biology professor about farming. 

6. Although we barely saw her on Sunday, Nadia enjoyed going to her coach's house for more Bible Bowl practice after church on Sunday. She was home for a couple of hours before we took her to youth group. We had thought of going to Knoebels that day after church, but Nadia didn't want to go. She loves rollercoasters, but she likes the youth worship service, Bible Bowl, and the evening youth group even more. It's a bit tricky because Sunday is Paul's only day off from work and yet Nadia doesn't really like to do day trips on Sundays. We are planning to go to Knoebels next Sunday after church as we can go for free that day. We didn't go to Knoebels at all in 2020, and we were only there for a couple of hours in 2019. It's the amusement park closest to our house.

7. I've been talking to Paul's mom on a pretty regular basis again. Woohoo! She's on oxygen because of her wheezing from COVID, but it's great to hear her voice, and they are trying to get her walking again. 

8. We had choir practice last Wednesday! We are meeting every other week at least three times total to prepare for a retirement celebration for our senior pastor. It was the first time I attended a choir rehearsal in fourteen months. The worship arts pastor left it up to us whether we wanted to wear masks or not and whether we wanted to spread out farther than usual or not. 

9. Our library had the first three books of the Frog Princess series on CD. We really enjoyed them. I requested the fourth book on CD through ILL, and I picked it up at the library yesterday. We love libraries!

10. Ian did an amazing job reciting all of Matthew chapter 7 on Friday! I was so pleased that I gave him $5.00. 

11. Someone at the orthodontist office turned Ian's expander yesterday. Hopefully I can successfully turn it six more times before next Monday. The end is in sight!

12. Milo's restrictions are over! He's allowed to run and jump again. 

Earth Day

 

Camp Susque offers a program for homeschoolers every year on Earth Day. Today the activities included a 90 minute lesson on weather, lunch, and then climbing a rock wall for up to two hours. In general the weather has been nice lately, but that wasn't the case yesterday or today. Thankfully, it didn't rain today, but it was cold (30's and low 40's) and windy. BRRR! I didn't think Milo could handle being in his crate for 6.5 hours straight either emotionally or as far as having an accident. Hopefully eventually he'll get to that point, but I don't think he's there yet. So we brought Milo with us. Because it was cold and windy, they moved the weather lesson indoors. I alternated between sitting in the van with Milo and taking him for walks. If it had been warmer out, I would have stayed outside the whole time. I did stay out during the rock climbing portion of the day. The kids prefer climbing the rock walls at Refreshing Mountain, but they had a good time. Four of their friends were there (Ean, Ivan, Micah, and Isaiah). Nadia is looking forward to spending a week at Camp Susque this summer. We hadn't been there in almost 2 years due to COVID. 

Milo was very active on the drive this morning and the 5 hours we were at Camp Susque. He was tuckered out and slept on Nadia's lap on the drive home.

When the kids were playing on the playground during the lunch break, Nadia dropped Milo's leash at one point. All the kids tried to catch him for awhile. Another mom came and told me that Milo was on the loose. I went outside, and Milo immediately ran over to me to the amazement of the kids who had been trying to catch him. I'm not a dog expert by any means, but I can see that Milo thinks it's a game when kids are chasing him, and he can run VERY fast!

Oliver has been getting up earlier and earlier. I had planned to move his bedtime to 9:00pm in August, but I decided to move it up now in the hopes that he'll sleep until at least 7:00am. Because his bedtime is moving prior to his next birthday, I told Nadia that her bedtime can move to 10:00pm on April 30 rather than on her birthday in June. 

Paul woke me up the last two mornings to tell me something was wrong with the toilet in our master bathroom. Let me tell you that I am not very communicative at 4:00am on the subject of toilets. We had been planning to replace the toilet in the kids' bathroom this year, but this evening Paul stopped at Lowe's to buy a toilet for our master bathroom. We had previously redeemed credit card points for Lowe's gift cards so the toilet didn't actually cost us any money. Now to see when the plumber can come and install it. 

I had choir rehearsal last night for the first time in 14 months! We are singing at the pastor's retirement celebration on a Sunday afternoon in May. Ian and Oliver came with me and played on their Nintendo Switch during the rehearsal since Paul didn't get home until after 8:30pm. Nadia usually plays glow in the dark 9 Square in the Air for awhile after youth group is over on Wednesday nights, but since the boys and I were waiting for her, I had her leave right after her small group was done. The kids' dentist met us at church at 7:50 and tried to turn Ian's expander to no avail.