What a week!

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

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

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

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

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

Fourth Quarter

 

We have officially entered the fourth quarter of our school year. The kids have already finished their Life of Fred books (Pre-Algebra with Physics for Oliver and Trigonometry for Nadia and Ian). Some subjects won't be wrapped up until May 7. I had planned on having Nadia and Ian read The Scarlet Letter and That Hideous Strength during the fourth quarter. Nadia read That Hideous Strength during the third quarter instead of Crime and Punishment. Ian is still going to read That Hideous Strength, but Nadia has opted to read Hamlet instead of Crime and Punishment. Both of them have selected Dracula instead of The Scarlet Letter. I still plan to have Ian read The Scarlet Letter sometime in 11th or 12th grade, but it seems unlikely Nadia will ever end up reading that book as she doesn't need to take any literature courses at Liberty. Oliver is currently reading Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan, and his other book for the fourth quarter will be The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum. He read six books from The Chronicles of Narnia in addition to A Wrinkle in Time during the first three quarters of seventh grade. 

Technically our last day of school won't be until May 25 because of the "field trips" we'll be taking in Europe in May. For months they've been showing availability to take one (expensive) tour of Buckingham Palace through the end of March, and then they had far more options starting in July. Yesterday they finally had tickets available for the expensive tour in May. Paul really wanted to go to Buckingham Palace. He didn't want to see the changing of the guard (which is free). We didn't go there when we were in London in 2002, and since Paul and I will probably never be in England again, Paul was willing to splurge. Most of the places we are visiting in May will not be "repeats" for Paul and me. I think the Tower of London will be our only repeat in the United Kingdom, and we'll visit four places we've already been during our one day in Paris. 

I only have two months left of homeschooling a daughter. The time has flown by. She is very excited about her new upcoming adventure. She and Maddie went shopping for clothes recently, and they got matching peasant skirts that they are both planning to wear on the first day of the semester at Liberty in August. In terms of my years of having at least one child at home (who hasn't yet graduated from high school), almost eighteen of the twenty-three years have been completed. I'm in the "last quarter" of my years as the mom of a baby, toddler, preschooler, or homeschooler. Nadia is taking three courses through Liberty this semester. The only math she's doing right now is preparing to take the College Algebra CLEP test. The only subjects I'm giving her a grade in this semester are economics and English. I had intended for her to do physics this year with Ian, but she really doesn't like physics, already had enough science credits for high school, and if she doesn't want to go to graduate school, she doesn't need to take physics in her undergraduate program. 

I've started to put a little bit of thought into plans for the next school year. It will be strange only having two kids at home. Oliver and Ian are not accustomed to doing science together, but I'm planning on having them both do biology next year and do the dissections with the coop in the fall. I think next year will be the only year the two boys do science together because Ian wants to do forensic science during his senior year, and I think Oliver will do general science when he's in 9th grade. I did Fix it Grammar with Nadia and Ian and had been doing it with Oliver, but it wasn't working this year with him, so I switched to the Giggly Guide to Grammar, which was a good fit, but it's just one book. This week I chose another grammar book for Oliver to do next year. I never did a vocabulary textbook with Nadia or Ian, but I started having him use Wordly Wise this year, and I plan to continue that next year. For social studies, I decided to have the boys do a year of World Geography by Notgrass. I used a Notgrass book for the first time in the fall (government), and I liked it. I'm not as crazy about the Basic Economics books I chose for this semester. Previously the kids had done four volumes of Mystery of History and four volumes of The Story of the World. For math Ian will do calculus (Life of Fred), and Oliver will do Pre-Algebra through Teaching Textbooks. One school related thing that will be new next year is that it looks like I'll be starting a three-year term on the MCS school board.

We have had at least one guinea pig in our house since December 2016. Most of the years we had two guinea pigs. Our time with Lily came to an unexpected end on Sunday. We have been dog sitting Cooper for fifteen days (he'll be with us for ten more days). Unfortunately, while we were at church on Sunday he pushed open Nadia's bedroom door, dismantled the guinea pig cage, and killed Lily. It was so shocking and heartbreaking. We know he was just acting on instinct, but it was very sad. Cooper has been in our house many months over the last 2+ years, so it really caught us off guard. If Nadia wasn't about spend the summer at Camp Susque and then move to Virginia in August, we'd get a replacement guinea pig for her but given how little time she has left at home and the fact that she was the only one who interacted with the guinea pig, we are not replacing Lily. Milo is our only pet. There's an elderly couple that lives near our home who has a 16.5-year-old Bichon Frise. Hopefully Milo will also live a long life and not have an untimely death like Lily did. Other unexpected (but much happier) news would be that my dad has recently become engaged. He and Karen are planning to get married this summer. The other unexpected, happy news is that my sister is expecting her tenth child. I say "unexpected" because my sister is 51 years old. I think my dad's third wedding and my sister's tenth delivery might both take place in July. Life is full of so many twists and turns. 

Refreshing Mountain

In May 2019 we attended our first Homeschool Day at Refreshing Mountain. We returned again in the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020. Since then, we hadn't been able to attend due to either scheduling conflicts or because all the spots had already been taken when I tried to sign my kids up. The first three times we attended they divided the kids into groups by age and told the kids when to switch from station to station. This time the kids were not divided into groups. We selected a time slot for the zip lining and ropes course, but other than that we could do the activities at whatever time we wanted. Three other families we know were also there on Tuesday. My kids spent their first hour on the ziplines and ropes course. They did the ropes course multiple times. After that, we met up with some of our friends for a presentation on snakes. The kids ran around for a while, and then my kids attended a presentation on birds of prey. The kids played on the playground and ate their lunches over the next hour.  After the lunch break, they all went to the climbing tower. Our friends had arrived earlier than we did so they left after the climbing tower. My kids did the pedal cars, slingshot, and farm animal presentation next. For their final activity, Nadia and Ian chose to ride the zip lines one more time, and Oliver opted to climb a different part of the rock wall. The weather was a bit chillier, but we were very grateful it didn't rain. On the way home, we stopped and had dinner at a friend's house. Kay was the principal of the school prior to me. She invited the woman who had been the kindergarten teacher to join us. Kay and Allen were at our house last year, but it had probably been 20 years since I had seen Joan. 

Our friends hosted their first homeschool game day on February 24. Today that same family is hosting what is the fourth game day that our kids have attended since February 24. I'm scheduled to host one next month. I've also scheduled two field trips for homeschoolers in our area next month, and in both cases, more than twenty students and nine parents are signed up for each trip. I'm thankful my kids have these opportunities to spend time with friends!

This week we received the bad news that Margie has bone cancer. She will likely be placed in hospice in the near future. They are trying to determine whether or not she should have a surgical procedure to place pins in her right hip to prevent it from fracturing before she goes to hospice. I remember what it felt like when I found out that my mom had stage four ovarian cancer. My heart goes out to my dad, her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. Seven years ago, my dad was walking this same road with my mom. Unless God chooses to miraculously heal her, it seems that my kids will experience three grandmas passing away from cancer within seven years. Margie has been their grandma (Gubba) for almost six years. We are praying that they can keep Margie as comfortable as possible. She's been in a tremendous amount of pain. We're also praying for comfort for everyone who will grieve her absence. I'm eternally grateful that she is a believer; we know that her destiny is secure, and I also find comfort in knowing that my dad and others can rely on the Lord to carry them through these difficult times. 

Ida

If we lived along the eastern coast of the US, our lives would be impacted more by hurricanes than they are in central Pennsylvania. However, this year our plans have changed two weeks in a row because of a hurricane. Last week we delayed our trip to Long Island because of Henri, and last night I cancelled our reservations for a homeschool day at Ricketts Glen State Park because we could receive up to 7 inches of rain today from Ida. Thankfully so far our basement hasn't flooded! The family bonfire that was supposed to take place at our church this past Saturday night was moved to tonight because of rain last week, and then they ended up cancelling all midweek meetings tonight due to swollen creeks and such. Considering I just drove to Long Island and back a few days ago and we leave for our 25 day road trip one week from today, I don't mind skipping the 1 hour 40 minute (round trip) drive to the state park today. Last year (prior to realizing how COVID would change our lives) I had planned to take the kids to Kipona in Harrisburg over the Labor Day weekend. Naturally it was cancelled last year. They are having the event this weekend, and I had planned to go. I asked our niece, Jenna, if she'd like to join us as it's taking place not that far from where she's living right now, but she said she needs to do homework on Saturday. Because Paul works on Saturdays and because I'd like a little break from drives that are longer than 25 minutes one way, I cancelled our plans for Saturday. I'm planning to take the kids to Kaos tomorrow afternoon, but from Friday through Monday the only time I plan to leave the house is to go to church on Sunday morning.

The past few years Nadia has been the first one to get up and the only one to do some schoolwork prior to eating breakfast. The first three days of school for this year, Ian has been the one getting up and starting his work before the other two are out of bed. Usually Ian is the last one to finish his schoolwork each day, but he has been the first one done each day so far this week. He's really enjoying doing math on the computer for the first time, especially as he's earned two 100% and one 95% on his first three lessons without any help from me. Because we didn't go on our field trip today, I had the kids earn a Junior Ranger Badge for the Hopewell Furnace and also watch a series of videos they posted as a virtual tour. Because I'm assuming the kids will earn quite a few badges this month on our vacation, I have purchased an additional canvas for each of them as the ones they have been using to display their badges are getting close to being full! 

 

It's been 15 years since I went on a trip that was longer than 2 weeks. I am trying to do everything I can to be prepared. Today I gave Oliver a haircut and signed up for the 4th grade pass so we can all get into National Parks for free this year. I plan to mow the lawn, pack our suitcases, and give Milo a bath and trim some of his fur over the next few days. At this point next week, we should be in Michigan! An answer to prayer would be that there are two guys who will be starting to work at the plant on Tuesday, and they are planning to work for Paul for a couple of months. He has been short staffed, and he really wanted to have someone in place before he left for 25 days. A prayer request would be that the pathology report from Margie's recent mastectomy wasn't what we were hoping to hear. We are praying for wisdom for the doctors, Margie, and my Dad as they made decisions regarding her medical care. 

Thankful Tuesday

1. Milo is making progress with not having accidents in the house. He had one accident on Friday, one accident on Saturday, zero accidents on Sunday,  two accidents last night, and two accidents today. We're hoping tomorrow can be another day with zero accidents. I'm also thankful that he was able to attend an individualized Puppy Kindergarten class today. We have several things to work with him on over the next two weeks before his next class. Honestly the class is more for US than him although they did also groom his face and clip his nails while we were there. I really hope that six months from now I think we made the right decision to get a dog. 

2. I bought myself a pair of boots at a yard sale this summer, and I have really, really been enjoying wearing them on Sundays to church. Nylons really don't keep my legs very warm when I'm wearing a skirt or dress to church in the winter. Now I just need to buy myself a pair of snow boots because Nadia has claimed mine.

3. We finally found a bone that will keep Milo's attention for a longer time than another other bone or chew toy that we've purchased for him over the past 3+ weeks. This puppy is expensive!

4. Millie's knee replacement surgery went well yesterday. She came home from the hospital today! Paul's mom was transferred to her usual hospital yesterday, and today she was in less pain thankfully. Margie's chemo treatment went smoothly today. We're praying that the side effects won't be too bad.

5. Each December our church has a special "Christmas blessing" offering that is used to build wells in Africa. The wells each cost $10K. This year our pastor set a goal of hoping that $100K would be given toward the wells, and over $120K was given! The church partners with another organization that matches what we raise each December, which means what we gave will translate to 24 new wells in Africa! Each well services an entire village - typically around 750 people, which means the money people in our church gave last month will help about 18,000 people have clean water! PTL! Our pastor went to Sierra Leone once to watch one of the wells being dug; he said the women and children began singing and dancing when the water spurted out of the ground. Here in the USA we take clean water for granted, but clean water is something we should be very thankful for. It is really a blessing to have a part in helping others around the world.

6. The kids really, really loved the rolls I made for dinner one night last week. I think those Portuguese rolls plus the focaccia bread are their two favorite breads I have ever made. Previously their favorite was the garlic cheddar biscuits I make that are similar to the ones served at Red Lobster. I also really liked the French apple tarte Normande that I made last week. YUM! We tried 91 new foods in the last four months! The boys really loved the Yorkshire pudding. The word "pudding" doesn't seem to fit, but rethat's what it's called. 

7. The kids are enjoying the new snow we got on Sunday. After almost exactly two weeks of no kids playing together in the neighborhood, the kids have played outside with other kids the past two days.

8. Yesterday we finished our 700th chapter book as far as the books I've read aloud to the kids or we've listened to an audiobook together. It took as a few weeks more than 8 years to accomplish that. Enjoying books with the kids is one of my favorite parts of being a mom. Right now we're listening to Peter and the Shadow Thieves on CD from the library, and I'm reading the kids Inspiring Entrepreneurs. Yesterday we read about Elijah McCoy, which is where the phrase "the real McCoy" originated. I'm learning right along with the kids sometimes! 

9. On Saturday I finally got around to doing some spackling and touch-up painting around the house. I don't even want to admit how long that had been on my to do list. Some of the dents were recent from the dog, but the one that had been on my to do list for a long time was in the living room where Ian had banged the guinea pigs' food bin into the wall. 

10. Our pastor preached a sermon from the book of Jude this past Sunday, which is not a book I've heard too many sermons on over the years. Next week he's starting a series on the book of Ruth. I greatly prefer exegetical sermons to topical ones so I'm grateful!

11. Nadia finished Math 7 on Teaching Textbooks right before Christmas break began. I had planned to have her do Pre-Algebra on Teaching Textbooks next, but I decided it was time to do something different with her for math. We're giving Khan Academy a whirl for the next few months. So far it's working out well. Also, math is going MUCH better with Oliver now that we've gone back to the same math textbook I used with his siblings. Hopefully he will use the Beast Academy Levels 2 and 3 at some point because I bought them just for Oliver. Ian is doing well with Beast Academy Level 5 at the moment. Math is usually the trickiest subject for all three kids so I'm grateful that at the moment it seems to be going smoothly. 

12. The Steelers made it to the Playoffs!

13. I hadn't bought pumpernickel bread in a long time. I really do enjoy a peanut butter and honey sandwich on pumpernickel bread. Yum!

14. Aunt Janet gave me some money for Christmas, and I used it toward a personalized framed map which I will fill with pictures of us in each state. I've ordered prints to fill seventeen of the states with photos. If we go out west in the fall, we should be able to add quite a few more photos to our map later this year! I'm excited about having this visual way of tracking our progress over the coming years. 

15. Usually the kids open Christmas gifts on multiple days, but this year they opened almost all of their gifts on Christmas morning because we haven't seen any relatives since November, but last week Paul brought home the gifts from his brother and sister-in-law. We each received a gift card (CVS, Barnes & Noble, Red Robin, and Wendy's) as well as other gifts  - gum, coloring books, toys, etc. The kids wrote all their thank you notes last week during the Christmas break. 

16. Just like Milo creates a lot of messes around the house, doing artwork with the kids can be a messy endeavor, which is why sometimes I have avoided it. In the last couple of weeks we had fuchsia colored oil pastel ground into the off-white carpet in the dining room and  two of my vinyl kitchen tablecloths permanently stained (one with paint and the other with Bombay ink). There are times when I want to say we're only going to do colored pencil projects this year, but I'm trying to persevere. The kids did two projects last week - a charcoal sailing picture and a cardinal with a Tombow pen. Today the kids did a mixed media project of a candle that utilized both oil pastels and Bombay ink. Paying a monthly fee for the art classes definitely keeps me motivated to keep doing art projects on a regular basis even if the messes try my patience. Considering my lack of talent with art, I am very grateful it's possible to stream art classes into our home. 

Fifty-one!

Today is not our 51st day of school. It's our 107th day. Yesterday was Paul's 51st birthday. Nadia was quick to remind him that now it's only four more years until we can attend the "Best Years Fellowship" events at our church. He opened his gifts before breakfast. I had bought him a game (Ticket to Ride), a book on the Revolutionary War, one jar of peanuts, and two bags of peanut M&Ms. On January 1st we played the game I got him for Christmas for the first time (Catan). I gave him a haircut before we went to church. After church, we went through the drive-thru at KFC. We go there usually at most once a year. We usually have donuts for breakfast on the morning of each family member's birthday, but we bought the donuts yesterday in conjunction with picking up the KFC so we had the birthday donuts this morning instead of on his actual birthday. We didn't have any birthday cake, but I had made him white chocolate macadamia nut cookies a few days ago as his birthday treat. We got a few inches of snow yesterday afternoon. I shoveled the driveway before dinner yesterday, and the kids all played outside in the snow. It was the first time in almost two weeks that the kids played with any of the kids in the neighborhood, partially because our next door neighbors have had COVID recently. It was nice to see kids playing outside again. When we got 19 inches of snow last month it was colder out so the snow wasn't good packing snow. This time it was around 35 degrees out so the snow packed together nicely. Today Nadia made a snowman, and Oliver made a snow chair. 

Milo made progress two weeks ago and then regressed last week, but he's making positive progress again. He only had one accident on Friday, one on Saturday, none on Sunday, and so far today he hasn't had any. His previous record had been 46 hours without an accident, but he's now beaten that record as it's been more than 48 hours since his last accident. We (mostly Nadia) take him out VERY regularly. It will be lovely when he gets to the point where he goes to the door to let us know when to take him out in contrast to us watching the clock and taking him out 1-2 times per hour, but not having messes to clean up is a huge relief. I wasn't sure our carpet would ever be the same! Homeschooling went much  better today than it did the week before Christmas. I purposefully didn't include Spanish or art in the lesson plans for today to shorten our school day a little bit. I also bought him some bones that really help keep him occupied better than any of his other toys. They cost a little more than $4 each which makes me wish they lasted longer than they do, but they are definitely a big help. I'm going to see if there is a way I can add more smell/taste back to the bones to get more mileage out of them.

We are praying for relatives who have medical concerns. Millie (Paul's sister-in-law) had knee replacement surgery today. It went well, and we're praying for her recovery process. Paul's mom was taken by ambulance to the hospital yesterday. Because of the snow, they couldn't take her to the hospital where she usually goes. We're praying for the doctors to have wisdom in caring for her. Margie is starting chemo tomorrow. We're praying that it will eradicate all the cancer in her body and that she'll have as few side effects as possible.

Different names

As I've been looking through many books that include recipes from around the world, I've noticed that there are so many dishes that a very similar (or even identical) but have different names in different countries. In France they call it hachis Parmetier, but in other places it's called shepherd's pie. Macaroni Bechamel is the French version of pastistio, which is a Greek/Egyptian dish. It seems most countries have a small stuffed pocket of dough whether it's called a brik, pupusa, empanada, pastie, calzone, boureka, etc. Flatbreads also have a wide variety of names around the globe: tortillas, crepes, injera, chapati, blini, damper, etc.  In contrast, sometimes two foods have the same name but actually are very different. I made Johnny cakes a few years ago since that was a very common food during the Revolutionary War. The kids and I gave them two thumbs DOWN, but I am planning to try a recipe called Johnny cakes that is frequently served in Belize and the Caribbean. It looks very different. Hopefully we will have a more favorable opinion of this version of Johnny cakes! We've tried 54 new recipes over the past 3 months, which means we're about 1/3 of the way through the list I've made of new recipes to try this school year.

I don't know for sure that Ian is allergic to almonds, but since he's allergic to at least three other tree nuts (pecans, walnuts, and cashews), I'm trying to have him avoid ALL tree nuts. Looking online I've read that some kids are allergic to ALL tree nuts, but some are allergic to only certain tree nuts. Evidently there are smaller groups within the tree nuts based on the similarity of their protein structures. Pecans and walnuts are in the same group. Pistachios are in the same group as cashews, so I think he should definitely avoid pistachios. The third group includes almonds and hazelnut. When he was first diagnosed with an allergy to milk, soy, eggs, and more when he was a toddler, he drank almond milk and coconut milk. I believe he's eaten Almond Joy candy bars without any issues, but his tree nut allergy has been getting worse as he's gotten older so I haven't been letting him eat Almond Joy as it seems better to air on the side of caution in this instance, but I had NO idea how may recipes include almonds. It seems to me that almonds are the most frequently used nut in recipes around the globe. I was thinking of making La Galette des Rois for Three Kings Day on January 6, but I'm going to need to pick another recipe for that day as you can't really make that recipe without almonds. 

Before I share my gratitude list, I'd ask for prayer for Paul's mom. She was admitted to the hospital on Sunday, which is the fourth time in 13 months that she's been hospitalized. 

1. Evanna was able to spend the night at our house last Friday night. 

2. I'm thankful for libraries. I just finished reading the book Let Them Be Kids by Jessica Smartt that I got from the library; I liked it so much that I'm wanting to read her other book, Memory-Making Mom.. I was at both libraries on Friday, and I am planning to pickup some more books from the Montgomery library tomorrow and the Lewisburg library on Wednesday. As more school districts are switching back to only offering distance learning, my fear that the public libraries might shut down again is growing, but I'm trying to take advantage of the resources while I can.

3. Nadia and Evanna enjoyed the social at the church on Friday night. 

4. Paul bought a toilet last week at Lowe's. Hopefully Ken will be able to install it this week!

5. I went to CVS on Sunday as the week of Black Friday is always the best week to shop at CVS. I plan to return there again sometime between Thursday-Saturday for some of their other specials. That will be the extent of my Black Friday shopping unless I do a little online. 

6. The kids are really, really enjoying Alice's Farm. The boys also really enjoyed Peter Pan. 

7. We were able to donate 6 blankets and 25 baggies of baked goods for a Thanksgiving outreach this week in Sunbury.

8. We were able to spend 2 hours with my sister and 7 of her kids on Thursday afternoon! Time with extended family is definitely a rare treat in 2020.

9. The weather was unseasonably warm for a couple of days last week. 

10. I'm very thankful for the privilege to stay home as a homeschooling mom. I'm also very thankful that life has slowed down to a more manageable pace which means I can do things like read books and spend more time with meal planning and cooking than I have in the past. 

11. The Steelers are 10-0. Wow! This is a first!

12. Margie's second surgery went well on Thursday. Hopefully the pathology report this week will show that he got ALL the cancer the second time around. We're also praying her infection that the surgeon discovered will clear up ASAP.

Thankful Thursday

 1. Although I don't invest a lot of time into couponing these days, I still enjoy the thrill of a good bargain. Children's Place sent me a $5 coupon earlier this month. I used it yesterday to buy a long sleeve t-shirt for Ian that was on sale for $5.25, which meant after the coupon I paid 25 cents for the shirt. That store always offers free shipping. That's better than a yard sale price for a brand new shirt! Earlier this week I went to CVS and bought 3 boxes of cereal and 4 two liters of soda for a grand total of $0.77.

2. We attended the third gym class on September 25. We missed the fourth one because it took place while we were on vacation. I'm very grateful Desmond taught the class and hoping they offer more sessions sometime during the school year.

3. We enjoyed shopping at yard sales in our community on September 24-25 and managed to find most of the things on my list. The weather was perfect, and it was very nice to do something that came close to resembling "normal."

4. Nadia had two friends over for a sleepover on Sept 26-27. I'm grateful for the friends she has made at church.

5. I enjoyed being in the nursery on September 27. I have volunteered to teach other ages (mostly grades 1-5) at church, but have purposefully avoided the nursery because I was afraid holding a baby might stir up the longing within me to have another baby. The nursery I was in is for ages 9-23 months, and I found that I didn't have any adverse emotional reactions to being with those little ones. PTL! Still I prefer actually teaching a Bible lesson. I taught the 1st/2nd grade boys' class this past Sunday.

6. The kids had a blast at Refreshing Mountain on September 28. They love that place, but it was even better than usual because six of their cousins were also there! The weather was ideal, which wasn't the case the last time we were there. And it was the first time that Ian really enjoyed the rock wall. Way to go, Ian!!

7. We got the first estimate for phase one of Ian's orthodontic treatment plan on September 29. I'm hoping we do NOT pick that particular orthodontist, but I'm thankful I was able to set up appointments with two others who also will give the estimate for free.

8. We spent eight days together and had safety on the trip. Although we haven't been home for 14 days yet, I feel confident we didn't contract COVID on the trip even if Kentucky is on the "bad list," and we had safety on the road aside from one unpleasant encounter with a fawn. We were thankful that the gas was cheaper in OH and WV and that we spent less than $40 on meals during the whole trip thanks to free breakfasts at some of the hotels, bringing groceries with us for our lunches, and using gift cards for our dinners. The kids earned Junior Ranger badges at 3 National Parks in Ohio and 4 in Pennsylvania while we were on the trip. We also visited two science museums, had 4 industrial tours, and enjoyed a variety of playgrounds and other museums. I had wanted to visit the Ark for four years. I'm happy we checked that off the bucket list.  All of the pictures in this post are from the playgrounds along the river in Cincinnati.

9. Margie got the great news that the cancer was caught before it spread! PTL!! She also recently had successful cataract surgeries.

10. Since we've been back home the kids have enjoyed playing with other kids in the neighborhood. One girl has even been allowed to play in our home! That used to be normal, but we went 7 months without any neighborhood kids in our house due to COVID-19. It was a rainy day on Monday, but overall the weather has been very nice.

11. I'm very happy we are making progress with speaking Spanish. Yesterday it hit me that I left one word off the list that I wrote earlier this week - "Salud". That is probably the Spanish word I use the MOST because Nadia sneezes a lot all year long. Yesterday I gave the kids commands in Spanish that involved a verb (ex. "brinquen" which means hop or skip) and a location in the house in Spanish. The kids would then hop to that location. This Spanish curriculum is definitely enjoyable. I took Spanish in middle school and also in 9th grade. I studied German in 10th-11th grade. I never thought that in my late 40's I might actually become fluent in Spanish. I'll turn 50 in 18 months. We shall see if I can speak Spanish fairly fluently before I turn 50. I've always wanted to take the kids on a short term mission trip before they graduate from high school. It will be very helpful if we go to Guatemala already knowing a decent amount of Spanish. 

12. Paul's mom was discharged from the hospital after having two heart catheterizations.

13. Our pastor started a new sermon series on I, II, and III John. This past Sunday the sermon was on I John chapter 1. We had been working through Core 52 for more than a year (a topical study based on a book). I prefer a more exegetical approach so I'm thankful we'll continue to study these three letters over the next 6 weeks. I also have to say our memorization of Matthew 5 is going well. Oliver has only learned some of the verses, but Nadia, Ian, and I have learned Matthew 5:1-9 so far. 

Home sweet home

 

Flight 93 Memorial

All of the kids favorite activities during our "field trip" took place during the first five days. In hindsight we could have just come straight home from Louisville. We encountered plenty of COVID bumps during the last few days of our trip - 3 of the last 4 mornings we weren't offered a breakfast at the hotel and many of the places we had planned to visit weren't open. We almost went miniature golfing in Morgantown, West Virginia on Wednesday afternoon. If we had done that, we would have had more time at Fort Necessity and some of the other National Parks we visited on Thursday, which would have been greatly appreciated. We opted not to go miniature golfing because we thought we'd have time to visit Fort Roberdeau on Thursday, but we ended up feeling we wouldn't have quite enough time to spend there. I'm thinking we'll attempt to visit there again probably during the 2023-24 school year. We weren't rushed at the Flight 93 site, but had we known we were going to skip Fort Roberdeau, we could have spent more time at Johnstown Flood and/or Alleghany Portage as those sites were open until 5pm. We had planned to have dinner at Cracker Barrel, but because we ended our sight seeing earlier than expected, we had dinner at home on Thursday. In the original plans, we were going to have dinner twice at Cracker Barrel during our trip, but both times the plans were changed. The first time it was because the wait was too long. I'm sure we'll use the gift cards eventually. Nadia ended up only missing one theatre rehearsal as she was able to participate on Thursday night after we had dinner. I was busy that night with unpacking, cleaning the fish tank, and putting new Junior Ranger badges on the banners in the kids' bedrooms. The kids earned seven badges during the trip. They have each earned around 70 badges so far even though many visits I had planned to national parks were cancelled this year.

Alleghany Portage Railroad NHS

Paul went back to work yesterday morning. Usually he doesn't go to work on Sundays, but due to our trip he did go to work the Sunday before we left and is going to work again tomorrow. The kids had two days of school last week and just one this week. The past couple of years Nadia and Ian did many writing assignments from the IEW curriculum. We will use that curriculum again in the future, but this year I've decided to not use such an intense approach for that subject. Yesterday was actually the first time I gave Nadia and Ian a writing assignment during this school year. They did research on planning a vacation somewhere in North America. I will have them do that for most of the continents throughout the year. I said they could write it as an informative essay, persuasive essay, or as a story. I got books from the library about Hawaii (Ian's choice) and St. Lucia (Nadia's choice), and they took notes yesterday. Being back at home also means playing with friends in the neighborhood again. In the past kids from the neighborhood used to play both inside and outside our house. Yesterday was the first time in 7 months that any of the kids in the neighborhood played inside our house. Oliver spends far more time playing outside with kids in the neighborhood than his siblings, but all three of them played outside yesterday and today.

Johnstown Flood National Memorial

The main reason I am glad we are back at home is because I can sleep in my own bed. I slept very well on Thursday night. Sadly my allergies kept be awake starting at 3:30am this morning. I think mowing the lawn yesterday is what did me in. There are several factors that need to be in place for me to have a good night's sleep including the temperature of the room (which is a challenge when you're depending on an air conditioner in the room), how dark it is, how quiet it is, and if my back likes the mattress or not. The first two hotels we stayed the mattress was fine for my back, but one of those hotels was in downtown Cincinnati, and the noises from the vehicles driving by kept me awake. The mattresses were a problem in all of the other hotels - particularly the three nights in Kentucky. I took my first vacation apart from my family in 2000 when I went to Florida with my friend Charlene, and from 2001 to the present I've been taking vacations with Paul (and the kids since 2008). Over the past 20 years my top four vacations were to St. Lucia (2001), England/France (2002), Mexico (also 2002), and Aruba (2006). If I chose my four least favorite vacations over the past twenty years I'd pick: Grand Cayman because it rained almost the whole time (2012), a Western Caribbean cruise (2011) partially because the weather wasn't great and primarily because I got almost no sleep due to Ian, Sandusky, Ohio (2016) because I was physically ill and also emotionally grieving the loss of my mom = I was in zero mood for a vacation of any kind, and this trip we just took. The weather was lovely, and I was healthy. However, we had to wear masks a lot (I'm NOT a fan of wearing a mask), many things were closed or only partially open due to COVID, I didn't get enough sleep, I did a lot of driving (which is exhausting) because Paul can read in the car and I can't so he was reading novels on the Kindle while I did most of the driving, and also it was traumatic when the fawn ran into our van. I wish I could delete that image from my brain. I think it would be hard for a vacation to be considered one of the top vacations during a pandemic. It's just not an ideal time to travel, but it did mean that Paul got some time off for leisure for the first time this year, and we were able to see and do some of the things we hoped to on this trip.

Margie got very good news yesterday from her MRI and pathology report. First, the cancer is the best type to have in terms of being slow growing, and secondly the MRI showed that it hasn't spread anywhere else. PTL!!! I think this means that Margie will only need a surgery and not chemo or radiation (aside from possibly one radiation treatment during the surgery). This is a big answer to prayer!!! My mom's sister had uterine cancer quite a few years ago, and she just had a hysterectomy - no radiation or chemo. She was several years older than my mom, and she's still alive. Detecting cancer early is definitely a huge factor. My mom's wasn't detected until it was already stage four. Her quality of life was not good during her entire 6 1/2 month battle with cancer. I'm very thankful to hear that it seems Margie's battle with cancer will likely be very different than my mom's was. Speaking of health concerns, Paul's mom had two heart catheterizations last week. They discovered the problems during the first one, and then they took time to decide how to proceed. As she is not a candidate for open heart surgery, they opted to do another heart catheterization to place a stent the next day. Thankfully she was discharged from the hospital last week. Although they couldn't address all of the problems they found, we are hoping this procedure will help her feel stronger. 

Tower of Voices - Flight 93 (huge windchime!)

Zip lines, rock walls, cousins, and more!

 Yesterday we made our third trip to Refreshing Mountain. The only thing I don't like about the place is the fact it takes two hours to get there. Our first trip was in the spring of 2019. In the fall of 2019 we rode with Tab and her boys, which made the day even better in my opinion although the weather wasn't as good that particular day. They would have liked to join us this week, but we couldn't go on Thursday or Friday due to our upcoming trip, and they couldn't go during the first part of this week because they are on their way home from their vacation. Although we weren't able to carpool with anyone, Yvonne's husband met us there with six of their kids. Joe was able to visit his mother during the first half of the program. Julianna and Micah were in the 1st/2nd grade group, Oliver and Joel were in the 3rd/4th grade group, Ian and Nathan were in the 5th/6th grade group, and Nadia, Andrew, and Josh were in the oldest group. Yvonne stayed home with Wesley and picked Jenna up from work. The rock wall was the favorite activity for several of the kids yesterday. The first time we went Ian didn't do the zip lining or climb the rock wall. Oliver and Nadia have always enjoyed every activity. The second time Ian tolerated the rock wall and loved zip lining. This time he loved the zip lining AND the rock wall! Progress!!! Micah, who just turned six this month, asked to do the rock wall as soon as he got off the zip line, but this time the 1st-4th graders did a large pendulum swing instead of the rock wall. Nadia said she had done a swing like that in Bloomsburg two years ago. Ian has never done that type of swing. It was Oliver's first time yesterday. The second time we went they did a high ropes obstacle course instead of the rock wall or giant swing. Each time they also have participated in a nature class. Yesterday they saw an owl, hawk, turtle, and snake, but the primary focus of the nature class was raptors this time. Refreshing Mountain is usually Nadia's favorite field trip of the year. My kids also love spending time with cousins so it was really icing on the cake to do some of their favorite activities with their beloved cousins! The kids also played on the playground and had lunch together. Three of the four groups played field games during one of the rotations. The oldest group worked on learning how to build a fire instead. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather yesterday!

I took more than 170 pictures yesterday. I hadn't taken many pictures this month, but I made up for that yesterday! I'm still weeding through the pictures. Even though I had my shutter speed at 1/8000 of a second, I still had a lot of blurry zip line photos. I couldn't get pictures of all the kids doing every activity because they were in four groups spread out over the property, but I had fun trying to get as many good pictures as I could. I assume I'll get more use out of my camera during our upcoming vacation although I highly doubt I'll take even 100 pictures in a day much less 170+. Speaking of the vacation, I cleaned the guinea pig cage today, and tomorrow I'm going to clean our fish tank. I'm also going to be doing a load of laundry and then packing tomorrow. Today I stopped at one library on the way home from an orthodontist consult to return some things and pick up other books that were on hold for us. Tomorrow I'll be returning some items at the other library. Hopefully I won't accidentally return any items to the wrong library! 

Paul's mom was admitted to the hospital yesterday. She had another heart catheterization today. We are praying that the doctors will have wisdom in their decision as to how best to care for her.

I'm hoping for a variety of reasons that we do NOT end up picking the orthodontist we saw today. This clinic is farther away from our house. He said phase 1 will cost $4,313 and would involve expanders on the top and bottom jaws plus some braces and wearing a headgear for 22 hours a day. I'm really hoping that Ian won't have to wear a headgear. We shall see what the other orthodontist says. I will say I like the "bedside manner" of the other orthodontist much better than the one we saw today. I was guessing that braces would cost about $5K total, but if just phase one costs $4,313  my $5K estimate is probably way too low. He also said Ian has a cavity in a permanent molar that needs filled before he begins phase one. The dentist has never told me that any of my kids had a cavity before. Ian was at the dentist this summer so I'm not sure what to make of this. I think the earliest the kids' dentist will treat a cavity is January because they are so backed up due to COVID. Here's to hoping the orthodontist we're seeing next month will give us a cheaper quote for phase 1. This orthodontist said phase two probably wouldn't happen until he was at least thirteen years old. He thinks it will also help Ian to breathe through his nose far more easily.

We were more thorough of our celebration of Rosh Hashanah than we were of Yom Kippur. I prayed a prayer of blessing over each child, we read a chapter about the holiday, and we had a "break the fast" meal tonight even though we didn't actually fast. I realize we were a little bit late, but Nadia had youth group on Sunday night and we had our field trip yesterday. We ate potato latkes and blintzes for dinner. Nadia wasn't crazy about any of it, but she ate it without any difficulty. The boys didn't like the cheese or cherry blintzes, but they both liked the blueberry blintzes and latkes. I would say the cheese blintzes were my least favorite. I liked the latkes and the other two types of blintzes. I usually try to make our ethnic food from scratch, but this time I went the faster, more expensive route and purchased them in the frozen food department at Giant. I don't regret that choice this time!

12 Years

 

We moved into our current home on September 24, 2008. I have always had a hard time memorizing things with numbers such as dates, phone numbers, and Bible references. I only recall the year that previous moves took place not the month much less the specific date, but we sold the home in Catawissa and purchased this home on the day Nadia turned 3 months old, which made it very easy for me to remember. We moved in on a Wednesday, and two days later our town held its annual community yard sale. Prior to becoming a mom, I had never been interested in shopping at yard sales, but my attitude totally shifted when I was shopping for baby clothes, toys, etc. I didn't want to buy someone's unwanted household goods, but the clothes their baby outgrew - yes! I was rather dumbfounded to see what a big ordeal that a community yard sale can be in this area. More than 100 yard sales taking place within a two mile radius, thousands of people shopping at the yard sales (it's the only time each year it's hard to find a parking spot in our borough), and food trucks. We see more Amish people at the yard sales than we see at any other point in the year in our community. Over the last 10+ years I've enjoyed shopping at our borough's community yard sale in September and Milton's community yard sales in May. Milton didn't have theirs this year due to COVID. I wasn't sure if our borough would also cancel the yard sales this year, but they didn't. On Friday morning we did a little bit of schoolwork and then headed out to the yard sales for a couple of hours. We came home, had lunch, did some more schoolwork, and then headed to gym class. On Saturday morning Nadia wasn't too happy about being out the door before 8:00, as she likes to sleep in on Saturday, but she also likes to pick out clothes that she wants me to purchase. We only shopped for two hours on Saturday morning, which is far less than usual. Many of the years I was pushing at least one child in a stroller at the yard sale. I have to say we were missing the stroller yesterday. Parking is always a problem on the Saturday of the yard sales so we park and walk around the town, which means we're carrying all the bags. A stroller was useful for helping carry the bags, but at least the kids are big enough that they could lend a hand and help carry some of the bags. I had a list of things I was hoping to buy. We succeeded in getting pants for Ian and Oliver as well as some snow pants for the boys. I did buy two pairs of sneakers, but I didn't buy any dress shoes. I didn't have anything for Nadia on the list, but she got some new clothes - mostly dresses and also some books. I wasn't planning on buying Ian a hat, but he asked me to buy the hat (pictured above), and I think he looks rather dapper in it! Our tradition is that I buy four whoopie pies from an Amish food stand (50 cents each). The weather was perfect for the yard sales this year. 

Abby and Evanna came over for a sleepover yesterday afternoon. The girls baked cookies, jumped on the trampoline, played board games, played the Wii, watched Wonder, etc. Their parents will get them at church after the second service. I had planned to go to both services today, but last night Oliver started coughing. He doesn't have a fever. I'm certain he doesn't have COVID as his symptoms include sneezing which is not a symptom of COVID, but in this present time when people are very nervous about coughing, I thought he should stay home from church today. Paul is at work right now. He's going to come home in time so that he can stay home with Oliver while the rest of us attend the second service. It means none of us will attend the worship service, as we attend that at 9:00. I am signed up to be in the nursery during the 10:45 service. Ian will need to go to the elementary boys class as otherwise he'd be attending the worship service by himself. Nadia and her friends will attend the 10:45 youth service. Next Sunday is the last week of the Core 52 sermon series that has lasted a little more than one year because they took a four week break from it last December. Next week Mark Moore (the author of the book) will be preaching on the topic of heaven (Revelation 22), but we will be on vacation. The past two weeks the attendance was definitely up at our church. The number of people attending in person finally exceeded the number attending the service online. Because they removed half of the seats due to COVID, we actually had a little trouble finding seats two weeks ago. Last week we arrived a little earlier than we had been, and that solved the problem. 

We are planning to leave for our vacation on Thursday. I still have moments of thinking we should just stay HOME due to COVID-19 and also because of the protests and rioting. One of the places we are planning to stay during our trip is Louisville, which doesn't seem like a good place to visit at the moment due to the Breonna Taylor decision. In general I don't like to read much about the news because it's rarely good news, but I was happy to read of who Trump has nominated for the Supreme Court. I haven't been impressed with the most recent additions to the Supreme Court. In my opinion there are only two true Constitutional conservatives on the court - Alito and Thomas. Scalia has been greatly missed. I think if Barrett is confirmed, she will be as true to the Constitution as Thomas and Scalia.

Last week Margie was diagnosed with breast cancer. She hasn't had a scan yet. We're praying that the scan will show that the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else. My mom's ovarian cancer wasn't diagnosed until it was already at stage four. We're hoping Margie's was caught much earlier than that. Ever since we found out on Friday night, I've been praying for Margie's physical health as well as for the emotional well being of Margie, my dad, and Margie's three children.

2019 in review

As I look back at the goals I had listed for this year, some were accomplished and many were not. Some things happened as planned such as our trip to Myrtle Beach, and other things were very unexpected. Here are a few of the things that stand out to me the most as I reflect on 2019.

1. The most earth shattering event in my life in 2019 was definitely the sudden passing of my brother on March 3 just one month after he turned 35 years old. I can only think of a handful of times in my life when I've pulled an "all-nighter." The two most recent were in August 2015 when Paul told me he was going to leave higher education and return to Kennedy Concrete and March 6, 2019 - the night I received a phone call from the police in Philadelphia telling me that my brother had passed away. Paul and I have been married for 18 years, and that was the only night of our marriage that he held me the entire night. Usually neither of us can sleep if our bodies are touching, but he managed to get some sleep that night while holding me. His love and support meant so much to me during those first few days of intense grief. It's now been over a year since I was with my brother in person. On March 1 I'll hit the one year anniversary of the last time I talked to him. Although the shock has worn off, I still miss my brother very much. The kids inherited a Nintendo Switch and an iPad from my brother.

2. The biggest changes in our home this year were having a new deck installed, Dad and Margie gave us a grill, buying a new kitchen table and six chairs, buying a new microwave, and having a new furnace and air conditioning system installed after going without air conditioning for about 2 months during the summer. The majority of the projects I hoped would be completed around the house in 2019 weren't accomplished (finishing the repair of our master bathroom, painting drylok on the basement walls, replacing a broken widow pane, etc.). Paul began working on the kids' bathroom the end of September, which meant for all but 12 days of the past three months we didn't have access to any showers. Our jacuzzi tub got used far more in 2019 than it was the previous 11 years. I also washed my hair in a sink far more often than I had in decades.

3. I paid off the retirement loan in the spring, which meant for the first time since 2000 I am debt free! We've been building a savings account this year so that over the next few years we will be able to pay for things like braces for Ian, a new roof for our house, and a replacement for our minivan whenever that becomes necessary. Thus far we have set aside 40% of what I think we will need over the next few years for all of those expenses that are not typically in our budget.

4. Oliver learned how to ride his bike without training wheels, how to ice skate, how to swim, be much neater when using the bathroom (most of the time anyhow), tie his shoes, and recite the books of the Old Testament (he had learned the NT in 2018). He made a lot of progress in reading and gymnastics over the year, and he spent 3 nights at Camp Susque, which was his first experience with overnight camp. He lost his first three baby teeth this year. The first two were extracted by the dentist in January, and I pulled one of his out this month. He went skiing for the very first time in February!

5. Ian showed a lot of improvement in demonstrating courage. He climbed the steps to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown, went zip lining for the first time, and was baptized in November. Ian and Nadia sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale this fall. When Ian was very young he was allergic to many foods, and then for several years we weren't aware of any allergies that he had. At this point we are confident that he is allergic to pecans and walnuts. Ian also made quite a bit of progress with playing the piano. He has passed Nadia out in the piano books; he's also beginning to play some songs, such as Christmas carols, by ear.

6. Nadia participated in a science fair for the first time and joined the middle school chorus at Meadowbrook Christian School in the fall. All three kids participated in a wax museum in February for the first time. Nadia and Ian both made tremendous progress over the past 12 months with learning many parts of speech and with their writing skills. This was our first year of having a child in middle school. She went with the youth group to the Creation music festival in the summer, which meant she spent more nights in a tent than she ever had before. She completed her ninth AWANA book this month and recently started memorizing the book of Hebrews so she can participate in the Bible Bowl with other students in grades 6-12. Nadia learned how to use the sound equipment at church for the 10:45 youth service on Sunday mornings.

7. I lost 30 pounds through dieting. Recently I've begun using the elliptical about four times a week. I taught at BU from January through May, but I was not offered another contract for the 2019-20 school year. Although that was another bombshell to process emotionally, it has been heavenly to be at home with my kids seven days a week and to have my workload be reduced to a more manageable load - homeschooling three kids, laundry, cooking, cleaning, yardwork, etc. is more than enough to fill my "plate." I have been using two apps the past few months - one related to cleaning the house and the other for meal planning, and I find both of them helpful, especially the meal planning one. I have done a much better job of cooking a far wider variety of foods the past four months.

8. The kids earned almost 20 Junior Ranger badges from National Parks in 2019! We started collecting them in 2018, but this was the year when we really got serious with that!

9. We went on about 61 field trips! Some of the places we visited this year included Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, two trips to Refreshing Mountain (zip lining, ropes course, rock climbing, etc.), Pennsbury Manor, Old Barracks Museum (NJ), Valley Forge battlefield, Yorktown battlefield, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Battleship Wisconsin, Nauticus, Fort Sumter, Fort Raleigh, USS Yorktown, Wright Brother's Memorial, Highland, Monticello, Montpelier, Luray Caverns, Gettysburg, Crayola Experience, Intrepid, Central Park, Fort Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Antietam, Manassas, White House of the Confederacy, Petersburg, Appomattox Courthouse, Natural Bridge state park, Lake Tobias, Reptiland, and the Museum of Glass. We also attended a variety of shows and concerts. Nadia saw Little Women with Tab and Cinderella with me. We all saw the touring Broadway Lion King in Norfolk, Beauty and the Beast at CWC, Mulan at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater, and Christmas Wonderland in Camp Hill.

10. The kids and I enjoyed a week with Aunt Janet on Long Island. Seven of us (including Paul's parents) enjoyed a vacation with stops in Virginia and North Carolina and a week in Myrtle Beach. The kids enjoyed a variety of camps including chemistry (boys), Camp Susque, horseback riding, Camp Good News, history camp, baseball/softball clinic, and theater camp (Nadia).

11. We read a lot of books! Ian read at least 67 chapter books this year, Nadia read at least 82 chapter books (some of which were over 800 pages long), and we enjoyed at least 126 chapter books together. I didn't keep track of how many picture books that we read, but it would be in the hundreds if I had.

12. This was the first year in our 18 years of marriage that we went on zero dates over the course of the year. Our last date was in March of 2018. Yikes! We *might* actually take a little 19th anniversary getaway together in the summer of 2020 if the boys go to overnight camp at Camp Good News the same week that Nadia goes to Camp Susque for a week of girl's camp. If that doesn't pan out, hopefully we can at least go out on one date in 2020.

13. There were three very significant heart related problems in our families this year. First, my brother passed away from a sudden cardiac event in March. Then Paul's mom spent a couple of weeks in the ICU in October following a heart attack. Lastly, my dad failed a nuclear stress test last week, which prompted him to have a heart catheterization the next day, which revealed serious blockages that couldn't be addressed by stents. He will be having quadruple or quintuple bypass open heart surgery in the near future. I'm thankful that my mother-in-law survived her heart attack and that my dad's heart problems were discovered before he had a significant cardiac event like Maurice or Ellie experienced earlier this year. We are praying that his surgery can take place in a timely manner and that the surgery and recovery will go as smoothly as possible. Margie is a retired nurse so she will have more knowledge regarding his care after he is discharged than most spouses would.