Early Start

When I booked our airfare to Florida, I assumed we'd be leaving our home in the morning on February 13 because we are flying out of BWI, which is less than three hours from our home, and our flight is at 12:25pm. Our plans changed on Sunday morning when we found out we'd be getting 4-6 inches of snow in the morning on February 13. At church on Sunday morning, we talked to the couple that would be dog sitting both dogs for four days, until Cooper's family got back from Florida, and they said we could drop the dogs off on Monday night instead of Tuesday morning. I booked one room at a hotel about 30 minutes from the airport, and we arrived here last night at 9:15pm. Ironically, a few days ago it was really warm in Pennsylvania as temperatures reached the high 50's. At our game day on Friday, the kids played games outdoors in addition to playing some inside. I don't think we've ever stayed at an Embassy Suites. I am really grateful at the moment that we are planning to stay at one for one night in Virginia in May as this hotel has the most amazing free breakfast that we've ever had a hotel that wasn't an all-inclusive resort. They even have someone making omelets to order! They also offer free snacks/drinks at an evening reception, but we arrived too late to check that out. Over the last year or so I've gotten a little bit pickier about where I make our reservations. I certainly still try to pay as little as possible, but there are some chains I now try to avoid when possible, and there are others we know we usually like. Embassy Suites has now been added to that list although my back did not like the mattress last night. 

Paul went to work last Wednesday thinking it would be his last day to go to the plant before our trip, but he didn't finish the bookkeeping that he needed to send to the accountant, so he went back on Friday. He ended up also going in on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday! On Sunday we drove in two cars to church. After the two services, I took the kids to their last ice-skating lesson for the year, and Paul drove to work. He didn't come back home until after 8:00 pm! I took Nadia and Ian back to church in the evening for the youth group Super Bowl party, and Paul picked them up near the end of the game. I didn't watch the game, but since I didn't want SF to win their 6th Super Bowl ring, I was happy when I found out the next morning that the Chiefs had won. One of my nephews is a Chiefs fan, so I was also happy his favorite team won.

Although we had the added expense of one more night at a hotel, not driving from our home to Baltimore this morning makes it seem like this day won't be quite as tiring. Also making sure everyone has packed everything can be an ordeal, and it was easier to do that on Monday afternoon/early evening rather than early in the morning today. Yesterday was a hectic day as both boys had an orthodontist appointment (Ian now has braces on the top jaw), Ian had a piano lesson (working on the 2nd and 3rd movements of Moonlight Sonata), a day of homeschooling, walking the dogs, and also making travel arrangements and finishing up our packing. Praying that all will go as smoothly as possible for the next sixteen days while we're in Florida and Ecuador! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to make memories and see places we've never seen before! I did bring my camera, but I didn't bring my camera bag on this trip. Hopefully I won't miss my lenses too much, ha ha! Packing when you're flying is definitely different than packing when you're on a road trip in your own vehicle.

Thankful Thursday

Nadia did this with pastels.

 1. Al, Millie, and Paul's dad were able to join us for Thanksgiving Day. 

2. I got quite a few things for free at CVS last week, and I got some good Black Friday online bargains at Walmart, Target, Shutterfly, and Chewy. I also made a lot of progress with my Christmas shopping on Amazon. I think I just need to buy Christmas gifts for three more people at this point. I have our Christmas cards. I just need to address and mail them. One of my bargains was that I paid less than $2 total for a Shutterfly order that contained 23 thank you cards. 

3. I bought a pair of pants at a thrift store for myself in September and really liked them. I was hoping to get a couple more pairs-different colors but the same manufacturer and style. They were on sale on Black Friday, and I used credit card points to pay for them so they didn't really cost any money. I don't buy myself clothes very often. I wore one of the new pants yesterday. It does feel nice to have something new to wear every now and then. 

4. Nadia's skills with puzzles have really improved this year! She's put together more than 7,000 pieces in about 2.5 weeks.

5. We're thankful for audiobooks! Some favorites recently have included Small Acts of Amazing Courage by Gloria Whelan, Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan, Alice's Farm: A rabbit's tale by Maryrose Wood, Small Steps: The year I got polio by Peg Kehret, Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan, and A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. We listened to 71 books over the past five months!

6. I ordered a collage frame for each of the kids. Nadia's is up on her wall with 4 of the 5 openings filled with some of her recent art work. Two of Ian's openings are filled. I envision we will switch out what is in the frame from time to time over the years to come. 

7. The library system I've been using the past couple of months is still fully open. I had still been using the Union County system some, but last week I decided to cancel all my requests because #1 the "new" library is much closer to our home and #2 it's very complicated to figure out when to request books due to the way they are doing things during the pandemic. I'm not saying I will never use that library again, but I think my trips there will be very few and far between. To me getting books at the library is in the essential category along with getting food at the grocery store. As long as the library stays open I'll be going there. 

8. The Steelers are 11-0! 

9. We're continuing to enjoy (especially Nadia) our membership with Creating a Masterpiece.

10. We've enjoyed watching a few movies together as a family including Gifted Hands (about Ben Carson), Around the World in 80 Days, and Swiss Family Robinson. The boys wanted to see Home Alone again. Nadia opted to watch something else. We were shocked to learn that it was the first time Paul had seen any Home Alone movie! Next up will be Night at the Museum. 

11. I had a lengthy conversation with my friend, Cheri, on Monday and my friend, Carol, on Tuesday. I was thankful to hear that her husband's brothers helped her out with some projects around the house after her husband passed away. 

12. The church isn't allowing small groups to meet on campus right now due to COVID. Thankfully Bible Bowl can meet at someone's home, and one of the parents drove Nadia and two other kids from the home to the church for youth group, as the youth group is still meeting at church on Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:00. I realize they might stop the youth group from meeting again at some point due to COVID, but I'm thankful that for now Nadia can still attend youth group on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. 

13. The kids and I enjoyed having 5 days off of school. 

14. I'm very thankful that the pain in my arm has gone away and I've regained my full range of  motion. I'm also thankful I had extra bucks that Paul could use to pay for the Aleve and sling. I had planned to use those for cereal for the kids, soda for Paul, etc., but it was nice to get what I needed for free at CVS through extra bucks. We take so much for granted - our sight, hearing, ability to walk, etc. I am very, very thankful to have regained the use of two arms and hands. Cooking and getting dressed were particularly challenging and painful. 

15. Target accidentally included four pairs of little girls' pants in a package that was sent to our house. I called Target, and they said that they didn't want them back. I gave two two a neighbor who has a kindergartener and the other two to a neighbor who has a preschooler. It was nice to be able bless others with free, brand new clothes. 

16. I told Nadia she had to finish the level of piano music that she had been in for what seemed like forever before her voice lessons were over. She accomplished it in the nick of time yesterday as her last lesson was today. Ian had asked me to get him a book of Christmas music. Nadia actually was playing the piano today - the new Christmas book as well as a book of Disney music. So maybe she isn't totally done playing the piano? At the moment I only have one piano student - Ian. Thankfully he really enjoys playing the piano.

17. I placed an online grocery order with Walmart because they were having a great sale on boneless skinless chicken breast (75 cents a pound!!!!). Unfortunately shortly before I left to go to Walmart on Tuesday I received an email saying they were out of chicken. I had ordered two different types (the other was $1/ pound which is also an unheard of price). I was disappointed because the whole reason I placed an order was to get the chicken. To add insult to injury, Oliver and I had to wait for 45 minutes in the parking lot for them to bring out our order. In texting my neighbor I found out she has had to wait many times - sometimes as long as 2 hours!!! I'm thankful that usually I've had almost no wait when I've gotten our groceries there, and I'm thankful there are other places I can get my groceries as I don't plan on returning there any time in the near future. 

18.I'm thankful that thus far Nadia doesn't have any symptoms of COVID-19. She was in close contact with a girl in the youth group on Sunday night as they decorated the sanctuary for Christmas, and that girl tested positive this week. The youth pastor at that church (not our church) called me today to tell me that Nadia needs to quarantine. The current CDC guidelines are to quarantine for 7 days if you have a negative test or 10 days if you aren't tested and don't have any symptoms. Since we didn't find out until four days after they had contact, she will only be quarantining for six more days. She's bummed that she won't be allowed to attend church this coming Sunday morning. This other church cancelled the youth group for next Sunday night because of this positive test. 

19.  I probably won't make it again because Ian and I were the only ones who liked it, but I really, really loved the German Apple Pancake I made for dinner tonight. Yum! I am thankful that I inherited a cast iron skillet from Maurice. I had never owned one prior to his passing, and I'm amazed at how many times I've used it.

20. Ken called us tonight. When he was here two weeks ago he was forgetting that last week was Thanksgiving. He's planning to install our new toilet tomorrow afternoon and work on the shower and other projects next week. 

21. Ian has really enjoyed reading the Calvin and Hobbes book I got him from the library. The next one will be Garfield. Our kids don't have experience with reading comic strips as we've never subscribed to a newspaper during the 12+ years we've lived in this house. 

22. Even though it's been cold, Oliver has still been playing outside. I never used to allow them to play outside after dark, but I've been letting Oliver (and sometimes Ian) play manhunt outside with them from time to time lately partially because it gets dark so early. I'm thankful he has friends to play with!

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 Tuesday

 

1. Nadia was able to participate in a Bible quizzing event at our church for 7 hours on Saturday, and then she went home with one of the girls on her team for an impromptu sleepover. It's the second time this year she's spent the night at a friend's house, and she's had friends over for a sleepover at our house at least five times this year. I'm thankful she's developed friendships at church - primarily through Bible quizzing.

2. I enjoyed teaching the 1st-5th grade boy's class at church on Sunday. We were studying the third and fourth commandments.

3. The boys and I enjoyed the delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Pastor Ken's house on Sunday evening. That meal is usually my favorite meal of the year - baked pineapple casserole, baked corn casserole, pumpkin roll, and Watergate salad are foods that I really, really love and typically only eat at a potluck meal. Oliver's favorite dish that night was no surprise - sweet potatoes. I enjoyed those also! Ian liked the turkey the best.

4. The first few years we had guinea pigs, we didn't have trouble with their water bottle. We have had LOTS of water bottle problems this year with both the rabbits and then the guinea pigs. I bought our fourth water bottle recently, and it seems we have found the "winner" as my mom would have said.

It doesn't drip (which means the bedding will last longer) and doesn't have to be removed from the cage in order to be refilled. As long as Nadia refills it once a day, I think we will be set!

5. Margie received the good news last week that the cancer hadn't spread to her lymph nodes. Unfortunately the pathology report also showed that the surgeon hadn't removed all of the cancer. She's having another surgery this Thursday to remove the rest of the cancer. Six weeks later she'll begin radiation treatments.

6. Something was crossed off the house "to do" list yesterday! Paul had a dermatologist appointment yesterday morning and decided to come home and do some work for the business on his computer rather than going in to the plant. Paul installed a window well cover. I had bought two in April 2019. He installed one. While waiting for the other one to be installed, it had been broken. Paul bought another one in April 2020, and he installed it yesterday. So now the list has five projects on it. I'm very thankful Paul was able to accomplish one task around the house for me! Also, Ken came today and said he thinks he can finish three or four of the other projects on my list in one night next week. WOOHOO! I am so excited!! 

7. The kids and I enjoyed the sirniki (cheese pancakes) on Friday. Almost everyone loved the pommes aligot and chicken Kiev that I made on Saturday. Nadia and I really, really liked the peach kuchen I made on Sunday. Now since what I'm planning to make tomorrow includes rice, it probably won't go over very well, but I'm thankful that the majority of new recipes have gone over well so far. I have struggled to find some of the ingredients, but last night it hit me that I could probably find those ingredients at Wegmans. Sure enough, they do! The next time I take the kids to the place where they have trampolines, laser tag, arcades, bowling, etc. I will also pick up a few things at Wegmans.

8. The Steelers are 9-0 for the first time EVER. I actually watched a few minutes of the game on Sunday at Pastor Ken's house, which was the first time I watched any football in 2020. 

9. There are about 2,500 people who consider our church to be their church (far fewer than that are official members and far fewer than that attend on a given Sunday especially due to COVID). Over the past eight months we've only had four people come down with COVID-19 within our church, which is less than two tenths of one percent. Up until Sunday I wasn't aware of anyone I personally knew who had COVID-19, but the couple (#3-4) who came down with it recently were in the same Sunday School class I used to attend prior to COVID (the class hasn't resumed meeting yet). I'm thankful that our area hasn't been hit very hard and that a vaccine has been developed. Praying the numbers will start falling around the country and around the globe once the vaccine distribution begins. 

10. It took a little over two weeks, but Ian's body has finally adjusted to the time change. This morning was the first time he slept in past 7am since the time changed. He had been getting up between 6:00-6:30 each morning. Oliver slept in until almost 9:00am! I'm not really wanting him to sleep in that late on a regular basis, but to me that is one of the benefits of homeschooling. If he needs that much sleep, he can get that much sleep. Oliver goes to bed at 8:30, and the other two go to bed at 9:30.

Isaias

Since we live in central Pennsylvania, hurricanes and tropical storms very rarely impact our weather. Although hurricanes certainly create much bigger problems in places like Florida and South Carolina, hurricanes affect the weather here on Long Island more often than where we live. The last three times we came to Long Island we had very good weather overall. Last year the weather was absolutely perfect. Another year we went to an aquarium on a rainy day. Our tradition when we spend time at Aunt Janet's has been to have breakfast, let the kids watch about 1 hour of tv (she has cable and Netflix, and we don't have either of those), swim in an outdoor or indoor swimming pool for about two hours in the morning, have lunch, and then drive to to the Old Field Club beach where we usually stay until at least 7pm. Yesterday she grilled hot dogs and steamed some corn on the cob at the beach for dinner. This morning we were able to swim at the pool for a little more than 2 hours, but we're not heading to the beach today due to the rain and wind from Isaias. Thankfully, the weather forecast looks fine for the next two days. Aunt Janet brought up a cornhole game that we played inside her home. Nadia, Oliver, and Aunt Janet were on one team, and Ian and I were the other team. We played three games. Ian and I only needed 1/2 point to win for the last couple of turns, but Oliver got 5 points to win the game for his team, which meant their team won 2 of 3 games. Yesterday we played Pit at the beach and began a game of Quiddler. Aunt Janet, Nadia, and I finished the game of Quiddler today. I won that game. I took some pictures at the pool yesterday. I brought my camera to the beach yesterday but then didn't take any pictures. Tomorrow I'll be sure to take pictures at the beach. The water temperature at the beach and the swimming pool is lovely.

I had recently purchased a Polamalu t-shirt for Nadia at a thrift store, and when I was helping Oliver pack I realized that I had previously gotten him a Polamalu t-shirt at a yard sale. Nadia and Oliver wore their matching shirts yesterday. Paul and I have decided to take a year off from watching the NFL. We usually have cable tv for at least four months each year (September - December), but we're going to take a longer break from cable tv this year. Right now we have Disney+ and Amazon Prime. I haven't decided if we will continue Disney+ when the year I paid for ends in early December. We are looking forward to seeing The One and Only Ivan on Disney+ later this month. We had expected to see it in the theatre, but the theatres have been closed since March. I had used credit card points to get an AMC gift card prior to the pandemic thinking I'd use it this summer to take the kids to see 3 movies (Mulan and Minions 2 were the other two movies we planned to see). We might not be using the gift card until 2021. We shall see when the movie theatres actually reopen. 

Giving Thanks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thankful Tuesday

1. Our new microwave arrived yesterday. Although microwaves are only supposed to last about ten years, I'm hoping this one will last longer than that. Now to get used to the new microwave. It is possible for old dogs to learn new tricks, right?

2. Paul spent the night at his parent's house last night so he could watch the Giants game on TV as we don't get the channel that Monday Night Football is aired on. Unfortunately, the Giants lost in overtime (although plenty of our friends and family are happy with that outcome as we know many Eagles fans), but staying at his parents saved him two hours on the road.

3. I was able to schedule my mammogram for 4:45 yesterday. Even though the commute to Lewisburg is only twenty minutes, which is short compared to Paul's commute to work, I still try to make as few trips as possible. I scheduled it for that time knowing that Ian and Nadia would have their last Monday night chorale rehearsal from 5:45-6:45 last night. After the mammogram we stopped at

the library, CVS, and a pizzeria before I dropped Ian and Nadia off at their rehearsal. During their rehearsal Oliver and I bought donuts at Dunkin' for our breakfast this morning, picked up the online grocery order at Walmart, and donated some items at Goodwill.

4. The worship arts pastor told us on Sunday that people in our congregation had given over $36,000 on Giving Tuesday towards building wells in Sierra Leone. A quadruple matching offer that day meant it became over $144,000, which is enough to build 14.5 wells that will provide clean water for about 11,000 people!

5. We are so, so grateful for the almost ten years that we've had with Ian Alexander! I pray that the Lord will continue to help him grow into a godly young man! The kids and Paul have been enjoying the delicious cake that Aunt Millie made. Ian built two new Lego sets on Sunday - one of which contained over 1,100 pieces! It was nice to spend about five hours with Paul's brother and parents on Sunday at our house.

6. We used a coupon for a free large one topping pizza at Venarri's last night, which meant I didn't need to cook dinner yesterday or today as we paid for one cheese pizza in addition to the free one. I also used a coupon for a free drink at Dunkin' last night; I love their hot chocolate!

7. We were able to talk with Aunt Janet on Sunday and Monday and with Grandpa today. It sounds like they both have had special birthdays!

8. Nadia has gotten off to a great start with memorizing Hebrews! She has almost learned the first chapter over the past 10 days! The fact that she's going to be doing the Bible Bowl makes me all the more glad that we cancelled her audition to be in Annie. She and I both really like that musical, and she was eligible to audition because she is in the chorus at Meadowbrook, but the rehearsals will take place January through March, which is also when she plans to be on a basketball team and take ice skating lessons. In 2021 she will be too old to play Upward

basketball, and so if we take the year off from ice skating lessons as well, then she can probably try out for whatever musical Meadowbrook puts on in March 2021. She is planning to audition to be in Tuck Everlasting at our church in November 2020.

9. I had planned to take the kids to a free Christmas concert tonight put on by the oldest band in the United States, but I decided just having a day to stay home all day was preferable. I am thankful that I have been exercising the right to delete things from the calendar more often the last few months. When Paul came home from work at 7pm tonight, the kids and I were playing a game of Qwirkle, and earlier today we read some poetry by Robert Frost. Poetry and games are things I've been trying to include more often in our weekly routine, but we don't always succeed. Today we did!

10. I hadn't won anything for about 2.5 weeks on the Coke website, but yesterday I won a free movie ticket. Yahoo!

11. Ian and Nadia have been

playing chess with Paul more often lately.

12. The Steelers won on Sunday. I actually watched the whole game. I haven't watched much football this year. Considering we lost our QB very early in the season and started out with a pitiful record, I am quite amazed that if the season ended today we'd be going to the playoffs.

13. A woman at church who is one of the volunteer photographers emailed me some nice pictures of Ian's baptism. I really appreciate having those and also the video!

Thankful Tuesday

1. Our new furnace and heat pump (AC) were installed on Friday. WOOHOO! It's supposed to get up into the 80's today and tomorrow, which is unseasonably warm for Pennsylvania in October. I know air conditioning is a want not a need, but it's something all five of us really appreciate.

2. Oliver had SO much fun playing with kids in the neighborhood this past week. Yahoo! Lately the three kids he plays with the most are Karyss (who will turn 8 in December), Camden (who is already 8), and Dawson (who is 3).

3. I think our tour of the Sunbury Post Office last Tuesday was a good learning experience, and I think I did a good job of adjusting the lesson plans  accordingly.

4. The weather was rainy last Thursday, but the weather was gorgeous Friday through Sunday which meant it was nice out for our town's yard sales on Friday and Saturday and for the Family Fun Fest the Methodist church had on Sunday afternoon. I

bought some clothes, a bike for Oliver when he outgrows his current bike, and roller blades for Nadia (adjustable for sizes 3-6) for $5. The boys can use them in the future. The roller blades will start saving us money this week because normally she pays to rent them at the Christian radio station's monthly skate night. I almost bought Nadia a scooter for $5, but the bottom part was pink (handles were purple), and she has a strong aversion to the color pink. Oliver spent $8 of his money on toys at the yard sales, Ian spent $2 on a stuffed animal, and Nadia spent $3.50 on thinking putty, a stuffed animal, and two Harry Potter books. There are many food stands set up during the yard sale selling a wide variety of foods. I let each child pick out one whoopie pie from an Amish food stand.

5. The kids had a lot of fun at the Family Fun Fest on Sunday afternoon; everything was free! It included inflatables, a balloon artist, face painting, games, and yummy food including pulled pork, hot dogs, pop corn, chili, baked goods, etc. They had a little "train" which was pulled by a tractor that the boys enjoyed riding over the church's property quite a few times over the two hours we were there. I wish I had brought my camera or had taken more pictures with my phone. I did take two pictures with my cell phone showing Nadia, Ian, and one of Nadia's friends from AWANA with their balloon creations. Nadia wants us to invite this 5th grade girl (whom she's known for a couple of years from AWANA at the Alliance Church) over to our house.

6. Paul and his brother placed a 3'x3' concrete slab in our yard on Thursday night, and the plumber put the new heat pump (for the A/C) on it on Friday. The kids enjoyed spending some time with Uncle Al.

7. Today we had a yummy free lunch as the businesses in our town had  their annual customer appreciation "Pink" lunch time event. The kids each had a hotdog. I had a cup of chicken corn soup. Oliver had some ice cream, Nadia had pink lemonade, all three kids had popcorn, we each came home with some small bags of chips, cookies, apples, etc. During the time we were there, my kids were the only kids present older than the age of three. Grapes have been on sale at our grocery store the past six days. I had stopped in once on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and each time the grapes looked rather squishy so I didn't buy any. We like firm grapes. Persistence paid off, and today I was able to buy nice, firm red grapes! Yum!

8. The kids' choir at church is doing a Christmas musical this year! If I am remembering correctly, the last time they were in a Christmas program at church was in 2015. Ian has been given a speaking part, which is not surprising since #1 he had a part in the May 2018 and May 2019 musicals and #2 there is only one child in the choir this year who is older than him.

9. Yesterday in conjunction with choir, gymnastics, library, etc. we picked up donuts that we had for breakfast today. Nadia's spiritual birthday is this Thursday, but we had her donuts two days early. Oliver's spiritual birthday was on the day we drove with cousins to NYC the end of August so his pretty much flew under the radar. I gave him a new Bible and a biblical drawing book after the cousins left. He did have a donut on the morning of his spiritual birthday because Aunt Wendy had brought some extra donuts with her when she came to our house. Nadia asked for a cheesecake as her "birthday" cake. She helped me make it this evening. She can eat some of it tomorrow, and I'm sure there will still be some left over on Thursday. I'm very, very thankful that all three kids have accepted Christ as their personal Savior.

10. On Monday night the boys and I bought a few things at Walmart while Nadia was in chorale rehearsal. She had requested I buy Hot Pockets for her spiritual birthday. While there I splurged and bought a new trashcan for the kitchen. I say "splurged" because it was a want not a need. I wanted one that could be opened by a foot pedal as I found it increasingly hard to keep the other white plastic one clean, and you had to press a button on the lid of that one to open it. I didn't buy the most expensive one there (which had a motion sensor), but I didn't buy the cheapest one either. I think the new one looks much nicer, will be easier to clean, and will keep our hands cleaner now that we'll be using a foot to open the trash can. Oliver is really enjoying the new trash can. Sometimes it's the little things in life (although it cost more than I was hoping to spend on a trash can).

11. The Giants have now won two games. Paul didn't watch much of his game on Sunday due to the bathroom project. We've had cable (local channels only) for over a month, and we've barely used it at all. The Steelers finally won their first game this season last night. It was on a station we don't get right now, which was fine as I don't think I'd have watched it even if I could have, but I was glad to hear they finally won even though Ben (QB) is out for the season.

12. We've never worked together as a family to memorize the same verses. I'm enjoying it! We'll be doing it for a full year. Paul wins the gold star for last week in our family. He memorized all three verses. Woohoo! I'm not even attempting to have Oliver learn this week's verse (Genesis 3:6), as it's enough for him to memorize what he's working on for AWANA.

I know this is my weekly gratitude list, but I'd also like to share three prayer requests in case anyone is inclined to lift any of these needs up in prayer.

1. Mimi (my dad's wife's sister) is in her very last stages of pancreatic cancer. She was diagnosed in October 2016 so in my mind it's a miracle that she was given almost three full years following her diagnosis. She's turning 78 years old tomorrow and last month celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary. Remembering how ill my mom was from her diagnosis until her passing a little more than 6 months later, I have been giving thanks to the Lord for the amazing quality of life that He has given Mimi. This is obviously a hard time for Mimi's family as they know in the very near future they will be grieving her loss. So I'm praying for her husband (Gus), her three kids (would you believe that two of her kids' names are Ruth and Paul?), her grandkids, sister, niece, nephews, etc. Thankfully they know she will soon be restored to perfect health in Glory. That is a HUGE comfort in a time of loss.

2. Paul's mom was hospitalized for pneumonia today. She was hospitalized quite a few times for this in I think I was 2013-2014, but her monthly IVIG infusions have been very helpful the last few years in keeping her out of the hospital. Praying for a speedy recover for my mother-in-law!

3. It's far, far less important than the above two requests, but Paul began doing some work in the kids' bathroom this past weekend. Our master bathroom floor has been a work in progress for almost 3.5 years. On Sunday night I used the jacuzzi in the master bathroom. I can't recall the last time I took a bath as I prefer a shower, and ideally we shouldn't be using that jacuzzi since part of the bathroom floor in the master bathroom has been removed, but we are running out of options aside from asking to use a shower at a neighbor's house or using the garden hose outside. It's so unimportant in the grand scheme of life, but I'd really like to have at least ONE bathroom that is fully functional. The day when both showers are usable will be a dream come true, but for now I'll just breathe a sigh of relief when I can again take a shower in my house. Paul is hoping the kids' bathroom shower will be usable later this week. It's a bit nerve wracking for me given how long the other one has been out of commission.....

Thankful Tuesday

1. Last Monday I went to a different grocery store than I usually go to while Nadia was in choir rehearsal. It was a pleasant surprise to find that I could buy up to 5 pounds of grapes at 99 cents a pound, and they were exceptionally tasty grapes! Also, I bought a couple of boxes of their store brand's instant oatmeal that are flavors I've never tried before. I absolutely love the cranberry pecan oatmeal! I want to buy more of it. Yummy!

2. There were a couple of days last week that the temperatures dropped SO much at night that the house was 67 degrees in the morning. I actually opened the blinds for the first time in months to let light in, which was heavenly. The temps have gone back up since then (it was in the low 90's outside on Sunday) so the blinds are closed again, but soon I know letting more light into our house will become the norm again. One perk of not being able to use an air conditioner is our electric bill has been much lower than it typically is for this time of year. The plumber contacted me yesterday, and he plans to pick up the check to pay for the equipment tomorrow and plans to install it this Friday (and the labor portion of the project will be due that day). The days of our house getting up into the 80's are coming to an end. It's also time to schedule an appointment with the piano tuner!

3. Last Tuesday we enjoyed the time we spent at Hershey Gardens. The kids were most looking forward to the (free) ride at Chocolate World, especially as they give each person a little piece of candy at the end (Hershey bar this time). As far as Hershey Gardens, we attended three programs, walked around the gardens, the kids participated in a scavenger hunt in the arboretum, made a few crafts, and walked through the butterfly atrium. We spent at least three hours at Hershey Gardens. IT was my first time there. The kids favorite parts were #1 the program where they learned how to calculate the age of a tree (when you can't count rings), #2 the program that featured three owls, and #3 the butterfly atrium. One butterfly landed on Oliver's head, but it was on there for such a brief moment I didn't get a picture. I did get a picture of one on Nadia's foot. I think it was attracted to her shiny flip flops. One of my favorite parts was the fact that we picked my friend, Cheri, up at her house on the way down to Hershey which meant we were together for several hours. I was also thankful that the weather was so lovely that day.

4. My choir rehearsals resumed last Wednesday. I am grateful for this opportunity to sing. Nadia said when she's in 9th grade she's going to join me and sing in the adult choir. That sounds lovely to me! She currently sings soprano in the two choirs she is in at the moment (Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale and the middle school chorus at Meadowbrook Christian School). I'm an alto.

5. Ian is doing a fabulous job playing the piano lately. He has caught up to Nadia in one book and is very close to catching up with her in the other book. He practices more often than she does, and thus he has progressed more quickly. Oliver really enjoys his piano lessons thus far. If I forget to do it with him, he is quick to remind me!

6. We had three field trips last week. The kids were not very excited about the wastewater treatment plant tour, but that is something they didn't really know anything about. We all learned more about it that day! Most of the people in our homeschool group live 45-60 minutes south of where we live, which means many of the field trips that they organize are down that way. The distance is what stops me from signing up for some of them. I recently passed on tours of a bank, police barracks, 911 center, etc. Then other times I go ahead and decide to make the trek. Today we are touring a post office in a town 30 minutes from our house. There have been other post office tours posted in the past, and I decided it was time to do it as that was another place we've never had a tour of before. Last week we didn't have ANY stay-at-home all day days because we had field trips on Tuesday and Saturday and Oliver had a make-up gymnastics class (from Labor Day) on Friday. Thankfully this week we should be home on Friday and Saturday except for going to some yard sales in our own town.

7. I enjoyed teaching the 1st/2nd grade girls' class this past Sunday. I won't be teaching a kids' class for awhile because I am signed up for a small group that will meet during the second half of the second service on Sundays (after the choir goes down off the platform). We had signed up to attend a small group on Thursdays from 6:30-8:00, but it's challenging for Paul to get home that early from work so we bowed out of that one, and I signed up for the one that will meet around 11:15 on Sundays. The small group started this past Sunday, but I missed the first week because I had already committed to teaching during the second service. It would have been nice to do it with Paul, but I like that we're not adding another regular evening commitment to the schedule.

8. On Saturday we enjoyed our first visit to T and D's Cats, and as an added bonus, my friend Cheri met us in Lewisburg and joined us for the rest of our drive and our time seeing the animals.

9. My mom used to make a dump cake from time to time. I haven't made it in years. I'm generally not a fan of cake, but this cake I like. It doesn't have any icing but it has pie filling in it. The kids picked peach. They liked it too even though they were hesitant to try it at first. My mom typically made it with cherry or blueberry pie filling. Yum!

10. I'm thankful that we are only paying about $15 a month to have the local channels of tv. We added it to see football games. I thought the kids and/or Paul would also watch some of those channels at our times, but they prefer to watch Amazon Prime or Hulu. Paul watched the Giants' first game. He missed the second game because we were at Antietam, and his game wasn't aired yesterday because it was the 4:30 game and CBS had the double header (and his game

was on Fox). So we've had cable (local channels only) for a month and barely used it. I was explaining to the kids that some people don't have to pay for the local channels, but we do because we live in a rural area. Then I was telling them how years ago I used to send 1-2 football games per week via a webcam to Uncle Joe (Eagles) and Grandpa (Steelers). To which they asked, "What's a webcam?". Technology has changed so rapidly lately that it's easy to feel *really* old around kids! I decided I wasn't going to watch football this year. I just wasn't in the mood following the passing of my brother. Well I picked a very good year to give it up as I heard that our QB is out for the season and we've started the season 0-3. I haven't missed anything good. Paul's team started out 0-2, but they did win two days ago. We don't have plans to travel on Sunday for the next few months so hopefully he'll be able to see most of the rest of the games this season, and hopefully he'll see a fair amount of wins!

11. The kids REALLY got into "mismatch" day at AWANA last Wednesday. Nadia helped them pick out their outfits right after breakfast. They ended up shedding part of it during the day and then putting it back on right before AWANA. Nadia said 1/4 of the verses in her AWANA book last Wednesday! She has been working on it very diligently. I'm thankful all three kids are involved in another year of AWANA. The kids memorize verses each week for AWANA, we're all memorizing verses each week for church on Sunday morning (Core 52 plan), and Nadia also memorizes verses for her Bible study on Sunday nights at the Methodist Church.

12. Oliver got into big trouble last month for a very inappropriate interaction with a neighbor. Of my three kids he has always been the most challenging in terms of coming up with a negative consequence because he's so easy going and doesn't have a favorite toy. He rolls with the punches so easily that if you say something like no dessert or no electronics, which would be very effective with the other two, he just shrugs it off as no big deal to go without. So we decided this time to tell him he couldn't play with any kids in the neighborhood for an extended time. The downside of choosing that was we were also sort of punishing some of his friends. Karyss keeps asking when she can play with him again. Hopefully this consequence was effective for Oliver and he'll never do what he did again. He certainly has been counting down the days until he can resume playing with his friends, and that day is TODAY!!! I am very relieved that his "confinement" is over. He loves to play with kids in the neighborhood, and I'm glad he can resume doing so today.

13. My kids have been sleeping in lately - often getting up around 8am. That Nadia sleeps that late is not surprising, but it is surprising for the boys. We shall see what happens after the clocks "fall back" an hour. It means we don't finish schoolwork as early as we used to, but I love that homeschooling is flexible and we can let them wake up on their own most of the time. I watch the neighbors walking to the bus stop while my kids are still sleeping and am thankful for this particular perk of homeschooling. There will be enough years of their life that they will have to get up at a certain time. I'm glad while they are kids that doesn't have to happen too often.

14. Oliver learned how to tie his shoes a few days ago! Yahoo! There are so many milestones during infancy and the toddler years - learning to sit up, stand, walk, talk, potty trained, etc. Now that Oliver has learned to read, ride a bike without training wheels, and tie his shoes, it's hard to think of many other such milestones the kids will pass in the coming years. All I can think of at the moment are Oliver learning to write in cursive (next year) and all three kids learning to drive a car (that's a scary thought!!!). Those types of milestones are fewer and farther between as the kids get older.

15. Aunt Millie gave us some yummy sticky buns last week. Nadia is not a fan, but Ian, Oliver, and I enjoy them. Oliver ate the majority of them because we discovered Ian couldn't eat them because it turns out in addition to pecans he's also allergic to walnuts. I would think of labeling his allergy as "tree nuts" as he is definitely fine with peanuts, peanut butter, and cashews, but he also has done fine with almonds, which is a tree nut. I have to say I am very hesitant to let him try any other nuts though because we don't own an epi-pen. I think for now we'll just avoid all tree nuts except for almonds. Paul and I love nuts. Ian loves the ones he's not allergic to. Nadia and Oliver don't care for nuts. I'm thankful none of them have a severe peanut allergy that seems to be so common these days.

6th season of basketball

Nadia has been using this for a month to measure her vital lung capacity for her science fair project.

This is Nadia's sixth year of being on an Upward basketball team, Ian's fourth year, and Oliver's second year (although he only completed half of his first season last year due to his fractured skull). Yesterday they had their first games for 2019. Nadia's game was at 9am. Although her team is definitely not as dominant as last year's team, the Suns had a decisive win. Nadia *almost* got a basket. The basketball rolled around the rim, but then it bounced out. Their game had more jump balls than I think any game I've ever watched before. We came home for an early lunch and then returned for Oliver's 12pm game and Ian's 1pm game. They don't keep score in the K/1st grade games, but it seemed to me that his team (Cheetahs) didn't win. His friend, Isaiah, who is 5 years old scored more than one basket. Oliver has a long way to go (such as even being able to dribble the ball down the court), but he definitely was more "in the game" than he was last year. Ian's team (Cyclones) won their game; theirs was the highest scoring game (by far) of the three games our kids played in that day. Ian was fouled once, and he had his first free throw attempts. He missed the first one, but he made the second one, which means he's our first child to score at least one point for his team this year. Way to go, Ian! He did a great job of playing defense.

Paul's parents came back to our house after Ian's game. We played three different games - Suspend (I won and Grandma came in second), Blokus (the team that included Pop Pop and Nadia won), and Rummikub (Nadia won). Pop Pop and Ian also played a Mario game on the Wii. Grandma treated us to pizza for dinner, and I made chocolate peanut butter chip cookies.

I had called a plumber on December 31 asking him to fix two toilets. He came on January 11th and fixed one and partially fixed the other. He said Paul needed to install a new fill valve. We picked one up after Ian's game. As of Saturday afternoon we now have three functioning toilets. The kids and I got a little extra exercise for 12 days as we couldn't use the toilet on the main floor of the house. I was thinking of asking for an estimate on finishing the repair of the bathroom floor (so that we could resume the usage of the shower in our master bathroom), but Paul says he's almost done with the repair. 

We had our cable turned off a few days ago, so we aren't watching any of the playoffs this year. Going into the playoffs I said I didn't really care who won the Super Bowl as long as it was NOT the Cowboys or the Patriots because the Steelers are currently the only team to have won 6 Super Bowls, and the Cowboys and Patriots have both won 5 Super Bowls. My wish came true in that the Cowboys lost yesterday, but the Patriots won today. I'll be rooting for Kansas City next weekend! 

This is my last week off. My semester resumes next Monday. Even though I've had five weeks off, I honestly don't feel ready to go back in the sense that I've been so busy it feels overwhelming to think I'll be adding a FT job to my load in a week. I've been working to prepare for the spring semester so it's not as if the job was completely removed from my load all of the past 4 weeks. The two biggest events on our schedule this week would be Oliver getting two teeth pulled at the dentist tomorrow afternoon and Nadia participating in the science fair at the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg on Thursday night. The director told us that only three fifth graders entered the competition (it's for grades 4-8) and they give 3 cash prizes per grade level, which means Nadia is guaranteed to win a prize (presuming we succeed in completing her project between now and then!). We didn't see Paul at all Monday through Friday, but he was at home for two days this weekend, which was wonderful. This afternoon I took the kids to see a musical about James and Giant Peach. When the cast came out to take their bows, Oliver gave everyone a thumbs up except for the two aunts. He gave Spiker and Sponge a big thumbs down. It cracked me up! They are certainly very repulsive characters! 

Basketball Evaluations

Today we began our sixth year of Upward Basketball. Nadia will be playing on a 4th-6th grade girls' team for the second year, Ian will be playing on a 2nd/3rd grade (co-ed) team for the second year, and Oliver will be playing on a K/1st grade (co-ed) team. It's technically Oliver's second year, but his season was cut short last year due to his fractured skull. The uniforms this season will be maroon and silver. We ordered a youth small for Oliver (he was in XS last year), youth medium for Ian, and youth large for Nadia. They each were tested on their ability to dribble, make baskets, etc. Oliver is hoping that he'll be on the same team as Isaiah, and Ian would love to be on the same team as Micah. We shall see! What I'm really hoping is that their practices won't be on Thursday. I know they won't be on Wednesday because you're allowed to indicate ONE night that won't work for your family. I marked Wednesday because of AWANA, but the kids want to do ice skating lessons, which are on Thursdays. Since I will be teaching until 8:00pm on Tuesdays, I'm hoping their practices will be on Tuesday

nights, but Monday, Tuesday, or Fridays would be fine. The neighbors who live across the street from us signed up their kids for the first time. I'm sure Oliver would also enjoy being on the same team as Westyn, and Addy could end up on the same team as Ian.

After their evaluations we went to the library. We only planned to return and check out some books and DVDs, but it turned out they were hosting an international book reading event that included crafts and foods from various countries. We spent a little time at that event before having lunch and then spending two hours in the children's museum. Three science departments from Bucknell had set up activities in the science museum. The kids had fun doing a wide variety of things such as learning about the difference between absorption and adsorption in terms of cleaning up an oil spill, watching the leg of a cockroach continue to move for an hour even after it was severed from the cockroach, etc. I had originally signed up to have dinner at Panera with my small

group at ladies Bible study this evening, but I decided I didn't want to drive anywhere else today. It was tempting because eating a meal with another woman (or group of women) happens very rarely for me (sometimes not even once in an entire year), but with all the driving I do, driving 50 minutes (round trip) for dinner was too unappealing. I think it was partly due to the fact I don't really know them women yet, and I'm probably going to be dropping out of the group soon.

Today I'm thankful...

1. For those currently serving in our country's military and for veterans.

2. First Baptist offers the Upward basketball program for kids in grades K-6. It's a wonderful program and less than 15 minutes from our house!

3. For the Lewisburg Children's Museum and their partnerships with other organizations like Bucknell University.

4. I have only 6 days left of classes on campus. I will see

student teachers on each of those 6 days plus I have 5 additional dates I will be visiting them - so basically 11 days left of teaching or supervising (that's not counting all the days I will be grading and writing letters of recommendation and such but I can do that from home). The end is in sight!! December 11 should be my last day, and then I will have almost 6 weeks at home with my kiddos!!

5. We had the tiniest bit of snow today (a dusting only on surfaces like the deck, trampoline, etc.). Oliver was thrilled. It wasn't enough to excite Nadia or Ian. It reminded me of my mom, who loved snow. I personally am not a fan of snow because I'm not a fan of cold weather, but I know it brings joy to my children!

6. For Venarri's pizza. We hadn't had it in awhile, and it's by far my most favorite! YUM!!

7. For missionaries. We finished reading the biography of William Carey today. God used him in a mighty way in India in the late 1700's and early 1800's. It was perfect timing as we were learning about India during social studies (East India Company, etc.) this week. On the days Paul teaches the kids they are listening to Johnny Tremain (via Audible). In the van on Monday we're going to listen to Ben and Me by Robert Lawson. The next book I'm going to start reading them is about William Penn. We typically have more than 50 books checked out from the library at one time. I'm thankful for books and libraries!

8. The Steelers had a decisive win on Thursday night! I'm not a fan of games that start after 8pm, but we were winning by a huge margin when I went to bed. And we were playing a team that went into the game with a 6-2 record so it made the victory even sweeter! Go Steelers!!!