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.

Thankful Thursday

It's been exactly one month since my last gratitude post so here are some things I've been thankful for over the last month.

1. Ian enjoyed the cybersecurity camp at Messiah University as well as the time spent with Nathan, Jenna, and Toby.

2. Oliver enjoyed having time with Micah, Julianna, and Wesley at our house for several days. Micah, Julianna, and Oliver enjoyed bowling with our youth group on June 10. 

3. I was very relieved that the it was a simple fix to eliminate the strange noise the van was making that week.

4. Ian has been enjoying his job at the kennel and earning money. He spent most of what he made the first few weeks when he bought himself a Nintendo Switch 2. 

5. The boys and I enjoyed helping with VBS at our church from June 16-19. 

6. I am grateful to be able to serve on the board of Meadowbrook Christian School. My first meeting was on June 16. 

7. In June I managed to escape the bug that the rest of the family had. Nadia had the mildest case. Oliver and Paul were each sick for about two weeks. Thankfully we're all healthy again.

8. Paul was able to attend his Aunt and Uncle's 50th anniversary vow renewal ceremony and lunch. 

9. I'm very, very thankful that Nadia was born eighteen years ago on June 24! Four of Nadia's friends joined her at an art studio to celebrate Nadia's birthday on June 23. The staff member was so impressed with Faith's artistic skills that night that they hired her and she started working there on July 6!

10. I'm very thankful that Milo is fully recovered from his anal gland problems. It was such a relief when he finally ate some dog food (after 4 days of not doing so) and started walking again. The vet bills were over $600 which we weren't anticipating, but we've saved a lot of money over the years by me being his groomer and trading dog sitting duties with the Seiberts. Hopefully it will be a long time until we enounter another large vet bill.

11. Bible quizzing went well in New York last month. Ian's team finished in second place. They won seven of eight matches. Nadia's team finished in third place. They won four of eight matches. Nadia finished in 10th place in the individual competition, and Ian finished in seventh place. Ian has been listening to the whole book of John two times every day he works at the kennel. He's also memorized the first 40 verses of John chapter one so far. Hopefully he will continue to stay motivated!

12. Amazon offered us a deal of paying $3.50 per month for three months of Amazon Prime and then it is $6.99/ month after that. We usually only have Amazon for a month every now and then throughout the year, but at $3.50/ month I plan to keep it for at least three months. 

13. I found out rececntly that the place where I've had my mammogram done lately isn't doing them any more. I picked them because they only charged $200, which is much less than most places. Thankfully, I found a place in Williamsport that does them for $55 for two days in October. I'm hoping to get an appointment on one of those days.

14. Our kitchen sink faucet has been leaking for a few months. Paul replaced it last week. This new faucet has a lifetime warranty. I was happy to see that because our last one only lasted nine years.

15. On Sunday morning we weren't sure we were going to make it to church because we couldn't get the garage door to open. Thankfully, Paul was able to get it open eventually. We parked the van in the driveway when we came home. We got new garage doors in September 2020, but the garage door openers are about 27 years old. Lowe's delivered new ones today, and they are supposed to be installed next week. Since our other car is at Camp Susque right now, I've been parking the van where we usually park the Subaru since that garage door opener is still working. 

16. Oliver and Xandir had a great week of camp at PMBC. 

17. Ian has enjoyed his first two voice lessons. He's been working on Olaf's song "In Summer" from Frozen. Thankfully, his voice teacher lives only five minutes away from our home.

18. Ian really enjoyed playing cornhole with the Creegers at Ben's graduation party.

19. In light of Amazon offering us a deal on Prime, Paul and I watched the movie Sarah's Oil last night. Movies based on a true story are typically my favorite genre, and this one did not disappoint!

20. I *think* we've done all the paperwork and such for Nadia to start at Liberty this fall. Recently her PCP signed the immunization form for LU, and I requested that LU send LU her transcript (for the third time in 13 months) as ridiculous as that might sound. I also had to remind them that MCS doesn't issue transcripts for homeschoolers (as they requested that again, even though MCS sent them a letter last year saying that ). She got her ID, requested a loft kit for her bed, and completed a new student orientation course online. The only thing I'm not positive that she has completed is the technology assessment. It's all very, very bittersweet. We want our kids to become independent, but at the same time it's hard to let them go! I'm very thankful I'll still have two boys at home with us. 

100 years old

The amusement park that I have lived the closest to for the past 30 years is Knoebels. It's a unique amusement park in that they don't charge for parking (it costs $35 to park at HersheyPark), and they also don't charge for admission. The only other amusement park I've been to like that is Delgrosso's, and I've been to a lot of amusement parks. Knoebels opened on July 4, 1926, so the park is celebrating 100 years this summer. The carousel (still in operation today) was built in 1923. Some of the rides were purchased from West View Park, which had been owned by my dad's grandmother. The park has been owned and operated by the same family since the day it opened. I think that's impressive, especially considering the park had to weather things like the Great Depression. When the kids were younger, we used to go to Knoebels multiple times a year; we've been taking them there since 2010. 

Lately we've only been going on WVIA Day, which is usually the first weekend of May. We used to use all six free handstamps for family members (Paul's parents, niece, or nephew would be the ones to use any extras that we had). The last several years we've been letting the kids invite some friends to join them. Typically, they'd invite two friends, but last year I brought six kids to Knoebels. If the weather forecast looks good, then we also bring Milo. Many people bring their dogs with them to Knoebels. That's another way this park is different from most amusement parks. Once we realized that we'd have three nephews and one niece with us, we paid for another WVIA membership so that we'd have 10 wristbands for Knoebels and 6 lift tickets/ski rentals for Elk Mountain next January (compared to 6 wristbands and 4 ski packages that we've had for many years). Since the cousins that Nadia usually hangs out with were going to be in Ohio for Andrew's graduation, I encouraged her to invite 1-3 friends. She only invited Faith. If I had to do it over again, I'd have offered two wristbands to any of our friends if they had just met us there at the park. Usually, Paul and I would ride some rides, but because I was busy taking pictures and we had Milo and the kids no longer ride many of the rides we used to ride with them, Paul and I didn't end up riding a single ride. It was chillier than normal, which meant no one wanted to ride either of the two rides that involve water. However, there wasn't any rain in the forecast, which meant there were more people at the park on WVIA Day than there had been the last few years. The lines weren't ridiculous, but they were definitely longer. About ten rides weren't running, which also didn't help with the lines. Thankfully, all of the rollercoasters were running. The kids rode three of them multiple times - Twister, Impulse, and Phoenix. That morning we went to the first service at church, came home to change clothes, get Milo, and make sandwiches for lunch, and then we drove to Knoebels. We arrived a little after the park opened at noon. In the afternoon we bought a snack or a drink for anyone who wanted one, and shortly before the park closed at 6:00 we bought three large pizzas for the ten us of us to share. While we were at the park Yvonne and her family were driving back from Ohio. They arrived after 10pm. Jenna and Toby drove back home that night as they only live 90 minutes from us. Nine of the Towfighis left our home the next morning. 

The last time I wrote a gratitude list was April 15. Here are some things I've been thankful for over the last few weeks:

1. I love being outside in the spring. I enjoy seeing more birds, flowers, blossoms, green grass, etc. 

2. We got the piano tuned on April 20. Last year he replaced some strings, and those strings didn't stay in tune for long. I enjoy listening to Ian play the piano more now that it's all back in tune. Ian is currently practicing Flight of the Bumblebee, Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin), and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Bach).

3. To celebrate my 54th birthday I had lunch with Cheri at Panera, breakfast with Tab at Dolly's Diner, and got some ice cream for the family from Old Mill Creamery. 

4. Ian was offered two jobs for the summer. He accepted the offer from Joyful Petcare and will start his training on May 28. 

5. Despite Ian being whacked in the face at the first performance and Nadia's face being burned by a curling iron the night of the second performance, all went well with the three performances of The Little Mermaid. Ian was hysterical as Chef Louis, and Nadia did a great job getting into her part as the sarcastic Mersister, Aquata. Eight Towfighis joined me in attending the first performance. Cheri joined Paul and I on Friday night. Paul's dad, Jenna, and Toby joined us on Saturday afternoon. The kids received various treats in their bags at each performance (candy, flowers, etc.). 

6. There was a brief break in the rain on April 25 which enabled me to take pictures of seven kids who went to the prom together. I was very thankful that Ian decided to go this year since it was Nadia's last prom. Ian borrowed Paul's shoes and dress shirt. I need to buy Ian a long sleeve white dress shirt as Paul's was too big for him around the neck. He wore his own black pants along with the green vest, tie, and suit jacket that he wore in the Wizard of Oz last year. They just barely fit him, but it was nice to be able to use them one more time. 

7. The boys and Paul enjoyed seeing the Super Mario Galaxy movie on April 26 while Nadia was at work. They ate my free birthday popcorn during the movie.

8. Seven of us enjoyed seeing Joshua at Sight and Sound on April 28, which was my 50th spiritual birthday. We also enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden including a free birthday dessert for me (black tie mousse cake).

9. Andrew has graduated from Cedarville, moved into his first apartment (in Ohio), and has started his first FT job. He's planning to stay in Ohio for about 18 months until his girlfriend graduates from college. My kids have never attended a graduation before. They were quite shocked at how boring these ceremonies are (I showed them part of the livestream so they could watch Andrew when he was on stage), and Ian was surprised to find out that Andrew is his middle name, ha ha! We enjoyed having four of his younger siblings with us for a few days. We spent time at the playground on Friday and Saturday and at Knoebels on Sunday. 

10. Yesterday I went for a walk with Ian's piano teacher for about 75 minutes. I always appreciate getting some exercise, but I also enjoy being able to talk with a friend, especially one I don't get to talk to at length very often. Similarly, I'm meeting another friend at Panera today. I see her even more infrequently. There are many weeks that the only people I talk to are those who live in my house (aside from pleasant greetings at the grocery store or church), so I always appreciate opportunities for lengthier conversations with my sisters and female friends. 

11. Ian's college classes came to an end on April 30. Despite a few missteps on his part (ex. not realizing an assignment was due by 11:59 pm and trying to submit it after midnight, forgetting to take a picture when we entered Sight and Sound for his humanities assignment, etc.), he earned an A in Humanities and a B+ in Old Testament this semester, which puts his cumulative GPA at Cedarville University at 3.675 (he's earned 12 credits total so far). Today I registered Ian for his fall classes at Cedarville - Introduction to Programming with C++ and a Physical Activity course (5 credits total). Next year I want him to begin taking some CLEP tests in addition to the dual enrollment classes.  

12. Nadia and Oliver are done for the school year. Nadia's Introduction to Research class doesn't technically end until May 15, but she submitted the final assignments and took her last test early due to our trip to Europe. Ian will hopefully finish English (King Lear) and Physics by May 8. He has the incentive of spending time with a friend on Saturday if he accomplishes those goals. He'll have until the end of June to finish Precalculus (he's currently finished 3/4 of the class through ASU). Normally I'm excited about the end of a school year although I know by August, I'll be itching to start the new year, but this year it's bittersweet since it means Nadia has graduated from high school. I look forward to seeing her soar at Liberty next year. 

13. I'm thankful that Aer Lingus was willing to change our flight to Manchester since they cancelled our flight to Liverpool and that it wasn't hard to change our rental car reservation. I'm also hoping the War in Iran is truly over because there was a significant risk of the airlines in Europe not having fuel by the time we'd be trying to fly home from Dublin on May 26. I wasn't in favor of the war from the start so naturally I've been praying for it to end ASAP. I think our country's track record after WWII has been pretty much a total disaster when it comes to our involvement in wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.), which is why I wasn't at all keen on the idea of starting a war with Iran. Sadly, I'm not sure anything good came out of it, but I'm grateful it's hopefully over. I had hoped that Trump wouldn't start any wars just like he didn't during his first term, but unfortunately, that hasn't been the case this time around. Thankfully, I know the Lord is ultimately in control, which is very reassuring when I'm not liking the actions/words of our current President. 

14. I recently read a book that I really, really, really enjoyed called Theo of Golden. I hope Allen Levi writes more books in the future!

15. I've been elected to the school board at Meadowbrook Christian School. Praying that I can be a blessing to them over the next few years. I'm also hoping to begin leading a small group on Isaiah on Wednesday nights starting in September. So far three other couples (in addition to Paul and I) have said they'll join the group. Praying we get a few more people to join us between now and then. Another woman requested we do an OT prophecy book (because we're in the NT in Sunday School), and Paul asked for Isaiah in particular. I'm grateful for opportunities to serve. 

He is Risen!

 

I used to take pictures of the kids every year on Easter. That habit fell by the wayside somewhere along the way. I also used to buy Nadia a new dress for Easter when she was younger back when it was possible to shop in a store like JCPenney or Sears. This year I decided to order Nadia a dress on Amazon. Our former senior pastor retired in 2021, and over the past almost five years that Pastor Brandon has been the senior pastor, there has been a definite shift towards more casual dress on Sundays. Although Nadia had worn (dressy) pants to church in the past, she didn't switch to wearing jeans (with a sweater or something along that line) until more recently. I personally haven't worn blue jeans to church on a Sunday morning, but it's pretty common these days. Easter is a different story. People still get dressed up for church on Easter Sunday. I have to say I enjoyed seeing all the dresses, dress shirts, ties, etc. Nadia does wear a dress once a week at Camp Susque in the summer, and she might have occasions to wear this new dress while she's in college so hopefully today won't be the only day she wears it. I thought she looked beautiful! It is a short sleeve dress. Yesterday it was almost 80 degrees out, but today it was much colder, so she wore a jean jacket with it, which I thought looked nice together. Our Sunday School class was cancelled today, so we gave the kids the choice of which service they wanted to attend. Nadia asked for the 10:45 service as she likes to sleep in. I gave the kids the day off of school on Friday, but Nadia couldn't sleep in as she had to be at work at 7:30 am. Milo doesn't like being left home alone so I'm sure he was glad we were home more today than we usually are on a Sunday. I planned to stop at the park on the way to church to take a picture, but it was raining. Thankfully, it wasn't raining as we got near the park on our way home. Paul's dad joined us for dinner and games. The six of us played Bubble Talk and Telestrations. Ian beat Pop Pop in a game of chess while Nadia was at work this afternoon. Both boys played Labyrinth with Pop Pop. Paul joined the three of them for a game of poker. I think everyone had a good day. 

Today I'm thankful for:

1. The love of Jesus that led Him to die for my sins. He rose from the grave! Hallelujah! 

2. Normally Ian and Nadia go to the youth service at 9:00 and to the main worship service at 10:45. This means that Oliver is usually the only one who joins Paul and I for the 9:00 service. They didn't offer a youth service today so the five of us sat together today, which I really enjoyed. The music was outstanding today. After the sermon a male quartet led us in singing "Arise my Love" which is a song that I really love. Tears were streaming down my face multiple times in church this morning (happy tears). 

3. The boys enjoyed playing baseball with some of their friends at a birthday celebration for Daniel on March 22. 

4. The boys and Paul enjoyed seeing the movie Project Hail Mary on March 24. Tickets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays are only $4.24 each, and I used part of a gift card that Toby's parents gave me as a thank you for the wedding photos to get a gift card to AMC, so the outing didn't actually cost us any money. Nadia prefers to read a book before seeing a movie based on a book. She's reading the book now, but that's why she didn't see it at the theater.

5. Nadia and Ian enjoyed seeing a dress rehearsal performance (of a local public school) of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with other cast members from The Little Mermaid.

6. Nadia and I were able to attend Jillian's sixteenth birthday tea party. 

7. The kids enjoyed attending Winter Jam at PSU with the youth group on March 28. 

Faith took this very creative shot of Nadia during photography class at co-op last week!

8. I was able to help out at Experience Missions on April 1. A local Mexican restaurant provided a free meal for the volunteers that day. Yum! The kids appreciated that I brought treats home for them that evening - a free iced coffee from Dunkin (thanks to an April Fool's promo code) and blizzards from DQ for the boys (one of which only cost $0.99 thanks to a coupon). I enjoyed a free cup of custard from Rita's thanks to another coupon. Yum! 

9. We were able to focus on Jesus' death at the Good Friday service.

10. We had fun playing Taboo together on Saturday night. We don't have family fun night every single week, but we achieve that goal most weeks, for which I am thankful. 

11. A couple of weeks ago I resumed working on the project of painting the stained trim in the kitchen. In eight days, we are scheduled to have one kitchen window replaced (it's been broken for several years) and also the sliding glass door replaced. I thought it would be a good goal to finish painting the walls in the kitchen as well as painting the trim. I'm not sure if we'll achieve that goal because Paul has been fixing some cracks which is quite an undertaking. So, I switched gears on Friday and began tackling the family room. I did two of the windows and began painting the walls in that room. Tomorrow is another day off of school for our family, so I'm hoping to finish painting the room tomorrow. I also got new window treatments for the five windows in the kitchen and family room. We've lived in this house for almost eighteen years, and these were two rooms I hadn't previously painted or changed the window treatments. I am not sure if I'm crazy about the curtains I got for the two family room windows, but I really love the ones I got for the three kitchen windows. Paul helped with installing curtain rods for two of the windows. 

12. Although the weather was chilly and blustery today, we've had some really nice weather recently (even in the high 70's). I love the warmer weather. Milo doesn't share my opinion, ha ha! 

13. My nephew, Joshua, had a major facial reconstruction/jaw surgery on Monday. I'm grateful that it was a success and that the worst part of the recovery process is behind him although he's by no means out of the woods yet. 

14. We've had another good session of co-op. Sixteen kids have been part of our group this spring. This Tuesday will be our tenth (and final) day of class for this session. I try to find something special to do on the last day of each session, and this time I've made plans for our group to head up to AMC after lunch to see A Great Awakening that was produced by Sight and Sound. The main characters are Ben Franklin and George Whitefield. It's been over a year since Nadia or I entered a movie theater, but only two weeks since the boys saw a movie. They would have preferred that I had chosen the new Mario movie, but the good news is that Paul plans to take them to see it next week. As much as we enjoy hosting co-op at our house, I'm also looking forward to a break. We plan to resume in September. Nine kids from our co-op (including Nadia and Ian) are planning to go to the prom together on April 25. Nadia is thrilled that I convinced Ian to go. :)

Oliver DOES know how to smile, but I don't have much success capturing those smiles lately.

Thankful Thursday

1. Teaching a teenager to drive is definitely not my favorite thing to do, and letting a teenager drive independently, especially when all my children are in the vehicle, is a bit nerve wracking at first. Thankfully, all has gone smoothly over the first almost three weeks of driving solo.to both of her jobs, picked up pizza for our family for dinner, and driven herself and her brothers to art class at our church. Three of those places are located 5-15 minutes from our home. Camp Susque is about 40 minutes away. The first time she drove there, she took the wrong exit and then got back on the highway headed the wrong direction. Thankfully, she had left early enough that she wasn't late for work despite the drive taking longer than normal. She had no trouble coming back home from Camp Susque. Hopefully things will continue to go as smoothly as possible when she's driving in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. 

2. On October 3, Tab met me at Ian's piano teacher's house so that we could walk and talk during his 45-minute lesson. What a treat that was!

3. Paul, Ian, Oliver, and I were able to pack meals at Experience Missions on October 4, and all five of us were able to help pack meals at our church on October 11. 

4. Jenna and Toby joined us for dinner at Applebee's in Hershey on October 5. 

5. Our family really enjoyed a Matthew West, MercyMe, and TobyMac concert on October 5. Paul said it was one of the best concerts he's ever attended in his life. Knowing that Nadia is a senior, it's possible that concert might end up being the last one the five of us attend together. Time will tell, but the days are numbered. 

6. The past two Mondays we found out Ian was scheduled to play the keyboard with the youth praise team on Wednesday night. His piano teacher moved his lesson from Friday to Tuesday both weeks so that she could work with him on the songs. 

7. I am thankful for the ability to be flexible with homeschool curriculum. I decided that Fix It Grammar wasn't sufficient for Oliver. So, I purchased a used copy of Giggly Grammar that I'm using with him this year. Also, since he hasn't listened to or read nearly as many books as his siblings had at his age, I decided he needed a vocabulary textbook. We've added that to his daily schedule. 

8. Since Nadia is a senior, I decided to go a different direction in the resources used for Bible class/ family devotions this year. The first book wasn't a big hit (The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges), but the family really enjoyed the last three books - The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi, and Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman.

9. Ian and Oliver attended Xandir's 13th birthday party on October 12. Birthday party invitations are a rare treat for my kiddos, so they are greatly appreciated. 

10. I think that finding deals for our trip to Europe will be few and far between, but I used some leftover Alaskan airline miles to reserve two free nights of lodging in the United Kingdom in May. I realize you get more bang for the buck if you use miles for a flight, but after using Alaksa Airlines for multiple trips from August 2024- August 2025, I don't think that will be the case in the next few years so getting anything for the miles we had seemed to be the wisest course of action. I've begun the lengthy process of planning out the nitty gritty details for the trip. I bought tickets for our flight from Scotland to Northern Ireland, and I've booked our lodging for eight out of fifteen nights so far. I'm trying not to think about how much I paid for one night at the Holiday Inn at the Glasgow Airport! Getting two other nights for free helps to compensate for that expensive night. I did book two inexpensive nights (about £100 total each night including the hefty VAT). 

11. Our tradition we started a few years ago of having dates with the kids has mostly fallen by the wayside. Oliver is the only one who still requests to have dates with Paul or I. Paul took him to see the new Tron movie on Tuesday night. Tickets are 50% off at that theatre on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I had a gift card, so he paid less than $5 total for their tickets. Now the popcorn and soda they shared were another story although they did use a $10 off coupon to bring down the price of that also. It was the first time any of us had been in a movie theatre this year, so it was a special treat. 

12. We really enjoyed our last audiobook - Boys without Names by Kashmira Sheth, and I am quite certain that will be true for the one we started today, Ms. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest because we have loved many books by Chris Grabenstein in the past. 

13. We dog sat Cooper for eight days recently. At one point we were concerned about how he was doing physically, but thankfully he bounced back the last day he was with us. 

14. I can go months without watching anything on tv, but Paul and I watched a good movie recently on Prime called Last Breath. Movies based on true stories are typically my favorite type of movie. 

Thankful Thursday

 

1. Then van repair took longer than expected due to them waiting for parts, but it was finally completed on June 9. Unfortunately, they didn't fix the crack in the rearview mirror that the deer caused, so we're waiting to hear if the insurance will pay for that. I'm grateful to have my van back and thankful it no longer looks awful.

2. The kids enjoyed the cast party on June 6, and Paul and I really enjoyed four weeks of salsa lessons, which began on June 6. Next up will be merengue lessons! Neither of us had learned salsa before, and we both enjoyed it.

3. We saw the musical Into the Woods on June 7. We liked the first half far more than the second half. We had never seen that musical before. It's on the list of one of our least favorites. 

4. Ian and Oliver enjoyed attending Isaiah's graduation party on June 8. Nadia enjoyed working at Camp Susque/attending counselor orientation from June 8-21. She's looking forward to returning on July 4 to work there for four more weeks.

5. Ian picked his song for the next piano recital. He took MANY months to choose last year. I'm thankful it's not a last-minute selection this time around. He's doing a piece by Rachmaninoff.

6. Four of us saw The Play that Goes Wrong on June 12. Now THAT was a very, very funny play. Paul said it was one of his most favorite plays he's ever seen. 

7. Paul and I enjoyed attending a 50th anniversary party for a couple in our Sunday School class on June 14.

8. Paul's dad spent some time with us on Father's Day.

9. The boys and I were volunteers for our church's VBS the week of June 17.

10. The kids did very well at the Bible quizzing competition in Indiana, and Paul and I were able to have dinner with Kay and Allen while we were out there.

11. I'm very thankful I've been able to be Nadia's mom for the past 17 years!

12. It seems highly probable that Ian will be attending Cedarville University as a residential student starting in the fall of 2028. This week I registered him to take two classes through dual enrollment this fall. We spent about 4 hours at Cedarville on June 26.

13. Yvonne said that most of her family would like to join us at Great Wolf Lodge in December to celebrate Ian's birthday! I booked two rooms that together can accommodate 14 people for one night in December through a homeschool group. 

14. We've been watching Season 5 of The Chosen on Prime. We don't usually have Prime, but it was worth it to us to pay for one month so we could watch those eight episodes.

15. Similarly, I paid (with a 50% discount) for one month of the Angel app so that we could watch The Last Rodeo, Rule Breakers, and King of Kings. 

16. The boys and I were able to help spread the word about Operation Christmas Child through a 4th of July parade in Lewisburg on June 28. 

17. Cheri came over for dinner on Tuesday night. 

18. I was able to help at Experience Missions yesterday. I've also been preparing to teach Sunday School the next two weeks. 

19. Milo was able to stay with some of the Seiberts while we were in Indiana. Today Cooper is coming over here to spend a little over a week with us. This swapping of dog sitting is working beautifully!

20. I've continued to make progress with sanding, priming, and painting the wooden trim (baseboards and around the windows/doors). We have also made progress in painting walls in the foyer and upstairs hallway.

21. Nadia only goes to the doctor once a year - for her physical. I declined the vision/hearing screening as that costs an additional $50. Thankfully, we don't have to pay for their vaccines. She got the meningitis vaccine on Monday. 

22. A friend told me where Nadia can take College Algebra online at a very reasonable price. Thanks, Jen!

23. We've been enjoying the delicious foods we usually only have in the summer - corn on the cob, peaches, cherries, honeydew, watermelon, etc. I made two fruit pizzas last Saturday - one for our family and the other for our Sunday School class. Yum! The kids and I picked blueberries at a farm very close to our home on Tuesday so that I could serve blueberry crisp for dessert when Cheri came over. 

Thankful Tuesday

I can't believe it will be February 1 in just 4 days. It would have been Maurice's 41st birthday. It's been very cold, so I don't mind if winter flies by as I prefer the warmer weather. Here are some things I am thankful for today.

1. The kids were able to participate in a Bible quizzing competition at our church on January 10-11. I served as a scorekeeper on the 11th. Ian and Nadia have recently stepped up the amount of time they've been studying the book of Luke so we shall see how they do at the next competition.

2. The eldest member of the Bible quizzing team (Isaiah) recently turned eighteen. All three kids were invited to his birthday party.

3. Isaiah and three of his siblings are joining our co-op starting next week. We will have 8 boys and 7 girls, and if you go by grade level, we'll have three 6th graders, one 7th grader, one 8th grader, five 9th graders, two 10th graders, two 11th graders, and one 12th grader in our co-op this spring. 

4. Ian's surgery went well on January 15. The first few days were rough partially because there was a mix-up over his pain medication. He slept in my lazy boy recliner the first eight nights, and it took longer than that for him to be able to resume wearing his eyeglasses, but life is back to normal at this point. The surgeon removed the splints and some of the stitches last Tuesday. She wasn't able to tell yet if the surgery was a success or not because there is still too much blood in there. He can't breathe through his nose yet, but hopefully that day is just around the corner. Paul will be taking him back for the next follow-up appointment in early March. I'm also thankful the surgery only cost $2,948. We should be reimbursed for all of that eventually through the medical sharing program, but even if we weren't that's so much better than the $20K I was charged for the ankle surgery in 2021. 

5. Nadia didn't work much at all for four weeks, but thankfully that changed starting on January 17. We're also thankful for the flexibility of her boss. Nadia missed a Wizard of Oz rehearsal on January 18, but her boss didn't schedule her for any Saturdays in February due to the musical. 

6. Since the stock market was closed on January 20, Paul took the opportunity to go spend the day with a friend in Carlisle.

7. Oliver and I saw the eye doctor on January 21. Oliver hadn't been wearing his glasses that he got a little over two years ago. The doctor changed the guidance from wearing them only when he is reading to wearing them all the time. This did NOT go over well with Oliver, but thankfully over the past week he's adjusted to wearing his glasses. We had to reschedule Ian's appointment as it would have been too painful for him to have an eye appointment last week due to his nose. 

8. Paul got the flu shot and pneumonia vaccine on January 22. They didn't tell him until after they stabbed him that the vaccine costs almost $300. The last time he got a flu shot he was really sick afterwards. He didn't feel well the first couple of days after the shot this time around, but his side effects weren't as severe, thankfully. 

9. I took my friend out for dinner to celebrate her 68th birthday. 

10. We enjoyed watching the movie White Bird as a family last weekend. I had checked it out of the library.  Paul and I enjoyed watching the 5th season of All Creatures Great and Small on the PBS app.

11. I used to shop at CVS 1-2 times a month until the CVS in our town closed. I have hardly shopped at a CVS since then, but I've recently been resuming that habit due to the fact that they haven't had much of a cereal selection at Surplus Outlet. A few weeks ago, I paid less than $1 per box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes at CVS! I do love finding a good bargain. 

12. Ian is finally caught up. We switched back to Teaching Textbooks for geometry, and he got everything turned in by the end of the second marking period for all the other subjects. I hope he never gets that far behind again. 

13. Ian finally picked his song for the piano recital (February 2) on January 20. I told his piano teacher let's pick his song MUCH earlier next time around. She agrees. Thankfully he is managing to pull it off despite choosing much later than normal. The piece was too long (12 minutes), but she picked out parts for him to play as she likes the pieces not to be longer than 4-5 minutes so that the recital isn't too lengthy. 

14. One of the books I recently listened to was Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Quereshi. It was outstanding! I highly recommend it! Some books we've enjoyed together as a family recently would include: Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai, Wink by Rob Harrell, The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman, The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez, and The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. 

15. My parents each grew up with one sister, and so I only had two uncles. My dad also has a half-sister, but she never married. Uncle Bill passed away in 1992 at the age of 49. Uncle Dick passed away last week at the age of 83. Wendy lives the closest to Indiana, so she is attending the burial today as the representative of our family. I'm thankful Wendy can attend on our behalf. 

16. I go in spurts when it comes to working on planning future vacations. Recently I used Turo gift cards I got through credit card points to almost completely pay for renting a minivan on Oahu for four days and on Maui for 2.5 days. I still need to rent one on the Big Island for a week. 

Septoplasty

Today Ian went under general anesthesia for the fifth time in his life. The first four times took place within less than two years, so it had been almost 12.5 years since the last time. We were told to arrive by 11:15. For his sake, it would have been nice if it was a little earlier since he wasn't allowed to eat after midnight. He always has breakfast, and most days we eat lunch around 11:00. The surgery center is about 90 minutes from our home. There are other hospitals closer to our home, but this pediatric ENT has above average ratings, and this surgery center is far more affordable than the closer hospitals. We've already paid the fee to the surgeon and the surgery center, and the grand total so far is $2,248. The only bill we haven't paid yet is for the anesthesiologist. In contrast, we were billed over $20K for my ankle surgery despite the fact that Ian's surgery took more than twice as long as my ankle surgery did. The pulmonologist told us that he had turbinate hypertrophy, but the ENT today said that was not the case. However, he had a very deviated septum; she said it was the worst case she had ever seen. The surgery lasted about 100 minutes. The surgeon didn't think he'd be able to breathe air through his nose until next week, but on the drive home he said he could already feel air coming through his nose for the first time! His follow-up post op appointment is next Tuesday in Hershey. The splints will come out then. She said it would take a few months for the stitches to dissolve. He struggled coming out of the anesthesia and with the pain. I offered to buy him a treat around 4:30 pm. I gave him a few choices. He picked a PB cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I figured it would help ease some of the discomfort in his throat, give him something pleasurable while he was in pain, and also give him some calories as he had skipped breakfast and lunch. It definitely perked him up. He's coughing a bit as a result of the anesthesia, and his nose hasn't stopped bleeding yet, but he's been watching a movie with Paul while sitting in my recliner. The recliner will be his bed for the next couple of nights as he's supposed to keep his head elevated. We left a little after 9:30 this morning and got back home a little after 5:00 this evening. I'm thankful it's over. It's hard to watch your child when they're suffering. Due to surgical complications I've experienced in the past (ex. lung collapsed due to aspirating), I have to work not to let myself be overtaken by anxiety. 

I'm thankful for everyone who prayed for Ian's surgery! His piano teacher prayed over him at his lesson on Monday, our senior pastor prayed over the phone with him yesterday, another pastor from our church prayed over the phone for him this evening, and my dad and a mom from our co-op texted me to say they were praying this morning. My dad called me as we were driving down and prayed for Ian's surgery, and he called me again after Ian's surgery to see how he was doing. We appreciate all the prayers! 

All three kids were able to sleep in this morning. I asked Nadia and Ian to make sugar cookies this morning because we hadn't had those for probably more than a year. Paul dropped them off at church at 1:15 for art, chorus, Bible quizzing, and youth group. He picked them up at 8:00. Tomorrow, we plan to have a regular day of school although Ian will not be going to art or chorus. He also won't be attending the Wizard of Oz rehearsal tomorrow night. The first time Ian *might* leave the house again will be Saturday morning if he's feeling up to a musical rehearsal at that time. Time will tell. Nadia is scheduled to work Friday morning. I got the movie The Wild Robot on DVD from the library on Monday, and we plan to watch that together either Friday or Saturday. Friday is the last day of the first semester for this school year. It will be our 89th day of school - 9 co-op days, 69 "regular" school days, and 11 field trip days. 

Surgery #3

Ian has been under anesthesia four times so far - two urological surgeries and two endoscopies. Since an endoscopy is technically a nonsurgical procedure, his next surgery (septoplasty) will technically be his third. Since those surgeries and endoscopies took place in 2010 and 2011, Ian has no memory of them. As he'll be fifteen years old when he undergoes the septoplasty, he will remember this one. Not counting the surgeries that I had which were related to pregnancy, my last surgery was a septoplasty. Dr. Wilson said the procedure hasn't changed over the past 30 years (mine was in 1994). Ian's sleep study showed he has mild sleep apnea. We had been told he had hypertrophy turbinate as well as a deviated septum and that the septum could only be repaired after he was eighteen. We were trying to decide whether he should have one or two surgeries, but this pediatric ENT said that she can do both procedures at one time on a fifteen-year-old. Ian didn't want to wait three years to be able to breathe through his nose when he's awake, and hopefully this will also lead to an improved quality of sleep for him. We could have scheduled the surgery to take place as soon as January 15, but we're waiting to get a price estimate from the second surgical center before we choose between the two locations where Dr. Wilson performs surgeries. The two locations are the same distance from our home (85 minutes away one way). I paid $250 yesterday for Ian to see her in Hershey, which was closer to 100 minutes away one way. Considering it took eleven months for him to have his sleep study, I'm grateful the wait for the nose surgery won't be as lengthy and that we don't have to make any more trips down there prior to the day of his surgery.

Here's a few highlights of what we've been up to since I wrote last:

1. Another mom and I took 13 kids to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at AMC. On another day my dad and Cheri joined us at AMC to See Bonhoeffer. They were both good movies! Ian has decided to do his report this year for the history fair on Bonhoeffer. Oliver is doing Abraham Lincoln, and Nadia is doing Jane Goodall. 

2. Ian played the piano with the youth praise team for the second time ever and performed a duet (see video above) at a recital. Pop Pop joined us. Nadia wasn't able to attend as she was at work. 

3. Cooper was at our house for 8 days while his family was on vacation.

4. We helped pack over 300 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child at our church.

5. Oliver, Cheri, and I attended a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and had dinner at Olive Garden.

6. Nadia has been working more hours recently. She worked about five hours on November 30, four hours on December 2, two hours on December 3, and she's scheduled to work about four hours on December 6. She loves having a job that involves working with cats and dogs! 

7. My dad spent 6 days with us, and during that time Yvonne's family (11 people) also spent about 39 hours at our house. 

8. I've been making progress with vacation plans. I booked our rental vehicle for our trip in May (the cost was painful). On the other hand, I paid a tiny amount to book an Airbnb for four nights in Honolulu and two nights on Maui because I used $1,250 worth of gift cards to Airbnb that I got through credit card points. I've booked 11 out of our 13 nights in Hawaii so far for a grand total of $219. I'm hoping to use credit card points to get Turo gift cards to pay for the rental cars on Oahu and Maui. We'll have to pay for the rental vehicle on the Big Island because we plan to pick it up at Hilo and return it at Kona, which means we can't use Turo. I'm really looking forward to visiting Hawaii for the first time! 

Thankful Thursday

 1. The last two days we were in Alaska went well. We enjoyed seeing a variety of animals at the Large Animal Research Station in Fairbanks (including sandhill cranes), sled dogs at Husky Homestead, milking calves at our final Airbnb, muskox at the Muskox Farm, and a variety of animals at the Reindeer farm (my favorite being the bison). 

2. Returning the van went smoothly, and we again appreciated having TSA Precheck when we flew out of Anchorage. Our flight was delayed, but we arrived safely in Baltimore early in the morning on August 30, and Joe kindly picked us up and brought us back to their home. It was lovely to not need to pay for parking at BWI!

3. We enjoyed spending some time with 9 out of 11 members of Yvonne's family on August 30-31. Joel and Nathan joined us for an excellent production of Pilgrim's Progress at the Museum of the Bible.

4. The Seiberts did a great job taking care of Milo while we were gone. We were grateful to be reunited with him on August 31. Addi and Westyn took care of our guinea pig and mowed our lawn once while we were away. 

5. Nadia began taking voice lessons with her choir teacher on September 3. It means we now have a weekly commitment Monday through Thursday between piano lessons, voice lessons, art, and chorus. Nadia is also staying 30 minutes later on Thursdays for an extra session to prepare for district choir auditions. That extra session doesn't cost us more money. 

6. All three kids are taking art and chorus this year at MCS. It's the first time Oliver has taken any classes at MCS. Ian and Nadia took classes there in 2018-2020 and then returned in the fall of 2023. We're also thankful that the three possibilities for the spring musical are all ones the kids could enjoy. Some of the musicals they've done in the past would NOT have been appealing to my boys. We're waiting to hear if they're doing Barnum, Willy Wonka, or the Wizard of Oz.

7. On September 4 Bible quizzing and the youth group resumed meeting on Wednesday nights. This is also a first for Oliver. Quite a few new kids showed up last week for Bible quizzing! Because the adult small groups didn't resume until yesterday, Paul and I went on a date last Wednesday night using the money my dad gave us for our 23rd anniversary. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and I got a treat at Rita's. We also got some clothes and shoes for the kids at the thrift store and some groceries at Aldi's. Dates when you've been married 23 years are a lot different than dates prior to marriage, ha ha! 

8. On September 6 we enjoyed having dinner with other homeschoolers at the VanHorn's. 

9. Nadia is improving in her driving skills. I'm very thankful for God's protection! On Monday morning when she was driving Ian to his orthodontist appointment, it hit me that she's been driving a lot and never gotten gas. She's been the only one to drive Paul's car for the last couple of months. I feel like the Holy Spirit graciously prompted me to think of this because when I asked her, she said she didn't know how much gas was left. I leaned over and was shocked to see it said we had two miles until we'd be out of gas. Thankfully we were less than 2 miles from a gas station. Whew. There are so many lessons to learn with driving including paying attention to the gas gauge. I've never run out of gas before, and I hope she never does either! 

10. I paid for one month of access to the Angel guild. As a family we watched Sound of Hope which is about a small town in Texas that adopted a LOT of kids through the foster care system. Oliver has watched a few episodes of the Wingfeather Saga, and all the kids watched some episodes of Tuttle Twins. I don't plan to keep it more than a month right now, but it's nice to be able to access their movies and shows from time to time. There are a few more movies I'd like at least some of us to watch before our month ends. 

11. We haven't had a working doorbell for two years. Yvonne wisely suggested purchasing a wireless doorbell. It was very inexpensive, and it was also very easy for Paul to install. Problem solved! Ironically the very first people to use our doorbell were two women campaigning for Harris/Walz. I politely said we wouldn't be voting for them and said have a nice day. Usually if people are coming two by two to our door, they are Jehovah's Witnesses. I don't ever recall anyone ever stopping by for a political reason. They asked for Paul in particular, probably because he's registered independent.

12. Last Wednesday I waited at church while the kids were in art and chorus, brought them home, and then turned around and took them back an hour later for Bible quizzing and youth group. Paul suggested that our normal routine should be that the kids just hang out at church for about 90 minutes after choir until Bible quizzing begins at 4:30 on the weeks he and I are coming back at 6:30 for our small group. This means that we will have a window of up to five hours together without kids. If he's busy with the stock market, it might cut that time in half, but still, it seems like a great plan to me! I don't think we'll typically go out to eat, but we can go for a walk, play a board game, etc. There are definitely perks to Paul working from home! 

13. Finding good coupon codes for Shutterfly is NOT as easy as it used to be years ago, but I did manage to get two copies of a photo books that contains over 100 pages for small amount of money. I used to make photo books more frequently when they were only 20 pages long. Now that I can make them a little over 100 pages long, I have only been making two photo books per year. This photo book was for March through early September. 

Thankful Thursday

1. The boys came home from camp on July 6. They had a blast! 

2. We enjoyed the final episode of season four of The Chosen on July 6. 

3. You never know what you will find at Surplus Outlet. Today I was able to find some larger containers of olive oil that Cheri had asked me to keep an eye out for. Earlier this week I found some Ghirardelli brownie mix for 99 cents each!  YUM! 

4. The boys and I helped out at Experience Missions on Monday and Tuesday. 

5. Milo enjoyed having Cooper here at our house for about ten days. He was literally crying after Cooper left on Wednesday morning.

6. Ian, Oliver, Cheri, and I went for a hike at Leonard Harrison State Park (aka Pennsylvania Grand Canyon) on Wednesday. We also went on a short tour of a unique chocolate factory and stopped for a treat at Rita's on the way home. 

7. Nadia is enjoying being on staff at Camp Susque! She hasn't texted much, but we have heard from her a little bit, which never was possible when she was a camper there. 

8. Paul finished removing the fence! Woohoo! I bought 600 pounds of topsoil today and used that to begin the process of filling in the holes. Someone is supposed to be picking up the fence on Saturday. 

9. The boys really enjoyed getting free Slurpees at two different 7-11 stores today. Since Paul and I didn't partake in the annual freebie, I didn't feel badly that the boys got two each. 

10. Paul, the boys, and I saw the movie Despicable Me 4 at the theater this afternoon. 

11. On July 5, Paul and I took Nadia out to dinner as a birthday treat plus a special sendoff before she spent 4 weeks at Camp Susque. It's her favorite restaurant. She got a free dessert and ate her leftovers over the next two days. I used a gift card from credit card points to cover a good chunk of the bill. The last 12 years we've typically only gone to a sit-down restaurant when we've been on vacation, but it's been nice to begin making an exception for special celebrations. 

12. In March I set a goal for Oliver to gain at least 6 pounds by August so that he would weigh at least 80 pounds, which is the minimum weight for ziplining in Alaska. He has achieved the goal! The doctor should be happy when he has his physical next month because last year his BMI was in the underweight category. 

Thankful Thursday

 

1. The Schrecks came over for dinner on May 25. We always enjoy spending time with their family. Another family was supposed to come over for dinner on June 8, but they accidentally forgot. Because we've been hosting the co-op and homeschool game nights at our home, I haven't been attempting to have one family over for dinner every month, but we still have more people coming over for dinner than we used to.

2. Cheri joined the five of us for the movie Sight at the theater on May 26. we're so thankful there are many more Christian movies now than ever before

3. We had a nice vacation in Virginia from May 27- June 2. The weather was wonderful which was an answer to prayer. The top three highlights for Ian and Oliver were the two amusement parks, Virginia Beach with their cousins, and water skiing. Paul really enjoyed the Udvar-Hazy Center and the Virginia Aquarium. The fact that we also got to spend time with 8 of the Towfighis and Grandpa while we were in Virginia was definitely icing on the cake! 

4. One of my most favorite desserts is chocolate peanut butter twist soft serve ice cream or custard. I never had it in 2023, but I've had it on two different days over the last few weeks as I had some at a Kohr's in Virginia Beach and then again at an ice cream shop on the way home from Hershey Park last week. 

5. We've been enjoying watching season four of The Chosen. We've seen five episodes so far, which means we have three to go. Lazarus is going to be raised from the dead next Sunday! 

6. While we were on vacation, I received word that my mammogram was normal, and while we were at Hershey Park last week, I received word that my pap smear was normal. Those two tests cost us $614.90. I am very grateful for the $18K we received from the insurance company. I think that will end up covering all our medical, dental, and orthodontic bills for this year. 

7. Paul and I have enjoyed the first two weeks of our Intermediate Cha Cha class. We will miss the class tomorrow because of the Bible quizzing, and we will miss next Friday because Paul and Oliver will be camping for one night, but we hope to attend the last four weeks of the class. It had been ten years since the last time we took a class. Hopefully not nearly that much time will pass before we take another class!

8. On June 8 I had a belated birthday lunch at Panera with Cheri. I always greatly appreciate having time to chat with a friend!

9. I was the substitute teacher for our Sunday School class on June 9. We discussed the first half of the book of Amos. It went well. 

10. The kids and I saw a movie at a Drive-In theater for the first time. It wasn't a first for Paul. In hindsight, we shouldn't have brought Milo. He just couldn't settle down! We saw Garfield. I think we all decided we prefer to see a movie in a theater, but I'm glad we got to try something different. 

11. On June 11 Pop Pop and three of Nadia's friends joined us for two hours of bowling. The girls then spent the night at our house. It was an early birthday party for our girl who will soon turn sixteen!

12. Oliver is very glad that he has been promoted to the youth group at church. He attended his first social on June 5.

13. On June 13 Paul and I were fingerprinted in Hershey for TSA PreCheck. The closest location is in State College, but since we didn't have any plans to head that direction, we went to the one in Hershey on the same day we met eight of the Towfighis (plus three of their friends and Joe's sister) at Hershey Park. It was a very hot day, but at least it was a dry day. Paul and I spent the first six hours with Wesley, which meant we rode a lot more rides than we typically do when we are with our kids at an amusement park. He's seven years old, but he's very small for his age. We walked through the Zoo and saw the show featuring seals and sea lions in addition to riding rides. The other kids exclusively rode roller coasters all day. My kids love spending time with their cousins, and they love roller coasters, so the combination of the two is amazing for them!

14. The kids had extra 2.5-hour Bible quizzing practices on Friday and Monday. They missed the one on Thursday due to our trip to Hershey. I'm thankful for all Dave Seibert does for the teams!

15. Paul's dad came over on Saturday for Father's Day. The kids played Mario, foosball, and Labyrinth with him. We had shrimp, prime rib, Nadia's favorite kind of macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, and cheesecake for dinner. I sent some shrimp and corn home with Pop Pop. Paul had prime rib again on Sunday and Monday. 

16. On Sunday afternoon the five of us saw a production of the musical Oliver. Nadia had read Oliver Twist earlier in the school year. Some of the kids' friends were in the musical. The man who played my husband in Sount of Music was also in Oliver. Next year one of the productions they will be doing is A Wrinkle in Time, so I've decided to require Ian and Oliver to read that book next year. Nadia already read it several years ago. 

17. Nadia was supposed to babysit for the youth pastor on June 3, but several of us had a stomach bug that week. She was able to babysit for them on June 17. 

18. On Tuesday Julianna joined the kids and I at Montage Mountain. The weather has been hotter than usual lately (highs in the 90's!), but that weather was ideal for a day at a water park. I spent more time in the water than I usually do when we go to a water park!

19. Nadia and Ian have been working diligently to prepare for the national competition for Bible quizzing. Paul, Oliver, and I didn't arrive up here in time to see the first rounds of the individual competition today, but we were able to watch the team competitions. The team Ian is on won all their matches today. I was rather impressed with how much Nadia improved over the last year. She is the captain of our church's B team. Ian is on our church's A team for the first time. 

20. Someone picked up our spinning seesaw on Monday. Given how many people contacted me after I posted it on Facebook, I probably could have sold it instead of giving it away, but nonetheless, it has been taken away. The kids had stopped using it, and the seat covers needed to be replaced. The concrete pad it was attached to is still on the lawn, but we've made progress. Paul and I have made significant progress with removing our fence. I probably also could have sold that. I buy things second hand sometimes, but I almost always just give our unwanted stuff away instead of selling it. I'm looking forward to NOT needing to clean the fence every year, and I will also be doing a lot less weed whacking once the fence is totally gone. Yay! The concrete pad the shed was on is still in the yard, but I think we'll save that project for another year. Unfortunately, the fence was installed incorrectly 14.5 years ago, and we didn't figure it out soon enough, so it's never done us a lick of good, but that's how it is in life. Some purchases end up being worth far more than you paid for them, and other times you realize it was a waste of money. Thankfully, most of the time I haven't regretted purchases that cost us thousands of dollars like the fence did. 

21. Paul, Oliver, and I saw the movie Arthur the King on Wednesday afternoon. Aside from the fact it had some language, it's my kind of movie - heartwarming and based on a true story. 

22. We received our "known traveler numbers" through the TSA. The kids need to be on our reservations in order to go through TSA Precheck with us. Thankfully, Alaksa Airlines was able to make a switch so that all our kids will be able to go through the Precheck. They were able to fix it only because Oliver is under the age of 13. I'm grateful as I had a bad experience with TSA in March, and we're hoping using TSA Precheck will prevent that from happening again.

Seussical!

I haven't posted for three weeks. Here are some highlights as to what we've been up to lately.

1. I took Oliver to one egg hunt on March 23 and two on March 30. One was rained out on the 23rd. Next year will be the last year for Oliver to participate.

2. Rachel, my niece from Chicago, spent four days with us at the end of March. She and Nadia continued their traditions of having a very planned out "sleepover" and also making a mystery dessert. This one was by far the worst they'd ever made. Blech!!! However, they had a lot of fun making the cupcakes! I really liked the Good Friday service at our church this year.

3. Paul's dad joined us at church and at our home on Easter. 

4. I supervised a large service project at Meadowbrook Christian School. The students packed 3,300 kits for Voice of the Martyrs. 

5. While I was helping at MCS, the kids went with another family to a homeschool program about the solar eclipse at Ricketts Glen State Park. A few days later, all five of us did see the eclipse, which wasn't a guaranteed thing because it was a very cloudy day, but thankfully the clouds parted so we could watch it. We weren't in the path of totality, but it was 95% covered in our area. Considering the next one is in twenty years and won't be visible in Pennsylvania, I'm glad the kids saw this one (not that any of us know where we'll be living in twenty years). 

6. I attended my friend's mom's 91st birthday party at a nursing home. That same day Paul took Nadia to a Jeremy Camp concert in Stroudsburg.

7. Nadia, Cheri, her uncle, and I saw the movie Someone Like You in the theater on April 7. The tickets were a bit steep in price, but we enjoyed the movie. Nadia and I had read the book a few years ago. 

8. Nadia and Ian were in three performances of Seussical last week! It went very well. Different friends and family attended each of the three nights. I attended two of the performances. They had a LOT of lengthy rehearsals lately so I'm grateful it's come to an end. Paul's dad attended on Friday night and took them home because Paul, Oliver, and I were at a Casting Crowns concert in Williamsport. On Saturday afternoon Joe, my dad, and six of their kids came to attend Seussical, which was very special. They spent about 24 hours with us. Yvonne didn't come because she gave birth three days ago to their 7th son (9th child) - Brendan. Jenna and Andrew stayed in Maryland with Yvonne and the baby. 

9. Last Sunday I filled in as the substitute for our Sunday School teacher. 

10. This week Nadia is finishing her fourth college class (English Composition 1) through Grand Canyon University. She's starting her fifth next week (World History). In the fall she plans to begin taking classes online through Liberty University.