Thankful Thursday

1. We enjoyed our last day at the swimming pools and beach last Friday with Aunt Janet.

2. We were able to visit the Long Island Explorium on July 5 (for free) and Old Bethpage Village Restoration on July 6. The traffic was very good (for NYC) on July 6, which I greatly appreciated.

3. Aunt Janet sent us home with various snacks, drinks, and even chicken for our dinner that night. She and my mom both were/are very gracious hostesses. Prior to our arrival she buys foods that she knows we'll enjoy - watermelon for Oliver, Peanut Butter Captain Crunch for Nadia, etc. We are so thankful we've spent a week with her for three summers in a row.

4. I enjoyed teaching a lesson twice on the calling of the 12 disciples on Sunday morning with kids from K-5th grade.

5. The kids have been enjoying their third week of VBS that started on Sunday night. It's Nadia's last week of VBS this year since she'll be at Camp

Susque next week.

6. Ian went to Camp Good News for the first time in 2016 - the week my mom passed away. Nadia was in a theater production that week and so she wasn't able to attend. Once she heard about the camp from Ian (it's run by CEF), she really wanted to go the next summer. Oliver wasn't able to go in 2017 because he wasn't old enough. Last summer was the first time all three attended the camp together. Nadia picked the same activity this year as the one she picked last year - sand art. Ian and Oliver both chose archery this year, which is not one they've done at camp in the past. The weather was rainy part of the day on Monday, but it's been sunny since then. They took the kids swimming on Tuesday, and all three passed the swimming test. It's no big deal for Nadia and Ian to pass the test, but the novelty hasn't worn off yet for Oliver since it's his first summer of being able to swim independently. The theme this summer is the armor of God. The kids are to learn one verse a day plus also five extra bonus verses for the week (Ephesians

6:13-17). The kids aren't accustomed to memorizing from the KJV, but they do it for this camp each summer. Nadia and Ian have already learned their ten verses.

7. I was able to spend three hours with my friend, Cheri, on Tuesday. Her vision has come back completely, PTL!

8. Yesterday the kids and I enjoyed seeing the new Dumbo movie; I had checked the DVD out from the library. We are making good progress on our bucket list! I replaced a few things on the list such as picking strawberries, Montage Mountain water park, and seeing fireworks, but we've crossed off more than half of the things on our list!

9. I returned to BU in August 2017 and from May 2018-May 2019, four faculty in our department retired. It would seem they would have a greater need for adjuncts in August 2019 than they did in August 2017, but such is not the case. I am not sure if it's due to decreased enrollment or some other reason. Anyhow, it seems

like I will be a SAHM again. This unexpected turn of events has been challenging for me to process emotionally, but I can definitely find good in this situation. I get to homeschool my kids five days a week instead of three days a week, and the pace of my life will slow down as I am not juggling as much. It has already had that effect on me. This week for example I would have pushed myself to try to accomplish as much as possible around the house doing those projects I haven't had time to do during the year while juggling homeschooling three kids, housework, plus a FT job. Now I can tackle my to do list at a much more comfortable pace. The two biggest "cons" to my lack of employment are #1 the kids won't see their Dad much and #2 it's more challenging financially. Thankfully we are debt free. Not having a mortgage payment is a big help. The main challenge is to save enough money to pay for things like replacing the van (I'm hoping to get four more years out of our van before we replace it), replacing the roof, braces for Ian, etc. As the house is 20 years

old, it is likely that we'll have to replace a variety of things over the next ten years (roof, oven, furnace, A/C compressor, etc.). I'm very grateful though that Oliver won't be asking me every night if I'm going to be home with them the next day! That question used to break my heart. I also love the thought of being able to snuggle with the boys every morning! These years where the kids are at home are just flying by, and I'm trying to soak it up!

10. I got myself a nightgown on Tuesday. I borrowed one from my Aunt while I was at her house. I had worn the same nightgown for more than 11 years, and it had so many holes in it that I threw it away last fall when I switched to wearing my winter pajamas. It's been hot this week so I'm very grateful to be back to owning a pair of summer pajamas. It was the first bit of clothing I had purchased for myself in 12 months (not counting nylon stockings). Over the past two years I've spent less than $25 on myself in terms of clothing/shoes as I bought myself one top last year and now one nightgown this year. I

bought the nightgown while the kids were at camp, which meant I had the luxury of trying it on at Marshall's before I purchased it.

11. Even though Oliver rarely asks me to buy him anything, he is one who has a harder time parting with things. When I go on a decluttering rampage, Nadia and Ian quickly will come up with things to add to the bags that are going to Goodwill. Oliver will suddenly become very fond of items he hasn't touched in months or years. So I keep the items, and yet he still doesn't play with them most of the time. So this time around I said I'd try to sell some things on Facebook, and I'd give them the money. That worked like a charm. On Tuesday I sold some of their toys that they hadn't played with in years. Ian is saving his money for our visit to the Nintendo store in NYC in August. Nadia used her money to buy a set of 9 books (Mother Daughter Book Club series), and Oliver used his money to buy a scooter, which he's been asking for lately (which means now I have zero idea as to what to get him for his birthday as that had been my only idea). The books and scooter are to be delivered by Amazon today. Frankly I'd rather just donate things than sell them, but this seemed like a win/win situation. We did some decluttering, and the kids were happy with the outcome.

12. Yesterday I booked a room for two nights in early September. Paul isn't coming with us to NYC, but he'll be going on that trip as we're going to Fort Ticonderoga and Saratoga Battlefield (and three museums but those two sites are the reason for the trip). I found a reasonable hotel through Interval (time share company) that has an indoor pool and free breakfast. We're actually studying the Civil War this fall, but hey better late than never when it come to two more Revolutionary War sites. As far as the Civil War, we did go to Gettysburg recently and have plans to visit Antietam, Manassas, Petersburg, and the Appomattox courthouse this fall.

13. It's been harder and harder to come by coupons from Shutterfly, but I managed to get two to use with the unlimited page code earlier this week. I bought two 110 page photo books for less than $25 total. I used to spend SO much time making a 20 page book - carefully selected the background color, etc. Now I'm generally in a race to get it done as fast as possible and take far less time even though I'm making one that's more than 5 times longer than I used to make, ha ha!

14. Yesterday I was working on the budget in light of the change in income. In August I usually call the cable company to have them reinstall our cable in early September so that we can see football games. As I was looking at the channel options and prices, I noticed that if we only have the local channels, it would only cost us an extra $11 more a month compared to what we are paying just for internet. We usually have gotten another package that includes things like EPSN, but that one is $41 more per month. I checked the NFL schedule, and we would each be unable to see two Monday night games if we didn't have ESPN. I suggested to Paul that for those two nights he could go to his parents' house after work and watch the game there. He could get a little bit more sleep if he does that because that saves him the one hour commute to work the next morning. I am fine with missing the two Monday night games that the Steelers have scheduled this season. I'm not really excited about football this year, and I usually go to bed at half-time during night games. So I'm thankful I found another way to cut back our expenditures.

Home sweet home

Saturday morning we left Aunt Janet's house around 9:30am. We drove for about 40 minutes and then spent a little over two hours at Old Bethpage Village Restoration. One of the homes was from the colonial time period (early 1700's) but the vast majority of the buildings were from the 1800's. I think we all learned a few things, but given we've been to quite a few living history places (most recently Williamsburg) it wasn't that amazing. It had been on my list of places to visit on Long Island for the last three years. Now we can say been there, done that, and I doubt we'll ever return. The traffic was much better on the way home on Saturday than it was on the way out on Sunday, and aside from the time spent at OBVR, we didn't make any stops. We had stopped to get gas and go to the bathroom on our way there on Sunday. Altogether the trip took about 75 minutes less on Saturday than it did on Sunday, for which I was very grateful as I am not a big fan of long drives or of sitting in traffic in NYC. This was our second time in NYC this year as we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in May. I'm

expecting we'll make two more trips to NYC this year as we're planning to spend four days there in August with Wendy and her kids and then we're thinking of making a one day trip in December for Ian's birthday. Depending on the traffic, it can actually take us less time to get to NYC than Philadelphia.

When I get home from a vacation I feel like I always hit the ground running - unpacking, doing laundry, buying groceries, cooking, and mowing the lawn ASAP. I wasn't able to mow the lawn last night because it was raining cats and dogs after dinner. I mowed the lawn today despite how HOT it was because it had been 9 days since I had last mowed. Whew. Last night I also put time into preparing for the lesson I taught the K-2nd and then 3rd-5th graders during the second service today on the calling of the 12 disciples. Aunt Janet is very thoughtful. She had packed up a bag and also a cooler of food and drinks for us to take in the van. We ate lunch in the van after we left OBVR, and since she had included grilled chicken skewers in the cooler, dinner preparation was

very easy last night. One of the treats she packed was a bag of Cracker Jacks. The kids were very excited to try those out at lunch today! Aside from church this morning, mowing the lawn, and taking the kids to and from VBS this evening, my main project was to create a 110 page photobook on Shutterfly. I created one of pictures from February 24 through July 7. At some point, when I feel I can handle it emotionally, I also want to create one about Maurice just like I did one about my Mom in 2016.

Tonight the kids started their third week of VBS for the summer. Next week will be their fourth and final week of VBS for 2019. This week is Nadia's last week because she'll be at Camp Susque next week. Each church has selected a different curriculum this year so they aren't experiencing any repeats. This is Nadia's 9th year of attending multiple VBS programs each summer. Tomorrow the kids start their week at Camp Good News (9-3). This will be my second (and last) week of the summer where all three kids will be at the same camp for 6 hours straight. I am trying to decide what projects around the house I want to tackle while they're at camp.

P.S. Nadia loves the dress I got for her at a yard sale for $3 while she was at Creation. It helps that it's her favorite color! The previous owner had cut the tag out of the dress so I wasn't sure what size it was. I was thankful the dress fit her (see first two pics in the post).

Last day at the beach

Not counting a little time at the beach on the Outer Banks, the kids have had ten days where the main focus of the day has been swimming in pools plus time at the beach. Five of those days were the first week of June in North Myrtle Beach, SC, and the other five were the first five days of July here on Long Island, NY. The kids will have more opportunities to swim this summer - particularly Nadia when she's at Camp Susque, but I believe they won't be at a beach again until 2020. We had amazing weather all ten beach days - it was in the 80's without any rain (sprinkled for a few minutes a few times in SC but never enough that we had to change our plans). It was in the low 80's in SC and also the first two days here, and then it was in the high 80's the past two days but the humidity was low. You really can't ask for nicer weather for a beach vacation!

On our way to the beach today we stopped at the Long Island Explorium. It was worth a little stop, but it was very small. I wouldn't have wanted to spend $25 for the five of us to spend a little less than an hour there, but

considering it only cost me $1 (parking), it was worth that. I had wanted to check it out the past two years as it's about 10 minutes from Aunt Janet's house and one we can get into free with our ASTC membership. I don't feel we need to go back in the future. We've typically spent at least 6 hours each day at the beach, but we only stayed for two hours today because Aunt Janet wanted to take us to a Mexican restaurant. She knows that I love Mexican food and that it's a very rare treat for me to go to a Mexican restaurant. I decided not to care too much about my diet this evening and just enjoy the treat. Nadia and Ian ordered chicken tenders, but Oliver, Aunt Janet, and I had Mexican food. I had a chicken chimichanga. I didn't eat the whole thing, and I didn't have any of the rice or beans that came on the side. It was delicious! Because we came home later than usual last night, the kids didn't get a jacuzzi bath last night. We got home earlier than usual this evening which enabled me to start packing and for them to have nice long baths in the jacuzzi. Tomorrow morning we are planning to

leave around 9:00 and start driving home. We'll only drive about one hour and then will be visiting Old Bethpage Village Restoration. After that we'll drive the rest of the way home. We're very thankful that we have been able to visit Aunt Janet the past three years, and Lord willing we're planning to return next summer!

P.S. For the record, I did have Nadia stand on my shoulders in the pool, but I forgot to have Aunt Janet take a picture.

Thankful Thursday

1. Since today is our nation's birthday, I'd be remiss if I didn't give thanks for the blessing it is to live in the USA. Our nation is FAR from perfect, but I'm grateful to be an American!

2. Ian had a fabulous time at Camp Susque last week! I wasn't inclined to make the decision for him given how much $$ is involved, but Paul made the right call in telling Ian that he was going to camp this summer. When I asked Ian if he wants to go again next year, he said, "Definitely!" The weather was warm enough that he enjoyed swimming in the creek and the swimming pool at camp. He was telling me what he learned from Pastor Elijah about the book of Judges during Bible lessons and chapel services, and he has really enjoyed singing the songs he learned at camp. I was SO happy to be reunited with him on Saturday morning. He gave me lots of hugs that weekend to make up a bit for the week he had been away. I'm very glad camp only lasts one week. It would be really hard for me to say goodbye for a longer time period than that!

3. Nadia had a great time at Creation. She wants to return to that next year as well. Her two favorite concerts were Mandisa and Tenth Avenue North. She also heard various speakers, participated in a communion service, etc. It only cost $20 for 14 meals! I was also very grateful to be reunited with her at church at 10:30 on Sunday morning. I am so glad to be with all three kids this week!!

4. Oliver enjoyed a free lunch at Kid's Café four days in a row last week. On Tuesday when Nadia was with us we couldn't stay very long because we had to take her to church so she could go to Creation, but the other three days we spent 2-3 hours at the playground each day. There are always other kids to play with because they've also come for lunch. On Friday Kingdom Kids also put on a puppet show, and at the end they let the kids each play with a puppet.

5. Since Oliver was an only child for four days last week, he was the only one who went to VBS on June 26 and 27. He learned more about Paul, and his

favorite highlight was going down the slip and slide during game time on Wednesday night.

6. I am SO thankful that he's finally an independent swimmer! I took him to the Lewisburg pool last Thursday. We were there for three hours, and the vast majority of the time he spent going off the diving board or down the two water slides. He had a blast!!!

7. Last Friday night our church had it's annual fireworks. Oliver enjoyed free ice cream, using a variety of inflatables, and playing glow-in-the-dark dodgeball. Paul also played that game for the first time in his life. I served as a volunteer and helped with the inflatables for an hour. We didn't stay for the fireworks because we thought we'd go to the fireworks in Lewisburg on Saturday night so that both Ian and Oliver could enjoy the fireworks instead of only Oliver. It turned out we made the wrong decision because a thunderstorm came through Saturday evening, and the fireworks in Lewisburg were postponed to Sunday night. All that to say, I don't think we'll be

seeing any fireworks this summer. Oops! If we were at home today we could see them this evening in our town, but we're on Long Island. Hopefully we'll be able to see some next year.

8. I taught the three-year-old class at 9AM on Sunday morning, Oliver attended the 1st/2nd grade boys' class, and Paul and Ian attended the worship service. Then we were reunited with Nadia! Paul took home her sleeping bag, pillow, dirty laundry, etc. The kids and I drove out to Long Island. Naturally we hit traffic as we got close to NYC, but we arrived at Aunt Janet's house around 4:15.

9. The kids are enjoying watching kids' shows on cable tv in the mornings, as we don't have cable at home. Many hours a day are spent in the water as we go to the indoor and outdoor swimming pools in the morning, have lunch at Aunt Janet's, and then spend the afternoon and evening at the beach. We eat dinner in her cabana. She grilled hotdogs on Monday, reheated pizza in the grill on Tuesday,

and grilled chicken and corn on the cob yesterday. When we come back from the beach, the boys go in the jacuzzi tub in her bathroom, and then Nadia has a turn after them. There are showers in the bathroom at the beach, and Ian enjoys taking multiple hot showers each day while we're there. At home I limit the length of his showers due to the cost of water, but at the private beach he can take as long of a shower as he desires! Today and tomorrow should be pretty similar to the last three days, although we plan to visit the Long Island Explorium tomorrow afternoon. I had planned to meet Aunt Janet there on Sunday, but due to the traffic we hit we wouldn't have had much time to enjoy the museum that day. Two highlights at the beach yesterday were using an inflatable boat that some other kids had brought and throwing water balloons that Aunt Janet had purchased. They were the same kind that Pop Pop got Oliver last August - the kind that are SUPER easy to fill up. You can fill over 100 balloons in less than a minute!! We really enjoy spending a week with Aunt Janet each summer! I'm

thankful that her swimming pools use salt rather than chlorine because it means my fingernails and toenails still look pretty from the mani/pedi. Chlorine usually takes the polish right off.

10. We've enjoyed playing games this week. Thus far we've played Racko, Suspend, Bananagrams, Quiddler, Bull, Spot it, Memory, and Yahtzee. There are five more games that I brought that we haven't played yet. We shall see what we'll play today and tomorrow! Nadia also played another game with some people in another cabana.

11. Although it's painful to think about, I am very grateful we received a conclusive cause of death for Maurice. I'm also thankful that I do not have that genetic variant. Hoping that none of my kids, sisters, nieces, or nephews have it either.

12. My friend, Cheri, was told on Sunday that she had shingles on the cornea of her right eye and that she would likely lose her vision in that eye. Thankfully the Lord has graciously relieved her of the

pain and has been restoring her vision over the last few days!!

13. I had only been using the Free Library (Philadelphia) for books for the kids, but for this trip I also checked out a book via Overdrive that I read on my Kindle. It was by one of my favorite authors- Randy Singer.

14. Last Friday and Saturday Oliver and I visited a few yard sales on a street near our house. I got a dress for Yvonne, two dresses for Nadia, two Mad Lib books for Ian, a pair of black patent shoes for Nadia, a pair of sneakers for Oliver, and a pair of Steeler pajamas for Oliver all for a grand total of $17.50. Unfortunately my favorite yard sale of the year was held while we were in SC last month so I am going to try to shop at some others since I missed the one where I usually spend about $75 per year (and since I pay an average of $1 per item at that yard sale it means I usually buy a boatload of her kids' clothes and shoes).

Four months later

My brother has now been in Glory for four months. Two days ago we received the long awaited autopsy report. I had been praying these last four months that we would receive a conclusive cause of death. I realize knowing the cause doesn't change the outcome one iota, but it was for whatever reason really important to me that I know why he passed away. One reason I really wanted to know was I hoped to find out if it was something genetic as obviously I don't want to see my kids, my nieces, or my nephews lose their mom out of the blue while they are still children. The coroner's office called Wendy on Monday with their final results. Most of the autopsy report contains lists of all the things that did not cause his death, for example he didn't die due to drinking Windex. Seriously? Is that common enough that they routinely test for that??? His cause of death was sudden cardiac death from an arrhythmia due to a blocked artery. She said his heart looked worse than the hearts of most seventy-year-olds, and he had only turned thirty-five one month before he passed away.

She said the amount of plaque in his heart could not have been due to his lifestyle give his age and weight. The other possible cause of excessive plaque (aside from lifestyle) is a genetic disorder called familial hypercholesterolemia, which is caused by a defect on chromosome 19. 

The doctor said that his kids (she didn't know he didn't have any), his siblings, and his nieces/nephews need to be tested for familial hypercholesterolemia. Aunt Janet, two of my cousins, and I sent our saliva to 23andMe several years ago, so Aunt Janet and I logged on to see if we were already tested for that variant, and we found out we were, and none of us have it. Hopefully my sisters will receive the same result. I am going to ask the Pediatrician if my kids need tested in light of the fact I don't have that genetic

disorder but their uncle most likely did. The doctor said that even if someone had been with him when it happened on March 3 and tried to perform CPR, it wouldn't have helped because his death was due to an electrical impulse problem. He had gone to the doctor two days before he died, and she had given him a referral for a cardiologist, but the doctor Wendy spoke to said she thought it would have taken awhile (probably a few weeks) until they would have come to a correct diagnosis because of his age. Maurice had fainted three times, and the third instance was the reason he went to the doctor on March 1. The doctor said those were actually milder cardiac events. She also said he had to have been experiencing other cardiac symptoms given the blockages, and I do recall him talking about his heart racing on multiple occasions for

several months, but he had attributed that to anxiety whereas it most likely was actually due to a physiological reason. 

His physical heart needed bypass surgery, but this had nothing to do with his ability to love. Maurice was an incredibly compassionate and empathetic person. He is deeply missed by many people, including me. Part of me still can't believe he's gone. It's really hard to wrap my brain around. My kids also miss Grandma and Maurice. It warms my heart when they bring either of them up in conversation. Earlier this week Nadia saw a Fly Guy book (that Oliver was reading) and started talking about a particular Fly Guy book that my mom used to read her when she was little. This morning while we were eating breakfast Oliver said out of the blue, "When I grow up, I'm going to have a beard so I can be like Uncle Maurice." It's really hard for me to picture my six-year-old with facial hair, but I love that he was thinking about his Uncle.