F L E X I B I L I T Y

Last week, Ian worked four hours at the kennel, and Oliver worked nine hours at the cafe. This week, Ian worked fifteen hours at the kennel, and after Oliver completes his shift today, he will have worked eighteen hours at the cafe. Next week, Ian is scheduled to work about twelve hours, and Oliver is scheduled to work about fifteen hours. The very last dog Ian was going to walk on Wednesday morning was a ten-month-old Labradoodle. Unfortunately, he bit Ian's fingers. His boss called me to assure me that the dog had all his shots and that workers' comp would cover any expenses. At the time, I didn't think he needed to see a doctor, but by Thursday night I decided he needed to have his finger seen to make sure it didn't become infected. I'm not accustomed to dealing with workers' comp. Our PCP does work with it, but they said I needed to know if they were on that particular panel. His boss wasn't sure, and I got the adjuster's voicemail. The PCP and boss suggested I take him to an urgent care. The closest urgent care center had a one-hour wait time. I found another clinic just a few minutes farther away that would take appointments and had a wait time under 15 minutes. However, when we arrived there a couple of hours later for Ian's appointment, we found out they don't work with workers' comp. Thankfully, another urgent care facility very close to that one accepted workers' comp and could see Ian immediately. The doctor barely looked at his finger, but she did send a prescription for an antibiotic to the pharmacy. The medical assistant who took Ian's height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, etc. made a mistake when she entered his height into the computer. She took at least 20 inches off his height! I am surprised she didn't notice that she had made a mistake because the printout said his height was below the 1st percentile and his BMI was greater than the 99th percentile. Both are completely inaccurate! Ian is very slender. Walmart delivered his antibiotic this morning, and workers' comp will reimburse us for the medication. 

Nadia with two of her closest friends at LU - Rayne and Sam (two of her five suitemates)

Both boys having jobs means we need to be very flexible. First, we are flexible as to when we do our schoolwork. Yesterday, Oliver worked from 8:30-2:30, and normally he'd be doing schoolwork then. Ian worked from 4:00-6:45, so we did the subjects we do together in that window of time in between their shifts. Oliver wasn't able to finish all of his schoolwork yesterday given how many hours he worked at the cafe, but I knew he could finish it this weekend. Second, we are flexible about meal times and also whether we eat our main meal of the day at lunch or dinner. Our default is to have lunch around 11:00 am and dinner around 5:00 pm, but when Ian works the 4:00 shift at the kennel we don't eat dinner until 6:00 at the earliest. If Oliver is working the 4:00-8:30 shift, then we have our main meal at lunch. This is also true on Wednesdays because of Bible quizzing and youth group taking place from 4:30-8:00 pm. On Wednesdays, we have our third meal rather early (about 3:40 pm) because we are out the door at 4:10. Third, we are flexible with the time we walk Milo. If I'm taking Ian to work at 7:20 am, then we don't walk Milo until after we drop Ian off at work. Paul and I like to walk 2.4 miles in the morning, but if Oliver needs to be taken to work at 8:20, we usually do a much shorter walk so I have time to make sure he's up, make his lunch, etc. I'm glad we have two cars because sometimes both boys have to be at work at 4:00 so Paul and I each give one of the boys a ride to work at the same time in that instance.

Another area where we recently have shown flexibility is with Ian's coursework. His computer programming class was consuming an INSANE amount of time each week. The amount of time it was taking him to complete the assignments was rapidly increasing, and his grade in the course was also quickly going down. This past Sunday, Paul spent hours helping Ian with one of his C++ assignments. After many hours, the assignment was completed, but they could not figure out how to submit it. Earlier this month Ian had already come to the conclusion that he wanted to switch majors (away from computer programming). Paul had wanted him to switch majors because of AI, but Ian more recently decided this field wasn't the best fit for him. This is exactly why I had him take the class. I thought it best to test the waters sooner rather than later, which is why I signed him up for a cybersecurity camp at Messiah in June and this introductory programming class through Cedarville this fall. At this point, he has no idea what he'd like to pursue instead, and that's fine as he's only a junior in high school. I will just have him take general education classes through dual enrollment until he selects a new major. He emailed his advisor and dropped the class. We felt badly to waste the money, but our sanity was not worth trying to get the money's worth out of that class. I think Paul and I were more stressed out than Ian was. We didn't even have time for a family fun night last weekend due to Ian's course. Because the trust paid for that class, Paul and I will pay for another class (probably through Grand Canyon University) that Ian will take to earn the credits that were dropped. I've given him several choices (history, general psychology, economics, sociology, etc.). Last fall and spring, he took six credits at a time. Since he dropped the programming class last Monday, he has only two credits. Neither Paul nor I have ever dropped a class, and neither of us likes to quit, but I am 100% convinced it was the right choice to make in this instance. Many kids change their majors, and sooner is always better than later. I had students at BU who sadly didn't figure out they had chosen the wrong major until they were seniors, and that was heartbreaking. One of my nieces switched from animal science to engineering after her first year, and she graduated in four years (after taking some classes in the summer). 

Today I am giving thanks for:

1. Oliver's first job

2. Our homeschool group resumed meeting at our home on September 8. We are down to twelve kids who are in grades 8-12. The kids have done two dissections so far: earthworm and crayfish. In theology, we've discussed dispensationalism vs. covenant theology and Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Abby is teaching ASL. Four boys play chess instead of taking ASL. We are also working on a play (Pinocchio). Ian will be the cricket. Nadia will be able to see the performance because it's taking place when she'll be home for Thanksgiving break. Milo LOVES co-op. Once he sees me start setting up the folding table and chairs, he goes to the front door and eagerly awaits the kids' arrival!

3. We were able to meet up with nine of the Towfighis at the Army Expo in Carlisle last Saturday. Jenna couldn't stay long as she was attending a wedding in Hershey, but twelve of us had dinner together at a pizza place before heading home. Paul especially enjoyed watching a WWII tank demonstration that involved them driving around and firing blanks. 

4. Ian's voice lessons resumed on September 14. The school will be doing Willy Wonka instead of Newsies in the spring. The auditions are in three weeks. Ian is preparing to sing the solo "Pure Imagination" and is working on a Willy Wonka monologue, as that is the part he'd like to have. His voice teacher lives very close to our home, which is very convenient. 

5. For several months, I've been making plans to begin a small group Bible study at our church on Wednesday nights. As of eight days before the start date, there were only six people signed up, including Paul and me, and two of those said they'd only stay in the group if there were at least twelve people in the study. However last week more joined the group, and we had sixteen people attend this week. One woman wasn't able to attend due a worship team meeting, so it seems we have seventeen in our group. We are studying Isaiah. I am very grateful for this opportunity!

6. Last week MCS sent out an SOS for a microwave as one of theirs stopped working. Within a few hours of the email, we brought them Maurice's microwave. He had used it for only 6 months, but it had been sitting in my basement for 7.5 years. At one point, we thought Nadia and her suitemates would use it in their apartment at LU, but shortly before the start of the semester, LU announced they would be installing microwaves in the apartments. I'm happy it could be a blessing to other people rather than just collecting dust in our basement.

7. Last weekend we had Cooper at our house. His cancer is getting worse, so this was probably our last time dog-sitting him. I'm very thankful we've been able to swap dog-sitting duties the last two years. For about a week prior to Cooper's arrival, Milo had been crying when he was in Ian's room at night (for some unknown reason). Because Cooper was sleeping in our room, I was unwilling to "rescue" him when he cried. This meant Oliver, Paul, and I lost a lot of sleep (ironically, Ian can sleep through the dog crying in his room), but it was worth it because it brought an end to Milo crying at night. He didn't cry at all this week. PTL!

8. Ian's boss is a very nice woman. She was a great employer for Nadia, and the same is true now for Ian.

9. Nadia has gotten a very part-time job caring for the mice in the biology laboratory.

10. Nadia's roommate and one of her suitemates each has a car, so she can easily get to church on Sunday.

11. I'm very glad we decided to drop Ian's C++ class. It was like an albatross around our necks. For example, this week we had time to watch the 1971 Willy Wonka movie together over a two-day period in preparation for Ian's audition. We would not have had time if Ian was still taking that class.

12. Paul was able to help his Dad out of the apartment he's lived in for 4+ years and back into the home he built more than 50 years ago. Paul's brother and sister-in-law have been living there for the last 4+ years. It's a four-bedroom home, so there is plenty of room for Paul's dad. 

13. I'm grateful for companies like Pinwheel that help parents limit their child's access on a smartphone. If I could do it over again, I'd have gone that route with his siblings. Live and learn.