Thankful Thursday

Thursday again. :) Here are some things I'm thankful for today:

1. Boys in suits. Thankful for college job fairs and boys willing to send me pictures. Noah's engineering job fair was last week. Since biking to a job fair in a suit didn't sound like the most fun, Micah offered to drive Noah and took this picture for me when he dropped Noah off. 

As a senior this year, Noah's hoping some of the conversations he had will lead to further conversations that will then lead to a job after graduation. Given that last year's job fairs were all virtual, it was nice to be back to an in-person situation. 

Also, Asher's job fair was earlier this week. As a freshman, he's not actively looking for a job but recognized the value of going to see how everything works. He didn't get someone else to take the picture so it's not as good, but I'll take it!

Don't my guys look nice in their suits?!

(Sidenote: Why do the schools schedule job fairs for just before homecoming/parents weekends and midterms...when students are already swamped with both schoolwork and activities that they want to participate in or attend? A little frustrating.)

2. The fact that Micah's become much more comfortable with needles. This week Micah had his pneumovax shot, which I think/hope is the last shot this year for the boy. So far in 2021, he's had weekly injections of methotrexate for the first three months (before he switched to taking the methotrexate pills instead)...his Covid shots...his "normal" vaccinations at his well check, along with his prevnar vaccine...his Covid booster shot in August...his flu shot last month...and then the pneumovax shot (which is a second pneumococcal vaccine). He's also had bloodwork required every three months (due to being on the immunosuppressants and needing to monitor things).

This is a boy who hated needles before his juvenile arthritis diagnosis. Seriously. The dentist had a note in his file to not use needles (after a biting incident), and I needed an additional nurse to help me literally sit on the boy the last time he needed regular vaccinations before his diagnosis. So, having survived more than two dozen needles this year is a big deal. He's gotten sooo much better about it, and I'm thankful.

3. FaceTime. So thankful for technology and being able to talk with my boy while he's away at college. I love being able to see his face...

4. Repair services that can come right away. Sunday night we heard a strange, loud noise. We ran around looking for the source but couldn't figure out what it was and thought maybe it was from a neighboring house. We went back to what we were doing. Later that night, when Nathan went to take out the garbage for the week, we discovered that one of our garage door springs had "sprung"...such that the garage door wouldn't open without manual assistance. Ugh.

Fortunately, we were able to find a repair guy, Mike Garage Door Repair, who was able to come Monday morning. The technician was great to work with, and the company's communication was fabulous. Can't really ask for much more than that when you're spending money you didn't want to be spending, lol. :) 

5. Empty-ish nest. When we road-tripped to Washington for my gram's 100th birthday, I brought home a couple of large bins of loose photos from my mom's new house. Now that schools are back in session and all, and since I have the time and space thanks to my empty-ish nest, I've been sorting through the bins. I have piles. And piles. 

Nathan thinks I may have an organizational problem/compulsion, lol. The photo piles here are actually only about a quarter (maybe less?) of the total. I'm thankful that I don't have any little kids running around so can safely leave my piles while in progress. (While I'm at it, I'm also thankful for people who label the backs of photos, lol.)

For what it's worth, I've been sorting roughly by year when possible. The goal is to get everything sorted and then digitized. Mostly, so far, I've learned that my mom's dad and stepmom seemed to have really liked having their picture taken...that it's much harder to determine a kid's age in a picture than I thought...and that there are definitely a few gems among the piles.

And that's some of what I'm thankful for this week. :)