Thankful Mom of Five, Adoptive Mom of Two Ukrainian Beauties and Bereaved Mom

       Today I am thankful that Renee's mother-in-law Jeannie sent me this video.  I had seen it once before but never saved it.  It has a very,  very powerful message.  Renee is fortunate to have a nice, kind, and loving mother-in-law. I tried to share the video link but I am not that computer savvy.  If you go on youtube and type in  "The Professor and the Chalk," the video should come up.  It is better with the music accompaniment. I found the text online.    This is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at USC. There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against ...

     Today I am thankful for the show "The Chew."   I was watching the show the other day and Carla Hall made a simple ice cream cake.  I went to the store to get the ingredients the next day. I must have a weak mind!  When I taught at Chichester High School, I shared my room with another reading specialist.  She ate lunch while I was teaching.  She always brought the greatest stuff for lunch and weak-minded me often went and bought those things on my way home from work!  I eat mangoes because of her, I had never eaten a mango before in my life!  I am not really even an ice cream lover.  For some reason, I just had to make this simple ice cream cake. It was so simple and really tasty.  How can you go wrong with ice cream, whipped topping, nuts, chocolate syrup and peanut butter?  I even added caramel to the toppings. It was tasty, but very rich!    Each slice of the cake...

       Today I am thankful that Olya is coming home for the weekend. I am so happy that she is doing well in college but I really miss her. Olya is my daughter who is a homebody. Amy was also a homebody.      She likes to go out with friends but she also likes to be home with Dan and I.  Olya likes to watch movies with us. She even chats with us sometimes! Olya is not the type of teen that always has to be with friends. Olya enjoys time with her friends but  she is also happy cooking or drawing or painting or watching TV or a movie or playing with the cat.  She has the easiest disposition ever. Olya even enjoys going to work and her boss loves her!  She works hard and is never late. Her boss lets her work anytime she is home if she calls him.  When Olya was first learning English at age 10.5, she use to say "Sweet Home Sweet" instead of Home Sweet Home!

     Today I am having a hard time thinking about thankfulness.  I have had a bad few days. yesterday, Olivia had a car accident, first one.  the car looks like an accordion.  All of the air bags went off.  As I am writing this I am thinking  that I am completely thankful that she walked away with only a few bruises. I am also thankful that a man driving by pulled her out of the car because the door was stuck and she couldn't get out. The other two men in the accident did not help her at all. The man who helped her out gave her his cell phone to use to call me.  Later last night, he called to see how she was.  He was the kindest, nicest man ever. I am thankful for his kindness and his caring. He spoke to Olivia for about 15 minutes telling her that he cried when he told the story to his wife because he was so worried about her. I am thankful to this man with my entire heart. Thank you Lord for keeping my daughter safe.

            Last night I went to my bereaved parent's meeting.  I hadn't been there for awhile but I knew a psychic was scheduled for last night. Olivia wanted to come with me to see what a psychic reading was like. I am grateful that Olivia came with me. And I am always grateful to be with other bereaved parents because we all share an unbreakable and unspoken bond. No one wants to know how it feels to lose a child.  I think a lot of "psychics" are full of nonsense. People try to make things fit when they give a date or a number or a color or something like that.  There were probably about 20 people at the meeting.  When we got there, my friend Carol said Hi Colleen and Hi Olivia!    The psychic says "I have been hearing the name Olivia all day long."  DUH, it's the most common female name. You can't go wrong with the names Olivia or Michael or John, Joe. Then she starts to read ...

       Today I am thankful that the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII over New England Patriots!  I am not a huge football fan but everyone watches the Super Bowl, especially when their city's team is playing! The game was amazing and the Eagles deserved to win.  It is so much fun to watch when the underdog wins! The Eagles, the underdogs in the game, and their backup quarterback are bringing home a long sought after championship trophy. Halftime Show I also thought the halftime show was excellent! I really like Justin Timberlake and he put on a great halftime show. The Eagles won over the Patriots 41-33! PHILADELPHIA IS CELEBRATING!!

     Today I am thankful that I went to dinner with my dinner group friends! We meet every other month for dinner.  It is always nice to have the dinner to look forward too!  My friend Candy arranged the dinner and just started a Facebook page for our group! All of the women in the group are so nice!   I have never heard one woman in this group ever say anything negative about another person unless we're criticizing our own husbands! There is something special about being with a group of all women in roughly the same age group from the same area and school district history.  My older kids went to school with their kids. Candy and Carol, die hard Eagles fans, were decked out in their Eagles gear. Half the people in the bar next to our room were decked out in Eagles shirts and hats!  Every once in awhile we could hear them shouting E A G L E S!    It was so nice to sit at a round table because we could al...