Implosion Fun!

This was one of our science experiments we did recently.

 

We filled a pot of really cold water.

We put about 2T of water in the bottom of an empty soda can.

We put it on a burner until we could hear the water boiling and see steam rising from the can.

We very carefully picked up the can and quickly put it into the pot of cold water.

And it instantly imploded! 

We had to do it three more times just for fun!!

Bringing WWII to Life

In our Around the World Travels we've landed in Japan for a few weeks.  And one of the things I've introduced is World War II.  Jacob has really enjoyed it!  I supposed there's not much to not enjoy for a boy... airplanes, weaponry, battles, etc.  It's been fun to see him jump in with both feet!

My grandpa on my mom's side fought in WWII, but we weren't ever allowed to talk about it with or around him, so I honestly have no idea what part he played. (He also died when I was 18.)  I do remember hearing that he had to pretend to be dead as the opposing soldiers came around shooting anyone still breathing among the carnage on a battlefield.

But Candace's grandpa also fought and is alive and well, so we went for a field trip to hear all about it (on a 7 year old's level).

Some photos of the young soldier and his squadron.

 Mr. Rosser looked in his old records and told us what his mission was on November 6, 1944!

 He flew all of these planes.  Mr. Rosser told Jacob when he asked what his favorite plane was to fly, "If you want to show off a little, fly this one. [bottom, middle]  But if you want to come home at night, fly this one [bottom right]."


These were the names of the 4 men (out of 20 in their initial group) who survived.  One of them bought a piece of wood cut from the same log for all of them to have to remember.


 Here they are at a reunion some years ago.




 Mr. Rosser's pilot's license.


 

 His flight log book... this was fun to read! He wrote how he felt after flying certain aircraft for the first time, flying his first independent mission, practicing landings, etc.


This photograph of his beautiful bride traveled with him on 68 missions.


This flag was attached to the back of a pilot's flight suit.  Each grouping is the same paragraph translated into many languages.


Here is the text in English.  A bit sobering, I thought.

Mr. R did a great job and we really appreciate him sharing with us!  Jacob said he'd like to talk to him some more.  I'd love to hear more too, I enjoyed it.

And what grandpa doesn't like finishing up with a few magic tricks for the kids??

So what do you think happens when...

you get 12 kids 8 and under together for a professional photo session??  Just look and see!!

 

Little boys take the opportunities to show their muscles and brothers tickle their sisters.

Observant little girls decide to clean out the ears of little boy cousins on front of them.

Big brothers of said little girls discreetly try to shoot the photographer.

 

Some little girls just can't resist the urge to be funny back at the photographer.

Everybody tries to help.

And some infants (who can't stand on their own) fall over (when the photographer ignores their mama and tries it anyway), pulling their 2 year old support over with them, making it look like the cute little girl behind him is pushing them over!  And the biggest brother again tries to tickle his sister.

But, hey, we do the best we can.

I think they're a good lookin' bunch of kids! 
(Add 5 more kids to this for a grand total of 17 in this generation of Robert's family!)




 


Photos by Portrait Innovations.

A Severe Mercy

This is a fantastic book!  I'm not sure how this book ended up on my bookshelf, but I am quite certain it will end up one of my all-time favorites.

 

Here's an excerpt I read last night that made me laugh at the truth of it.  Then I read it again and with a much deeper understanding, wholeheartedly agreed.  The author is speaking of himself as he tells of days gone by.

"He had been wont to despise emotions: girls were emotional, girls were weak, emotions- tears- were weakness.  But this morning he was thinking that being a great brain on a tower, nothing but a brain, wouldn't be much fun.  No excitement, no dog to love, no joy in the blue sky- no feelings at all.  But feelings- feelings are emotions!  He was suddenly overwhelmed by the revelation that what makes life worth living is, precisely, the emotions.  But then- this was awful!- maybe girls with their tears and laughter were getting more out of life.  Shattering!  He checked himself: showing one's emotions was not the thing: having them was.  Still, he was dizzy with the revelation.  What is beauty but something that is responded to with emotion?  Courage, at least partly, is emotional.  All the splendor of life.  But if the best of life is, in fact, emotional, then one wanted the highest, purest emotions: and that meant joy.  Joy was the highest... If there were a choice- and he suspected there was- a choice between, on the one hand, the heights and the depths and, on the other hand, some sort of safe, cautious middle way, he, for one, here and now chose the heights and the depths...

Since then the years had gone by, and he... had had the love.  And the joy- what joy it had been!  And the sorrow.  He had had- was having- all the sorrow there was.  And yet, the joy was worth the pain." 

Here's a short description from Amazon:

A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, is a heart-rending love story described by its author as "the spiritual autobiography of a love rather than of the lovers." Vanauken chronicles the birth of a powerful pagan love borne out of the relationship he shares with his wife, Davy, and describes the growth of their relationship and the dreams that they share. 

While studying at Oxford, Sheldon and Davy develop a friendship with C.S. Lewis, under whose influence and with much intellectual scrutiny they accept the Christian doctrine. As their devotion to God intensifies, Sheldon realizes that he is no longer Davy's primary love--God is. Within this discovery begins a brewing jealousy.   --Jacque Holthusen

Hurting for You

I listened to this today. 

And wept through every single song.

The words are real, true, painful, hopeful,

raw. 

 

Every song is fantastic.

There are so many of you hurting sooooo badly right now,

worse that I can even imagine,

and I cried for each one of you.

I'm so sorry.

Details

If you're actually reading on my blog's site (instead of in an e-mail or RSS feed) you'll notice a new look!  I've been wanting to add a third column for a while now so I can add a few more things, but am always half asleep when I get a chance to mess with it.  But tonight the house was quiet and I was bored, so I went for it and it worked!  :)  So a few things are missing for the time being... my list of other blogs, namely (and my family pictures!).  I will put it back up, I just didn't get to it tonight.  I do miss my Thanksgiving look, but soon enough I'll switch it out to something red and green!

But while I'm taking care of details, anything you'd like to see here on the sidebars for quick access?  Or more posts on a certain topic?  I guess while I'm asking, what are your favorite kinds of posts?

Thanks!!

tired means exhausted

Me, to Mattie after her fifth time getting out of bed: "I know you're exhausted.  I can tell by looking at you."

Mattie:  "Mom, exhausted means tired and I already told you I'm not tired!"

(Academic) Thanksgiving Plans!

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving already!!  I am excited to have found something unique for our Thanksgiving week this year!  It's nice to do something we haven't done three times already.  I thought I'd share it early in case someone else thought it looked neat too!

This is an online, interactive "research" project for kids. 
It was created this year after the reenactment of the 1621 harvest feast done by the Plimoth Plantation museum, using pictures from the historically accurate reenactment.  It teaches the student what a historian is, then puts them in that position to find out what really happened in 1621 (and how that might be a bit different than all of our cute little Thanksgiving books tell us).  After they do their "research" there is an opportunity to do an online project too!  And it includes a teacher's guide if that's helpful. 
There's more at the home site too!

Here are some of the books we'll read along with our study (Some of these are repeats, and some are new to us.):

 

Jacob is loving Magic Tree House books right now, so he'll be excited about these!

This last one is one of the Trailblazer series by Dave and Neta Jackson.  We've been learning a lot about different missionaries this year, so this is a great opportunity to learn about William Bradford and his influence on the colonists.

 

We'll also do a few worksheets from enchantedlearning.com (brush up on our turkey knowledge and Massachusetts map skills), some creative writing and color some pictures according to what we've learned.  I'm trying to find a cool science experiment to do, but not having much luck.  I think I'll just do a fun lesson on spices, it just won't include an experiment.

I'm still working on the rest of it, though that will cover all of our academic stuff.  I'll do a separate post on our favorite just-for-fun things to do.

This week's simple pleasures

We've had a good week around here.  Both kids had the flu, though Jacob's version was incredibly mild.  Mattie, however is stuck with bronchitis still.  This is how things typically go with these two!

Here are the sweet things I've enjoyed this week:

*Having Jacob help me out by reading to Mattie during her breathing treatments.  He asks comprehension questions and everything!

*Getting my van back from the shop with a beautiful new paint repair, wax and buff job!  No more scratches from the sheep or messed up front end form a recent fender bender! 

*Getting a GREAT deal on the extra work we had done while it was in the shop already.

*Driving a VW minivan for the week as a rental and knowing I love my Honda more!

*Watching Jacob's love for reading develop as he always wants to read "one more chapter before I turn out the light."

*Having lots of imaginary cowgirl princesses over to play with my princess.  :D  Mattie has had a very fun week!

*A good day to visit with friends from Joni and Friends camp!

*Being thankful we own a nebulizer (breathing machine) so we can conveniently do the best thing for bronchitis.

*Hand me down Gameboy Advances (thanks, cousins!!) to entertain Jacob while we wait for Robert in a boot store.

*Robert buying boots, then coming home and finding them online for $53 less!!  (Always a good thing to save on his work boots!)

*Hearing a sweet report about two someones I love very much having a good weekend together, hopefully the beginning of a new life. 

*Jacob asking to have jobs so he can make money to buy a blanket for kids in Asia who don't have one and planning what he's going to put in his shoeboxes this year!  (I love that he assumes we're going to do this!)

I have to say, there has been one sweet part of asking the Lord to show me the simple things in life that used to bring me joy.  I'm noticing and appreciating things about Jacob that used to get overlooked among the frustration with his boisterous personality.  And that is a priceless gift!

Christmas Gifts that Help Others

As I make my Christmas list this year I'm asking the Lord to help me be a good steward in my plans, be reasonable about what I write on the list for my kids, and seriously rethink the way I'm going to do things.

This is a really important post.  There are two ideas I wanted to share with you all as we all plan our lists of things to buy:

 Joni and Friends Catalog

They have books for all ages, calendars, note cards with Joni's artwork, music, and a lot more.  All of the local Joni and Friends offices are self supported, meaning they have to raise their own support.  One way I can help them do that is to purchase some of their catalog items directly from a local office and they get a portion of the cost directly in their pocket.  (They are a dollar or two more than CBD, but it's worth it to me.)  I'm trying to make my list based on what they have to offer so I can support them this way.  I have my eye on several of the children's products!

IMPORTANT NOTE:  When you look online, please don't order directly from that link!  No harm in doing that, but if you did it that way, the California office will get that profit, and the Knoxville office could really use your help!  If you make a list of the items you'd like to order, call the Knoxville Office to place your order and you will be helping my local office and the missionary my Sunday School class has adopted!  (The number is at the bottom of the screen.  Tell them I told you about them!) 

Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia is a ministry that trains and sends native missionaries to share the good news of Christ with those who have never heard.  Many of their gifts are funded by way of their Christmas Gift Catalog.  But it's a very different kind of catalog!  Instead of ordering an inanimate object that will arrive in your mailbox in a few days, you can order a goat or a pig for a needy family or missionary in Asia!  (The true meaning of a gift that keeps on giving!)

You could purchase a rickshaw for a man so he can support his family.

For five dollars you could buy a blanket for a child who has none.

For forty dollars you could purchase a winter clothing packet for a missionary who has a need.

For three dollars you can purchase a Bible.

For eleven dollars you can purchase a chicken.

The list goes on and on.

I must warn you, if you're like me, by the end of the catalog you'll be utterly finished with Christmas as we know it here in America.  So don't be offended if I send you a card that says I bought a goat in your name for a family who has a much greater need than anything we will ever know here in America.  And I sure won't be offended if that's what you do for me.  PLEASE go look at what you can do for a very small amount of money.  There is a short video there to watch or show your kids too.

If you choose to purchase a gift in another's honor, Gospel For Asia will even send a Christmas card explaining your gift directly to them or to you so you can personally send it!  As we're focusing our studies on chidlren's around the world and praying for all to know Jesus, this has been a neat way to give Jacob an opportunity to make a difference too.

Please join me in helping others this way this year!