Candles to keep time?

My son is reviewing how to tell time on an analog clock. We were curious to find out some of the many ways people marked time before our modern clocks. We came across some interesting ones including ‘water clocks’.  But one method that we decided to try was by burning a candle. Evidently, they knew how much time had passed when the candle burned to a certain mark. So we decided to give it a try.
We took a tapered candle and made 1/2 inch marks all the way down. We lit the candle and started our stop watch. We checked it every 5 minutes until it got close to the first mark. It took 26 minutes to burn to the first 1/2 inch mark!  Then it took 16 minutes to burn to the second mark. The next was 13 minutes and after that one, it jumped back up to 27 minutes! The last 1/2 mark wasn’t reached for another 33 minutes!!!

We then put our information into a graph and decided that perhaps inconsistencies in the modern wax may have caused the drastically differing times. We concluded that this would not be a very accurate measure of time for us!

-109.3 F…..is there a cooler way to start the school year?

We decided to kick our homeschooling year off in the coolest way we knew how…….      -109.3 degrees cool! We had a fun day with dry ice!

So, what exactly is dry ice?  I’m so glad you asked! Dry ice, very simply,  is compressed carbon dioxide.  Compressing the gas into a solid makes it become extremely cold…..       -109.3 degrees to be exact!  As the solid turns back into a gas (called sublimation) it does not go through a  ”liquid” state like water.  This is why it is called “dry” ice. 

We studied some of the uses of dry ice and carbon dioxide in industries and I admit that the nerd in me is all stirred up with lots of ideas for a science fair project …..but today, we just wanted to have some fun!  Here are a few projects we chose!

Flash freeze  (yeah, say that 3 times fast!)-  We mixed rubbing alcohol and dry ice together. The alcohol won’t freeze so it  makes a “super cooling liquid”.  You can then flash freeze items in it.  Many people will flash freeze leaves and flowers but we decided to flash freeze popcicles!  It took about 7 minutes to freeze them from room temperature but I think it would have been faster had we let the mixture sit and cool a little longer before adding the popcicles.

‘Boo Bubbles’ – We  saw this one online and knew we had to try it! Use a large container with a spicket. Connect clear tubing to the open spicket and drop some dry ice in water inside the container. (I used a separate container inside the spicket container) Then dip the other end of the tube into some soapy water and pull it back out. A bubble will form on the end of the tube and begin filling with the carbon dioxide fog! If you are careful, you can even hold these little fog filled bubbles. Of course,  the little ones loved popping them to watch the fog burst out!

The kids had fun making mini cauldrons (bowls of water with dry ice in them). You can also add a few drops of dish soap to them but make sure that you do this over a sink or have the mini cauldron setting in a larger container.  All of the soap suds are filled with the “fog” and it’s lots of fun to grab a handful and clap your hands together!

You can also take a strip of cloth, dip it into soapy water and carefully run it across one of your ‘cauldrons’. It will make a huge bubble. Fun to watch it grow and eventually burst!

We also dropped a small amount of dry ice in a glass of apple juice. Once the dry ice has completely sublimated, you can take a drink and you have a nice cold carbonated drink!  Suddenly, the kiddos all wanted a their very own bubbling glass of apple juice!

Put a small piece of dry ice in a metal bowl or a large metal spoon. It makes a horrible noise….sort of like fingernails across a chalk board but worse.  My son loved it!

Dry ice bomb- (Just so you know…..these are illegal in some places!) Do this outside in a safe area. Use a water bottle and fill half with water and drop some pieces of dry ice inside of it. Twist the cap on tightly and get away from it! It will explode.

A few safety tips when working with dry ice:
~Always use insulated gloves. Never touch it with your bare hands! It will burn and can cause frostbite.
~Tongs (not thongs) are great for picking it up.
~Make sure to use it in a well ventilated area. Remember, this is carbon dioxide….the stuff you breathe out….. it displaces oxygen so you don’t want it to get too concentrated.

Despairing sea? river? stream?

Perhaps I have been reading too much “Pilgrims Progress” lately but recently I had a dream.  In this dream, I was on a ship on a sea called Despair. There was a storm and the ship began to break apart. It seemed hopeless! I knew that death was eminent but I began to thank the Lord for all of the blessings in my life.

Then I looked and I could see the shore on both sides.  I realized that this was not a vast sea at all, but instead it was a river.  There was hope! I began to thank the Lord again and suddenly I was standing over the river. It was so tiny and I realized that it wasn’t a river at all. Only a little stream. I then stepped victoriously over that stream of despair!

Isn’t it like that?  Many times, events in our life seem so despairing.  In fact, this dream came on the heels of some really sad news we had received. I wanted to stay in bed and invite pity and all her friends over but instead, God gave me this dream and reminded me to get up and in all things be thankful.  Suddenly that sea of despair was only a stream which was easily stepped over!

A little neglect goes a long way.

Well, many people reading this already know that we have just come back from a 3 week hiatis also known as our vacation! I am going to write about that later……..but for now, I want to tell you about the surprise we had when we got home.

Before we left, we (and when I say “we” I am referring to my husband) worked hard preparing the garden for our trip. He weeded, trimed, watered, staked, etc. every afternoon for the week leading up to our departure. We were expecting some weeds when we got home but nothing could have prepared us for the jungle we spotted well before pulling into the driveway. Apparantly, while we were away, we had an unusually large amount of rain coupled with plenty of sunshine. I am sure the entire neighborhood had been watching this beast take root wondering when we were going to come home and take a machete to this eyesore. In only 3 weeks, the entire garden (which was about to my knee or waist when we left) was now over my head including most of the weeds! (and I’m 5’9″) Even the tomato plants had crawled over their cages or stakes and now lay in tangles together on the ground…. The bugs feasting on my favorite fruit! 

We had hired a teenager in our neighborhood to cut the lawn but assured him that he did not need to bother himself with any labor of the vegetable garden. As we climbed out of our vehicle, our mouths were nearly on the ground! Both of us immediatly went to survey the damage. It was horrible. I was embarrassed that this overgrown tangle of weeds was now in our backyard and fully expected a letter from the city attached to our front door warning us to do something with it (there wasn’t one) . I stood there next to my dear husband desperately hoping that he would not try to enlist my help to get it in order. It’s hot and humid…not to mention there are billions of bugs in that thicket of weeds! I was not so lucky. I guess he expected his faithful wife who had the bright idea of planting a garden to be out there on the frontlines with him.  (Thankfully, he didn’t remind me that starting a garden was my idea!)  

I managed to busy myself all afternoon finding every excuse  to do the work in the house while he toiled away in those bowels of darkness.  But today, as soon as the sun came up, Scott rolled over and asked, “you ready to work in that garden?”. My response was “that’s not a garden”. I managed to find some excuse (How convenient that today I decided to begin exercising) but promised to help this afternoon. And so I did. It was lots of work. We were sweating and dirty and despite bug repellant we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes. 

The end of the 2nd day of work.....

After trying to untangle the tomato plants, I finally made the decision to simply pull up the worst offenders. They were heaps on the ground and at the center of the conglomeration, we couldn’t have reached the fruit. I knew it would be breeding ground for stink bugs. For the benefit of the rest of the garden, they had to be pulled or severly cut back despite the fact they were producing a prolific amount of fruit. Not my happiest moment. 

As we were working, I began thinking about how as parents, we are curators of our young childrens garden of their heart. Very often, just like in my garden,  weeds take root in a relatively short time of neglect. I am not talking about neglect such as that which requires intervention by OCS, but instead simple things such as neglecting to follow through with discipline, allowing sassiness to go uncorrected and failing to teach them simple responsibility. Next thing you know, you are having to pull up or cut back even the fruit bearing plants because you know that there will be unplucked fruit that the bugs will gorge themselves on and spread over the entire garden.

I am sure that we looked like a site. Sweating and dirty disappearing in and out of that jungle. The roots on those weeds went deep and I twisted and contorted to get some of them out of the ground. Usually, I had to enlist the help of gardening tools, scissors, hedge clippers and my hubs weedwacker! My hair was frizzy from the humidity and did I mention that sweat was pouring off of me like Niagra Falls? Certainly our neighbors were amused at watching this not so private display. Isn’t it  like that when the weeds in our childrens life take root?  We are the last one to discover them often too late when serious prunning is in order.

So now, look around. Is there weeds creeping up around you? Are you seeing some wild shoots in your childs life? Are you considering just letting those foreign seeds grow to see what happens…hoping for the best?  Don’t neglect those weeds any longer. First pray and ask God for direction and then begin the dirty work of weeding your childs heart. Just like my tomato plants must be staked and directed to keep them from wallowing on the ground, our childrens hearts need to be trained and directed.

It’s not easy. You will sweat. You will be dirty. You will stink for a while. You will need tools. I can assure you of these things. However, don’t wait…… it won’t get easier.

 Everyone expects that gardens need to be weeded and tended to. A person doesn’t make fun of a gardener as he gently pulls the weeds that would steal the life of his precious plants. No. We only become the laughing stock when it becomes obvious that we have neglected our duties.

There was poo on that….

Well, it’s been about six weeks since we accepted our latest foster child (For privacy reasons, here after referred to as #8 since he is our 8th foster child). I will be totally and completely honest with you, it has been a rough six weeks. We have had some good days and this past week was probably the best so far, but days like today I fantasize about calling his case worker and packing him up. In fact, one day, I did just that. Here is how that day went.  There was some baby clothes that I needed to put away in storage that were folded in a box in the corner of his room. He had taken them out and thrown them everywhere. As I was folding them again to store away, he told me that there was “poo” on the one that I was currently folding. I asked what he meant and he said that he rubbed his poo on it. I asked him where he got poo from and he said out of his butt. I was totally disgusted. Every pore on my body was annoyed with him. I proceeded to pack up all his belongings. As I went through his things I didn’t want to think about any of it. I just wanted him gone. I didn’t want the responsibility of having to keep him from destroying other peoples home when we visit, I didn’t want to hear anymore lies that pour out of his mouth and my ears needed a break from his non-stop demands. Not to mention that if one more person told me that he was just so cute I was going to rip their throat out.

I had the phone in my hand. I began crying, feeling very defeated and guilty. I began praying again about it all. I had been studying about God’s sovereignty but I didn’t want to surrender this area but He reminded me that He is in control. I felt like he was telling me “just wait a little while longer”. So I placed the receiver back in the cradle and opened my Bible instead. I sat outside on the steps crying and reading and praying.

So many people tell me things like “Oh, I could never be a foster parent because I would get attached too fast”. I don’t really know what to say to the person who says this. Of course there are children that are easy to get attached to. They are easy going and fit into your family easily. Then there are children like #8 that are very different from your family and will test every ounce of patience you can muster up. There are days when all I can do is ask the Lord to give me love for this child and to help me see #8 like He does. Every once in a while, He gives me a glimpse and I feel renewed and committed once more.

This afternoon, after a day of testing from #8 that began way too early for a Saturday morning and included but was not limited to peeing on the sofa and a melt down at the grocery store, I once again whinded up on my steps to escape the non-mutable murmurings, tattling, and whining. Then tonight,  he gives me a big hug and says “Ma, I love you so very much”.

And so folks, tomorrow is a new day.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I’m naturally a thrifty person. I believe that money is a tool to be used for God’s glory and desire to be a good steward with all that I have.  I pray that each person reading this will have the mentality that “The more I save here, is more that I can give there.” In other words, save so you can be generous! I will be adding a few thrift conscience blogs of things we have done in our own family to help us in this area.  The first is making our own laundry detergent. Seriously, have you seen the prices of that stuff lately? I discovered that I could make 10 gallons of detergent for about $2. Yes, two dollars!

Here are the ingredients you will need:

The 3 ingredients you need to make your laundry detergent.

Other than these items, you should have a five gallon bucket (or I use 2 mop buckets) and hot tap water. You will also need containers to store about 5 gallons in. Take one bar of Fels Naptha* laundry soap and grate it….a cheese grater works fine.  Add it to 4 cups of hot tap water and stir over medium heat until it is completely dissolved. Remove from heat. Next, add 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda** and 1/2 cup of Borax.  Stir until dissolved. Fill a five gallon bucket half way up with hot tap water and pour mixture into it. Stir until mixed well. Fill the bucket the rest of the way up with hot tap water and mix again. Now, simply let it sit overnight. The next day, it will have gelled. Stir it again very well and then pour into storage containers***. When you are ready to make it usable to wash, simply fill up an old clean laundry detergent bottle 1/2 with the mixture and 1/2 with more hot tap water. Be sure to shake it before each use because it will still gel. This is SUDLESS so if you are used to seeing suds, you won’t see any! Use 5/8 cup for traditional top loading washing machines (approx 180 loads) and 1/4 cup for front load high efficiencey washers (approx 640 loads).

*We use Fels Naptha (I found it at Krogers) but you can use Octagon, Zote, Kirks or your choice laundry bar.

**It must be Washing Soda and NOT baking Soda. You want Sodium Carbonate.

***If you can save old laundry detergent bottles, they work great. I tried to use clean water jugs (the ones that are the same as milk jugs) and they work okay, but they puncture easily so I do not recommend using those anymore! (Ask me how I know.) I now use 8 large glass pickle jars to store the undiluted gel and pour it into 2 old laundry detergent bottles when it is time to get it ready to use!

This morning it took me about 35 minutes to make it…… Most of my time was used grating the bar of soap and convincing the three year old that it is not cheese and no, you cannot have a bite!  It is now sitting and tomorrow I will simply pour it into the glass jugs and place them on the top shelf in the laundry room.  For our family, it usually lasts about 6 months!

Saying Hello and Saying Goodbye

It has been a busy few weeks! We had a 3 year old arrive about two weeks ago, then the 2 yo that has been with us since September was moved to a different foster home (was moved in with siblings…it’s a complicated case) last week.  When a child arrives or leaves it is very stressful and this is the first time I have had both within the same week. Both situations can be difficult. So far, we have only taken younger kids from birth to 3 yo. When they arrive, they are usually very confused and we simply spend the first few days just trying to get to know a few things about the child. You must realize that usually we know very little about the kids. (and of course, they know even less about us which adds to their anxiety and confusion) We don’t know simple things like what kind of foods they like, are they used to sleeping with a nightlight on or perhaps they fall asleep with the radio or television on (I hate this, btw!). They usually don’t have a routine and aren’t used to taking scheduled naps. The discipline they are used to is not usually  healthy and we must teach them “time out” if it is appropriate for them. We know nothing of their temperment and what things they find comforting or fun.

It takes time and patience but usually, within the first few weeks the children have adjusted somewhat and begin to fall into our routine. We are still getting to know each other but we have a little better idea of the childs temperment, their likes and dislikes and usually within the first week or so I can get them to take a nap more or less on schedule with little resistance which is good for everyone! (I will post more on that later)

Well, eventually they just become part of our family! And then they leave. This is hard. There is a grieving that occurs when they go, I won’t deny it.  Of course, I am concerned about how they are adjusting. Even when they go back to their home with their own parents, it takes them a while to adjust again. Every home has a different routine. Fortunately, we have been able to keep in touch with most of the children that have lived in our home. This makes it much easier on both our family and the children, too.  Our home is unusually quiet with one less pitter patter in the house.

I can tell that my son grieves when the child leaves too. His attitude changes and he is much more sensitive than normal. (This was one of my biggest concerns before beginning foster care and this is one of the reasons that we waited as long as we did before beginning.) We have taken breaks from being a foster family just so that we can have time with just the 3 of us. We use this time to really focus on each other and strengthening those bonds to help us cope when it’s time to say goodbye to a child. We always talk about it as a family before we accept another child into our home. It affects everyone and if someone isn’t prepared for the challenge at that time, we will wait a while.

Well, when a child leaves, obviously, I have to get all of their things together to go with them. This usually takes a full day or three  (and that is if I am not too distracted). Then I get their lifebook/photo album together. This is their keepsake of the time they spent with us.

So this is where we are at now. We are getting to know one child and have had to say goodbye to another.

I admit, many people focus on the negativity and im afraid that I may have done that too, but honestly, I can say that it is tough, but it has been one of the biggest blessings in our lives.  It has stregthened our own family. It has forced us to deal with ugly things in our own lives which only God can fix. God has used this to humble me. I am going to write more about this in the near future, also.

Big Fat ZERO!

Zero. What does this number bring to mind for you? Perhaps you think of the word Nothing? Nada? Emptiness? According to Merriam Webster, zero is defined as “having  no magnitude or quantity: not any”.

However, a basic mathematical principal states that if you add every number known and unknown to man, the sum of all numbers would be zero. Let me explain, every number known and unknown has an equal and opposite number. Therefore, if you have a -2 the equal and opposite number is +2. When added together their value is zero. So, every number both positive and negative added together is zero.

See, zero is both nothing and everything at the same time. I was studying this principal when it occurred to me that we need to be that nothing zero so that we can allow God to be that everything zero. When we realize that our flesh can do nothing and dwell in that place of humility, we are allowing God to move in and become the everything zero.

The following is at the risk of oversimplifying the process of refractive error correction.  However, I believe that it still presents an accurate, though brief and simple, explanation of vision correction. To correct basic vision errors (in other words, deciding what eyeglass prescription is needed for someone),  the scale has minus numbers, zero (sphere) and plus numbers with the best vision acuity achieved at sphere which is represented by the number zero. If you have too much magnification in your natural eye (near sightedness), you need to minus some of it out in order to correct your vision and bring your refractive error to zero. If you need more (far sightedness) then you will add more to bring it to zero. This is the purpose of contacts and glasses. (If you look at your box of contacts or your eyeglass prescription, you will see a plus or minus sign in front of the numbers. That is what this is doing). The closer you bring refractive error number to zero (also known as sphere), the more clear and accurate your vision becomes.

In order to move to zero, we must have a relationship with Christ.  We must put our faith in Him and allow him to become the lead in our life. We become nothing, he becomes everything and for the first time, our vision and perception is accurate.

John 3:30 “He must become greater; I must become less.”

Not even rape or incest…..

It is a heartbreaking subject.  Abortion.  I do believe that as Christians we need to be compassionate when a woman we know is facing an unplanned pregnancy.  However, I have heard Christians say things such as abortion is okay in the case of rape or incest. This post is addressed to those who call themselves  Christian and believe that abortion is okay sometimes.

When I hear the rape/incest line given, it is usually out of desperation to justify abortion. You can see just how desperate this line is when you consider that rape accounts for less than 1% of all pregnancies. I am in no way minimizing the damage done to a woman who has been raped.  I don’t believe that abortion should ever be justified and I want to offer something for those who may have bought into the lie that abortion is okay in some cases. However, I will have to digress for a moment.

Last year, there was a woman who was driving under the influence and struck another vehicle with a mother and her 3 children. The mother and one of her children were seriously injured and had to endure many painful surgeries and therapy to regain some functions of their bodies. However, that wasn’t the worst of this mothers ordeal,  her other 2 children were killed in the accident.  My heart was so burdened for this mother.  Many of us have heard tragic stories similar to these and other horrific accounts of innocent people having to live with the consequences of anothers criminal act. That innocent womans life will never be the same. Nothing can ever “undo” the consequences that she is forced to live with by another persons criminal act.

In every area of society, we are forced to live with the consequences of anothers criminal acts. It can be as simple as higher prices at the grocery store because they must make up for the loss from thieves to something as traumatic as the story mentioned above. When a woman is raped or incest occurs, there is nothing that can undo the criminal act that was done to her. An abortion does not make her un-raped.  It does not undo the consequences that she is forced to live with. What if the woman is left infertile after the abortion? What if her chances of breast cancer go up because she has the abortion? Instead of us being angry at the rapist or guilty party, we inflict more damage on the victim by expecting her to get an abortion instead of carrying the child to term. The fact is that women are 300% more likely to die from an abortion than from carrying a child to term.

I believe that, as Christians, we must be compassionate.  It is never easy to decide to have a child and then to have pregnancy thrust upon you in this way is unjust. However, if we allow abortion to continue, then there are men out there that see it as permission to hurt a woman. Since abortion was legalized, crimes against women have risen at unprecidented rates. As abortion becomes more accepted in the mainstream,  it has taken a womans power  to say “No” away from her. Instead, it gives him the power to think “She can always have an abortion”.

The Bible instructs us to hold every thought captive. We should challenge our thoughts and ideas. Are they Biblically sound? Are they diametrically opposed to the faith that we profess to have?  Sin is sin wherever it is found.  Abortion is sin in every case.  Allowing yourself to believe that sin is okay sometimes flys in the face of what Christianity espouses. We must be willing to stand up against the tide and not bow to ”wishy washy christianity” that is so politically correct that it is scared to call sin what it is.

A little bare….

Things have been quite crazy over here and as you can see, my new little blog is still quite bare. We are expecting some rainy days next week so at least one of those I intend to sit down and play at the computer….. adding some of my favorite links and some (hopefully inspiring) blogs that I have written out. I have been reading some great books on Christian Apologetics that I want to share with you also!