Cassidy's Science Project

It's that time of year...Science Fair Projects for 4th grade.

The trouble with a child that lives in two homes is that when it's time for a big project, things have to go back and forth, papers get lost, information is incorrectly passed on and children get confused as do the parents. So this weekend, Ryan and I finally got all the information on Cassidy's science project that is due this week though she has needed to be working on it all month. Cass was in tears because she hadn't done anything, but we were able to stop everything and get it done.

It is in these moments that I thank God that I am able to be a full time mom. I had the availability to get online with Cass and figure out what she wanted to do. Then we went to Walmart to get supplies. We used the three day weekend to experiment and we were able to finish the project Tuesday evening. She was sent to school with all the supplies to complete the presentation board at school. All this without anymore tears and I am proud of how hard she worked.

So here it is:

Better Candle for your money.

Will a white candle or a colored candle burn faster. After some research, she learned how to care for candles. You need to trim the wick to 1/4" before lighting it. A long wick can burn unevenly and smoke. She also learned that you need to protect the flame from the elements by putting it in a glass; she used my hurricane lamps.

Her hypothesis was that the white would burn faster because there were no dyes or chemicals.

She set the timer for an hour, let the candles burn then measured them after one hour. She repeated her test three times with white and three different colors: orange, maroon, and blue. Then the following day she repeated the entire experiment. After burning 12 candles, the results did not match her hypothesis. The colored candles burned faster...not by much but consistently they burned faster. She concluded that the extra chemicals and dyes in a colored candle may create a hotter flame causing them to burn faster. Therefore white candles are the better candle for your money.

Here's some pics of the process:

The Supplies

Candles burning - it took six hours to do all the tests!

After the tests were complete

At the Science Fair

                                     Dad & I got to be judges for 5th grade.                                         We stopped by to see Cassidy after we were done.

So proud of his baby girl.

 

She did an amazing job. We are really proud of her. She took 3rd place in her division! Way to go Cassidy! We love you!

Swazi...here I come.

This year I will be going on the trip to Swaziland, Africa with a group from my church. This will be the 5th and final year our church has committed to short term missions trips to Swazi. Making this decision has been a bit of a roller coaster.

The very first year they went, I did not feel called to go but tried to help others. Each year I have contributed in different ways from helping them take an extra bag of stuff to going to an adult prom. I got my hair cut for a fundraiser and donated an egg casserole for a Swazi breakfast. One year the girls' didn't have gifts at their birthday party but all the guests brought magnadoodles for the schools in Swazi. I have bought little items to support the Go-gos (which mean grandma) and have supported and prayed over others who have gone. Since the very first slide show the church showed us, my heart has been pricked to help this mission.

I knew I was called to go and finally this is my year. In fact, this was a premarital deal. I told Ryan before we got serious that I would be going to Africa in the next couple of years. I needed him to know that this was a calling on my life and that he would be okay with it when it came. He had his concerns then and they are the same now, but he is supporting me completely in amazing ways that words cannot explain.

Over the past several weeks as I approached walking in this decision, there have been several times when it seemed I was not going to be able to go. In fact, Friday afternoon it looked like it wasn't in the cards anymore. Then, by the grace of God, Monday afternoon the doors were opened again. I am going to Swaziland, Africa in June for two weeks.

The planning involved to go is insane. I have grandparents stepping up to help take care of kids while I'm gone (and I feel so blessed to have them). I have so many friends that have already helped just get the beginning things accomplished. Then of course I have kids that are concerned that they are going to go hungry while I'm gone and who is going to feed them, and we can't eat pizza for two weeks and where are we going to go while dad's at work, and...come on kids, like I really didn't have a plan. Take a breath. Then I realize they're freaking out because we have never been apart this long and possibly not even able to talk to me. The longest the girls were ever away from me was this summer, for one week, with their grandparents in FL and they talked to me for 45 minutes every night!

So there have been some hick ups in this process and I'm sure there are some more to come. The kids are worried but excited for me. My parents are helping with kids. My husband is being the most amazing cheer leader ever and is keeping me on track trying to get everything done to go. Now for the hard part...

This trip means there is a lot needed and so I have included the letter that I am sending out to family and friends. I have included it here for those who are in town (trying to save on the postage). I covet your prayers and any support you can give to this cause. Once again, thanks for listening!

Support Letter

Another Anniversary to remember

So last Saturday was two years since my mother passed away. In this month, I have had two wonderful friends say something to me about their mothers. One was angry with her mom and I gently reminded her that it was nice to have her. The other said that she has so many friends that have lost their mothers that she feel very grateful to have her mom still.

Moms are a necessary thing in life. You may not have a good relationship with your mother, you may not know your mother, you may have already lost your mother or you may talk to her all the time. But no matter what the relationship, you have a mother. I feel blessed to have had mine. She was an amazing woman of God, a wonderful wife, mother, Nana and friend. She laughed and cried and prayed and worshiped. She was a good cook and baker. She loved to serve others. She was the "Hostess with the Mostess." She was one of my best friends!

On Friday, my dad, Diane, Megan, Haley and I went and visited her grave, after a nice lunch at the Mason Jar. It was the first time I had seen her stone. The girls talked and talked about their Nana and shared lots of stories. Diane gave me photocopies of the Christmas newsletters she had written over the years (the ones they had). I could almost her her voice that day. I could almost see her smile.

Then we took a stroll up the path and looked at Garrett's grave. In some ways it was really nice to loose them so close together. I remembered everything we did for Garrett's funeral and somewhat copied them for mom. So on a day when we decided to visit her grave, we could simple walk up the hill and see Garrett's too.

So me...being me, took lots of pictures. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

 Mom's Headstone

My girls...

Dad & Diane

Visiting Garrett

 Our blondes ;) Oma & Megan

Dad

Valentine's day blues...

Expectations can ruin the world! There are so many people in my life that have had a miserable Valentine's day because of expectations that were not met. That, however, is not why I have Valentine's Day blues...

So I have heard many say for years that this was a Hallmark created holiday to sell more junk. It is consumerism at it's best and holds no value. I have heard friend say it was really "Single Awareness Day" and others say that it was a day to have their hopes for a great day crushed. Over the years I think I have agreed with all of them...until now!

Then this year my daughter came home from school and shared one of the stories behind Valentine's day. Apparently, according to this story (and there are many versions) that there was a man named Valentino who lived in ancient Rome. There was a couple in love and they were imprisoned for being Christians. They were going to be put to death. Valentino told the guards to take his life to safe the life of the lovers. Now keep in mind all there all many stories and possibly three different Saint Valentines. But regardless of all of this, I suddenly realized that I had been upset with this Hallmark created holiday just to find out that I really was wrong. This is day is to be celebration of love and sacrifice that dates back to ancient Rome. By the way, Hallmark did not exist back then. ;)

Now to be fair, I have many reasons to not love this day. To start, Garrett proposed to me on Valentine's Day ten years ago. Valentine's day is a reminder of a love lost. Then on top of that, two years ago, just two days before Valentine's day, my mom passed away. She was giving the girls their Valentine's day gifts and cards when she passed away. When the kids get ready for Valentine's day, we now talk about it being Nana's last thing she did. So now it's a day that I remember two lost loves in my life.


Then there are the years and years that my Valentine's day was not a good day. There have been horrible dinners at restaurants and food poisoning and then two different years I was in the ER on Valentine's day. It really has not been a day I have looked forward to for quite some time. Then I married Ryan and discovered he has just as many bad Valentine's days as I. We both dread the day.

So this year I decided I was going to do my best to make it a good day. I made a special dinner: Parmesan encrusted tilapia, sauteed parmesan spinach, homemade battered french fries and a special passion punch. Then I got some Valentine's treats as I always do. I ended up cooking for hours and we had a very late dinner. All the kids were in great spirits and loved the dinner. They loved their little gifts and chattered on about their days. The youngest has parties at school and talked about all the things they did for their parties. The older kids had a good day too and I even found out my eldest asked a girl out (he had been planning to do it on Valentine's day...so sweet). My hubby got me a big box of candy and some special caramels that I love so much. I got him a game he's been wanting (it's the first time I got him a Valentine's day gift).

After dinner, I was cleaning up my enormous mess I made making fries and I looked over at my hubby and said, "I think this may have been the best Valentine's day I have ever had." He said, "I don't know if that's a good thing but I'm glad you had a good day." I love that I can be real with him and let him know that I don't like celebrating Valentine's day. I love that even though I don't like to celebrate it, he helps me make it good for the kids because there is no reason for them to struggle with this day just because we do.

In the end, I just have to say that it was a good day. We planned hard to make it that way and it paid off. I still do not look forward to celebrating it next year, but it was really nice to not have a horrible day. I will work just as hard next year to try to make it wonderful for my kids. In the end there was some sacrifice on my part to show my family I love them. I would have preferred to climb into bed early and forget the whole day. Instead I cooked for hours and the kids felt loved and therefore, so did I!

Broken System

D. H. S.

Really?!?

For those who don't know, DHS is the Department of Human Services here in CO. Recently, someone I know (keeping this anonymous for many reasons) just had a visit from DHS. Some "anonymous caller called the hot line and reported this family for drug and alcohol abuse in front of a minor child as well as a long list of other things. Just so you know...if that happens, DHS has to investigate. So basically, if you piss off someone, they can "anonymously" report that you're a bad parent and now you have to open your home to investigation.

Now with that said, these accusations were false and there was nothing to really fear. In fact, the accusations couldn't be further from the truth and are most likely from an angry person seeking revenge. Still, this family had to open their home to an investigation, be asked very private things and then have to take a drug test. None of these are a problem except they created a lack of privacy and the accusations caused anxiety. DHS stated as long as the drug test came back negative (which it will) this will be closed out as unfounded. Still the invasion was stressful on all involved.

On the flip side, another family went through a traumatic time when one parent (from a split two household) almost died from a drug overdoes. Because the drugs are prescriptions (though are being abused to create an overdose) and the children are older, DHS investigated and did nothing. Told the other parent that there was nothing that could be done. The concern is that the kids will discover the one parent dead from drugs. The DHS worker said, and I quote, "They probably will and when that happens we'll be here to help. The state can't tell you how to raise your kids, just how NOT to." Well that's just great!

One family has to deal with false accusations and open their lives for the world to see and case closed (now that they asked intimate details of your life). The other family waits for things to melt down and DHS says, "I'm sorry that this sucks. See you when (not if) it falls apart."

I think the system is broken!

Families are being violated by an angry false accuser and the state says, "We'll pay for the drug test" and by the way you have to pee while someone watches you. Then other families have to wait till it falls apart before the state will get involved. I think there are a lot of wasted tax dollars used to look into petty vengeance and not enough for intervention in dangerous situations.

I'll climb down off my soap box now. And as always, thanks for listening!

Bugs...I really hate bugs!

I'm not talking about the kind with creepy, crawly legs (though I hate those as well). I'm talking about the kind that invade my house, get shared and take the clan down in one sweep! The kind that make the clan cough, sneeze, ache, and all the other joys of sick bugs.

This month I am proud to say that there was a bug invasion and it took all four of us girls out in one swoop! I was feeling a little under the weather Thursday but then Cassidy had a cough when she arrived back at our house on Saturday and it went downhill from there. Sunday morning Haley awoke with body aches and by that evening Megan was down with a headache. Megan was asleep by 7 that night and anyone that knows her knows she's one of the night owls in this house.

Our three day weekend was supposed to include a fun day off on Monday. We were going to clean house on the weekend and if it was finished Sunday evening, then the kids and I were going to do something fun. I had a few ideas which can be hard with the age span. But that turned into all the girls hardly able to move in different areas of the house all day Monday followed by no doing to school on Tuesday! I think the bugs had it out for the girls!

On Tuesday, Haley and I headed off to the Doctor's office. While there, Megan and Cassidy relaxed at Oma & Papa's house. I feel so blessed to have parents close and available when I need another set of hands. I could have done it all on my own, but it was such a blessing to have help.

The nurse determined that Haley has a sinus infection AND the flu and I have the flu. NO FUN! The other girls are off to school today but Haley is still a lump on the couch but I am finally able to sit upright without pain.

In the midst of this I was able to feel just blessed. Not only do I have help from family but I have healthy kids. Yes, the girls got sick, but they are healthy over all. No one really has any ongoing health issues or concerns. In all truth, it's a bit of a miracle with all the yucky bugs out there that we are as healthy as we are and for that I give all the glory to God. Thank you Lord for my happy, healthy family and all the help with which you have blessed us when we are a bit under the weather!

1-11-11...This is a brand new day.

Okay there have been good days and bad days. There have been good months and...well, bad months. There have actually been good years and bad years. I've heard many pray over me for years about seasons. Well guess what? The winter has past, the pain of spring is gone and I am living in summer (metaphorically of course being it's actually -3 outside). After blogging about grief, I am ready to change the tone...

I am here to say, "This is a brand new day and it's getting better in every single way." Today has been the best day in a long time. Today I found out two amazing things. First thing this morning I got a picture mail. It was my best friends left hand and on it...was...a RING!!!! We've know it was coming but now it's official! Then this afternoon my other best friend (yes I have more than one best friend) informed me that she is expecting her 5th child!!!! All I can say is babies and weddings are always joyous. I am so joyous for these two women.

On top of all of this I am proud to say that 11 days into this year, I am still hitting all my goals! I know it's only been 11 days, but I'm proud of myself. There have been a couple of daily goals I have added this year and daily goals are a little harder to hit. One is to read the Bible through by the end of this year. As of today, I'm on target.

The other is more on the hobby side and is to create a photo journal of my year. I would like to take around 300 photos (1 a day with some grace) to journal my year. Today I took my 9th picture. I can't believe I've actually remember to take a picture just about every day. I'm looking forward to see what I saw this year. I haven't put anything into a hobby for just me in quite a few years. It's nice to have a hobby again.

I have lots of other goals that didn't really start at the beginning of this year and won't end at the end of this year but I am happy to say that I'm still hitting every goal, as of today!

So on 1-11-11 I have had really exciting news and I'm still hitting all my goals. What could be better than that?