Science Fair

Becca has asked for the last few years if she can do a science project.  The problem is that she asks the day before it's due...until this year.  She finally decided to take the time to do a project right.  I told her she wasn't going to turn something in that is rushed and horrible, so she finally got the idea that she should ask me about it while the school was on winter break.

It began with an idea.  She wanted to google a good project, so she started there.  She liked the idea of letting food rot, but I couldn't deal with that.  She moved on to the idea of a recipe and changing it to see what happens.  I asked her what she wanted to make and the googling started again.  She found a YouTube video of a guy who made super balls and got stuck there. 

The confusion began.  She wanted to work with a partner, but she didn't clearly talk to her partner about doing it.  In the end, it was still less than a week before the project was due that they actually started.

Becca and her friend, Reina, came over to my house to do the experiment.  Over and over they made these balls and bounced them, then changed the recipe and bounced again.  They worked and worked for hours. The next day, they came back to start putting their notes together in a notebook.  They decided that they needed to type it.  This would have been no big deal to me if it weren't for the fact that they took 20 minutes typing the title page.  They asked if I would type it for them.

I began to type.  The girls wrote what they wanted for a while, but when I was typing a lot faster than they were writing, they started to dictate what they wanted on the page.  The temptation to correct them at times was overwhelming!  I figured I could ask questions to make them think about what they were saying, but I wasn't going to give them the answers.  In the end, there were so many grammatical errors, I made them read the thing aloud to each other so that they could hopefully figure out what was wrong...it mostly worked.

They went to school to turn in their notebook and it was sent back immediately.  They did too much work.  They were told to cut some things out of their experiment.  I went to the teacher in charge of the science fair and asked about it.  I asked her if it would be okay if they split the project and turned in both so they didn't have to throw away work that they did.  She loved the idea.

Another afternoon in my house!  They split the project up and then made their boards for the science fair.  My cricut got a workout that day.  Want to see a picture of their boards?

 I really wish I would have known when the science fair was, but there was no announcement at the school, no papers that went home with dates...nothing.  The few kids that came had parents that were teachers, except one who found it on the district website. In the end, Becca still got an award.

Sorry about the quality of that pic. It was an unexpected moment and all I had was my phone.  We were in the school office and I happened to be there to volunteer in Ali's class that day when Becca was called to receive her award for 1st place.  Reina got 2nd.  They didn't get sweepstakes and move on, but this was good for the first time.  Now I know what questions to ask for next year...like when is the science fair?

Now we are off to celebrate!

The House of Many Hats

My husband's grandfather passed away recently.  Tony blogged about him here.  My husband's inheritance?  A lot of hats.  Okay, he got a whole lot from his grandfather in life too, but the physical stuff that is affecting my life are these hats.

I haven't actually counted them.  There are quite a few.  Currently there are 4 huge bags (not little bags, big yard bags) filled with them sitting in my living room. 

My kids' only memory of their great-grandfather is going into his hat room (yes, there was a room in his house filled with them) and picking out a hat for a parade that went through the house.  They saw the hats and immediately remembered.  The hats are a huge legacy, and there's no way that they are just going away.

So, we have a lot of hats.  They can't stay in bags in my living room...what now?  I am sitting here trying to figure out what to do with the hats.  I want a house with order and less chaos (I know, I'm dreaming), but those hats can easily take over.  I just don't know what to do.

I am debating the idea of using my mom's room.  Many of you may know that my mom moved out a little over a year ago, but the thing is she still keeps a room here.  She's said she likes the idea of us using the room as a spare bedroom and putting a TV in there or whatever.  She just wants to be able to keep a set of clothes over here, so she doesn't need much closet space.  I am going to use her closet for linens as soon as soon as I get to organizing that room (in case you don't know, I'm organizing one space a week in my house and blogging about it here).  I have this color scheme in mind for that room and it didn't include the multicolored mass of outrageous hats (actually, not all of them are outrageous...but most are).  I just don't know if I want to go there...and I'm not sure my mom would be so thrilled either.

My favorite idea so far has been to make a collage of the kids wearing each hat and putting that up somewhere and storing the hats somehow somewhere for later use.  My husband loves these hats and really, they are very much his type of thing, so they aren't going to just disappear, but storing them is probably an option.

So the debate in my head begins.  What do I do?  If I do put them up on display in there, how do I display them?  If I only display a few, which ones should I choose?  What do I do with the rest?  Should I just take pictures of them and make them all just sit in a closet somewhere?

So...what do you think?  What should I do with all the hats?

Devotional

My pastor asked me to write a devotional for our church as we go through our Pray First emphasis.  I have never done anything like this before, so I thought I'd blog it first while I figure out what I am doing.

Surrender - Turning to God

I juggle a lot of things in my life.  I'm a wife, a mother to four beautiful kids, a business woman, a community volunteer, and several other things.  I try to do all of those things while being a follower of Christ.  My schedule may seem chaotic, my house may rarely (if ever) perfect, and I rarely get to the gym.  Sometimes I'm juggling a few hats at once and I usually fail when there's too many things in the air.  My problem is usually that I'm using my hands to do the juggling, and I'm just not that coordinated.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  I got the diagnosis after having gone blind in one eye for a while and still trying to function, then finally I was really slowed down by paralysis.  I had no use of my arms or legs.  In my hospital room I was changing the channel on the TV by blowing into a tube.  People had to come feed me.  For someone who felt so capable and used to caring for so many others, I felt helpless.  I couldn't believe God would allow me, who did so much for Him to no longer be able to do anything.

I was in the hospital for a few weeks.  I learned how to function while on the treatments to help me get back to "normal"...or as "normal" as I could get while having lesions on my brain.  While I was in the hospital, I had a lot of time to myself...something I wasn't used to in my house full of people.  I didn't want to pray because I was mad at God, but the Holy Spirit just wasn't letting go.  I had to surrender.  I was reminded of the fact that God had everything under control without my "help" every time my kids came to visit me.  I was reminded that He was in charge when kids from my Sunday School class came to pray for me.  God had all of my juggling balls up in the air without my hands!

It shouldn't have shocked me, but I felt slapped.  I began to pray for the use of my limbs again, but I wanted God to be the one to move them.  He is so much more coordinated than I am.  I wanted him to use me still, but allowing him to be the One who moved me. I had to give up the ability to use my hands and legs so that I would allow Him to use them.  He gave me back the use of my limbs, but I gave the use of my limbs to Him. 

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Missions and Prayer

Becca is going on a mission trip this Summer.  I'm kinda doing the mom freak out...still, and I've known since mid-December.

The whole thing started a couple of years ago.  Becca saw the flier for mission trips through Teen Missions International.  Tony gets it every year because he went a few times as a teenager.  At the time it was no big deal because there was no way she was going to go to Florida at 6...and she wasn't old enough to be a Peanut (7-9 year olds are Peanuts there) anyway.  She asked to go the next year.  I put her off thinking that she would forget about it.  The next year she saw the flier and asked again.  We were in the middle of Girl Scouts and I put her off again because we were so busy all the time that I was sure we wouldn't have time.

The flier came again for this year's mission trips and she asked again.  She came to me with the argument that she isn't too busy this year because she didn't want to start anything new with starting "the hard GATE class" at school.  She said she didn't want to be bored this summer and she has been wanting to be a missionary since she was first saved.  She did, too.  Saved at 6, she immediately felt this burden to tell others.  She's very open about telling people about Jesus.

Her argument was valid.  I hated to say no.  The problem was that the trip is in FLORIDA!  I didn't want her traveling across the country!  There is no way I'm putting my 8 year old on a plane by herself to cross the country!  Sure, there are ways, but I don't even let her cross a street by herself, much less the country.

I prayed about it for a while and talked to Tony.  He was just surprised that it's taken me this long to realize that Becca needs to go.  She's not your "normal" 8 year old, very mature.  I'm just the mom trying to be overprotective when I just can't.  She has to do what she has to do.

Anyhoo, Tony and I decided that if she was going to Florida, someone was going to travel with her.  Tony can't do it because he won't have enough vacation time.  He's going to be taking a week and going to umpire training at Western Regionals this year.  Not enough time left after other stuff that is going on too.

That leaves me.  We originally started this thinking I'd have someone to travel with us and we'd take a road trip, but that may not work, so we're thinking airplane because I really can't drive out there alone.  I'll stay out in Florida doing...I don't know what...for the week while she is there and fly back with her.  Yeah, it seems a little weird, but I don't like the other options.  I don't have the money to take all the other kids with me and go to Disney World or anything.  That would be cool, though.  If I had the money, I'd rent an RV for the trip and just take anyone who wants to come, but that's pretty pricey.

So, here I am.  I told Becca that she has to raise the money it would cost for her to go on the trip, not my tickets or anything, so her goal is $1000 by May to do the trip.  So far in her plans is a lemonade stand, a bake sale, and possibly a dinner.  She's also working for my grandma once a week doing vacuuming and stuff for her.  I think she's going to make it...I'm just not sure I will.... :)

Happy New Year!

It's 2012.

Micah decided that this is the year he's going to change the world. Cool, huh?

This year Becca will be going on her first mission trip with Teen Missions International. She's going to Florida (I know, she's only 8!) to bake cookies and share the love of God to our troops stationed there.

This year Ali and Zoe will finish their first year of school.

This year my business is going to take off (I hope and pray)!

This year I'm going to be doing a weekly blog about my house going from chaos to beautiful...with pictures. I'm going to be brave and post before and after. It's going to be crazy. You should totally watch.

I'm also determined to get through the Bible again this year. I've put off going through the Bible in a year for a few years. I used to do it almost every year but I haven't done it in a while...like, since before the twins were born.

Okay, that's about it. I don't really do resolutions, but it seems like I'm doing that this year. I just feel like I need goals to keep me going for a while. I've been too frustrated without something real and specific to strive for.