Book Review: The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

I recently read The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall.  I have read several of her books based on Amish characters.   Many stories based on Amish characters by various authors all seem to have a similar storyline.   This book was quite different.   It follows a Mennonite woman and an Amish man who fall in love and have to overcome their differences in religion.   The story never seemed to drag and moved nicely.   I almost had a hard time putting it down.  

I enjoyed this book a lot.   It was engaging.   I never got bored with the storyline.   In fact, with thirty pages to the end, I wondered how the story would end due to a seemingly impossible situation.   I learned something new about the Amish.  They are not allowed to intermarry with Mennonites.  This book ended with a happy ending.   I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories about the Amish or romance novels.  

I received this book for the purposes of review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

Solar System Lesson

This year for science we are studying astronomy.   I am using the Young Explorer Series, Exploring Creation with Astronomy curriculum by Apoilogia Educational Ministries.   The book goes through the introduction which covered a brief history of astronomy.   We also covered the planets, Copernicus, Galileo, and NASA.  The book suggested an activity in which you hang balloons of varying sizes from the ceiling to approximate the size and distance of each planet from the sun.   While browsing Michael's, I found a Jolee’s sticker sheet that had each of the planets and a title flag.  This sticker pack gave me an idea to take a roll of paper I already had and line the planet stickers up on it with scaled distances.   Here are my materials: a tape measure, a long roll of paper, the jolee's sticker set, and a calcuation of the scaled distances.  

My mother-in-law is a retired math teacher.  I asked her about the best way to calculate the distance from the sun to the individual planets down to something I could represent in my home.   I used the Usborne Complete Book of Astronomy & Science for the data.   My mother-in-law calculated the distance into a scale that would span twelve feet.  She started with a simple porportion that equated 6000 km to 10 feet, and solved for how many km to 1 foot.   She found x to be 600 km.   Then using ratios she found the scaled distances using the data provided by the Usborne book.  She did some rounding to simplify the calculations. 

The kids had no idea how far the project would stretch when we started.   We started with Mercury placed 1.2 inches from the sun.   Then, we went to Venus which was two inches.  Earth was three inches.  Mars 4 inches.  Jupiter was one foot, 2 inches, Saturn is 2 feet, 4 inches, Uranus is 4 feet, 9 inches, Neptune is 7 feet, 5 inches.   Pluto, the binary planet, is 10 feet.   We included Pluto just because the kids have heard of it.  This a close up of the whiteboard.

As we started the lesson, the kids were unimpressed with Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.   Things become interesting with the jump to Jupiter.   They were pretty excited as we placed the rest of the planets. 

We added the rest of the planets.  The kids were very excited by the size of the model.   They could lay down end to end and stretch to equal the span.  

We officially start back to school Monday, but did some science this week to connect to our trip last weekend to Space Center Houston.   Using the sticker to make this concrete representation of our solar system was fun and easy.   The activity took about 30 minutes due to the teaching time as well as the construction of the project.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Genesis 1:1

SWOC accomplished!

This week my kids particpated in SWOC which stands for Summer Week of Choir.  My daughter participated last year and had a blast!   We were still in L.A. when it was time to start signing up.   She begged her Daddy to make sure she was signed up.   My son less eager, but got signed up anyway.   He is not one to try new things.  After the first day of camp, he was sold.   He also loved the experience. 

What is Summer Week of Choir?   It is a dynamic, fun filled week of singing and fun.   The kids learn a musical in one week.   We get CDs ahead of time to start listening to the music, so it familiar.   They attend music classes to learn the songs, play games, and do stuff kids like to do.   Wednesday afternoon the kids plat at a carnival. Thursday afternoon, they do a Bible Quiz Off competeition where they  have to be able to quote scripture EXACTLY as it was written on the sheet handed out of the camp.   Friday afternoon, some of Houston's finest firefighters show up with a ladder truck and douse the kids. 

 Friday night, they sing their hearts out.   My daughter auditioned for a "special part." this year.   She got to do a small solo.   She was pretty excited.   She did a great job on her solo, as did all the kids.  

Our month is now winding down.   We have family in town visiting this week and then we are going to rest a couple more weeks before we return to L.A.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs."

Psalm 100:1-2

Great Accountability

A friend of mine mentioned she was heading up a FB group called "Hello Mornings."   Basically, you get up, read your Bible, and workout before you start your day.   I signed up without much thought at the beginning of the summer.   It was a total God prompting.   It has been a great experience for me.   I post a "good morning"on our group FB page to tell the other members that I completed both tasks.   I enjoy the accountability of it and I somewhat reconnect with some friends from college.  I have also met new friends. 

"If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!"

Ecclesiastes 4:10

Book Review: To Heaven and Back

I recently had the opportunity to read To Heaven and Back by Mary C. Neal.   I found it a very interesting book.   The book basically details an accident that causes Mary to die and come back to life.  After her death experience, the book follows her life to the present.  

 I found that the first half of the book which describes her life up to and including the accident reads very quickly.  The second half of the book goes a bit slower.  She provides great detail of her experiences.   You can clearly see God working in her life.   She is unapologetic about seeing God at work in her life and recognizing it as such.  

I would recommend this to a friend.

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers for the purposes of review.  

Still Here

I have successfully completed the great house clean out, .   I took a ton of stuff to Alabama with me.   My sister-in-law and I spent two days tagging stuff to consign while visiting my in-laws.  My sister-in-law is consigning stuff for me in Alabama since I am no longer in town for the big consignment sales here.  It was too much for my husband to do for me.   He did it for last year's fall sale, but it was added stress he didn't need.   I am so thankful for my sister-in-law's willingness to consign for me.   The bonus is that we each had help from the other tagging stuff.  

I did VBS at church two weeks ago.   It was a crazy week with two auditions, violin lessons, and packing to go out of town.   I had a blast helping in the preschool art room.   My kids loved VBS.   They are still singing the songs they learned in music.   At the end of VBS, my daughter and husband flew to L.A. for a day and then we headed to my in-laws house for eight days.  

We had a great time in Alabama.   We got to spend a day on the lake playing on the jet ski.   I did some knee boarding and am finally good enough to attempt some stunts.  I was helping my daughter get ready to knee board at one point.  The jet ski was turned off.  I stood up, lost my balance, and cart wheeled into the water.   I have a purdy bruise about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide on my right leg.  My daughter still laughs when I tell someone how I got my huge bruise.  I just wish I had gotten it doing some amazing stunt on the kneeboard, nope, just klutzy!

We spent the 4th of July at Jason's family reunion.  It was good to see family we only get to see once a year.  It was hot, hot, hot!   The kids got in the pool.   I stood a little look close to the pool and got a good splashing.   It was nice to be wet and cooled off!  Thursday sent us to Decatur to a water park.   It was crazy crowded,but the kids had a blast.   My son went down a tube slide for the first time.   He wanted to go again and again.   My daughter and I got haircuts Friday morning.   I also did a little antiquing in my in-laws small town.   I found a beautiful vase and dish.   Happy Birthday to me!   Friday evening, we enjoyed a fish fry with some of Jason's extended family.    Saturday brought a 50th anniversary party for Jason's aunt and uncle.   Sunday, Jason and I went to Huntsville, so Jason could look through some of his grandparent's things.   He found some old letters and pictures.   I found some cool vintage sheets that I loved.  

Monday we drove home.   This week we are doing Houston Project with our church.   We like our assigned site this year.   It is a neighborhood church with a really nice pastor.   The kids from the community are also pretty cute.   I really enjoy doing this "in town" mission project every summer.   It is always fun and rewarding.   We do a felt board presentation of God's plan to send Jesus so that we can have forgiveness of sins each night.   I taught on Jesus healing the paralytic Wednesday night.   Last night, I taught on Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection.   Each child got a New Testament to go home.   We helped them mark six foundational verses in it.   The kids were excited about their new Bibles.   We handed out some Bibles in English and some in Spanish according to the child's preference.  

Tuesday, we took a small tour of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.   They have two live owls and a hawk that live in their lobby.   It was very informative.   The kids had a great time learning something new.   We met Brooke's best friends from her old school.   After our tour, we went to Canyon Creek for lunch.   I'd been to one of the other "Creek" restaurants.   I enjoyed this one as much as the others.  

Thursday, we went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Sugarland.  I'll write a separate blog post about that trip. We've done some local side trips earlier in the summer.   I'll blog about them as I have time.   So far, summer has been action packed!