Merry Christmas

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A Few December Moments

We have filled December up with holiday fun and giving!   And it's not over yet!   These are just a few of things we've been doing.

Dillon was the master behind putting the tree up this year.  :)

Wearing the tree skirt...

Beautiful....

 

Our Advent Calendar

Singing and playing together

Merry Christmas goodie bags for the nursing home workers.

Christmas GLOW packs

Time with Grammy!

We were given some treats with a "Giving Plate" inside.  We were suppose to enjoy the treats and then make more homemade treats and pass the plate on with the treats.  We put together a little pack with popcorn, tea, mixed nuts with dried fruit, and some homemade cookies and sent the plate on it's

way!  Cute idea.

  

A picnic by the Christmas tree

The kids each made a different kind of cookie and we've shared them at church meetings, Christmas parties, and even a funeral!

Christmas Preparations

Christmas preparations began on November 30th around here!  Since we've been feeling unsettled and not quite at home, we thought we should definitely get some Christmas feeling going around here!  Lights and music are magical!  :)

This boy did a lot of the tree by himself.  It's kinda nice to be able to sit back and watch, knowing it's being done correctly!

Wearing the tree...and the tree skirt!  :)

Beau-ti-ful.... 

Our advent calendar...

Recycled envelopes from two years ago with lots of old and new advent activities counting down the days until Christmas.  Each envelope is filled with some educational, service, or purely fun Christmas activity.  Each envelop also contains a tidbit about Christmas in another country as well as a question for us to discuss and ponder as a family during breakfast.  

Thanksgiving

Off to Indiana we went for the holiday.  Our good friends the Curriers only live three hours away from us now that that makes for a nice short drive.  

Our dear friends the Joles from up north were in the area also because of their truck driving work so we had the pleasure of their company on Thanksgiving day as well.

The food was delicious!! 

The company was fun!  :)

Just for fun....  Why do kids always need a silly face picture anyway?  :)  

In the afternoon after lunch we went outdoors to walk it off!  It was a very pleasant day.  We walked and walked and even found a nice place to take some pictures.

Snowstorm

Our first snowstorm of 2015 came on November 22.  Grandmother and Granddad had to cancel their trip and we got to drive around in snow most of Sabbath.

But then Sunday arrived and we played in the snow!

The Escalator

You can tell we've been small town folk for quite some time!  We went to the mall in Kalamazoo last week so I could go in one store and the kids were oooing and aaaahing over everything.  And we HAD to ride the escalator.  :)  It's the small things in life....  :)

Elijah's Science Fair Project

Elijah wanted to study about the moon!  He learned lots of neat stuff about the moon and especially loved making moon phases out of oreo cookies!  

Elijah's presentation:

The moon is a satellite that circles earth.  The moon is about 4 times smaller than the earth.  If this apple is the earth, then the moon is as small as this ball.

 

If you went to the moon, you’d find many different things.  One of those things is ice.  If you touched the ice, you would never get your hand off it.  It is always freezing cold on the moon or burning hot.  You would also find lots of big holes in the surface of the moon.  They are called craters.  The moon is bumpy and covered with dust.  There is no air or water on the moon.

The moon provides light for earth at night.  Sometimes the moon looks like the letter C.  This is called a crescent moon (point to oreo).  Sometimes it looks like a golf ball.  This is called a full moon (point to oreo).  Sometimes it looks like nothing.  This is called a new moon (point to the oreo).  You can’t see it because the sun is shining on the other side that we can’t see.   

In John 9:5, Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World.”  Just like the moon gets its light from the sun, we should get our light from Jesus, the Son of God.  

Dillon's Science Fair Project

The following is Dillon's presentation:  :)

I decided to do some testing!  The first thing I tested was Coca-cola and Pennies.  As you can see on the picture the pennies were pretty dirty.  So I put the pennies in a Tupperware with Coca-cola, and flipped them over before I went to bed.  In the morning I rinsed them off and the change was miraculous. They were glistening in the sun.  The reason that the pennies were shining in the sun was because there is an ingredient in all sodas called phosphorus.  Phosphorus eats away at things.  This test showed that Coca-cola has a cleaning effect on pennies.

                  Next I tested the viscosity of liquids.  Viscosity means the resistance to flow or move so if it has lots of viscosity, it moves slowly.  I tested 5 liquids to see which one had the most viscosity.  I poured them down a table 1 by 1, and timed them. (Give each liquids time).  This test showed that applesauce has the most viscosity.

       

          

                  Lastly, I tested strength of structures.  I tested to see if height made a difference in it’s strength.  I had a shorter tower, and a taller tower.  I made a shake table to shake the towers on.  This is how I made my shake table.  I used a binder, and cut the flaps of the binder.  I put one flap down on a table, and put a ball on each corner.  Then I put the second flap on with a Lego board on top of the flap.  Next, I put 2 rubber bands around it going parallel.  Then I shook one tower at a time.  The smaller towers top fell off, but the taller tower had bigger damages.  It completely fell down and nothing could be saved.  This test showed that height does make a difference in strength of a structure.  ***I brought 2 towers along with me. Let me get them so we can see what happens when I shake them!!

                  Just like we test things in science, we also need to test the scriptures.   

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 says, “do not despise prophecy, test all things; hold fast what is good.”  Also, Acts 17:11 says, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”  We need to test the scriptures to see if what people say is true and so we can understand for ourselves.  We can do this by studying and searching the bible every day.  We should also pray for Jesus to help us understand and we should hide God’s word in our hearts. 

Chaeli's Science Fair Project

Back on November 9, we drove down to Indiana to participate in a science fair with some of our homeschool friends.  Each of the kids picked a topic or science idea to explore and the made a short presentation to present the night of the fair.  It was so much fun and we learned quite a bit also!

Chaeli studied a couple different reactions: physical reactions and chemical reactions.

Yeast and Sugar

When you mix yeast and sugar, they start to grow.  Here is why it happens:

The yeast and the sugar mix together and they start to puff up.  This is because the two substances are reacting and changing into a new substance called carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide that makes soda pop fizzy and is one of the gases in the air that we breathe.

Diet Coke and Mentos

When you put Mentos in Diet Coke you get a geyser or an explosion. Here is why it happens:

All the carbon dioxide (or all the fizz) in the soda is squeezed into the liquid and looking for a way out. It’s drawn to any tiny bumps that it can grab onto. Those tiny bumps are called nucleation sites and Mentos are covered in them. Mentos are sprayed with many layers of liquid sugar and that provides lots of area for bubbles to cling to the Mentos.  As the Mentos sink they collect more bubbles and the pressure becomes so great that an explosion happens. 

Chaeli then compared these reactions to a spiritual reaction that can take place in our lives.

Sinner and God’s Love

Sinner + God = A new heart 

When God comes into a sinner’s life, there is a spiritual reaction and the sinner gets a new heart.  Through faith Jesus changes our character, our behavior, and our attitudes and we become a saved sinner.  The Holy Spirit is the catalyst (something that assists a reaction but isn’t used up) that helps this change to take place in a sinner’s life.