Physical Science, Module 3, The Atmosphere, VIDEO! =)

FINALLY got a video on here!  yeah!
This video is from Module 3.  =)

Physical Science, Module 10, Newton's Laws, Part A

--Videos we watched for Module 10.
--This is an excellent resource with interactive links:  Newton's Physics Notebook
--Find relevant links at Physics4Kids. Laws of Motion is a good one for this Module.
--Play  Quizlet.  Just scroll down and click on Physical, then scroll to find the Module you want.
--Michelle's post.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C) said that the natural state of of an object is for the object to remain at rest; that if something is moving, it "wants" to stop moving.
Around 2,000 years later, Isaac Newton (1642-1727 A.D) introduced the three laws of motion that are now the basics of physics.
These new ideas were not easily accepted!
Today we learned about Newton's first Law of Motion - the Law of Inertia.  " An object in motion or at rest will tend to stay in motion or at rest until it is acted upon by an outside force." 
Things "want" to stay as they are.  If they are at rest, they "want" to stay at rest.  If they are moving, they "want" to stay moving.  Until they are made to move, or are stopped by hitting something, or by friction, or by the downward pull of gravity.  If you think there is no friction when a ball rolls on your kitchen floor, think about different kinds of flooring.  They all have different degrees of friction.
                                                                                                               
 

For our First Inertia Experiment 10.1, we placed an index card on top of a glass with a penny on the card.  The kids took turns flicking the card and letting the penny fall into the glass.  Initially the card and the penny were at rest.  They "wanted" to stay that way.  When they flicked the card, they applied force to the card, but not the penny.  The force caused the card to move, but not the penny, which dropped into the glass because of gravity.  Cousin C was the card retriever -- it kept going into the floor.  =)  It "wanted" to go sailing across the room, but the outside force of gravity pulled it down.

Second Inertia Experiment 10.1   Again today, the kids had eggs to name.  =)  I gave them each an egg, and told them to name it something that started with a B, not telling them I had boiled eggs and raw eggs.  They were cold - I boiled them last night so they wouldn't know the difference.  They had to keep drying off the condensation so the markers would draw on them.  Then they spun the boiled eggs around, and if they did it fast enough, the egg stood on end while spinning.  Then I told them to very briefly, stop the egg and quickly let go.  This did nothing but stop the egg from spinning.

Then I gave them each a raw egg, and told them to name it something that began with R.  I wasn't going to tell them just yet these were raw, but after seeing them with the boiled eggs, I felt I'd better!  This time Rebekah's (boiled) egg did not fare as well as O'Dale!   → →
These eggs did not spin well, but did so very slowly.
But if they were able to get them going a little, it would show a great example of Newton's first law.  I told them to get the eggs to spin, and stop and release them quickly.  The raw eggs began to spin again on their own.
This is because the fluid inside the egg kept spinning.
If an object is at rest, it wants to stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force.
If an object is moving, as the fluid of the egg was, it wants to keep moving unless acted on by an outside force. Stopping the egg briefly was not enough to immediately stop the liquid from spinning.

Newton's law also shows us why we get dizzy when we spin around.  In the semicircular canals in your ears, there are tiny particles called "otoliths," or "ear sand."  These particles rest on tiny hairs that sense their position, and sends signals to your brain.  When you start spinning, so do the otoliths.  That tells your brain you are spinning.  When you suddenly stop, the otoliths keep spinning because of inertia, telling your brain you are still spinning.

Experiment 10.2, How Well You Understand Newton's First Law:  I showed the kids a plastic bowl with about ¼ cut out.  I told them we would start at one side of the cut, and roll a marble around inside the upside-down bowl, so that the marble would come out the other side.  I taped it onto a piece of paper and had each kid draw where they thought the path of the marble would be.  Cousin C drew the green line, Cousin A drew the red line, and Rebekah drew the brown lines (!)  Cousin C was right.  His line was juust a little crooked.  =) 
This is also because of Newton's first law.  Objects in motion tend to stay in motion in a straight line, following the path of least resistance.  Once free from the bowl, the marble rolled straight.

Friction is the reason Newton's first law goes against your everyday experience.  When you roll a ball, it doesn't roll forever.  Aristotle would say the ball "wanted" to stop.  Newton would say the ball stopped because of an outside force such as friction, gravity, and maybe other forces like wind resistance, or another object that it runs into.
Our experiment 10.3 about Friction called for a rough board and a smooth board.  I meant to get Travis to bring something from work or from his Dad's house, but didn't get a round tuit. hee hee!
Soooo... we just used a leaf from our table!  Rough side, smooth side.  =D 

Across one end of the rough side of the board, the kids put a small block of wood from our SiamMandalay Links game, a rock that was smooth on one side, a cube of ice, and a small block eraser.  They raised the board higher and higher, noting the height of the board when each object slid down.  When we flipped the board over and started the experiment with the smooth side of the tabletop, the ice slid down almost immediately.  So they decided to dry it off, and start over.  Then the ice stuck to the tabletop and stayed there until after the block of wood had slid down! ha.
Guess the ice being slightly wet was better after all.  You can see that despite the fact that gravity was pulling these objects down, friction prevented them from immediately sliding down the board.  You can also see that different objects have different amounts of friction.

We talked about friction in preparation for learning about the second law of motion, the force of an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration.  Force = (mass) · (acceleration)  Friction always comes into play when you are calculating force.  We went over this a little today, and will finish the module next week.

Just want to brag on JohnDavid a little.  =)  A couple of days ago, I had been studying, and I mentioned Newton's Laws of Motion.  I heard him mumble, "Yeah, objects in motion tend to stay in motion..." as I was walking into the other room.
Hmm!  Guess teaching him this stuff this won't be hard!  =D

If you've read (or scrolled!) this far, here's something for you to enjoy.  =D

Changing History =)

For history, we've really enjoyed Alpha-Omega's Switched on Schoolhouse. But this next year Rebekah will be taking US History (we skipped 9th's World geography, and did 10th's World History), AND since she loves US History and the Civil War, I THINK I've decided to try some stuff on our own. (I'm pretty sure this will not work for the other kids, and we'll prob. do SOS w/ them)

So far, this is what I've got:
---US History---
►some "real" books Travis has collected (She will use these for research, but I haven't picked out which ones.  Travis will recommend which ones are best.)
►A used BJU History Book.  Just for reading, and to make sure we don't skip anything.
►12 or more hours of The American Heritage videos with David Barton of WallBuilders, taped from TV (Travis recorded them.  They're not the whole The American Heritage series, but David Barton shows some and then discusses it, sometimes w/ a guest)
►ETA: We ordered the WallBuilders' The American Heritage series!  After becoming a member of Homeschool Buyers Co-op, I was able to get them for half-price!!! =D
►These websites:
United States History resources from BJU Press (links posted for each chapter of BJU US History)
Have Fun With History
History on the Internet
►borrow the historical fiction The House of Winslow series by Gilbert Morris from the library.
There are 40 books in this series, from 1620 up to 1942.  Not sure if we'll read them all, or if the library even has all of them.  But I'm sure not buying 40 books!
These are fiction,and as always, with history there will be disagreements with dates, numbers, etc., and what you've read/been taught may differ slightly than what is in The House of Winslow series.  I suggest choosing a trusted source, and sticking with that.  (we have an old set of encyclopedias) 
(see my comment below under Civil War.) 

I expect they mostly will be just for fun, but hopefully will give an interesting idea to how life was back then.

I have read over 20 of the books several years ago, and am now re-reading them and making note of page numbers, recognizable names, etc. of things she may want to look up.  (I made too many notes!) 
I also am thinking ahead.  Bethany loves to read and may want to do this, too.  Writing my notes in a notebook may get lost, but if I post them, I'll always have them.
Aaaannnnd I am a list-maker.  I have become my mother!  =D
I'm not a history buff by any stretch of the imagination!  But I am getting a little more interested as I read these books a second time, and paying more attention to the historical references.  If I have any questions, I ask Travis.  He knows a lot about everything!  =D
So this is for my own benefit, but if anyone else wants to use my pitiful, sketchy notes, feel free!  =)
(This ↑ is a key sentence, so please re-read it! haha!)


---Civil War---
►historical fiction series Battles of Destiny by Al Lacy (we have these)
There are 8 books in this series, and the author, a Civil War buff since highschool, strives to name correct dates and places.  =)  We'll also be studying the main geography, battles, etc. that are highlighted in each book.
►A set of 6 videos, Civil War Journal II, that was on TV on A&E.  We haven't had a chance to view these to see if it's what we want.  We found them used for $10, so not much money lost if it turns out this is not what we want.
ETA: Found Civil War Journal, the first set on Amazon.  Total $8.36 incl. S&H.  Woo-hoo!
**I also need more "real" books/resources for the Civil War.**
I like what Civil War buff Al Lacy writes in the preface of his historical fiction series, Battles of Destiny:  
"Not all historians agree on every detail of the war... In almost every issue [of the Civil War Times Illustrated magazine] there are letters to the editor that take exception to a story or article... Some readers are unhappy that a writer has made a 'mistake'... In checking out some of these complaints, I have found that both the writer and the person sending the letter have solid basis for their arguments."  He goes on to say he does his best to be accurate, "...but if you find a discrepancy, save yourself the price of a postage stamp and understand that these things happen.  I remind you that the books in this series are novels based on history, not historical textbooks." 

She will be writing, taking notes of what she learns, and we will be doing reports as well.  I'll have her make a note (and p. #) as she comes across something she wants to look up, so she won't interrupt the flow of reading.  I love to read, so I'll be reading and making my own notes of things to study.  We'll also study the geography that pertains to what she's reading.  I will have her make up her own tests, which in actuality, will have her studying and learning as she does this!  =)
This method worked well for health this past year.  She and her cousin made up 10 questions each, with answers and p. #'s (for my benefit and theirs), and I typed up the questions and added a few.
SOS has a Civil War elective, which is for 1 semester, so we will take more than 1 year to do all of this.
I will be printing Alpha Omega's scope and sequence  for each course. These have the entire year's titles to each lesson, which I will use to give me ideas, and to make sure I don't leave out something.  This will also give me ideas for reports, etc.

Scope and Sequence for: 
American History
Civil War (an elective)
We plan on doing Government & Economics, a 12th grade course for 11th or 12th grade.  Rebekah is interested in politics, and knows quite a bit already!
For Home Economics, I don't see it listed on their site anymore, but it is listed here, on the right of p. 128.  (type in the p. # at the top)  I had to copy/paste it into a word document, then print.
For any other subject, go to AOPhomeschooling.com, on the left click on Switched on Schoolhouse, grades, the correct grade, then correct course.  At the bottom of the page, click on the Resources tab, then Scope & Sequence.  Click on the Switched-On Schoolhouse Scope and Sequence link.
And here is an overview by unit for all subjects.

Say Whaaat???

We were talking about the series of books The House of Winslow written by Gilbert Morris, and Rebekah said, "Hey, I was reading a book about how to write a book, and the man who wrote the book about how to write a book wrote The House of Winslow series, and he wrote about that in his book!"  →
ROFL!!!

Physical Science, Module 9, An Introduction to the Physics of Motion, Part B

Part A of Module 9.
Experiment 9.3, Measuring Height with a Stopwatch

We went by the cousin's house yesterday, and they took turns dropping a ball from a certain point on the treehouse while timing it with a stopwatch.  We marked the railing so they would all drop it from the same point.  They had a few practice tries, then dropped it four times each.  We dropped the highest and lowest times, and kept 10 to get an average.  The average time was .861 seconds.
Using the formula found on p. 223, Distance = ½ x (acceleration) x (time)², they had to figure the distance from the rail to the ground.

"The acceleration due to gravity for any object 
is 9.8 meters/second ² in metric units and 32 feet/second² in English units." Since we measure in feet, we used 32 feet for the acceleration.
Distance = ½ x (32 feet) x (.861 seconds)²
The distance calculated to be 11.86 feet, or about 142 inches.
The actual measured distance was 12.58 feet, or 151 inches.
Pretty good, I'd say!  =)
P.S.  Cousin C wasn't in these pics, although he did participate.  He was cleaning some fish!


We calculated the distance from the treehouse rail to the ground, and went over the other kinds of problems in this Module.  I gave them extra practice problems to do before the Study Guide and Test.
I had the corresponding # of the Exercises and On Your Own problems written on the practice page so they'd know where to look if they couldn't remember how to do a problem.

Physical Science, Module 9, An Introduction to the Physics of Motion, Part A

Click for Videos we Watched for Module 9.
Play  Quizlet.  Just scroll down and click on Physical, then scroll to find the Module you want. 
Experiment 9.1, The Importance of Direction
The kids really had fun with this one!  They drew faces on their eggs, and the girls named theirs O'Dale and Leona.  Cousin C named his Breanna.  =)
The experiment called for 2 pieces of stiff cardboard, and I just happened to have a CLEAN pizza box!  So that worked great.  It would have been greater if I'd thought to put pieces of masking tape over the two slits in the V of the box, but the bar was easy to clean off.

Meet the contestants:

First the kids released an egg from the top of one side of the box and caught it at the bottom.  No problem.  Then they released O'Dale and Leona simultaneously with Leona in the lead.  Well, as you can see in the pic, Leona had a false start and was a little ahead of O'Dale, and even though Rebekah made the soft catch, Leona got slightly cracked.  The kids decided O'Dale should have another run at it with Leona.  In the second heat, it was clear that because of her injuries sustained by her false start, Leona was not able to take the pressure in a fair run.

The clean-up crew came and dumped her in a bowl.  She looked so broken!  Well, this just egged O'Dale on!!!  He decided he was invincible!


Next, O'Dale took on my egg, which was very plain and nameless.  In this match, my egg stayed at the bottom while O'Dale came barreling at her. 
 Now my egg had heard of O'Dale,
which you can see by the expression on her face.  She knew he thrived on conquest.
In the end, it was just as she feared; O'Dale triumphed once again.

Last, O'Dale came up against Breanna.  This was a head to head contest, with both coming from opposite directions.  Would he dominate this eggciting battle?
Carefully, the eggs took their positions, anticipating their downward velocity.  Nervously, Breanna eyed the formidable O'Dale.  Like Leona, she had one false start and had to return to the gate.  After several missed attempts, the eggs met in their attack.

Finally, in a perfect head-on collision, O'Dale prevails!!! 

What eggsultation!  What eggsuberance!  O'Dale won in a perfect sweep!

Note: None of these were planned shots.  When I scooped her up, Leona landed in the bowl that way.  We paid no attention to which egg was going next -- just ended up that way!  =) What's funny is the egg that was grinning is the one that won!  lol!

This chapter deals with direction, speed, velocity, and is preparation for math in physics.  We talked about whether an object is moving or not.  If I place a book on the table, we would likely say it wasn't moving.  But to someone on the moon, they would see the earth revolving and say the book was moving.  So, relative to the earth, the book isn't moving, but relative to the moon, the book is moving.
If two objects are moving in the same direction, like 2 people in a car, we do not think of the other person as moving.  But if you move in one direction toward another person, they will say you are moving.
If the egg was moving 0.25 meters per second, and 2 eggs were moving in the same direction, we subtract their speeds.  0.25 m/sec - 0.25 m/sec = 0.  This tells us they are not moving relative to each other.  (In our experiment, Leona apparently was released slightly before O'Dale.) 
If one egg was released and traveled at 0.25 m/sec toward an egg not moving (as in O'Dale and my egg), again we subtract.  0.25 m/sec - 0 = 0.25 m/sec.  The relative speed here is 0.25 m/sec toward each other.
When two eggs were released traveling toward each other (O'Dale and Breanna), going in opposite directions (yes, opposite - as in east and west, etc.), their relative speed was faster.  When objects are going in opposite directions, either toward or away from each other, we combine their speeds.
0.25 + 0.25 = 0.50 m/sec toward each other. 
We know that speed is how fast or slow something is going.  Velocity is not the same as speed.  Velocity is the speed plus the direction.  So we would say the eggs' relative velocity was 0.50 meters per second toward each other.
If one car is traveling south at 70 mph, and another is traveling north in the opposite direction at 55 mph, since they are traveling in opposite directions, you add:  70 mph + 55 mph = 125 mph away from each other.  This is their relative velocity.
If two cars are each traveling north, and one is traveling 55 mph, and the other is traveling 70 mph, since they are traveling in the same direction, you subtract:  70 mph - 55 mph = 15 mph away from each other.   
It is still "away from each other" because the cars are getting further apart.

Wednesday, we plan to go by the cousins house when we go to piano lessons.  They'll drop rocks a ball from their treehouse.  We'll use a stopwatch to get the speed in 10 trials and average these speeds.  We'll then use this speed to calculate the distance from the rail of the treehouse to the ground.  =)
Here's the post.

Travis♥ gave me Peach Roses

He had gone to the store for me this morning, and came back with roses.  =)  Awwww...

5 Weeks to a Clean and Organized Home, Week 5, The Master Bedroom

Week 1 started April 5, 2010, at this blog: Christian Homekeeper Network

Click each link for details.
Day 1 - The Master Bedroom, declutter
Day 2 - The MB, closets and under bed
Day 3 - The MB, rugs, curtains, ceiling, walls, window and door frames (link is broken - I've contacted the blog author. 4/29/11)
Day 4 - The MB, a peaceful retreat
Day 5 - The MB, we're done!

Okay, if you know me, you know my house is not this clean!   

So what are these posts doing on my blog???  Why, this is my wish list, haha!

Physical Science, Module 8, Weather and Its Prediction

Click for Videos we Watched for Module 8 
Play  Quizlet.  Just scroll down and click on Physical, then scroll to find the Module you want.

This Module had one new experiment, and the continued Weather Experiment from Module 7.
We didn't do the new experiment, 8.1, Create Your Own Lightning.  I just let them try it on their own at home.  It was to use a balloon to create a spark, just the way lightning is created, and hear a snap just like thunder is made.  In a totally dark room, rub the balloon over your hair, then slowly move it toward your fist, knuckles up.  As the balloon nears your hand, you will feel a small charge, then hear a snap.  You may even see a spark!  You can learn more about how lightning is made by watching the videos I linked to above.
We did two other experiments instead. 
The barometer experiment is probably in the Second Edition since Michelle had it on her blog.  Correction: She got this experiment from another source.  Here's how the teens made their barometer.  I decided to make ours similar to her other one. Then I looked awhile on YouTube to find out all the little tips from different people.  I didn't find anything that explained everything in one video, so I ended up not posting a video about it on Homeschooler's Resources.
To make our barometer, we used:

• a pint jar 
• a 12" balloon with the end cut off
• several rubber bands to keep any new air from getting into the jar
• super glue to attach the straw to the middle of the balloon (I didn't have rubber cement that one video recommended)
• a (straight, not bendy) straw cut diagonally at one end
• and tape to make sure the straw stayed on

A barometer measures the atmospheric pressure.  Air is pressing on us from all around!  If the pressure is higher than when we made the barometer, the air will press down slightly more on the balloon, making the straw rise.  If the pressure is lower, meaning the pressure outside the jar is lower than the pressure inside the jar, the balloon will bulge up slightly, making the straw tip go down.  High pressure indicates clearer weather, and low pressure occurs when there are clouds.
I saw the chart on the wall at Michelle's blog, and made one similar.  Ahem!  I got carried away, and just kept adding to it.  ►Printable Chart
I made the chart so that a pint jar would hit about mid-way between the sun and cloud, but you can certainly tape it on the wall higher, or sit the jar on a small book to get it in the right position.
If it is a rainy or cloudy day when you make it, you can position your chart so that the straw tip hits slightly below the top edge of the cloud, and if sunny and clear, nearer to the sun.  Twice a day, we will be noting where the straw tip touches the chart and marking it, noting the time of day.

This will also help the kids to understand their ongoing Weather Experiment.  I will be checking Wunderground to see if I can catch when the barometric pressure is 29.92 inches, which is average.  I'll call the kids to let them know and they can mark with a pencil the points that the straw touches on each end of the chart, then with a ruler draw a light pencil mark across the chart.



The other experiment we did was to measure the dew point.  In looking up videos to go along with the text, I came across one that explained this, and decided to do it with the kids.

To measure the dew point, we used:

• a short wide glass
• a bulb thermometer
• close-to-room-temperature water
• ice cubes

They put the thermometers in the glasses and noted the temperature.  They added a few ice cubes and gently stirred the water with the thermometers.  As the ice cubes melted, they added more, one at a time.  When they saw the cloudy film of condensation begin to form, they checked the temperature on the thermometers.  This was the dew point.  I did this experiment last night, and it was 44°.  Today it was 40°.  This is the temperature at which point vapor condenses on objects.  It cannot condense in mid-air without having something to condense on.  A cloud cannot form without condensation nuclei - very fine particles in the air.  You have probably seen these when the sun shines through a window.  When clouds form, you know that the temperature inside the clouds and the dew point are equal.
The higher the pressure and humidity, the higher the dew point.

I gave an overview of the chapter, and we talked about hurricanes and how lightning forms.  They really laughed and got a kick out of the 1-minute video Science Explains Lightning. We watched it 3 times. =)  They drew and labeled the graph that was at 3:40 on the last video we watched, Hurricane Hunters.
Click for Videos we Watched for Module 8 

Physical Science, Module 7, Factors that Affect the Earth's Weather

Click for Videos we watched for Module 7
Learn all about clouds, hurricanes, etc, at Web Weather for Kids.
Play  Quizlet.  Just scroll down and click on Physical, then scroll to find the Module you want.

We are still working on the experiment for Module 7, which is to measure each day the high and low temperatures, high and low barometric pressure, note any precipitation, and write down the early and late cloud cover on Donna Young's printable Weather Chart.  Except for the cloud cover, we are getting our information from Weather Underground.  This module was to lead up to learning about predicting the weather in Module 8.

Last week I started making pictures of the clouds each day, so we could look back and maybe see a pattern.  On the fourth day, I began thinking... (I should do that more often!)  I had taken pictures from the front door and from the back door.  Sometimes they were different kinds!  Hmmm, which clouds would likely be coming our way?  I wondered how this experiment would work!  I emailed Apologia, and Dr. Wile answered that I should be looking at the clouds straight overhead!!!  woopsie!  So I changed the way I made the pictures, and here they are.  I'll be adding more daily, so check back if you're interested.  I believe you can see all the cloud pictures here at a glance.
Notice the clouds at Noon on Tuesday, 4/27/10, when it was raining.  Notice again the clouds this morning, Monday, 5/03/10, when it was getting ready to rain, and then when it rained.

5/10/10 Last Monday, it rained.  Today there was a little more sun, so we went back and tried the Hershey Kiss experiment that I saw on Michelle's blog.
The kids tried lighting the kisses with matches, but that of course didn't work.  Then they tried directing a pin-point of sunlight, Insolation (Incoming Solar Radiation), onto the tip of the kiss.  This failed for us, and even JohnDavid who is the king of burning things with a magnifying glass was unable to get this to work.
I guess we needed more sun than was out today.
← Here's what it's supposed to look like.
Thanks, Michelle for letting us borrow your pic! 

I love my Mom and Dad! ♥♥♥

My Mom loves to write, and has been writing a newsletter for her church for over four years. Sometimes each month, other times bi-monthly, depending on her health.  She also wrote this additional one-time issue (below) to give out as her testimony.  I'm so proud of her!!!

 
She was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in September, 2008, and had surgery to remove the tumor, but it was already in her bloodstream and spread to her lungs.  She has been wonderful through it all!  She and my Dad have stayed faithful to reading their Bibles and attending church.  Mom can't go to all the services, but she goes when she is able.  Through her cancer, she has been able to witness about Jesus Christ to many people - more than she would have otherwise.  People seem willing to accept what you want to share when you tell them you have cancer.

For a little over a year (until a few months before we learned of the cancer), she also wrote a monthly paper for our family - The Grandkidz Gazette - starting with her and my Dad, then featuring one grandchild each month.  She got to do an overview of the great-grandparents before she had to quit.  Next was to be the children and spouses.

In December of 2008, she revised the issue that was about her so she could give it out and share the gospel of salvation with as many people as she could.  That is the one I've posted here.  Over the past year and a half, she and my Dad with help from some others have put together over 2,000 packets that include this paper, a gospel tract, a bookmark, and a couple of pieces of candy.  She first handed them out to people at the cancer center, or while she sat in the car in the parking lot of the store while my Dad went in to get her medicine.  Soon, people at her church wanted to give them out as well.  Because of the chemo-related neuropathy, plus existing arthritis and fibromyalgia, she was getting to where she wasn't able to handle all the cutting, folding, and stringing the ribbon through the hole in the bookmark, etc.  My kids and I brought home some materials and put together some for her.  I know my siblings, their spouses, and other grandchildren have helped when they could, as well as some people from her church.  

 

We may never know what person may read the gospel and decide to come to Jesus Christ!  Salvation through Him is the only way to heaven!  My Mom has had some down times, yes, but mostly she's praised the Lord for letting her go through this as it has brought her closer to Him.  I'm crying as I write this.  She's so special to me.  My children love her; my husband loves her.  What a great family relationship we have!

My Dad is in the background.  A lot of people think of what my Mom is going through physically, but my Dad is hurting, too.  I can barely type this...  He has not turned back on God as some have when going through a trial.  My Mom and Dad read their Bible every morning, and I know to wait awhile before calling.  'Cause if I do, they tell me they're reading!  He loves her so much and does most of the chores around the house for her now.  My Mom said, "After 50 years, I finally have the maid I've always wanted!"  I love my Mom and Dad, and I'm so thankful my kids can know grandparents like them. 

 
She has had short breaks from chemo, and has had to skip some treatments.  She started having fewer from November thru January, and three months ago, she stopped taking any treatments.  I'm pretty sure she will not be able to go back on them.  She had scans done a couple of weeks ago, and they said there has been no further growth in the nodules on her lungs. We were so thankful to hear that.  Her health has improved a little since being off chemo, but of course it has taken its toll.  She still needs to pace herself and watch how much she does.  She makes it a priority not to do much on Saturday so she will be able to go to church on Sunday!

I just wanted to share with my readers what wonderful parents I have!  ♥♥♥

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Click images to enlarge.

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Kid-speak

Here are some cute things my kids used to say.