HEART TO HEART NEWSLETTER
ENCOURAGEMENT TO WOMEN
Compiled especially for you with love by Lois Breneman
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7/16/08 Teens, Time, Money, Tidbits, Ladybugs, Tacos, Vacation, Lesson, Sponges
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When Satan comes knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, would you please get that for me?"
IN THIS ISSUE:
SUMMERTIME DEVELOPMENTAL GOALS FOR TEENS
SAMPLE SUMMER GOALS WORKSHEET
IF TIME IS MONEY, THEN MONEY IS TIME, TOO
TIPS AND TIDBITS
APPLE LADYBUGS
KIDS' PARTY TACOS
EASY MEXICAN CASSEROLE
FAMILY VACATION
THE TRIP HOME
CAN ANY OF YOU MOMS RELATE TO THIS?
INTERESTING FACTS
SCIENCE EXPERIMENT: DISAPPEARING WATER
TURN THIS EXPERIMENT INTO AN OBJECT LESSON - "STAND FAST"
FIVE SPONGES
HUMOR IN THE FAMILY
SUMMERTIME DEVELOPMENTAL GOALS FOR TEENS
Copyright Patti Chadwick - http://historyswomen.com - Used by permission
Life with teenagers is hectic. The school year is especially busy with studies, sports, and extra-curricular activities. During the school year it is hard for your teen to find time to work on personal growth or to pursue special interests. With the summer coming and the school year coming to a close, now is the time for your teenager to work on personal development -- and you can help them!
While both you and your teenager will want some free time in the summer to just "be", if you don't plan for developing special interests or personal growth, you will spend most of the summer idle. Remember the old sayings "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" (A Mother's Summer Survival Manual, p. 8) and "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time!" Don't fall into that trap. Here are some ideas to help both you and your teen "plan your work and work your plan."
1) The Parent's Goals
In order to plan for developmental and personal growth in your teens over the summer break, you will need to think about what areas of their lives need to be concentrated on. Think of where your teen is intellectually, physically, spiritually, socially, emotionally, and in terms of practical living skills. Ask yourself where would you like your teen to be in each of these areas by the summer's end.
2) Ask Your Teens for Input
Since they are no longer little children, but young adults, it is very important to discuss these plans with your teenager. What goals do they have for the summer? What would they like to learn? What athletic abilities would they like to hone? What special interests would they like to pursue? What practically living skills do they wish to attain?
3) Determine How Goals Will be Measured
How will you measure progress? Remember, each teen is an individual and will grow at his or her own pace. It is wise to be flexible as you work together toward these goals.
4) Write Down Goals
Writing down goals will provide the structure needed to keep you and your teen moving toward the goal and provide a framework for activities you will plan.
When deciding on the interests to pursue and what you both would like have accomplished over the summer, you need to keep two things in mind: your objective and your plan to reach
those goals. To help you get started, I've included a sample "Summertime Personal Growth Goals Worksheet."
SAMPLE SUMMER GOALS WORKSHEET
Intellectual Goals
Objective: Increase Vocabulary
Plan: Read 4 books this summer, one being a classic.
Physical Goals
Objective: Improve Soccer Skills
Plan: Play in a summer soccer league.
Spiritual Goals
Objective: Learn more about the life of Jesus.
Plan: Read all four Gospel accounts.
Social-Emotional Goals
Objective: Give back to the community.
Plan: Volunteer two times per week at the YMCA.
Practical Living Skill Goals
Objective: Get Driver's License
Plan: Drive with parents 2-3 times per week and learn how to do
a 3-point turn, and parallel park.
*This is just a sample. Use this worksheet as a guide, but be sure to add to it or delete from it. Whatever works best for your family.
Now, armed with these examples, find the time to get alone with your teenager and make plans on how, as a team, you can make the most of summer vacation. While you are at it, why not make plans to work on your own personal growth this summer!
About the Author: Patricia Chadwick is a freelance writer and columnist in several online publications. For her free weekly newsletter, go to http://www.historyswomen.com
IF TIME IS MONEY, THEN MONEY IS TIME, TOO
By Twara Kellam - www.LivingOnADime.com
When people ask me about getting out of debt, they often ask, "Doesn't it take quite a bit more time to be frugal?" Of course, doing work yourself does mean you spend more time doing certain things, but it also means that you will spend a lot less time and money working to pay someone else to do it. Many people work more hours to pay someone else to do a job than it would take them to do it themselves. Of course, if you make a million dollars a year and have no manual dexterity, this article is not for you.
Here are some examples based on my own experience with a family of 5. Because your household income is probably not the same as mine, some things that make sense for me will not make sense for you. I suggest that you read my examples and consider your actual costs.
Example #1: Buying clothes- One great way to save on clothes is to go to garage sales. This seems very time consuming to many people, but it really isnt. In the summer, I usually spend 3-4 hours every 2 weeks (May - September) going to garage sales. That may seem like a lot, but if you compare that to how much time the average person spends shopping at the mall, it really isnt any longer.
Example #2: Meals- I usually average an hour and a half each day preparing and cleaning up from meals. Compare that to going out to eat: It takes the typical person 20 minutes to drive to the restaurant and 20 minutes to return home. That is 40 minutes. Then you spend 15-20 minutes ordering and waiting for your order. You are now up to one hour. If you plan an hour for eating, you are up to two hours total. Don't forget the 2-3 hours you had to work to pay for it! This assumes an income of $30,000 per year and a $40 family meal.
If you go to fast food restaurants instead, you could cut your time down to 40-50 minutes and 1-2 hours working to pay for it.
If you stay home and cook, it will cost you 15-30 minutes preparing the meal and less than $5 paying for it. Im not saying that you should never eat out but, that if you do it regularly, it will cost you a lot more (in time and money). Is it really worth it?
Example #3: Buying a car- If you buy a new car with $500 a month payments for 5 years, you pay $30,000. Lets say you earn $30,000 per year at your job. If you assume 25% income tax, you must earn $40,000 to pay for your $30,000 car. This means that you have to work 1 year and 4 months for no other reason but to pay for that car. Is it really worth working over one year just to pay for a new car? If you decided to buy a $7500 car instead, you could afford to take a vacation from work for a year. Havent you been saying you need more free time? (If you didnt get that, get out your calculator and do the math. This is important.)
Always consider the hidden costs, too. Would you feel more inclined to buy a security system for that $30,000 car? How much will that cost? Are the parts more expensive for the $30,000 car when it breaks down? Trust me, your new car will still break down almost as much as a used car. Ask my brother...
Be very careful when you start saying things like, "Doesn't it take too much time to be frugal?" or "I can't seem to find time to be with my husband or children" or "I don't know where to start saving." Often, those are excuses that you have created to ease your guilt. If you think about it and do the math, living simply will give you more free time. If you'd rather not, you can always keep spending money and wishing you had more family time. It's your choice! But take heart- if you have read this far then you get and A+ for taking the first step and trying!
TIPS AND TIDBITS
Learning a Foreign Language ~ I thought I'd share another way to learn a foreign language ...
www.BeforeYouKnowIt.com You can download the simple version for free and the Deluxe version for a fee. However the free download includes simple phrases, months, days of the weeks, animals, numbers, etc. I downloaded German for myself and Spanish for my kids. They have many languages to choose from! Awesome! ~ Rebecca Beck
Something to Think About and Act Upon ~ "I would bet the average Christian sitting in church or in Bible study has no idea that Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortion services in the United States, " said Peggy Hartshorn, president of Heartbeat International. "Their budget in $1 billion a year, and a third of that comes from our tax dollars." Read more at
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000007763.cfm
Opening Jars ~ Turn a hard-to-open jar upside down and hit the bottom of the jar. Then try again. If that doesn't work, run very hot water over the jar lid and hit on the sink with a doubled dish cloth protecting the sink. Then open the jar with a piece of rubber, used for opening jars.
Fresh Far Longer ~ Store opened containers of items like spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese,
yogurt, etc. upside down in your refrigerator. The food will remain fresh far longer than if stored right side up because gravity helps keep spores from growing as quickly.
Green Bags really do work by absorbing the gases given off by fruits and vegetables which normally cause them to spoil! A great invention! I forgot to take some strawberries with us on vacation, but when we got back home I found them setting in our refrigerator in a green bag - still fresh more than a week after I bought them! After the bags are used, I wash them out with dish washing liquid, rinse well, and hang them outside the kitchen door to dry. Twist ties may cut the bags, so I use a Pampered Chef bag clip (Twixit) to close each bag, but the top can simply be twisted and folded under without a clip. These bags help prevent waste. I had bought twenty green bags (2 sizes) for $10 at CVS.
Print Coupons You Want at
boodle.com) and put in your zip code. Simply check the coupons you want and hit Print.
Multi-Functional Baby Gate ~ Rather than buying expensive baby gates that adults and other children have to climb over, use a port-a-crib to block off the stairs to prevent small children from climbing the stairs. A port-a-crib has more than one function too. Check out yard sales. I found a nice one for only $5 for when the grandchildren come.
Remove Blueberry Stains by pouring white vinegar on the stain and pouring boiling water over it. Don't you love those huge in-season blueberries right now?
Stains on Countertops ~ White vinegar removes many stains without rubbing. I poured a small amount on dye stain that came from colored paper and it vanished in a few minutes.
Cornstarch or Baby Powder in a Sugar Shaker (found in Kroger with kitchen accessories) is great for removing sand from your kiddies' bodies after playing in the sandbox or for removing itchy hair from the neck after a haircut.
Toys in the Bathtub ~ Instead of storing bath toys in plastic mesh, try plastic caddies that suction to the wall. The holes in the bottom help the water drain easily, yet the toys don't get stuck as they do in mesh bags. If you put the caddy at a height so the toys are easily reached by your children, putting them in and taking them can be part of the bathtime fun!
Disposable Diaper "Extender" ~ If your toddler wakes up soaked through his diaper, try providing even more absorbency by adding a maxi pad to soak up extra wetness.
Sweeping Toddlers ~ Buy an inexpensive broom at the dollar store, and cut down the handle to fit your child's size, sanding it off to prevent splinters or cuts. Small children love to "Help Mommy," so teach them how at this early age - as soon as they can walk and hold a broom.
Pet Shop Entertainment ~ Take your children to the pet shop for free and fun entertainment. Let them know you are just looking!
Healthy Snacks ~ Stick two grapes on a fork and dip them into natural peanut butter for a great way of eating "Peanut Butter and Jelly!" Have another great snack by dipping apple slices into peanut butter! Great for work or school lunches too - just use plastic forks.
APPLE LADYBUGS
Originally submitted by Veros L. and modified by www.kaboose.com - Used by permission
Preparation Time: 10 min. - Servings: 4
Let your kids play with their food for a change. They'll love decorating juicy red apples with pretzels for antennas, raisins for spots and eyes and peanut butter for wings, then snacking on them once they work up an appetite.
Ingredients:
2 red apples, 1/4 cup raisins, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 8 thin pretzel sticks
Instructions:
1. Slice apples in half from top to bottom, and scoop out the cores using a knife or melon baller. If you have an apple corer, core them first, then slice. Place each apple half flat side down on a small plate.
2. Dab peanut butter on to the back of the 'lady bug', then stick raisins onto the dabs for spots. Use this method to make eyes too. Stick one end of each pretzel stick into a raisin, then press the other end into the apples to make antennae.
Recently, I attended a birthday party for 30 pre-teens. Here is a neat food idea that I picked up at the party. The hostess bought a box of snack size Fritos (Sam's Club has 50 bags in a box for around $10). She had on hand ingredients for tacos (seasoned meat, chopped lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and taco sauce). Then the kids squeezed the bottom of the bags so the Fritos broke up a little bit and spooned the meat, cheese, etc. into the bag. After sticking a plastic fork in the bag, it was a walking taco! The kids loved them and no plates were needed. They simply threw away the bag when done. ~ Reader's Tip from Becky L. in Altoona, PA
1 lb. ground beef or turkey 2 cans cream soup (mushroom, chicken, or celery)
1 med. onion, chopped 1 13-oz. can evaporated milk (fat free cuts down on calories)
1 can enchilada sauce Shredded cheddar cheese
1 can chopped green chilies Tortilla chips
Place tortilla chips in bottom of 9x13-inch pan. Brown meat and onion, skimming fat. Add all canned items one at a time. Simmer until hot through. Pour onto tortilla chips while hot. Spread out evenly in pan. Top with cheese. Let stand for 5 minutes or until cheese melts.
FAMILY VACATION
Families are close to the heart of each one of us, and I thought I'd share with you about our recent vacation, in the hopes that some of you might find some new ideas to include with your own family.
Last week our family spent a week together on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We have been carrying out this tradition for quite a few summers now, with the exception of last year when we all spent vacation at the home of our daughter and son-in-law's in Georgia last June since she was unable to travel so late in her pregnancy, and they extended the invitation to all nine of us. Even the best of traditions may sometimes change, so it's hard to know if a beach vacation with everyone will happen every year, but we'll enjoy the ones we can.
In the past twenty-three months our family grew from seven members to eleven, with two dear daughters-in-law and now two more precious grandchildren joining our family in the last year. We are so grateful to the Lord for His special blessings, and never take them for granted! It was especially fun having two new babies under one year of age at the beach this year, and five year old Justin is always lots of fun too!
In planning the meals, we tried to keep it as simple as possible. Prior to vacation our daughter, Joy, made a list of food and supplies we would need for the week, and then through e-mail, we each signed up for things to bring, with input from everyone. Breakfasts for the week basically consisted of cereal, milk, eggs, juice, coffee, tea, PawPaw's coffee cake, and Grammie's Pennsylvania Dutch sticky buns and toasted homemade bread. Since people got up at different times, we usually fixed our own breakfast. For lunches we mostly had sandwiches, yogurt, salads and leftovers. We only ate out for one breakfast, and decided we could do a better job cooking ourselves in the beach house rather than having to shell out all that extra money for eating another meal out! I took our water distiller along so we could have good water to drink, but it had trouble keeping up with us all. Joy and Emily kept refreshing sweet herbal sun tea going for us all, sweetened by Stevia. We each signed up to bring at least two snacks as well.
For the dinners, each of the four families planned one meal, brought everything that went with it, cooked it and cleaned up. For another meal we each brought our own choice of meat that Jeff grilled to have with fresh corn on the cob that James grilled, and some other vegetables. We ate leftovers another night and saved the homemade pizza for the seventh night.
For that last night Joy made a sand castle birthday cake for Ryan Elizabeth, who will turn one next week. She followed the directions from the Family Fun Magazine, using crushed vanilla wafers for sand, and pointed ice cream cones gave it the castle appearance. It was great! Then after pizza, we all stood, gathered around Ryan and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. With nine singing voices (Baby Daniel can't sing yet) and eighteen eyes looking right at her, she didn't know what to think! Her eyes got so big, and this normally very happy little girl looked so startled, even close to tears. She didn't laugh or even smile for a while, until she got to dig her fingers into a piece of cake - her first ever! Introducing her to ice cream and cake may have been a big mistake! Now when she sees an ice cream cone, she goes crazy, and after a taste, her tongue goes in and out with such a look of concentration on her face, as if to say, "Look what have I been missing all my life!" Then she leans over for "More!"
In the beach house, we played games, some of us worked on scrapbooking and card making with Joy's Cricut machine to cut out different shapes. PawPaw and Justin made kites together. Justin and Aunt Rachael had fun in a blanket tent, watching DVD's together. We all went bowling in the living room using Joy and Wayne's Wii. Some went sailing, bike riding, watched the sunrises and sunsets, played tennis, went fishing, climbed the sand dunes, swam and played in the pool, soaked in the hot tub, made sand castles and a sand turtle, jumped the waves, rode the waves with surf boards, walked on the beach in the evening and saw dolphins, collected seashells, waded out knee deep into the ocean with breaking waves, took hundreds of pictures, or climbed to the top of a lighthouse. When Justin got to the very top of the Currituck Lighthouse with some of his family on a hot, humid day, the first thing he said with a sweaty sigh, "It sure would feel good to take a dip in the pool right now!"
On our last night at the beach, the two babies, Ryan Elizabeth and Daniel, were so tired but not able to get to sleep, so James and Emily each took a baby outside to the swing on the deck so their parents could pack up to be ready to leave early the next morning. The two babies were fast asleep in no time at all and soon lying on James and Emily's bed. Then came the flashes of the cameras. They were so adorable and slept through it all.
My favorite thing to do down at the beach was to hold 11 1/2 month old Ryan Elizabeth's hands as she walked out to the ocean, squealing and laughing, especially if she saw her big brother or other family out in the water. Then as a wave came in and touched her feet, sometimes she would start to walk backwards, especially if the water was cold that day. Or she would lift up one foot. If I lifted her up just above the water, she would raise both of her legs straight out, perpendicular to the water until the water went out into the ocean again. This evening we got a call saying Ryan had taken her first steps a few minutes ago - nine days before her birthday! We kept watching for that big event at the beach, but we just missed it.
Ryan and I also had fun with her bouncing on my knees to the rhyme of, "Trot, trot to Boston, Trot, trot to Lind, Better watch out, Ryan, Or you might fall --- IN!" She would fasten her eyes on mine. Then she would grin when I got to her name, shake her head "No," then she would say "Eh!" for "In" just as I was ready to say, "In." When Joy called on Sunday night to say they were safely home, she had the phone on speaker so Ryan could hear and she got so excited to hear Grammie's voice, because we spent a lot of time together. I said the rhyme to her over the phone, and she was so happy, Joy said, and her "Eh" really sounded like "In" this time! Then on Sunday night Justin called again just to say how he really misses "His family!"
It was fun to spend time with the grandchildren and even babysit so their parents could have some time alone. Baby Daniel would smile and coo as we talked to him. He enjoyed hearing, "Jesus Loves Me" and "I Love You A Bushel and A Peck" sung to him over and over again, and would move his ear over close to my mouth as I sang into his ear ever so softly. He also enjoyed the hanging mobile tied to a ceiling vent with balloons and jiggling toys as we ate, with the black and white ribbon tied to his foot. His kicking made it more, which fascinated him. We aren't able to babysitting very often with our grandchildren living too far away, but we are so thankful for the times we do have together, and enjoy them to the fullest.
On the last evening at the beach, using James' tripod, we had a family picture taken with
everyone sitting on the front steps of the beach house, as a reminder of our week together. Our love, prayers, time, phone calls, e-mails, humor, and creativity poured into relationships all help to bond us together. I pray we will all always have close and open communion with one another, and that we will all honor the Lord in our individual lives as well as together as a family.
THE TRIP HOME
Author unknown
A pastor had been on a long flight between church conferences. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: "Fasten Your Seat Belts."
Then, after a while, a calm voice said, "We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened."
As the pastor looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive.
Later, the voice on the intercom said, "We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us."
And then the storm broke . . . The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Lightning! lit up the darkening skies, and within moments that great plane was like a cork tossed around on a celestial ocean. One moment the airplane was lifted on terrific currents of air; the next, it dropped as it were about to crash.
The pastor confessed that he shared the discomfort and fear of those around him. He said, As I looked around the plane, I could see that nearly all the passengers were upset and alarmed. Some were praying. The future seemed ominous and many were wondering if they would make it through the storm.
Then, I suddenly saw a little girl. Apparently the storm meant nothing to her. She had tucked her feet beneath her as she sat on her seat; she was reading a book and everything within her small world was calm and orderly.
Sometimes she closed her eyes, then she would read again; then she would straighten her legs, but worry and fear were not in her world.
When the plane was being buffeted by the terrible storm when it lurched this way and that, as it rose and fell with frightening severity, when all the adults were scared half to death, that marvelous child was completely composed and unafraid. The minister could hardly believe his eyes.
It was not surprising therefore, that when the plane finally reached its destination and all the passengers were hurrying to disembark, our pastor lingered to speak to the girl whom he had watched for such a long time.
Having commented about the storm and the behavior of the plane, he asked why she had not been afraid. The child replied, "Cause my Daddy's the pilot, and he's taking me home."
There are many kinds of storms that buffet us. Physical, mental, financial, domestic, and many other storms can easily and quickly darken our skies and throw our plane into apparently uncontrollable movement. We have all known such times, and let us be honest and confess, it is much easier to be at rest when our feet are on the ground than when we are being tossed about a darkened sky.
Let us remember: Our Father is the Pilot. He is in control and taking us home. Don't worry!
CAN ANY OF YOU MOMS RELATE TO THIS?
An old, tired-looking dog wandered into the yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home. He followed me into the house, down the hall, and fell asleep in a corner. An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out. The next day he was back, resumed his position in the hall and slept for an hour. This continued for several weeks.
Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: "Every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap." The next day he arrived with a different note pinned to his collar: "He lives in a house with ten children - he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?"
(Submitted to Daily Encounter www.actsweb.org/ by Doug Roman - Used by permission)
INTERESTING FACTS
Author unknown ~ Contributed by Tanya Bennett of Virginia ~ You family will enjoy these!
(I didn't have time to check out all these facts, but trust they are true.)
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
A snail can sleep for three years.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line.
would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are 2 words in the English language that have all 5 vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every 2 weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.
SCIENCE EXPERIMENT: DISAPPEARING WATERCopyright: Robert Krampf -
http://krampf.com - Used by permission
In this week's experiment, we're going to do a little science "magic." I have always liked magic tricks, but was never really good at sleight of hand. Luckily, some magic tricks are really science tricks, so the science does all the work.
Imagine that you pour water into a glass. After a couple of seconds, you turn the glass upside down and no water comes out. It make a fun trick and has some really neat science in it as well.
You will need: a disposable diaper, a sheet of newspaper, scissors, a water glass (one that you can see through), and water.
Lay the sheet of newspaper on a flat surface. Use the scissors to cut the diaper into pieces. Hold each piece over the newspaper and shake it gently. A white powder should fall out. Don't expect to get a lot. It doesn't take much. Place the powder in the glass. Pour about 1/2 cup of water into the glass and watch carefully. Within a second or two, all of the water will solidify. It looks as if it is frozen, until you touch it. Then you find out it is a soft gel. You can turn the glass upside down and the gel should stay in the glass, giving the illusion that the water has vanished.
The white powder is sodium polyacrylate. It is a chemical that is very good at capturing water. It can absorb up to 300 times its weight in water, forming a gelatinous blob. It works very well in diapers, and is also used for cleaning up chemical spills. You can also find it in garden supply shops, where it is used to hold water in the soil until the plant needs it.
About the Author: Robert Krampf travels the world providing fun science-related programs to schools, homeschool groups, and other venues. You can learn more about him at
http://krampf.com/bio.html
TURN THIS EXPERIMENT INTO AN OBJECT LESSON - "STAND FAST"
You may want to use this experiment to teach your children how hiding God's Word in their hearts, having a real heart change in accepting Jesus' payment for their sin, and obeying the Lord can help them "stand fast" when the enemy tries to lure them away from spiritual truth - now as well as all their lives.
So many young people today who have been trained in good godly homes as children, are turning away from the Lord, especially when they go away to secular colleges. The pull of the world is so great and they are believing the lies of Satan, rather than holding onto God's truth. Teach them while they are still young how so many young people change the entire course of their lives by making bad choices, especially in turning away from the Lord. Give your children examples. They remember stories and object lessons much better than preaching. Never give up praying for wayward children. The Lord is faithful!
FIVE SPONGES
Author unknown - This is excellent!
There are five sponges laying on your kitchen counter. Each member of your family has been cleaning up different areas of your home, but all the sponges look the same. You are curious as to what was cleaned, but you can't tell by looking. They all look the same. So, what do you do? As you squeeze the first sponge you see that cola comes out, and you decide that someone cleaned the kitchen with that one. Upon squeezing the second sponge, you find tub and tile cleaner. That one was used in the bathroom. In the third sponge you find motor oil. Someone cleaned the garage. In the fourth sponge, baby power puffs out. The baby's nursery was cleaned with that one. In the last sponge is floor wax. That was the one you used on the hall floor. As you lay the last one down, you look again at their similarity.
They all look the same until they are squeezed. Christians are the same! As life squeezes us, different things come out: anger, revenge, tears, remorse, greed, untruth, lust and finally, from one saint, pours forth the love of Christ. Just like the sponge, we can only squeeze out what is put in.
Stay in the Word daily and be in continuous prayer so that when life puts the squeeze on you, Jesus, and Jesus alone will shine forth. As you think upon this, ask yourself, if I was squeezed, would Jesus and Jesus alone shine forth?
HUMOR IN THE FAMILY
A little boy reported one day, "I'd like to have a little brother! After all, there are only certain things I can blame on a dog!"
Karen Coughlin in Florida sent this story:
Little Zachary was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything. Tutors, flash cards, mentors, special learning centers. In short, everything they could think of to help his math. Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary down and enrolled him in the local Catholic school.
After the first day, little Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't even kiss his mother Hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Zachary was hard at work. His mother was amazed. She called him down to dinner.
To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back to his room without a word, and in no time, he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day, while the mother tried to understand what made all the difference.
Finally, little Zachary brought home his report card. He quietly laid it on the table, went up to his room and hit the books. With great trepidation his Mom looked at it and to her great surprise, little Zachary got an "A" in math.
She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and said, "Son, what was it?
Was it the nuns?" Little Zachary looked at her and shook his head, no. "Well, then," she replied, "Was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the uniforms?" "What was it?"
Little Zachary looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of school when I saw someone nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren't fooling around."
Robyn Armijo in Chile found a funny saying the other day. This is for all of us 39 and over:
Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house they went for Grandma's birthday. When they arrived little Johnny said to Grandma, "Happy Birthday" and then proceeded to ask her how old she was.
Grandma immediately answered, "I'm 39 and holding."
To that, little Johnny asked, "Okay, so how old would you be if you let go?"
Please remember to pray for each dear Heart to Heart lady and her family as you receive your newsletter. Many ladies are going through very tough times and need our prayers!
Pray each day for the protection of our troops, as well as for their families left at home!
(¨`·.·´¨) God bless you and your family and keep you in His loving care!
`·.¸(¨`·.·´¨) And remember, I love to hear from you dear ladies!
`·.¸.·´ Your Heart to Heart friend,
"Heart to Heart Lois
Jer. 33:3 & Eph. 3:20
The purpose of the Heart to Heart Newsletter is to encourage women and build biblical values into daily living through practical creative ideas for the Christian family regarding marriage, children, homemaking, and much more. Receive this free bimonthly newsletter by listing your name, city, state, e-mail address, and name of your referral person and sending it to Lois at <a title=mailto:jhbreneman@... href="mailto:[email protected]" target=_blank>[email protected]. New subscribers will receive a Welcome, a "Start-Up Kit," and several recent newsletters.
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