Over the summer Jake got a wood chip stuck in his foot after stepping on it outside. He took his pocketknife and (with help) cut open the skin so he could take it out before the area became infected (yes, mom, it grossed me out). That was 4 months ago.

Last night before bed, he was holding his foot saying that the spot where the wood chip was had a bump, and it hurt. I asked him if this all just started, and Jake replied that no, it’s been hurting for quite some time. Hmmm, sounded like an infection to me.

We went to see the doctor this afternoon. She took one look at it and declared, “it’s a wart”. Knowing this was a possibility, I did explain my wart history to Jake on the way to see the doc. I told him what the treatment was for my warts, and that he could expect the same if that bump on his foot was a wart.  Not so.

Today, medical knowledge is expanding at lightning speed. Brilliant ideas are discovered. There’s so much technology these days, you know.

The doctor prescribed OTC wart medicine with duct tape. I laughed, but it’s been written about in medical journals as being the most successful treatment for warts. Apparently, you can even buy the tape in all sorts of colors (maybe for this very reason?). So tonight, Jake went to bed with duct tape wrapped on his foot. And for now, it’s the industrial gray variety.

Allow me share a couple of noteworthy things that have come out of this: after reading the wart medicine package, Jake looked up the active ingredient in the Merck Index. Yes, you read that right. The boy has been reading out of the Merck Index during his down time. He told me something I don’t understand about the acid that’s in the medicine, so I just smiled and nodded. He’s getting smart with that science stuff!

Also, as we were talking in the car on the way home, I was commenting to Jake on how neat it is that he’s so interested in the elements and chemicals (refer to previous post). We talked about the possibility of him becoming a doctor, since doctors study lots of science (and Merck Indexes).

Then he asked, “Mom, how can doctors be useful in ministry?” 

This led into a conversation about all sorts of great things missionary doctors do for people around the world, including the U.S. We talked about how great it is when a doctor heals a person’s body, but how much greater it is when that doctor also tells a person about Jesus Christ, the only One who can heal a person’s soul.

Whatever course Jake and his brothers take in life, it is my prayer that they will truly serve God with everything they are and have. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23).

I made this report about How The Elements Are Useful and some things about atoms. I put in very useful elements that we use every day, sometimes in your home or in a nuclear power plant.

If you click this link you will go to the report.

how-the-elements-are-useful

We spent Thanksgiving in Holland, MI again this year.  The Johaniks rented a house (aptly named the Black Squirrel, for we spotted several of them while there) with Mom and Dad.  As soon as we arrived, the boys wasted no time in taking advantage of the most snow they’ve seen this season.

Here’s Bubbie trying his hardest to roll the snow-boulder:

Peter sampling the white snow:

The house sits on Lake Macatawa with a pier in the backyard.  It is a beautiful setting:

Grandma and Jeremy going for a walk by the pier:

In honor of Thanksgiving this weekend, I decided to look up the definition of the word “thankful”. The dictionary.com widget on the computer defined it as “pleased and relieved”.  I found it interesting that thankful = relieved.

For example, if I’m thankful, I have relief from anxiousness.  It reminds me of the verse in Philippians that says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  This frees me to rise above my circumstances and not be bogged down with worry.  God relieves me of worry and despair.

There was a man named Horatio Spafford who lived in the 1800s.  His life is a picture of true thankfulness to God.  He suffered unimaginable pain in his lifetime, but out of that pain was born a famous hymn.  Here is a summary of his life (taken from Wikipedia):

“The first [traumatic event] was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with another ship, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died…

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

Click this link to listen to this awesome song, sung by Chris Rice:

[click here]

Having two children participate in the same sport has many advantages.  They can spur one another on.  It eases the amount of driving back and forth for weekly practices.

One disadvantage can occur when the children are in different age groups.  And the older age group competes all morning, and the younger age group competes all afternoon.  That equals a whole day.

Last Saturday, we found ourselves in that situation where Jake swam from 6:45 to noon, and Derek swam from noon to 4:45.  Sarah and the kids joined us for part of the morning, which worked great for Peter and Jeremy to have friends to play with.

And Mom, Dad, and Jeanine get big hearty pats on the back because they hung in there with us till the end! I know you guys know this, but the time you invest in these kids is by far the most meaningful gift you could give them.  Their faces literally light up when they see their family cheering them on.  I am so thankful for your sacrifice!

Jake and Derek both swam their hardest and did a great job.  Jake earned points for the Porpoise team from swimming backstroke.  Derek’s big accomplishment of the day was competing in a 100 meter IM…four lengths of the pool, all four strokes.

We broke out the paint and smocks today.  Some of us were a little less reserved with the paint than others…

If I could guess, I’d say Peter is turning out to be a neat-nick.  He was careful to wipe his finger after every paint application.  He kept showing me his clean hands.

The one casualty: Peter stepped on Derek’s painting.  So much for being clean :) Here’s the sock:

For the past couple years, Jim has taken each of the boys up in the Cessna for their birthday.  He flies the birthday boy to breakfast–most often to a hole-in-the-wall diner in Janesville, Wisconsin.  

Apparently, this tradition trumps our previous one: letter pancakes made by mom.  

These photos are already over a month old, but worth sharing.  Derek has become quite experienced in both the pre-flight routine and cleaning and putting away the plane.  Jim captured this on camera after Derek’s most recent birthday flight, celebrating his 8th bday.  

Here’s Derek getting the tug into place so that he can push the plane into the hangar:

I’m seeing visions of weight conditioning for football here……

Success:

I was making some funny pictures today and I would like to show you them.

This is Derek’s LEGO police plane flying by the Eiffel Tower!

This is my LEGO truck driving on the moon!

This is me in the clouds!

This is me on a very scary roller coster!

This is me right by Yosemite Falls!

And this is me in a coral reef!

Phew! I’m tired from all that traveling.

Jeremy was running around with a cork.

Jake asked him what he had in his hand, and Jeremy answered “cork”.

Jake said (to Jeremy and everyone listening) “that is much too big to be a quark”.  I just looked at him dumbfounded as Jake stood laughing at himself.

I asked him what’s so funny, and he explained to me that quarks are tiny particles that make up atoms. “Get it? Cork? Quark? haha.”

We met the Gieres at the arboretum one morning in October.  The kids had fun running around and wading in the creek.

All the cousins…

This next one has to be my favorite photo from the day, even though it’s blurry:

From this one picture, you can conclude many things about Peter.

1.  he’s fast

2.  he enjoys running

3.  he has a great smile

4.  he has his own sense of style

Ever since the day Peter began dressing himself, he has shown a unique taste in style.  Derek, during baseball season this summer, was required to tuck his jersey into his pants for games.  This inspired Peter to tuck his shirt into his pants.  Every day (and night).  Most recently, he absconded with Derek’s red baseball socks and now tucks his pants into them.  I love this about him–he does things his way no matter who snickers at him.  It makes the whole obedience training a little tricky, but that’s another story.

Later in the month, we visited Johansen Farm with the Goldings.  It was a gorgeous day, and, as usual, the kids were thrilled to play together.  Here they are holding the baby chicks, a favorite J Farm activity:

The Johaniks and Goldings have been visiting the farm for a few years now (how many, Tracy??), and our annual picture in the bus shows how the kids (and the number of kids) have grown!

Bubbie?

I am learning about tall tales in my grammar and I was supposed to write one of my own. A tall tale is a fiction story about someone who is huge or tiny and can do some things that regular people can’t do. I thought I can share this funny story with you.

The Story of Tiny Tim

One fine afternoon Mr.Sleepy who lives in Sleepy Town woke up at 2:43 P.M. and had some breakfast. Meanwhile someone called Tiny Tim just finished eating lunch. Tiny Tim is as small as a grain of rice and as strong as an elephant.

Mr.Sleepy invited two of his best friends for a slumber party Mr.Run-Out-Of-Time and Mr.Lazy. As you can see Mr.Run-Out-Of-Time is always late, well he was invited at 5:00 and he seemed to have fallen asleep in his car, and he drove straight  into a big fire truck tipping it over and his car pushed until he started driving again! Then he drove right into a small house! Then he drove straight into the biggest mansion in the whole town! Then he finely woke up at  6:30 after he crashed into the mansion and he drove to Mr.Sleepy’s house.

Mr.Lazy however crashed into a slow moving car causing a huge pile of pieces everywhere! They waited an hour and a half for the car repair truck came. Soon he drove to Mr.sleepy’s house.

When they woke up (at 1:26 P.M.) from the slumber party Mr.Run-Out-Of-Time crashed into a fire powered power plant causing fire to spread all over the town!

 The hard working clan of ants some friends of Tiny Tim spotted the fire. So Speed the fastest ant in the colony raced to about 100 mph to Tiny Tim. Tim called the fire department but the fire fighters were sleeping. So Tim hopped on Speed’s back going now about 120 mph back to the fire.

Tim spotted a water tower and a crane next to each other. Suddenly he got an idea. Him and Speed and the ants went to the water tower and the crane. Tim went up the crane and he smashed the top of the water tower with the hook of the crane. Then he climbed down and he and the ants carried the water tower and poured the water on top of the fire!

But their was still a little fire left. So the ants dug a hole until they reached the water pipes. So Tim went in the hole and broke a piece of the pipe and SPSSSSSSS out came the water! Soon all the fire was gone. 

Thats the story of Tiny Tim!

Jake

We have been learning about botany this year for science. I would like to show you some things we learned and did not know before. Flowers have to get pollenated before making seeds and animals that do this are bees, butterflies, hummingbirds… so when you see a bee in a flower its looking for nectar, a slimy liquid and bees make honey with it, but when their looking deep inside for nectar they get this yellow powder called pollen on them. It’s all a mistake!  So when they go to the next flower a tiny stem called a carpel collects some of the pollen and over time in the fall it makes fruits like apples, blueberries, tomatoes and all other kinds of fruits. Pollen can only go to the same species but not it’s own flower. A bee colony has a mission each day so one group go’s to one type of flower like a rose and another group go’s to another flower like a daisy, it’s amazing!

But once a plant makes seeds, how do they get planted? That’s easy, a farmer can plant thousands of seeds, but what about in thick forests filled with dangerous animals? Well their are other ways seeds can be dispersed, animal dispersal: an animal like a squirrel can plant many seeds, they can bury acorns in the dirt and then next year a little tree has grown! Animals also accidentally run in to a burr plant, a burr is like a bristly ball it is kind of like velcro so it sticks on an animals fur then when it gets home it scratches the burr which is also a seed and grows into another burr plant. Bad news to the animals! Their is water dispersal also, plants that live by the water may have special seeds like the mangrove tree that have seeds that float long distances and will find a suitable place to grow right on the shore. Another example are the water lilies they grow seeds that float for a short distance then sink to the bottom of the pond (or river). Another is called wind dispersal, a dandelion is a great example, like when you blow one all the seeds go flying away with the wind which would land on the ground then grow into another dandelion. Another one is the maple tree, the half winged seed case twirls down with the wind and grows into another maple tree. Human dispersal is when people like a farmer plants tons of seeds. The most interesting one is mechanical dispersal, the jewel weed is an orange flower like a jewel attracts lots of animals so when its ripe an animal like a bee will land on it then it’s seeds will shoot out in all directions making new jewel weed plants! Another one is called the squirting cucumber, it has a 2 inch cucumber-like case, when it’s nice and fat it explodes and a liquid mixed with the seeds shoot out and will grow into another squirting cucumber!

Plants are really amazing, so are the animals that pollenate them!

Jake