Field Trip: Harsco Science Center

At the end of May the family took a trip down to Pennsylvania.   One of the places we stopped at was the Harsco Science Center in Harrisburg.

 While I won't say that visiting the science was worth the dollars spent, we did manage to have fun here.   Many of the exhibits were old, well worn or even broken, some things worked well.  The tornado exhibit was a hoot for both of us.

We had fun making cars, even if the method of making them was fairly set.  

We then moved on to the shaker (for lack of a better word).  Build a mountain, put up your house and see how well it stands up.

 

We had fun racing against each other on a paired biking thing to see who could wear off their dinner quicker.  We did this several times, with the lad consistently beating his mother (except once when I cheated!)  (freely admitting that).  :)  Sorry for the blurry pic, it's hard to take a good pic while peddling a small bike.

We lifted our own body weight, which for two of the lifts was easy, but for one.. well... let's just say we both need to work on our upper arm strength.   

Our greatest amount of time though was spent on the fan.  We changed blades, rotated spinners and just had fun playing around with it.

 If we're in Harrisburg again we won't go to the Harsco Science Center again, but the activities we found entertained the lad quite nicely.
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Reliance, Encouragement, Faith Proclaimed

Hello, continuing my study in the Book of Romans. Glad to have you here. Click here for the rest of the series.

Today Romans 1:8-15

 
 ⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. ⁹ For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you ¹⁰ always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. ¹¹ For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— ¹² that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. ¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. ¹⁵ So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul is thankful to his readers, the people in the Rome.  
Why?
Their faith is proclaimed in all the world.

Can you imagine it?
Having an apostle the stature of Paul praising you because your FAITH is proclaimed.  People talking about your faith. 

I hear that can I think...wow...that would be cool.  For people to see my faith and have THAT be what is talked about.  Imagine if that were the case for the church you were part of?   For the faith of your church to be a topic of discussion.. rather than the bickering or lack of service be the points mentioned.   YOUR FAITH!  Wow... that would just be very very cool. 

Paul tells his listeners, that God knows the truth, he prays for them all the time, and he asks God to allow him to get to visit with them.   He wants so badly to see them so he can strengthen them with some spiritual gift. 

The point being that they will mutually encourage each other through their faith.

Mutually encouraged by each other's faith.

Do you feel encourage by the faith seen in others?   Does your faith encourage others?
 I have to admit, I have felt encouraged by others... but I don't know if my faith is a point of encouragement for others.   I so often just see my weakness and faltering... but it's something to strive for eh?   To build up my faith, to see God more clearly so I can then more clearly show him to others.

Paul wants his readers to know this.  He wants so badly to come to Rome, but so far has been prevented from doing so.   He has so many obligations ... to the Greeks, the barbarians, the wise, the foolish...he wants to preach God's word to them all.   He is so eager to preach God's word to them as well. 

I can imagine the pressure Paul found himself under.  To have this strong compulsion to be out doing, and yet finding so many areas in which to be busy doing that he can't do it all.  He wants to go to Rome, but since he relies on God to help him find his way....he recognizes that God has not yet created a way for him to get there.  

Ah ... that reliance on God eh?
 
To have that reliance.    Oh... so much to learn from Paul eh?   To see that reliance, to have that strong desire to preach the gospel to everyone, to see the faith in others and be encouraged by it.  It's a good thing that.  :)

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Review: Following the Great Wall

Guess what I have for you today?   Another Unfolding Journeys book, this one on the Great Wall!  You may remember me talking about Rocky Mountains Explorer in the past.  This book does not disappoint as it dips us into the Following the Great Wall in China.

Following the Great Wall is an unfolding book, where the one side of the fold out is illustrated images about the great wall, with the opposite side giving factual details. 

This is one of the facts that I particularly find helpful when talking about a subject with a group of students.  Being able to easily show them an image while I read the information from the backside of the image.

But the information is so readily linked that even if you are sitting just looking at the book you can easily flip from one side to the other to learn more.  The numbering system is just so helpful. With the illustration providing just enough information to peak one's interest.

My Thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoy the unfolding journey books and this one is no exception.   To be able to see the whole picture and take in all the details, and then to gain more information in whatever images hits my fancy.. it's great!

Following the Great Wall
Steward Ross
Victo Ngai
Lonely Planet Kids
Series: Unfolding Journeys
Pages: 16
Age Range: 8-12 years
Type: heavy cardstock, foldout book

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Others in the series:

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: Lonely Planet Unfolding Journeys - Following the Great Wall 1st Ed.

Amazon.com: Unfolding Journeys - Following the Great Wall (Lonely Planet Kids)

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This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Blessings in Abundance

When I saw the word blessings this morning you know what I immediately thought of?

My day yesterday.  :)

Seriously.

It was a rainy/cloudy type morning so we kinda honestly vegged.  My lad wanted to watch Harry Potter movies and since he was motivated and finished his summer schedule early we did!   

This was so  nice, spending time with family AND I was able to finally start the book of Romans.

Later we headed out of the house because he had a birthday party to go to.   He chatted the WHOLE way there rather than being stuck into his tablet games.

I dropped him off.
Then headed out to visit with my mom.

We had such a delightful visit.  Seriously.
We chatted about this and that.  Serious moments, light hearted moments, just good time to visit. She took me out and got me a purse, wallet AND supper.  :)

She even let me borrow her camera so I could take pictures of a small children's book for a review (it's coming), looked through it and gave me her comments.  Then she kept it as a gift for a wee niece of mine. (daughter of a niece).

Picking up my lad again I had a chance to chat with the birthday boy's mom.  So nice to get caught up again.  I was reminded about how I need to take more time to visit with friends.

Then on the way home my lad chatted all the way home again.  It was so nice to talk with him, hearing about the things he's learning about, finding out about the party he was at and all the good things that happened there.  Just delightful.  We don't talk enough sometimes I think. It's so easy in the car to plug in a story to listen to, that we forget to just chat sometimes.

When I got home and after I got him settled, I was so wired from the day that going to bed seemed hard and then a friend contacted me (two actually).  One with a request that I was able to fill... which made her happy (which made me happy), and the second was a conversation with another friend (who is close to my heart).  :)  

My heart was so full of the blessings of God.

In the comments... let me know what blessings you've received lately so I can celebrate with you eh?  :)

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This is a five minute Friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate over at Five Minute Friday.  What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it's a party of a group of like minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a singular word.  AND THEN (and this is the most important part) we take the time to offer up encouragement to each other on this writing journey.  It's fun, though it's not always easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won't you?  You are always welcome.

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This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time .