How Not to Build a Bottle Tornado

I just had to preserve this evening's events for posterity.
Grant's homework assignment this week was to create a bottle tornado out of 2 bottles connected together with water inside.
In true Hinshaw fashion, we waited until the last night to attempt it. The directions said we could purchase a special connector at the teacher supply store, OR we could create our own connector with a washer and some electrical tape. It sounded easy enough, so we gave it a shot. Here are some lessons learned...
1 - washers are named for their inside perimeter, not the outside, meaning that I told Scott the wrong size washer to pick up on his way home from work
2 - you cannot successfully make a homemade washer with a credit card and a pocket knife.
3 - you CAN make a washer out of a water bottle seal thingy and a corkscrew
Oops. No electrical tape.
4 - caulk does not work to seal two plastic bottles together
5 - that packing tape with the strings in it does not provide a waterproof seal either
6 - using fire to melt the two bottle mouths together does not work either. If fact, it just warps the bottle and turns it black.
7 - lots of saran wrap and lots of clear packing tape creates a semi-water proof seal.
We plan to send it to school tomorrow in a giant zip lock bag. Poor kid!
The biggest lesson learned...make the trip to the teacher supply store to buy the special connector and be done with it.

Two Hours in Ukraine

Today I spent 2 hours in an Eastern European deli in Richardson. It was like stepping back to my life in Ukraine 7 months ago. It was EXACTLY like the little mom-and-pop grocery stores in Mariupol. EVERYONE in that store was speaking Russian, and everything was in Cyrillic. It was the craziest thing!
I was there because this is a Meest location, which is the shipping company I used to send our orphanage care package. After taking MUCH too long to sort and pack everything, we finally got it loaded in the car this morning. All I had was the Russian address for Solnitchka - I hadn't been able to find it in English. At the last minute, I absentmindedly checked my email before I left the house, and there was an email from our missionary friend in Ukraine (thank you, Lord!). He sent me the English address and said that he had just come from the orphanage! He said that the director sends her love and wanted to let Halle Grace know that many of her friends have found families!
Hooray!
Now I was really ready. So off I went on my 45-minute drive to Richardson. When I got to the store, the owner was so nice, but told me that I had too many boxes. There is a $20/per box fee (I had 7 or 8 boxes). He thought I could consolidate, though. Sure enough, there was plenty of room in those larger boxes (that's what happens when I let the kids help pack!). His scale only went to 30 pounds, so we had to open each box, take some stuff out to weigh, then weigh the box and add the totals together. Then we repacked the boxes into 4 LARGE boxes and taped them all up...all while he was helping customers in a pretty steady stream! (which explaines why I was there for 2 hours!) He was amazing!
I enjoyed practicing my Russian (I'm nearly fluent after today! Ha!), and shopping for all the goodies I remember so well. I brought home 3 boxes of strawberry tea, some cherry juice, and some Granny Smith apple juice. Yummmmm!
I guess Meest contracts with UPS, so next I was sent there to drop off the boxes. I was actually taken aback when I walked in and heard English again. Oh yeah, I'm in America!
For those of you who asked about shipping to Ukraine...it's not cheap! Using Meest, we sent about 190 lbs in 4 boxes for a total of $325 (MUCH cheaper than UPS or the Post Office). A few families donated money to help us with shipping...and guess how much we were given? $310. Amazing, huh?
It will arrive anywhere from 5 to 8 weeks.
Although this was great, we are thinking that next time, it might be better just to send cash. That way the orphanage could get what they really need on their own(this is an orphanage I know we could trust). But it was an incredible experience for our kids, and for our school, to be a part of something that brings out such compassion, generosity, and joy. I think it's something they will always remember. Thank you, Liberty Elementary!

Here is most of the stash. I took this picture before the last day of our collection time, and it grow by about 50 percent that day!





Here is the final result (at least until I had to repack it all at the European Deli!). Poor Garrett had been crying because the boxes were too heavy and he wanted to help. Some days, it's just hard to be 6.

Our Box Runneth Over!

We have been BLOWN AWAY by the response at the kids' school. The orphanage care package drive has been wildly successful - and there's still 2 days to go! Every day this week, I have gone up to school to take loads of loads of stuff home. Grant, Garrett and Halle Grace have been promoting the drive all week on their video morning announcements, which they think is super-cool. We so proud of their enthusiasm for this project, and I pray that it will instill in them a life-long love of service and showing compassion to others.
So far, it's all piled up in the garage - but tomorrow I plan to begin sorting through the loot. I'll try to post pics. It will be a sight to behold. We might need to take out a loan to ship it all! :)
(by the way, we are using Meest to ship. It's slower, but MUCH cheaper)

I wish my kids could be flies on the wall the day the boxes arrive at Solnitchka...especially Halle Grace. If it wasn't so incredibly hard to get there, I'd be tempted to deliver it ourselves!

On a different note...and because it's my blog, and I can...here is my favorite political quote of the day: "Remember that it took a President Carter to bring us to a President Reagan" (sorry, I can't remember who said it...Rush? Mark Davis? Don't know...:)

Here comes the bride...and the clone trooper...and the basketball player

We had a great Halloween! I've never been a huge Halloween person, but this was definitely a great one. Halle Grace was in HEAVEN, considering that her favorite thing on the planet is candy. It was so fun watching her trick-or-treating - she just ran as fast as she could from house to house. Then she was SO excited to show us what she got each time. So cute!

We've got lots to catch up on, so I'll back up a little...
Last week, the Kindergarteners had a field trip to Rocky Top Ranch. They had the best time visiting the farm animals, riding horses, and a hayride.



We also got to take a trip to the pumpkin patch with our good neighbor friends. It was so much fun!




Last Saturday, we went to the Colleyville Haunted Trail with our good friends, the Popes. It wasn't scary at all, and they had tons of games and crafts. The kids had a great time.



Wednesday night, we had a family night at home and carved pumpkins. Look how cute they are! They each picked their own face and they were so proud of their creations. (and wow - is carving 3 pumpkins a LOT of work!!! :)
Halle Grace loves to wear jammies that don't match. What's up with that?


Last night, we had our annual Neighborhhod Halloween Festival. It's right in our cul-de-sac, and is always so much fun. This was followed by trick-or-treating and then a party at our back-door-neighbor's house. It was a late night - but worth it. Those were some happy kids I put to bed last night! Poor Scott had to ref a game last night and missed all the fun. We knew that one year, Halloween would fall on a Friday and he's have to miss it. Bummer that it was this year. We sent him pictures on his phone so he wouldn't miss too much. :)





And last, but not least, Grant received his Bobcat badge in Cub Scouts this week! Way to go, Grant!


(Whew - that was one busy week and a half! Now you see why I haven't blogged in so long. :)