Building Bridges

  Some families like pinewood derby... we are not one of them. 

 However, we do like a good bridge building, and subsequent crushing. 

Ever since Jennifer began Physics last fall, Mark and I (OK, not so much Mark) regularly ask Jennifer when they are going to do bridges. The minute she found out she texted me. We gave her instructions months ago to make sure she gets an extra set of wood and glue.

 Christian built his first bridge as a junior in Physics and his second, a year later in AP Physics. We learned on his first bridge that you cannot get the same kind of glue at any store in town and the other types of glue just do not work as well - very slow drying = lots of extra time and glued fingers. His second bridge was 6th overall in the school.

Students buy a kit consisting of 3 ft. long and 3/32 of an inch square balsa wood sticks, glue, a cardboard piece and two wood blocks. They are given  instructions with formulas and information about the pressure each piston will put on their bridge. From this they create and draw their design, cut and glue the beams, and put it all together. As they proceed they are allowed to ask the teacher questions about what makes a good design and are given general answers if they ask the right questions. 

The actual building of the bridge is a long and tedious process but rewarding in the end if you are willing to pay the price. 

The bridge is judged by a ratio of how much the bridge weighs to how much pressure it holds before it breaks. Both regular and AP Physics are tested together with the top 5 in the school receiving cash prizes and the top 5 in the state getting more awards. 

With many of the bridges you can tell that they just threw things together. In general if they just follow the basic concepts and the design given to them, their bridge will hold 1000 lbs... the minimum for an A, taking the ratio into consideration. 

The contest is sponsored by BYU and a Physics professor comes out with his bridge crushing machine to test the bridges. He's pretty funny, and comments on the design of the bridge when he puts it in the machine. When he picked up Jennifer's he said something like, "Wow this is really nice! You can tell what kind of grades Jennifer gets just by looking at this bridge!" 

In the end (as you can see above) it held 1443 lbs. with a ratio of 36.something.

She ended up 5th overall!

(If you want to see the video of the bridge crushing you can check it out on Facebook, both Mark and I posted it.)

GO JENN!!!!

When her friend in the class found out they were doing bridges she told Jenn that her family had been dreading it since she enrolled in Physics.

I guess we are just weird.

Four

 Four years ago today this  little girl (all 5 lbs 1oz of her) made my daughter a mom and me a grandma.

Hard to believe she is four today. 

A little more than a year later this little one added to my joy. She will be three in May. 

Last year we welcomed our first grandson... who has grown like a weed. 

You can't help but smile when you see him.

In just four short weeks grand baby number four is due. Our third granddaughter.

I can't wait to meet her, to snuggle her and rest my cheek on her sweet newborn skin.

I have learned that I can hold and feel more joy than I ever thought possible.

A simple text full of incoherent letters makes me smile.

Short videos of these children watched over and over and over make me laugh over and over and over.

I have felt my heart long to hold and play with these little ones more than I can say.

I was asked a few weeks ago if I could have any spell or magical ability

from Harry Potter what would it be? 

This question was not to be taken lightly... 

even if it meant revisiting all the books/videos again.

I have my answer... the ability to disapparate.

The only thing that came even close was to have a time turner.

So that I could relive the time I have with them over and over.

Thanks to my kids for making me a grandma.

These children are such a blessing!

Late, late, late!

How could I be late  What else is new.

Happy (late) Birthday to Aaron. My first born. The child who experienced the full on ineptitude of my motherhood and lived to tell the tale. Not only survived but somehow thrived anyway. The nurse at the hospital had to remind me to burp him after I fed him. When we got home from the hospital I was almost soaked by a little fountain when I changed his diaper the first time. How did I not know little boys did that? That event dissolved me to tears. The reality hit me that despite my years as an older sister and babysitting so many children, I had never been a mother before. Never  been THE ONE responsible for the life of another. If a child had a problem in the past, all I had to do what hold on till the mom got home and she would know what to do. Now I was THE MOM and I didn't know what to do. It was that moment I realized I could not do this alone. I just didn't know how to be a mom. But I did know how to love - and part of my fear was there because of the overwhelming love I had for this new little boy that was my son. The thought of making mistakes and ruining him petrified me. I'm so glad I had a wonderful husband  - who also was new at this - and a loving Heavenly Father to support, guide and encourage me every step of the way. 

It seems to have worked.  

Because he is now eight years older than I was when he was born. Married to a wonderful woman with a delightful little girl and one more coming in March. He is bright, talented, devoted, funny, spiritual and a great dad and snowman maker. I couldn't be more proud. While I realize that I did play a part in his upbringing, when I look at the person he is today, I realize that only a small part of that was because of me.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

First Christmas in Argentina

Hey family! It was soo good to talk to all of you! well almost everyone.. haha sorry I didn't really do too well talking to everyone individually.. I kinda felt bad about that after.. but oh well, all in all it was a good experience! I´m soo happy to hear that all went well with grandma´s get together, that´s really cool that you guys got to do that.


This week was really slow, we had a really hard time getting to see our investigators, it seems that they were never in their houses.. :) and its understandable with the fiestas of Christmas and new year, the streets were dead. So we ended up doing a lot, a lot of contacting, and I actually enjoyed it. We found quite a few future investigators, so we will be going around to see them, and try to get some new blood. But this week I really felt the Lord pouring out the spirit to help me understand and know how to respond to people. 


Family, I love you guys, I am doing well here, my companion and I get along well, every once in a while things aren't perfect, but all in all things are good, we have a lot of goals and things to improve on, but we are striving to be the best missionaries we can be. I know the lord will bless us for our actions and desires, and he will make us into what he needs us to be. 
New years was awesome. We went with the other Elders with a family in their area and ate an asado (BBQ) with lamb and chicken. It was zoo good. I´ll have to send you pictures (next week because i forgot my card reader) and again they had a ton of fireworks (its more like the fourth of July here than any other holiday) but it´s cool! Also this coming Tuesday we will be moving apartments finally! We are pretty excited for that, one of the members from the other Elder´s ward has a truck and he´s going to help us move. This week more than ever we have been feeling the heat! It has been soo hot, and it hasn´t helped that they have been cutting the water... we went two days without water (don't worry, we have water to drink which is separate..) but it has helped us in a couple instances to talk to people and get into a couple houses, they always say "what are you doing out right now! its too hot, you should be inside sleeping.." and stuff like that, but i have been amazed at how the heat really hasn't affected me all that much (don't worry i´ve been using sunscreen!) 


love you guys! hope all is good, that you all had a beautiful new years, and that we can all make a little more effort this new year to dedicate ourselves a little more to the gospel and in our commitment to repenting every day! love you guys, sorry this is a little bit shorter, and maybe a little bit dry, but hopefully I have more to tell you about next week!

con amor, Elder Zimbelman

Christmas 2012

I've never had a two week period go so quickly in my life! 

It's almost a blur, but it was a glorious blur. 

Many of those days I was privileged to hold joy in my arms. 

I breathed in pure love and sweet innocence 

and felt on my cheek the silky strands of hope. 

I came away from this Christmas season full of faith in our future. 

A brightness of hope for the upcoming new year.

I think I'm getting a little glimpse of the insight that age and experience brings. 

(I must be getting old)

As I held and played with my grandchildren I understood the full circle. 

I had once held my children in a similar fashion. 

And then watched them grow and change, face challenges and sorrow... and joy. 

I witnesses and experienced the parents of these little ones becoming adults

 and watched them step into the shoes I once filled as a young parent.  

Interacting with these little ones I felt of their goodness, watched them making sense of the world,

 looking to those around them to be reassured that they were safe and loved. 

And strangely, it was easy for me to imagine them as teenagers and adults.

Today their view of the world is so simple and basic but also so accurate. 

Their parents have and are building a strong foundation for them in these formative years. 

A foundation that will carry them through the rest of their lives. 

It won't be long before they are spending more time in the world than at home. 

While the world can be a wonderful place, there is also much out there that will test and try them and cause them to wonder if they are cool enough, smart enough or good enough... and it seems the challenges they will face are only getting more intense.

But many, many years ago a pure innocent child was born to a virgin in a stable far away.

This child was loved and nurtured and taught by his parents who he really was. 

He lived a perfect life. 

He was willing to submit and be obedient to Gods will. 

Even though the world mocked and scourged him, he knew deep down who he was and what his mission on this Earth was, and he did not stray from it. 

Because He did this there is hope for all of us.

Because of this child born in Bethlehem we can be reassured that,

"God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. Nor will he, so long as time shall last or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man or woman or child upon the face thereof to be saved"*

In this I feel immense gratitude and joy and hope.

I hope that I can always be part of that solid foundation that will help steady these children when the storms of life come... because they most surely will.

But they will be able to overcome because of the Savior.

*quote taken from Jeffery R. Holland. Read it all here

Hot and Sunny

Might need a close up of this little critter...

Yep! Bed bugs....

Ha, how´s it going? Things are great here, it seems to get hotter every day, it is super dry here, and you really feel the sun. Things are good, we got some chemicals from the mission presidents wife, and took apart our beds and took them outside and sprayed them all down with chemicals, to try and kill all of the bed bugs and we have been sleeping well. My companion and I are getting along great, and have been working really hard.. ( ha ha I have to say I am having a hard time writing in English, because my companion is Latino and so I only speak in Spanish.. ha ha and i keep on wanting to say things in Spanish, then i have to stop and think of how i say it in English, it is really weird!!) My companion and I have a lot of energy and excitement to work here, and we know that we will be seeing it boom here. 

 Yesterday, Sunday I had my first opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting, and it went really well, I was a little nervous, but I had prayed and prepared with the spirit, and knew what i wanted to say, and so it went really well. I was amazed how the spirit guided me, and gave me the things i needed to say. (I didn't even have it written word for word, I just had notes, and scriptures... my first talk like that!) I am always amazed how the lord sustains and blesses us, as we do his will and seek his help. He really does love us. In my talk I spoke about charity, and I read a little section about the life of Jesus Christ, and he is an example for each and every one of us, in how he lived, how he was able to serve and love every person that he came in contact with, even the soldiers who were the ones to end his life, and I took some time and thought about what it would take to be able to do that, and what i have come to conclude, is that he loves us, and has experienced every one of our lives, and so he views us with the perspective of our eternal potential, our potential to become like our heavenly father, and so, when we take that into perspective, that every one of us has that potential, and that really is what we are all searching, and striving for, the ability to be eternally happy, when we see the people around us, fall and make mistakes, and maybe leave the path, we need to view them as our heavenly father views us, and do everything we can to help pick them back up, brush them off, and get them on their way. That is what the gospel is all about, repenting and changing and striving to become better, so that one day we will be able to achieve our potential, and ultimately be happy. Every single on of us will fall and make mistakes, and sin, that is part of the plan, so we need to remember that, and always strive to do what we can to repent, and help others to do the same, so we can take advantage of the atonement and be considered worthy through christ´s perfection. It is simple and beautiful, yet we could study it forever and still learn and be edified. I love the gospel family, I know it is true, I am soo happy that I have the opportunity to share this great message with the world, and get to try and build up the Lords kingdom in this little dry, hot, dirty place in the world. I love it. 

Eating gnocchi for lunch, Elder Rivera across the table

Pizza that Christian made

Love,

Elder Zimbelman

Let there be LIGHT(S)!

 

 

Thanks Jenn for your help and the awesome pictures!