Posts Tagged ‘light’

Chinese Lantern Festival

Monday, January 15th, 2018

chinese-lantern-festival

My family attended a super cool Chinese lantern festival here in Spokane, Washington. Since the people that put on these shows travel from city to city, you could easily find a Chinese lantern festival in a city near you to attend this year, if you wanted this cultural experience.

colorful-lanterns

Since I’m a multicultural person myself, I enjoyed taking my children to see the artistic designs of paper and cloth lanterns of various vibrant colors, lighting up the night.

peacock-lantern

The two peacocks were probably the most detailed of all the lanterns. They were standing in the midst of red roses.

panda-lanterns

The panda bear display was also spectacular. The bears were hanging in a bamboo forest, which was like a backdrop for the scene.

flower-lanterns

Beautiful orange flowers glowed against the dark night sky. They were enormous!

chinese-boy-lantern

Several Chinese warriors lined one side of the path. Their faces, headdresses, and clothing shone in bright colors. My family walked along a dirt path as we saw this whole Chinese lantern display, which was almost like walking through a city. It also reminded me of driving to see Christmas lights, but way more magnificent.

flower-lantern-canopy

Several arched walkways were lit up thematically. This blue one had flowers and swirls. We felt like we were walking down a tunnel.

lantern-tunnel

This was my favorite display–a lot of beautiful paper Chinese globe lanterns. Looking up, you get lost in the beauty of the paper umbrellas and lanterns. My entire family loved this cultural experience!

You are a Light to Others

Sunday, October 22nd, 2017

you-are-a-light

You are a light to others.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 ESV

Why can’t a city on a hill be hidden?

Because the lights from the houses shine in the night. Back during World War II, some British cities were told to shut their lights off by a certain hour because they didn’t want the Nazi’s to bomb their city. Cities are highly visible at night from any elevated area, whether from the sky or from a hill. A city on a hill is elevated so that people for miles can see its light.

It is silly to hide a lamp when the whole reason for lighting the lamp is to be able to see what’s around you. The light is there, shining in the darkness, so that you can see what is there, and you can see where you are going.

“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105 KJV

Scripture teaches us who God is so that we will not be led into error. A lot of doctrinal error is logical based on just one Scripture, but just because something is logical doesn’t mean it’s right. If you have knowledge of the entirety of the Scriptures, this will light your way.

field-of-flowers

But Jesus says that WE are the light of the world. The light is God’s love shining out of us.

Last week I was translating for some Hispanic friends who were at the Social Security office, and the sign said that the average wait was two hours. I had to sit separate from my Hispanic friends, so I began talking to the people around me, asking how long they had waited. We eventually started talking about the Lord. The entire row of chairs I was in, and the people in front of me, were turned around and talking and laughing with me as we chatted. My light was shining.

light

Another example that struck me was when I was working at a Victorian shop, welcoming the people into the store, a woman walked up to me and asked if I was a Christian. I said yes, and I was amazed and asked her how she knew. She said that she could see Jesus shining from my face.

If you are a Christian, Jesus lives inside of YOU, too! Jesus DOES shine from you, but you can purposely draw closer to Christ so you can shine more and more brightly!

You are a light to others. That is who you are. Christ lives in you, and you shine!

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

Prisms, Light, and Color

Monday, September 19th, 2016

prisms-light-color

Today we will be learning about prisms, light, and color. We will be doing some hands-on activities to see what light is made of, and what it does. We will also learn why we see colors.

Light is electromagnetic energy. It has different wavelengths that fall on the electromagnetic spectrum. Light is made up of all the colors, as you can see when looking through a prism:

light-is-colorThis post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

Light illumines the world around us so that we can see it. Light can be reflected, transmitted, or absorbed:

  • reflected: light bounces back
  • transmitted: light passes through material
  • absorbed: light sinks into an object

We conducted an experiment with several different materials and a flashlight, to see if the light was reflected, transmitted, or absorbed by the material. We used a mirror, Cling Wrap, wax paper, aluminum foil, a bench, and my jeans.

Experiments with Prisms, Light, & Color (video)

Take a look at how the prism separates white light into all the colors of the spectrum. Then watch as we conduct an experiment to see which materials reflect, transmit, and absorb light:

Playing with Colors

We printed a coloring page from Christian Kids Explore Physics by Bright Ideas Press, and my daughter enjoyed playing with colors as she painted the scene. She found out that when something is blue, that object reflects blue but absorbs all the other colors.

playing-with-colors

We had a wonderful time playing with prisms, light, and color!

Finding Physics Around Us

Monday, August 1st, 2016

Finding-physics-around-us

Today we are beginning a new series on Elementary Physics, and we will be finding physics around us. You might not be aware that physics is a part of our everyday lives, so we’ve grabbed our video camera and captured some physics on film!

This post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

We printed out the “Finding Physics” chart from Christian Kids Explore Physics by Bright Ideas Press, and my daughter had fun filling out the chart as we walked around, looking for physics.

physics-chart

Finding Physics: What We Found

Matter has weight and takes up space. It’s basically anything we can see or touch. Examples we found are people, scissors, milk, and piñatas. The wall, an ice cream cone, and dirt are also examples of matter.

matter-takes-up-space

Energy is the capacity to do work. Examples of energy are the wind, a waterfall, a bolt of lightning, or a microwave.

Heat is a form of energy that causes things to become warm. If you put a cat on your lap, the warmth of the cat will cause you to become hot. Sources of heat: the sun, fire, a furnace, a stove or oven, and even a cup of coffee.

Light enables us to see when it illuminates the area in front of us. Sources of light are the sun, a lamp, a night light, garden lights, traffic lights, and even your cell phone.

Sound is vibrations that travel through the air. We hear these vibrations when they reach our ear. Examples of sounds would be a screaming child, a lawn mower, the clicking of a keyboard, a radio, and birds chirping outside.

Motion is something that is moving. My daughter Rachel is constantly moving (unless she is asleep), so she is a great example of this phenomenon. Other examples of motion are cars, motorcycles, bicycles, a sporting event (although golf and baseball are pretty slow!), and a running hyena.

sun-source-of-light-heat

Here is a coloring page from the first unit: The Foundations of Physics. It shows how trucks, fireworks, and even rocket ships use physics to work:

physics-coloring-page

Now that you’ve seen physics in the world around us, why not stick around for the rest of the series? These are the topics that we will cover during the next few weeks:

  1. Finding Physics Around Us (this post)
  2. Measuring the Magnitude of Force
  3. Changing the Coefficient of Friction
  4. Turning Potential into Kinetic Energy
  5. The Speed of a Rotating Cookie
  6. Flying Projectiles & Plotting Trajectories
  7. Bowling with Momentum
  8. Prisms, Light, & Color
  9. Warming Things Up with Friction
  10. Sound Collection
  11. Fun with Magnets
  12. Make a Compass

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