AUDREY'S AMAZING BLOG!!

I am excited about getting Mac Book Airs because it will expand my freedom. Having my own computer will allow me to do my homework faster and easier. Also, I will be able to access my e-mail more often. I think that my learning will be aff3q

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselvesfor the latest news.That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergencyCesarean to deliver couple’s new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.
At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor’s soft words dropped like bombs. ‘I don’t think she’s going to make it,’ he said, as kindly as he could. ‘There’s only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does makeit, her future could be a very cruel one’. Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on. No! No!’ was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in forDavid and Diana. Because Dana ‘s underdeveloped nervous  system was essentially ‘raw’, the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn’t even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted. Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story. One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near herhome in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother’s lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin’s baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby, when she suddenly fell silent.Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, ‘Do you smell that?’ Smelling the air and detecting the approachof a thunderstorm, Diana replied, ‘Yes, it smells like rain.’ Dana closed her eyes and again asked, ‘Do you smell that?’ Once again, her mother replied, ‘Yes, I think we’re about to get wet. It smells like rain.’ Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, ‘No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on his chest.’ Tears blurred Diana’s eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter’s words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two monthsof her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

Schools should not be able to check student lockers without warning. Students might feel that their personal space is invaded. They may have private things in there that aren’t bad, just personal.      Students might also have things that could hurt the feelings of others.  For example students might have birthdays where only a few people were invited. Locker searches could leave a student’s locker disorganized. Students may have their lockers organized in a special way, and searching would mess up a student’s organization. These are three reasons that student lockers should not be checked without warning.

  Some people believe that student lockers should be checked without warning. Kids could bring electronics to school, which isn’t allowed. However, the kids could be bringing the electronic to a friend’s house for a play-date after school. Kids could also be hiding stolen items. Even so, I think a locker should only be checked if there is reason to believe  a student stole something. I see where people are coming from, but kids need to be given responsibility that can’t just be taken away.

By: Audrey T.

Over spring break I went to Disney World’s, Animal Kingdom. While I was there I saw lots of different animals on the safari ride. One type was elephants. There was two full grown females and a baby. I learned that females usually stay in packs and the males go off on their own. The baby seemed frightened by the noise the car we were in was making, but stayed calm. I liked seeing how small elephants are when they are young compared to when they are fully grown. I also saw how well the mother took care of her baby, and how much the mother must love her baby. Another animal I saw was a Hippo. I learned that they spend most of the day under the water! Over spring break I learned a lot about many types of animals.

My favorite character is Frita. In a lot of ways she is nothing like me at all. But, there are a few ways she is like me. One is that she stands up for her friends. I think that I stand up for my friends pretty well. A second way is she wants what is best for her friends. I want to make sure that my friends are happy. In some ways I am like Frita, but in most I am not.

The other day my classmates and I went to Campbell Stone. At Campbell Stone we ate lunch with the reidents and then visited some of them in their rooms. I really liked doing this because I got to hear so many storys both happy and sad. I cann’t wait to go to Campbell Stone again.

Today at Buckhead Gymnastics Center  a fund-raiser that was not supposed to happen is taking place. The fund-raiser is for Sulley Adams who had a terrible birth trauma and has gone through many surgeries that have stripped him of all normal abilities. The doctors said that he would not survive, that he would die but he made it 11 years.  We are hoping to raise 2,000 dollars to help Sulley’s family get through these hard times that have taken its toll on his family. Come to Buckhead Gymnastics at 6:00 and parents can drop their kids off and go out to diner or just relax. pick up is at 9:00. Just pay $20.00 and your child can play in a foam filled pit, jump on a trampoline, swing on bars, walk along a beam, play games for 3 hours, and will get diner!!! We NEED your help to raise 2,000 dollars to help Sulley and he needs your donations of 20 dollars to help him make it through to the end!! I hope to see many of you there to night!! All the money we raise will go to a good cause and a family in need of your help!!

Audrey T.

Title: Slaughter of Horses Goes on, Not just in U.S.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/us/Horse-Slaughter-Stopped-in-United-States-Moves-Across-Borders.html?_r=1&ref=world

Who: Horses, Europeans, Asians, and people killing the horses.

What: People are killing horses for their meat.

When: It started more than 5 years ago.

Were: The killing of horses is happening in, the U.S., Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world.

Why do we care: We care because horses are being killed so that people can eat them. Even though they can find another food source without killing animals.

Title: No Cellphone-Cancer Link in Large Study

Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/study-finds-no-link-between-cellphones-and-brain-tumors/?ref=world

Who: Researchers writing for the BMJ (British Medical Journal.)
What: No cellphone-cancer link in large study.
When: Since before 2007.
Were: England.
Why do we care: It helps rule out one suspected cause of cancer.

The topic I am writing about is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. I chose this topic because I wanted to learn about how they built such beautiful  gardens. Also, I thought the gardens looked interesting to learn about, and I wanted to learn more about them. My classmates and I came up with an “essential question”. Mine is, “Why were the Hanging Gardens important ?”

The Hanging Gardens was interesting to research. Some interesting things I learned were, the gardens were said to have been built by a king of Babylon for his home sick wife. The gardens were destroyed by several earth quakes. The gardens had  vaulted terraces raised one above the other. The structure was about 350 feet tall. It was made of mud-brick and stone. A fun fact about these gardens is, that they are one of the original seven wonders of the ancient world. These gardens were very complicated.

A lot of things went well and not so well. Some things that went well were, that I had a lot of web-site choices. What went not so well was that I could not find any book resources at all. This made it hard to get a variety of resources for my research. What I learned was that the gardens had many purposes other than looking beautiful, they were very important. An example is they helped a home-sick wife feel more at home. So over all I learned a lot from this topic.

Bibliography

Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” The Museum of UnNatural Mystery. 14 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. http://unmuseum.org.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. http://7wonders.mrdonn.org.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” Hanginggardensofbabylon.org. Web. 12 Oct. 2011

“The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” Wikipeada.org. Web. 11-13 Oct. 2011. http://en.wikipeada.org.

“The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” The Cleveleys Website – Situated on the Fyldecoast near Blackpool, Lancashire. Web. 11-13 Oct. 2011. http://www.cleveleys.co.uk/wonders/gardensofbabylon.htm.

Reina Z, Elisa L, and Andrea G. “The Hanging Gardensof Babylon.” Www.angelfire.com/ny/anghockey/hanginggardens.html. Web. 14 Oct.  2011.