Giving The Best Part of You

"Does it fly?" I asked Asherel, returning from errands I had to do before our Science Olympiad class. She had been working on it for several hours. I had spent the past couple of weeks reading very complex flight documents and had taken copious notes. I had tried to understand what I was reading and then restate it in a way the helicopter team would understand. I had no idea if a rubber band powered 4 gram helicopter would follow the same principles as a full scale helicopter, but if our model never flew, at the very least, the kids could go on a creditable job interview to build a rotor.

They would listen, a little glassy eyed, and I would then try to help them understand how we might put all that theory into action.

"Now team, this is critical. Listen! Compressibility effect needs to be minimized or your blade will produce high drag coefficients."
"English please?" said Ben.
"What is compressibility effect?" asked Asherel.
"I don't know," I said, "But I do know we have to avoid it and they tell us how. That is the important part so take careful notes here."
It was only later that afternoon that I went back on- line to try to better understand compressibility effect that I learned this will only matter at speeds greater than the speed of sound.
"Does your helicopter fly faster than the speed of sound?" I called back to Asherel.
"Not yet!"

But as we prepared to go to class, Asherel had still refused to tell me if her helicopter she had completely designed and built herself flew.
"You will see in class," she said.

It was a beautiful day. We have a glorious autumn in NC. It is still warm during the day, high 60s and 70s, with deep blue skies and red and yellow maple dancing across the still green grass. I went walking along the park paths during Asherel's first science class, my head momentarily emptied of any thoughts of compressibility effect, lift, drag, or cost of competition rubber bands. The leaves drifted to the ground, floating on the air currents and I envied God His perfect knowledge of aerodynamics that had designed them so flawlessly.

When I called my team together in the gym with high ceilings (should we ever produce a hovering, lifting airfoil), I asked first that they show me what they had built and learned over the week. The season is still young, and I really didn't expect any of our models to fly for a good couple of months yet. However, as my life attests to, we often learn more from our mistakes than our victories.
Asherel was busily winding her motor. This means that she was twisting her rotor blades at least a thousand revolutions to give the rubber band the power to drive the rotors. I was impatient to get to my lecture with a hundred more complex theoretical aspects of rotor design that my team should try to implement to make a model that would fly.
"Come on already!" I called, "We need to learn about how to make these babies fly! Shake a leg!"
"I'm almost ready," said Asherel, winding, winding, winding.

Finally, she let the rotor go, while holding her helicopter out at arms length. The rotor spun gracefully and she opened her hand. I stood in amazement and then cheered as the helicopter lifted out of her hand.... and flew.
It flew maybe 5 seconds or so, and on a second flight more like 10 before its delicate motor stick broke.
"I can fix that," she said, smiling.

I felt for a moment how Orville and Wilbur must have felt when they first saw their airplane defy gravity and lift skyward. It seemed miraculous,but it wasn't. It was the result of hours and hours of careful study, and research, and testing, and trial and error. The only miracle was that anyone ever felt it possible and worthy to attempt.  And that is the miracle that I overlook often in my busy homeschool life with my daughter. Of all the things she could be doing with her time, she has chosen to immerse herself in balsa and crazy glue and principles of aeordynamics and try to defy gravity. 

"Way to go!" I called to the helicopter, its spiraling flight magnificently beautiful.
"Way to go!" I called to the geese as they negotiated wing tip vortices to their advantage.
"Way to go!" I whispered in the night as I thought of my girl and the gifts God had bestowed upon her that she was choosing so wisely to use.

Numbers 18:29
You must present as the LORD’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’