Arbor Road 500 Race and Barbeque!

June, 2008: One of my favorite events of the year... our Pinewood Derby, which we affectionately call "The Arbor Road 500" (our church is located on Arbor Road!) Here are some of the fantastic cars our kids made and brought to race!

We have 4 categories: Preschool; 1st - 3rd; 4th - 6th; and Youth/ Adult with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner in each division for both the fastest car and the most creative design! I love this event so much because it is so fun to watch dads hang out with their kids for the day, and watch moms, grandmas, aunts, uncles, etc. all come out to cheer on their children, eat hamburgers, and get sunburned together! All from a simple $4.00 block of wood!

Sermon on the Mound Was Great

As usual, our kids choir was amazing last Sunday... they never cease to surprise me. We always get nervous during those last few rehearsals and wonder if it's going to come together. Are the kids going to remembe their entrances? Are the microphones going to work? Will the kids remember all those lines they memorized? And will they actually SING? (Sometimes they get so excited about all those people watching, and trying to remember the choreography, that they forget to sing!) Sermon on the Mound has a great message and our congregation really enjoyed it.

Here are some fun pictures: Sarah Barton and Bailey Gray as the sports announcers, "Dizzy Deano" and "Jackie Rawlings." And the four cheerleaders: Aubri, Sabrina, Samantha, and Kennedy. They were so adorable!

One of the highlights of the program were our nine "dandelion" girls who came out and danced around Phil Davis, the hot dog salesman, "Mr. Oscar Meyers." Show stealer for sure! Thanks to Shelly for all the wonderful choreography! And our nine baseball players, "The Soaring Eagles" were as handsome as ever!

Great job kids! Can't wait to do it again!

Great Year at Kid U

We had such a great year in Kid U... we always want the focus to be on establishing godly relationships between kids and their leaders, and I truly saw that happening this year. From woodworking, to knitting, to scrapbooking, to leather crafts, to "Fun with Food" and in each small group/ discipleship time, it was all about CONNECTING.

Thanks everyone for a great year. We're sad it's over. See you next year!

Kid U Study Abroad

Every year during our Wednesday night club program, Kid U, we hold a Missions Emphasis to help our kids get a global perspective on what God is up to, with the prayer that they will begin to look and listen for the call of God in their lives, and hoping that many of them will some day ANSWER that call to be involved in kingdom work all around the world.

This year, we studied the countries of Thailand, with my friends Dan and Judi Juhasz, then the country of Ethiopia with one of our church members Bill Stamps, and then the country of Zululand, which is in South Africa, with our missionary, Katie Gurzi. Here is a picture of Judi serving some rice, curry, and papaya to the kids. They definitely liked the papaya more than the curry!

Here's Bill Stamps explaining Ethiopian food to the kids. These huge "pancake" things are a staple in Ethiopia, and the people there use them kind of like forks or spoons, and they scoop up their food with it. We tasted lamb, beef, and pork. Again, mixed reviews from the kids, but such a great experience for the kids to see the many different types of people in the world. Here they are making Ethiopian flags and learning a little more about the Ethiopian culture.

What fun! I love our church, and I love all the people who have a global view of the world, and mostly, I love the fact that those people are willing to share their passion with our kids!

More Winter Camp Photos!

Here are some more photos of our weekend at Alpine Winter Camp with our 3rd - 6th graders, which took place Feb. 1-3.
Here's our group of 3rd - 4th grade boys having fun in the snow!

Looks like quite a crazy game.... building a snowman perhaps?

Winter Camp at Alpine 08!!!

Wow, when our kids pray for snow... WATCH OUT! Our 3rd - 6th Graders enjoyed a great weekend at Winter Camp at Alpine (in Blue Jay) Feb. 1-3, and they had more snow than ever! In fact, they had so much snow, they got a little stuck on Sunday trying to get home and had to stay a little longer for new chains to arrive for the bus... but that's a long story. Here are some pictures that give the story much better than words ever good. All these great pictures were taken by Wendy Spradlin, one of our counselors.

Here's our fun group of 6th grade girls with their counselor Sarah.

Some of our boys keeping warm inside playing pool.

Lots of girls having fun in all that snow!

A beautiful picture of the chapel where the kids had their time of worship and time in God's Word with Mr. J (Kurt Johnson) our camp speaker and worship leader.

In looking for fun family activities to pass along to our parents for LENT and EASTER, I came across a few fun and meaningful websites I wanted to list.



http://www.familieswithpurpose.com/easteractivities.html

http://www.first-school.ws/activities/bible/resurrec.htm

http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/clr-indx.html

Have fun together as a family this season of the year. Invite some neighborhood friends to come over for a little Easter party and put the easter story inside a set of easter eggs (which has come to be known as "Resurrection Eggs" which you can purchase at Lighthouse, or online at www.christianbook.com... but as a preschool teacher, I used to make MY OWN using a rock, a piece of cloth, 3 dimes, a thorn from a rose bush, etc.... leaving the final egg EMPTY!).

Let me know what YOU'RE ideas are for making Easter and Lent significant and special for your children.