Love Out Loud November 30

This past Sunday ROCKED! We had a special worship concert for our kids during KidStuf, featuring Dave Hopkins, who came all the way down from Monterey to bless us and lead our kids in worship, along with my sister in law DANA and the rest of Dave's band, "Love Out Loud." We've been using some of Dave's worship songs in KidStuf for about a year, and it was so fun to have them here in person. The kids LOVED it and I was amazed at how much they participated, how much they SANG from their hearts, and how much FUN we all had. Here are a few of the pictures!

(Backstage before the concert began. The band and our worship girls, Courtney, Sabrina and Natalie!)

(Lord, we lift your name on high!)

(Hugo, Bailey, Alyssa, Cooper, Kennedy and Kalyn down front singing their hearts out, while the worship team girls are up on stage between Dave and Dana! Boy were they excited!)

Thanks Dave for coming to lead us and worship with us! It was awesome! Come back again soon!

18th Annual Fall Festival

Fall Festival... the biggest event of the year... and the event where we work the hardest, need the most volunteers, and certainly eat the most candy! 1500 people (I think a few more than that actually) great music, delicious food, smiling faces, adorable costumes, and wonderful memories... at least enough to last us until next year! Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a wonderful evening.

Fabulous Fifth Graders!

We have had some very exciting times with our fifth graders the past few weeks. These kids are so amazing. They reach out to new kids and make them feel at home quickly, they love to talk about God's Word and memorize Scripture, they love to serve and help others in our church, and I just love each and every one of them.

We had a Progressive Dinner on Friday night and took 18 kids from house to house BACKWARD! Dessert First Of Course! They loved it! I was afraid they had filled up on dessert too much, and wouldn't eat and the next 2 houses, but I was wrong! We stopped to play some games in between eating, and we had a blast! Thanks to the Bartons, the Armstrongs, and the Coxes who hosted our wild and crazy kids!

Here's a shot of our Sunday morning kids this week wearing their "PT Cruisers" T Shirts that they won in a game we were playing.

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!