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.

Children's Choir Resumes in February!

Back by popular demand! Children's choir will resume February 10 for Kindergarteners through Sixth Grade. In December, our musical was only 20 minutes long, and our Kindergarteners did great, but this musical is a little longer (about 35 minutes) and a little more challenging, but we have an extra special job for them, so I think it's going to be great!

The next musical we're going to begin working on is called "Sermon on the Mound" by my all time favorite children's composer, Celeste Clydesdale. This musical is actually a few years old, but it's still a favorite of mine, and we've never done it here at LFC! (My kids Stephen and Emily were both in this musical when they were in 2nd grade, and it was a blast!)
Here's what Celeste has to say about "Sermon on the Mound."
"For quite some time it has been my desire to write about the importance for believers to put on the armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-18) The baseball uniform correlated perfectly - then the musical seemed to take shape. In Matthew, chapter four and five, we see that Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the desert, praying and being tempted by Satan. He defeated Satan by standing firm and responding with the very Word of God. After these victories, He began His public ministry by teaching the Sermon on the Mount, and teaching us how to pray. Our "Head Coach" is the Lord. We are the team (the church), encouraging one another and uniting our hearts to stand firm in this spiritual battlefiedl. We need to take time out to train and pray before we can be effective Christians in this world. Every one of God's children need to know the incredible value of hiding God's Word in their hearts. How else can we possibly put on the "Helmet of Salvation," hold up our "Shield of Faith," and be ready to respond at the appropriate times with the "Sword of the Spirit"? Through SERMON ON THE MOUND I pray that God will use the baseball analogy to help our children see the battle that is reality... is your armor on?

So kids, I really hope you can join us beginning February 10, at 4:00 pm. The musical will be performed on May 18 in our morning service. More details soon about auditions, etc. BATTER UP!

There's SNOW in Long Beach!

The final day of extra special fun that we planned for our kids at Lakewood Family Church during the month of December was a SNOW DAY on Dec. 23. We brought in 5 tons of real snow (well actually, a company called "The Ice Man" in Bellflower brought in huge blocks of ice, shredded it and BLEW it all over our play area.It was a little expensive, but our kids and families sure had a blast. We served free hot chocolate, and let the kids play in shifts. After a couple of hours, most of the families and kids had gone home, and we just let everyone have at it! The Snowman was provided by "The Ice Man" company. They also do movie sets and in Santa Clause 3 they had to make a ton of these snowmen identically, and quickly, so they discovered a way to make them in a large barrel, remove the barrel, a bucket of snow for the head, add the eyes, nose, pipe, hat, etc, and wa-la! Instant snowman! The snow was very packed, and so not really adequate for making snow angels, but here's one of our Jr. Highers, Alyssa, trying to make one anyway! I don't know who had more fun, the kids, or the parents who were taking pictures!

Way Too Cute

Couldn't resist posting this picture of some of our adorable toddlers! Each of our classrooms in our early childhood hallway depict a different part of God's creation, and this room is called the Fish Room. Here are some of the kids having their snack.

Our KidStuf Drama Team ROCKS

Here are some photos of our KidStuf Drama Team... their talent and dedication blow me away each and every week.

This is Kevin Fernandez, the youngest of our team. Kevin is in 7th grade, and is the sweetest young man in the world. His mom was actually our DESIGNER on this entire project, so it is especially sweet to have him a part of our team. Here is playing one of his many "egos"... he plays a variety of characters...

We also have a group of children who help us lead worship each week. I have the fun job of working with them once a month to teach them a new "Virtue Song" or "song of the month" we call it, and then they get up and teach the rest of the kids at KidStuf. I would have NEVER gotten up on stage to sing and dance when I was their age, so I am so impressed with them. It's also fun to sit and talk about what all the words of the songs mean, giving us another opportunity to connect with Jesus. This picture is of some of our fabulous High School girls, that I've had the privilege of knowing and teaching and leading since they were in 2nd grade, who sometimes help us lead worship as well. Love these girls!