ENews: Jesus says...

     Have you ever seen weather fluctuations like we've had in the last week?  Tuesday snow storm (gosh, it was pretty in the morning!), Wednesday rain w/ slushy snow in it, Thursday is t-shirt weather, and Friday/Saturday it is supposed to be really warm!  Goodness.  :)  I know some people who are missionaries in Haiti (the Livesay family...http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/) and they posted something recently about 65-70 degree weather meant sweaters and hoodies for their children as they went to school, while in MN it meant t-shirts and tank tops.  :)  What a wonderful, varied world we live in!  God has such an imagination.  :)

     We do not have a station to spotlight this week as this past week was the wrap-up from the previous unit.  It was a pure joy to see the kiddos engaging with the Easter story as Brenda Blair had a neat dye experiment for them in Beakers and the Bible, David Woolley helped them create footprints to remind them to that God walks with them and we are to go and tell people of His love, Katie Bystrom showed them an illustration of the tomb with biscuits  and Krista Early led them through games which engaged the Easter story.  Easter is so important!  There are those who say Easter is more important than Christmas as it is the fulfillment of the salvation promise.  During this past week, we walked through several activities, including a "Jesus says..."game (Simon says, but with Jesus instead), as well as doing the relay game as a whole Sunday School (curious?  ask your child!).

     You guys are so incredibly loved, do you know that?

     A few things to note this week: 

• We are beginning the final unit of this year of Sunday School.  During the summer, there will be events and activities for you all - keep your eyes peeled for details!  There will be things on certain Sundays for the children to engage with the Gospel...it does not go away just because School is over.  :)  The last day is May 19 and we will have a special gift for each family at that time!
• VBS: don't forget that VBS is the final week of July!  We are busy with preparations.  If you are able and willing to help, please let me know.  :)  Many hands make light work, and this is going to be an awesome VBS!

May God shine his light into your day and richly bless your sleep this night. 

Verse to ponder: "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ." Colossians 1:27-28 NIV

Did you know...  They are saying that on average, we are spending 9 years in front of the television in our lifetime.  9 years!  Jesus survived without television just fine.  What if we turned off the TV and played a game with our children?

ENews: Bendy Science

     As we stand together in prayer for those affected by the bombs at the Boston Marathon, it is important to remember that God is light and love.  With these kinds of stories that hit close to home for one reason or another (I have run a marathon and periodically run structured runs such as these, and I personally know of others in our congregation who run regularly), and with so much tragedy flooding our news sources as of late, it is critical to remember that God is present and is love in the midst of the darkness.  It just takes one little candle to light up a whole room.

    Station spotlight: Beakers and the Bible - The science behind the resurrection does not make sense.  Scientifically it does not make sense that a man who had died would be able to live again three days later.  Yet God made science and can bend its "rules" as he needs to in order to accomplish whatever he needs to.  Yes, Jesus died.  Yes, Jesus was stuffed in a tomb.  Yes, he rose again 3 days later.  That is the Good News!!  Death cannot overtake our Lord – Hallelujah!!

     When Jesus died, his body was placed inside a tomb.  The tomb was sealed by a huge round stone.  The stone moved in a narrow stone trough along the ground in front of the tomb.  The women went to the tomb to give Jesus’ body a proper burial.  They were expecting to find the opening of the tomb closed with the huge stone.  But when they got there, something exciting had happened.  The stone had been rolled away, and their friend Jesus wasn’t there.  God had raised him from the dead.  Children in the science station during this unit have done something related to this with rocks and food coloring...be sure to ask your child what they did!

• Are you and your child able to help with the Spring Clean up day on the 27th?  Let us know if you are!  There are several projects to be done.

May you and your children be blessed with the supernatural peace from God that surpasses all human understanding.

Verse to ponder:  "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4-7)

Fact about the Bible: The longest chapter if the Bible is Psalm 119 with 176 verses. The shortest chapter is Psalm 117 with only 2 verses.  The longest book of the Bible is Psalms with 150 chapters, or psalms. It contains 43,743 words. The shortest book is 3 John with only 1 chapter and 299 words.  The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9 with 90 words. The shortest verse is John 11:35 with only 2 words, “Jesus wept.”

Coupon exchange!!

Like many, I get mailers and magazines in the mail constantly.  Tucked away in these mailings are coupons.  Some of them my little family uses, some of them we throw away.

Throw away?!

Well, yeah...what else are we supposed to do with them?  We don't need them!

But...but...coupons are too valuable to just throw away.  In this day and age, every penny saved is precious.

NEVER FEAR - A SOLUTION IS HERE!

Have you seen the door to my office?  There are two folder organizers on its front.  Now one of those organizers contains a manila envelope that says "COUPONS!" 

This envelope is for a coupon exchange.  Inside you will find coupons...go ahead and take what you need.  Put coupons that you don't need in there.  

Let's share coupons so that we might be the best stewards of available resources the Lord provides as possible!  

Let's see....I don't need this coupon for super sale soda, but I bet someone else might........

ENews: ...and the eggs keep rolling on...

     Snow.  Love it or hate it.  In which camp are you and yours?  My sister lives in Alaska and informed me that they got 20 inches of snow over the past week or so.  Please be careful as you drive around today and the next few days (well, you should be careful always, but take extra time and such....I don't want to see any of your cars in wrecks on the news).

STATION SPOTLIGHT: Games - …..and we’re back to eggs!  J  We’re doing activities in the game station this unit that have to do with eggs (plastic ones), so here is some more information on the Faberge eggs that were mentioned earlier:  Peter Carl Faberge made beautiful jewelry from gold and jewels.  About 1880, the czar of Russia asked Faberge to make an Easter gift for the czar’s wife, Maria.  Faberge created a gorgeous white enameled egg.  Opening the egg revealed a yolk of pure gold.  Inside the yolk was a golden hen with ruby eyes.  In the hen’s beak was a tiny diamond crown and a ruby pendant.  The czar was delighted!  Through the following years, the czar ordered more eggs from Faberge.  The kiddos will be doing an activity with plastic eggs that is designed to help them remember the memory verse for the unit. 

     Your child(ren) will also take part in a Decathlon.  Don’t worry, we are not taking them off the premises.  This Decathlon has various activities for the kiddos to do…all in the same room.  Marissa and Jenna Early made the butterflies that hold the instructions for this activity!  Thank you, girls!!    

NEWS

• Clean-up day:  We are having a clean-up day as a church on April 27th.  I would love to see your families there!  What an awesome opportunity to serve those around us.  For more info, just ask.
• School bags:  Christie Brown and Jane Baker have asked the families of 1st UMC to collaborate to put together school kits for UMCOR.  I have the list of materials and such needed, you can find it HERE as well (just click "School Kits" at the bottom of the list on the right side of the page).  We need materials listed there, as well as people who sew to make bags to contain the materials.  Let me know if you can help!  

May you find joy in the new snow this day, a sight that billions of people on the planet will never see in their entire lives.

Verse to ponder:  ^"When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."  1 Peter 2:23-25

Fact about Easter/Bible:  The custom of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back to Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.

Hello!

Howdy, 1st UMC families!

So, you get emails from me regularly filled with all kinds of information.

We're all human.  Emails get buried within inboxes, are lost in folders, accidentally deleted, etc.

The reasons for this blog are several:

• Along the top you'll see various pages - here I hope to do various things, such as make resources available, provide a schedule, etc.
• I know emails get logs (mine are lost all the time) and here is a handy place to find info that might have been lost.
• Throughout the week I find articles, want to share thoughts, etc and think this is better then completely clogging your inbox.  :)

Feedback?  Send it at me!

You are all dearly loved!  May God's blessings find you this day and always!