It is June already and it looks like warm weather is finally here to stay.  Two weeks ago we somberly said goodbye to the 5th graders, sending them off in a prayer as we laid hands on them.  They finished not only the 4th/5th grade ministry, but moved out of children’s ministry altogether to student ministries where they will spend the next seven years.  This weekend, the third grade room remained dark, as it will for the next two months or so as we welcomed them as the new fourth grade.  At our church 3rd grade and up get bumped in June for camp reasons, but the younger kids have to wait until August.  I guess it is a little strange, the first weekend or so in June, to be called a fourth-grader (for example) when many have not yet finished third grade at school.

We also kicked off our summer series, Transformers.  Yes, we are borrowing off of a popular movie theme (yes it was a cartoon first, but seeing as how many of their parents weren’t even grown up at the time, let alone their own existence…).  However, the name is where similarities begin and end.  Unfortunately our worship band moved up with the old 5th-grade or out (the college-bound ones) so we are working on replacing them.  Hmm.  Actually, it was the Saturday night band that is gone, but we still did the song videos instead of the normal worship at 11:15 even though those band members were still present- I wonder why?

Saturday night I think we need guy leaders now in a big way.  I was the only one there, along with two gal leaders.  I know one will be coming back in a few weeks, but we could use more.  My “small” group was twenty-some boys- ideally, groups should be about six or so.  So anyway, the lesson was one on being rooted in Christ, and not comparing ourselves to one another.  As Paul wrote to the Phillipians, he had much call to call himself better than others as he was a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” a Pharisee, and zealous for his religion.  Instead, he counted it as loss, rubbish compared with his identity in Christ.  As His, we are equal no matter our station, our jobs, our finances, etc.

Moving on, did I mention camp?  Oh, yes I did.  Less than two weeks, and I am making trip #7 out there with an all new group!  There is much to be excited about, but one thing tops all others.  Every year we get something new.  In the past additions have included  a lodge building, a zipline, pontoon boats, and a waterslide (thankfully I started there the year after they got permanent showers…).  Well, this year apparently we got something a bit different.  Raise your hand if you ever wanted to be a hamster after watching them roll around in their hamster balls.  That’s right, our new addition to camp is in the form of two giant inflatable hamster, err- people balls called Zorbs.  Here is a random video found on youtube:

and from the inside:

Now that looks exciting.  I hope they don’t roll it down too steep of a hill though.  Imagine what would happen if one got sick in one of those…  Or, best not to imagine.

Anyway, a new year at church, a new post. I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂

I really will try to post at least once more before Camp 2011.  I mean it.  That I will try, that is. 😉

As I was reading the newspaper this morning, I found that some universal changes will be made in the Catholic church (which will be fully integrated by November at the beginning of Advent, the season when we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ).  As an area priest noted, these changes will not be as dramatic as those that took place in the late 1960s.  Most of these new changes will be seen in the responses spoken after blessings and some of the words spoken in prayers.  From what I gather, these changes are meant to reflect the translation from Latin.

I have noticed a lot of word changes in our hymnals.  Our organist has two humongous binders which are held together by duct tape that must date back 20 years.  For every season, we get new song books and sure enough there are a handful of songs which have words changed.  Most are little things such as a “man” changed to “all.”

OLD:

We are the light of the world.  May our light shine before man.

NEW:

We are the light of the world.  May our light shine before all.

May not seem like much, but we must follow what is in the new book or the congregation might choose to not join in song… those who do choose to join 😉  BRAINSTORM!   Why not have a screen in front of the church display the words?  Not sure if I have ever seen a Catholic church use audio/visuals in quite this way but I often find that the book gets in the way at times… esp. when I lead which is why I like to memorize the pieces as much as possible.  WAIT! The church we visited when we spent the weekend visiting my oldest brother while he was in college used such a display.

By the way… i know that no one is infallible, but the local newspaper has made two big goofs in the last week.  Last week, our sectional champion boys’ basketball team was honored with a picture of LAST YEAR’S TEAM.  The caption was for the current team but the photo included players who graduated last year.  Today’s paper included a photo of the interior of “Sacred Heart Church” when it was clearly “St. Mary’s.”  Unless of course, the churches are identical in every way.  I’m sure I have been inside Sacred Heart at least once but that was 20 something years ago.

I really like this song our church worship band has been playing lately.  Enjoy Drifter:

I love coming across God stories.  Real life anecdotes which display the way God works in our lives, God stories can be experienced by Christians and non-Christians alike; it’s just a matter of recognizing them and taking the time to be thankful and appreciate them.

I was at our babysitter’s house last week picking up my kids, and there was a little girl cuddling a dog.  Being  an animal lover, I had to say hello to the cute little furball and find out her name and age.  The little girl’s father said he didn’t know the pup’s age because they had found her, and then he said, “I have to tell you the whole story.”  So he begins his story, not knowing me or that I am a Christian who appreciates God stories.  His story went something like this:

“My wife left me; she left me and the kids and even took our dogs, so these poor kids lost their mother and their dogs.  I kept telling them I would get them a dog, but I had lots of other things to work out too.  So for Halloween, we went to one of those ‘trunk or treat’ things at a church, and there was a little girl walking around inside the church with a puppy in her arms.  I thought, something doesn’t seem  right there – why is this little girl walking around a church with a puppy, so I asked her about the dog.  “We’re not even sure what we’re going to do with  her – we just found her outside.” the little girl told him.  “Well,” I told her, “my kids have been looking for a dog.”  We took home the little puppy, and she was mangy and starving, just skin and bones.  We didn’t estimate her to be more than 10 weeks old at that time, and she has been  a part of the family for the last few months.  She is thriving physically, and she has helped provide some of the healing the kids needed as they spent Christmas without their mom.”

After hearing the story, it was magical to see the little girl cuddle her puppy.  It warmed my heart to see them together, knowing that God brought this little puppy into the lives of a family who needed her – and brought a family into the life of an ailing little puppy who needed them as well.  God works in wonderful ways, and being a witness to it is awesome – you just have to stop and look around; He is always there!

It seems like men and women can be from different planets at times. During a series at youth group called “Lovesick”, we were shown the following videos, and they illustrate the differences between the opposite sexes hilariously – Enjoy!

cartoonconversation-outtoeat.mp4

cartoonconversation-pant.mp4

Another fun-filled weekend!  Friday,  I invited a trio of lovelies to take in Elizabeth’s elementary school’s production of Seussical, Jr.  It was a cute show and what A LOT of work!  THIRTY-FOUR songs and a group of 58 youngsters on stage the entire time.  I have no idea how much more is involved in the full-scale edition of the musical but I remember how daunting a task of a 21 song show was especially for the director.  For those of you who do not know, the musical combines the tales of Horton the Elephant who Heard a Who and Hatched the Egg.  Along with Horton, we were entertained by the Cat in the Hat, JoJo (the son of the Mayor of Whoville and his wife), Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie LaBird, and other characters from the pages of Theodore Geisel.  I have found myself humming the signature piece from the show “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think” for the last few days.  Unfortunately, the youngest of my three companions did not make it through the entire 90 minute production.

Saturday night,  I was the leader at mass which went really well as celebrated the Second Week upon the journey to celebrating the Birth of Our Savior.

Following mass, I headed out to another fun-filled game night with an 80s flare.  I decided to wear my Indiana Jones t-shirt.  One of the other party-goers was REALLY creative and came as the White Cosby in slacks and colorful sweater.  He even brought a box of Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding (after his search for Jello Pudding Pops turned out to be fruitless).  While playing Life, we had The Goonies playing with no sound which somehow made it go quicker.  After Life, the 9 of us formed teams for a round of Trivial Pursuit 80s style while Christmas Vacation went on without sound.  About 1:30AM without a clear champion, the game broke up and I bid adieu since I had to be up in 5 1/2 hours for work.

A fun weekend filled with great friends!

I just love it when our pastor’s sermons speak to me, which is actually quite often as he is a powerful speaker.  A few weeks ago, he was speaking of the relationship between Paul and Timothy, and the discussion that followed was of kindred spirits and soul mates.

This sermon made me think of my husband – we’ve always known we were made for each other.  And that leads to a funny story: just a few days before we heard this sermon in church, I was at the library looking for a movie to pick out for Hubby and I to watch that night.  My eyes fell upon UHF, a goofy late 80s comedy starring Weird Al Yankovic.  I  thought to myself, “He won’t want to watch that.” and I passed it up.  Later that night as we were picking a movie to watch, my husband says, “I feel like watching UHF, but we don’t have it.”  I could not stop laughing as I told him about how I thought of him in the library that day, and we had a good laugh together.  He had seen UHF years ago but not since and never with me (I had never seen it).  It’s not like it was one of his favorite movies or one he often felt like watching, and we had probably never even discussed it together.  Yet of all the movies just to randomly pop into our heads that day, we shared a random thought that was UHF.  🙂

Love You Honey

Some random kid-related stuff to report…

First, my “visitor”  showed up to my Sunday morning class.  I haven’t had the time to blog about it, but basically there is a parent who came to drop her daughter off a few weeks ago at the worst time possible, and the kids were all over the place (it’s not normally like that, a set of circumstances culminated to create the ‘perfect storm’ – long story).  On top of that, her daughter is a 1st grader, which means that she has just come over to the north campus of church.  Our first graders “graduate” from the preschool wing and move over to the other building when they get in 1st grade, and their curriculum changes.  So this parent had concerns about what her daughter was learning and specifically where her weekly “coloring page” was.  So she asked if she could come “observe” my class, and I was all upset and nervous.  I sat and pondered this, I prayed about it, and I decided to give it my best shot and show this mother what a wonderful childrens’ ministry we have.  I wasn’t even  nervous, and I used the entire ride home from Illinois planning out my lesson for class the next day.  And what happens?  She is a no-show.  Fast forward to the next week, which was in reality this past Sunday, and she shows up.  Luckily I had kind of figured this would happen, so I was well-prepared again.  But I also  had 9 kids to look after – of course she couldn’t come observe when I had 4 kids last week when games and lessons are much easier…  But I think it went well!  I can’t speak for the “observer”, but the class ran as smoothly as it could have with 9 kids running around.  She wasn’t just a statue standing in the corner making me nervous during class, but an active participant (after some encouragement by me) in the crafts and games.  It is my hope that she came away from experiencing her daughter’s Sunday school knowing that our childrens’ ministry program at church is wonderful!  We have so many components (there is music, dancing, skits, big group games, small group games, story-telling and crafts – all in one hour every week!)  and super volunteers who bring it all together which provides a variety of ways for kids to learn one lesson and virtue.  I am so proud of how well my 1st graders are picking up on this month’s virtue, which is “initiative”.  I know, a huge word for such small kids, but the lessons are broken down and relate to kids so well that they really are getting it – especially my 1st grader at home, which really surprises me!!  So anyway, I just wanted to express my relief about how I don’t have to worry about my “visitor” anymore.  At first I was terribly upset, but after a lot of thinking and praying, it all worked out for the better!  I was able to step back and take a look at our childrens’ ministry and appreciate it even more when it was under scrutiny, so I am very thankful to God for opening my eyes and getting me through this.

Next bit of kid news – last week was National Eat Lunch at School week, so  us parents were invited to eat with the littles.  My husband and I folded ourselves into the kiddie-sized lunch tables and visited with the 1st graders.  One problem I didn’t see coming though – we brought little brother (he is 2), so of course he starts running around the lunchroom, but…  Mom and Dad were so crammed into the little lunch tables that we could not get up to chase him unless someone else got up first – we were packed in like sardines!  Finally we were able to get out and get him before he caused too much trouble, and we had a great time for the remainder of the lunch.  I think Sammie really enjoyed haaving her family at lunch.  Here are my 3 youngest at ‘big kid’ first grade lunch:

And at recess it was so neat to see some of my 1st graders from Sunday morning childrens’ ministry!!

So after lunch in 1st grade, it was time to head to the fire station for a field trip with my preschool-age daughter and her class.  I brought my 2-year-old along to this also because I thought he would enjoy it, and he did, even if it was a challenge trying to get him to hold still while the fireman was talking.  But as soon as the fire gear came out and the fireman began to put on his boots, gloves, hood, hat, etc, my son was very attentive.  After that, each of the kids got a turn “driving” the fire truck!  My son made his way up to the front of the group and reached his arms toward the fireman – it was really neat to see because a few of the pre-schoolers, one being my daughter, were nervous about being lifted up by the firefighter and into the big fire truck.  But once they saw the little dude have a turn and how much he loved it, they were all eager to try too!

So overall a great week!  October is always so busy for our family, but I enjoy every minute of it!!

What can happen in just one weekend in the populous metropolitan Chicago area?  Check this photo out:

As if that first picture didn’t say enough, the second picture shows that people are still filing down the ramp in the center!  What is this guy on you may ask?  Well, two weekends ago (yeah, I’m a lazy poster…) was the Harvest crusade at the Allstate arena.  Greg Laurie, the pastor from Harvest Christian Fellowship in California (not to be confused with Chicago’s Harvest Bible Chapel though the two pastors are good friends) came to our area with a message of hope for everyone.  I attended Sunday night, which hosted a standing-room only crowd!  If I am not being clear, I apologize and think of Greg Laurie as today’s Billy Graham, bringing the message of salvation via crusades in various cities when he is not firing up his own congregation in California.  I have to say- well never mind what I have to say except that it was an awesome experience.  Yes, only God is awesome but since this is His work after all…

Why forget what I have to say?  Because they posted videos of all three nights on their website!  And each night is different.  I actually attended on the night he talked about following Christ even through the pain of loss.  A couple of years ago he lost his own adult son due to a tragic car accident so I would say he is well qualified as a follower and as one who has experience.  Two of the musicians that night also suffered loss- Steven Curtis Chapman who lost a young daughter the very same year as pastor Laurie’s loss, and Jeremy Camp who lost a wife due to cancer several years ago.  Their pain is evident in their songs following the deaths, and they show their faithfulness in the face of it like pastor Laurie by continuing to follow Christ and spread His good news.

Each night is different, so just because you watched one in no way means you’ve seen it all!  Okay, I will have to put my money where my mouth is and watch the other two nights myself.  Saturday I believe was geared toward young adults and teens.  Friday I am not sure, but if you fall into neither category mentioned then Friday will probably be the best choice to watch if you only watch one.

So what does that number in the title represent?  Well, Allstate Arena (formerly Rosemont Horizon) seats well over that amount- in fact over 47,000 attended all weekend.  No, that number represents decisions for Christ made that weekend.  That was one big party in Heaven, as there is much rejoicing over just ONE soul saved.  Look at those pictures again.  The floor of the arena was mostly empty during the presentation and music.  In those photos people who accepted Christ that night came down to receive Bibles and followup information.  Okay, many of the people were follow-up workers (I could have been one since I went through the training beforehand, but I felt I wasn’t ready- next time!) but still- we were told around 2600 had accepted Christ over the last two nights, which means over 2000 were just on Sunday!

Time for me to shut up and let you click to the website.  To a certain blogger who lost his own wife- PLEASE WATCH SUNDAY’S PRESENTATION.  That is all.  And some videos below. [No, the songs I would link to are contained in the messages on the website, so I will not distract you from them].

https://www.harvest.org/crusades/2010/chicago/