Skiing - not scrapping

Today turned out to be a very snowy day and my scrapbooking trip got delayed for another day. However, my lovely friend Carrie, did mention she was going Cross Country skiing. It sounded like a great idea to me, so I got on my snow gear, grabbed my skis and headed out. Ended up skiing around quite a bit of our lake! Sometimes I was plowing through 8 - 12 inches of untouched snow, other times I found snowmobile tracks. All in all I was out for almost 2 hours and it was quite an adventure! There is skiing in Michigan after all...you just can't look for hills!

Happy Leap Day!

Happy February 29th! Happy Birthday, Happy anniversary, and Happy whatever else to everyone who only officially get to celebrate this day once every four years!

My daughter's snack day at school is today, so in honor of Leap Day we made frog snacks, which I found on the internet...somewhere:

Bugs - M&Ms
Flies - raisins
Worms - Chinese Noodles (or you could use pretzel sticks)
Fish - Fish crackers

It's actually a pretty tasty combination

Quota?

I might be an infrequent, sporadic blogger, but I think maybe I hit my quota for this month all in one night! Maybe it's a Good Thing I don't do this too often :)

Scrapbooking tomorrow

I am going scrapbooking with my great friend Carrie E. tomorrow! Life is always an adventure when I hang around with Carrie. She's always able to give me a new perspective, and just a little bit of her energy through osmosis. And you know what... it doesn't really matter how many "pages" I get done. What does matter is that I get to hang out with a great friend and do life with her!

Volunteer Thought from 2/24

February 24, 2008

Ephesians 3:20
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

Glory be to God!
The beginning of this verse puts everything we do into perspective for me. God put us here to honor and glorify Him. Not to say “Hey look, I'm so great, I'm so wonderful” But so that we can show the world who He is, so that we can be living examples of His love. We are coming to Crossroads to glorify God. We are leading our kids to bring glory to God. In turn we are teaching them how to bring glory to God. How cool is that?!

Jesus “with skin on”
We bring glory to God in Kid Crossing by becoming Jesus “with skin on” to our kids. Kids look up to people who are older than they are. They want to be just like you. Many of them come from broken homes or bad situations. You may be the only adult they associate with God. Our kids are going to learn who Jesus is, not by the information we teach them, but by the love we show them, by our actions, by how we treat them and others. Kids will watch every move you make. We are the ones who will make Jesus real...for the good or the bad. The question we have to ask ourselves every week, every day even, is “How am I being Jesus with skin on to the kids (and other adults) I'm interacting with? “

Share Examples this week
Let me know how you brought Glory to God this week, in Kid Crossing or any area of your life. OR let me know how you saw someone else bringing Glory to God and being Jesus with skin on. Then I'll pass your examples on to the rest of the team so we can celebrate!
email me: shari@ilovemychurch.org
call me: 517-270=538
stop me in the hall: somewhere between the cafeteria, the gym, the library, or the auditorium :)

Questions to ponder this week
Are you glorifying God in your life and your ministry? How?

How will our kids see “Jesus with skin on” in you this week? Next week?

Who can you invite to serve with you so that they can experience glorifying God by serving His kids?

Pray
Pray this week about how you can bring Glory to God by being Jesus with skin on to those you work with, live with, and serve.
Dear God,
Thank you for creating us to bring glory to You. Help us this week to look for and find ways that we can bring glory to You. Help us to be Jesus with skin on to our kids, and everyone we come in contact with. Amen.

Policy Reminder of the week:
Check Out – SAFETY FIRST!
Do NOT let any child leave your area without properly checking and matching the child's tag and parent's receipt. If either tag or receipt is missing there are missing receipt forms to fill out. If you are unsure what to do radio for a KC Director and one of us will come help you.
Take a little extra time. It's OK if a parent gets upset or has to stay 5 more minutes. Our kids' safety is worth it. Our safety system is only as good as we follow through with it.
No Exceptions!

Upcoming Events:
KC Inside Story: March 2 from 1:00 – 3:00
What is Kid Crossing all about?
Learn Policies and Procedures
Invite someone who you think wants to make a difference and come with them
Required for new volunteers and those who haven't come to one yet.
Lunch & Child care will be provided

Egg Stuffing: March 16 at 3pm
Egg Hunt: March 21 at 8pm

Crossroads Easter Experiences:
Saturday, March 22, 4pm and 5:30pm
Sunday, March 23, 9:30am and 11am

Sign up for the experiences that you will get to be a part of changing lives this Easter!

Volunteer Thought from 2/17

Ephesians 3:20
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

The “buried” verse
I discovered this verse at the end of last summer and used it to kick off our school year in Kid Crossing. Unfortunately in the hustle and bustle of “getting ministry done” as the year has gone by, this incredible verse got pushed to the back of my desk, and was piled upon, literally and figuratively by the other “stuff” on my desk. This week, after some time praying and refocusing, God reminded me of this verse, and I moved “everything” off my desk to find it.

More than I dared to ask or hope for
Thankfully God is bigger than me and my piles and I can see how God is doing more than I could dare to ask or hope for despite me. Here's an example: Shortly after we had our fall kick off, that most of you didn't know about soon enough to plan for, I really had no one else besides myself in the deepest level of Kid Crossing Leadership. I now have Melonie – Group Life Director, Lee - Communications Director, and Alicia – Operations Director. Way more than I dared to ask or even hope for.

Exploring the verse
I'd like to take the next few weeks to continue to explore this verse with you and look at the impact it can have in Kid Crossing and in our own lives. As you think about this verse in the coming weeks, I'd love to hear from you how God is using it in your life.

Questions to ponder this week
What is God doing in your life that is more than you could dare to ask or hope for?

What do you see God doing in your ministry that is more than you could dare to ask or hope for?

How can God use you to accomplish more than you could ask or hope for in the lives of your kids – the ones you interact with and serve each week in Kid Crossing?

Pray
Pray this week about how God can use you to accomplish infinitely more than you dare to ask or hope for.
Dear God,
Thank you for being there for us, even when we get busy with all our “stuff and piles”. Thank you for promising to do more than we could dare to ask or hope for. Help us to see the plans you have for us. Help us to be willing and obedient to be used by you in our lives, our ministry, our jobs, wherever we are, so that through your power we can accomplish infinitely more than we could ever consider without you. Amen.

Policy Reminder of the week:
Know your area's bathroom policy. If you don't know the specifics ask Shari, Melonie or Lee.
NO child should go to the bathroom alone and NO adult should take a child to the bathroom alone. Know where your closest bathrooms are located.
Bathroom breaks during Large Group time should ONLY be permitted if it is an emergency.

Upcoming Events:
Baptism: February 24
Volunteer Expo: February 24
KC Inside Story: March 2 from 1:00 – 3:00
Egg Stuffing: March 16 at 3pm
Egg Hunt: March 21 at 8pm

Crossroads Easter Experiences:
Saturday, March 22, 4pm and 5:30pm
Sunday, March 23, 9:30am and 11am

Successful Move!

So, I just noticed I hadn't blogged since just before Kid Crossing's move to new spaces. Our move was a huge success! Everything went off without a hitch. Only our pre-K area needed a little tweaking, and even that has now settled into place. It's great having all of our kids areas in close proximity to each other! Better for our families, our volunteers, and Me! (However I did think my pedometer would register fewer steps since we were all in one general location - but that hasn't proven to be true yet.)
If I can get our resident computer genius (aka my husband) to show me how to put pictures on my blog I'll add a few picts of our new environments! Once again God knew what he was doing, even when we didn't!

Kid Crossing Weekly Volunteer thoughts

One of the great benefits from moving all of our kids' environments closer together is that we now are able to meet with our volunteers for prayer prior to our Kids' worship experiences. While, it is still not without challenges, our gatherings at 8:10 and 11:10 have been getting larger. It's very exciting for me to be able to connect and pray with our volunteers.
Each week we have a volunteer thought and questions to ponder for the next week, along with updates, policy reminders, and any other important info. I'm going to start posting these on my blog (at least the ones that aren't copyrighted) each week. This way if you're a Kid Crossing volunteer and you prefer an electronic copy to a paper copy, or you forget your paper copy, or you don't make it to our gathering one week, you can still get the info here.
We'll see how it works :)

2 days and counting!

We are counting down to our (Kid Crossing's) big move on Sunday. Actually most of it will happen on Sat. afternoon/evening. Quite a few wonderful volunteers will be working together Saturday to make these new spaces great for Sunday morning. It will be a new and exciting chapter for Crossroads and Kid Crossing. I'm really looking forward to having all of our kids' environments located in the same area! It's going to allow us to work together better than ever. Even if you don't have kids, you're going to want to check out our new environments this week.

Kid Crossing is On the Move!

It's Official! Kid Crossing's kids' environments will be in NEW LOCATIONS beginning January 27, one week from Sunday. We are moving to new spaces due to the construction in the main entrance of the CFC, but we are very excited about the new possibilities this move brings. All of the kids areas will be closer together, spaces will allow for future expansion, and allow us to create better, safer environments for our kids.

So where are we going? Everyone will be in the Lenawee Christian School portion of the building:

Birth – 2 year olds will be in the school Library
3 year olds – Pre-K will be in the school Cafeteria (formerly home of K-5 large group/Kid Fusion)
Kindergarten - 5th grade will still be dropped off in the same hallway
Kindergarten - 5th grade Large group and Pick Up will occur in the school gym (elementary side)
Kid Fusion will be in the school gym (elementary side)

I'm sure there will be kinks that will need to be worked out in the first few weeks. Thanks for your patience as we work through this process and continue to help you help kids take their next steps toward Christ!

Kid Crossing on the Move

Last week I said that Kid Crossing was getting back to normal. Well, "normal" is very short lived! In the next few weeks Kid Crossing Kid's worship environments will be moving to new locations. I will let you know all the details as soon as they are finalized. But expect all the kids' spaces to be located much closer together, and all in the school portion of the building. It's going to be very exciting!

Kid Crossing back to "Normal"

After 3 weeks of "unnormal" (snow, Christmas, and Kid Fusion main stage) Kid Crossing is back to normal this week...or at least as normal as we get :) Kids' worship experiences will occur at 8:30 and 11:30 and Kid Fusion is at 10 AM. 0-2 Kid Crossing will occur at all 3 experiences.
3 year olds - PreK kids will be learning that "I can love God like Jesus did," in January. And K-5 kids, along with Kid Fusion will be learning about the virtue of Orderliness. I don't know about you. But I'm looking forward to my kids learning this one!
And as a sneak peak...Kid Fusion will be anything but orderly this week. It will be a one time crazy event you won't want to miss!

Kid Fusion leads people to Christ

Last Sunday Kid Fusion, Crossroad's Family Experience, took over main stage for all 3 experiences! As a weekend in between holiday's attendance was lower than normal, but Kid Fusion still Rocked! The cast and crew pulled off an awesome experience for everyone who was there. Better yet, 6 people indicated they made a commitment to Christ as a result of this service. This is the whole reason we exist! To help people take their next steps toward Christ. And despite lower attendance, 6 commitments to Christ is very much in line with, if not above, the average number of commitments each week.
That is something to Celebrate! Thanks so much to all the Kid Fusion volunteers AND Crossroads volunteers who had a part in helping these people take their next steps toward Christ! You guys are awesome!!!

More than 2

people read my blog! Now I don't have to get this shirt :)
(the one on the right)

Snow, Glorious Snow!

We've got snow. It's the best kind too. The kind you don't really know is coming. (no school so we don't watch the weather) We've probably got close to 12 inches around our house. We spent the morning outside! I got my exercise today shoveling the driveway. The Brian got out our x-country skis and we made a few loops around our area. The kids had fun sledding, running, and just playing in the snow. Really makes a person wish there was a real ski area nearby :) Only 3 1/2 more weeks until we go to VT though.
Tomorrow it's back into the swing of things. Ugghhhh that means mornings at 5;45... I'm working Thurs. and Friday for anyone who's interested :)

Happy New Year

This entry is dedicated to Brian and Doug...the two people who will probably read this.

So, I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions, thus blogging certainly won't be one of them for me, but I thought maybe I'd give it a try again. See if I can do more than 2 or 3 before I get sidetracked again :)

The first day of 2008 is about at an end. My family, amazingly including my 6 year old daughter, saw the beginning of 2008 along with our friends from our small group. It was an eventful and very LOUD evening (someone gave us all, including kids, noise makers). It was nice to be together with friends and family.

We had two amazing weekends at Crossroads, with 4 Christmas experiences, which Kid Crossing and Kid Fusion played pretty large parts in, and then Kid Fusion taking over the main auditorium again last weekend! It was incredible to be a part of all the lives God changed this holiday season. And it was amazing to work with a whole bunch of dedicated volunteers who worked many hours to make it all happen.

With all of that going on my usual Christmas vacation time was broken up a bit more than normal. We did take the kids skiing at Alpine Valley last Thurs. They had a great time and will now already have their ski legs under them when we head to VT at the end of this month.
Today we went and saw The Water Horse Micah is now fascinated with the Legend of Loch Ness. It was almost as much fun watching his reactions to the movie as it was watching the movie. He was thoroughly into it, on the edge of his seat 1/2 the time, and hiding behind his napkin when the music got too intense :)

One more day of vacation before we head back to work and school and schedules. I'm getting spoiled with staying up late and getting up late. This is my kind of time frame!

My children are being currupted

So, Tuesday was muffins with Mom at Hannah's preschool. We got to go in, get our hands painted for a craft and enjoy muffin, coffee (for me), and juice (Hannah). It was really a fun 30 minutes. But here's the thing:
Hannah and I were sitting on the floor enjoying our muffins and drinks. She asks "Mommy, did you bring your camera?" All of a sudden guilt hits. Wow, big preschool event, I make an attempt to scrapbook, and I didn't bring the camera. No, I tell her feeling really bad. SHE, points to her napkin spread out with muffin on one side, cup of juice in the middle, and muffin wrapper on the other side and says "That's too bad, this would make a good picture." She wasn't concerned that we weren't capturing the EVENT for memories, she wanted a picture of her FOOD arrangement.
For those of you who fail to see the humor in this story, take a minute and look at my husband's blogs, right here. Look for the pictures....Very sad....

Next Step in Getting Relevant

I've taken another step in the getting Relevant! We've had a Netflix subscription, but basically Brian was picking out the movies he wanted to see, and sometimes a "family" movie. So this week we increased the number of movies we get at a time and I now have my own queue with things like Eragon, Jump In, and Ground Hog Day (yeah, I know that one's old, but someone keeps telling me I need to watch it :) ). The kids get their own queue too. If you know any "hot" kids movies coming out these days let me know and I'll add them to my list.

Getting Relevant with a Wii

One of my big "take aways" from the weekend with Aaron is that I need to get way more relevant with what kids are in to. Aaron gave us a 10 question "quiz". Everyone else who was there got between 6 and 9 correct. I, on the other hand, failed miserably with only 3 correct!
So I'm now beginning on my quest to "get a clue".
First order of business: Get a Wii! Actually we already had one coming and received it on Monday. It's officially Micah's, but I'm getting my fair share of time in. So far I think the sports stuff it comes with is boring, but I'm enjoying Rayman Raving Rabbids! I guess I'll have to try TMNT in the next day or two.
Next week I'll write about the other ways Aaron suggested we get relevant and why it's even important.

Aaron Reynolds at Kid Crossing

We had an awesome time this past weekend with Aaron Reynold's at Kid Crossing. Aaron came from the Chicago Area to spend some time with us in Workshops and Consulting. I think everyone who spent time with Aaron was challenged and encouraged.
Bottom line: There's a lot of good things happening in Kid Crossing (which includes Kid Fusion). We've got a lot of potential. And we've got a lot to learn yet. We need to work on our Intentionality (planning and creating - not the week or day before) and I need a leadership team. I can not effectively lead Kid Crossing on my own, as I am currently attempting to do.
Stay tuned for more info from Aaron's time with us in the coming days!