Pumpkinland Fun!!

Here is a bit of our fun at Pumpkinland!!

Extreme Church Makeover!!

All we can say is, "PRAISE GOD!!!!" He is SO good - oh yes, and we thank ALL of you too - we could NEVER have done it without EACH ONE of you!!!

Taco Night

Our LAST night for this session will be Sunday, May 4 ~ Taco Night.

Little Kid's Club and Kid's Club will both be together for that. We are just asking to keep church costs down that each child bring $2.00. We will end at 7:00 for the graduation party at church. So - Kid's Club will run from 6-7 pm. See you then!!!

Roller Skating Info......

Roller Skating Party

SUNDAY, February 24,2008
6:00 PM- 8:00 PM

Roller Roulette, Sheldon, IA

Everyone is welcome to come to skate or not to skate. The facility is setup so everyone can enjoy the skating and fellowship. We need 50 skaters so bring your friends, children, and grandchildren. We are encouraging life groups to participate as we'd love to have parents attend as well!!

Transportation and Other Information
If anyone is able to provide transportation please let Joe Bilby know so we can place extras or those children needing transportation.
(737-4359/ home #)

Cost is $3.50/skater ($2.50/child 6 yrs. & younger)
(This includes the rental of the quad skates. Inline skates are available for an additional $2.00/pair. No discount for bringing your own skates, which need to be approved by the Roller Roulette staff prior to use.)

Food is available for additional cost through the concessions at the rink. They offer all the best in junk food including pizza and soft pretzels!

Bring board games and cards for those not skating. Plenty of booths are available to gather for conversation and fun. Phase 10 or Sequence rematches may be conducted!

Skating is Coming!!!

Just to give you a heads up - Roller Skating Night is coming!!! The rink is reserved and we are ready!!


February 24 - stay tuned for more details!!!

Christmas Operation

Well - the Christmas program is over, and now that we've had time to recover (!!) thought we'd post some pictures! We have just oodles of pictures - so if you'd like some of your child/children and you don't see them on here - just email and let us know - we would be happy to email them out!! (Karen took many pictures of each family, and I don't have room to post them all - but feel free to email and ask!!) Thanks Karen, again for a superb program!! And Thanks Parents, your dedication to bringing your kids to practice made this year's program a success. Oh yes, and Thanks Kids - you did awesome!!

Christmas Program

Here are some dates and times (off of the sheet that was passed out last week at church):

Sunday, Dec. 16th - 9:15 - Come to the Sunday School Room (at the Daycare) and we will go over the 1st song in the program. At 9:35 we will walk over to the church and march up on stage ( they do not need their t-shirts on).

Sunday School Time - 9:50 - after we sing at the end of the 1st service, we will go back to the Sunday School Room and have Sunday school time. The first 10 in. will be to review any songs we need to work on and then the last 30 min. will be spent with their Sunday School teachers.

10:45 - At 9:40 we will line up at the Sunday School Room and go back into the church to sing the 1st song again.

Sunday Evening, 16th - all children in program should be in the Old Children's Church Worship Room with their t-shirts and pants on at 5:40 (khaki or black pants). Please find your box as soon as you get there and you will get lined up in order.

Parents - please bring 2-3 dozen goodies to the kitchen when you arrive.

Jr. High students, shepherds, angel, PA announcer, mary, Joseph, Rich Man, Poor Widow, Character of Jesus, Readers, etc. should be dressed and at the Old Children's Worship Room at 5:50 and will be sitting in the back of the church until you need to go on stage.

BK Challenge

BK CHALLENGE!!!!

Where did Abram live when God called him?

(Remember, just leave a comment on this post with your answer and your name!!! The winner will be announced in Kid's Club!!)

Tug of War

Welcome Back! After two long weeks off it is nice to be back in Kid's Club. He hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

This week we had a great time with Renee and Justin. Thanks Cole for inviting your parents to spend the evening as our special guests. The evening started off with an exciting competition between Justin and Cole. We had a tug of war matchup. It was a fierce battle but in the end Cole was no match to Justin's brute strength. (Not to mention Justin's just a little bit bigger than Cole.) The second round of Tug of War was a bit different. Cole teamed up with about 15 of his heavy weight friends and easily put down the competition. Team Kid's Club was victorious. Now you may be asking what does this have to do with Kid's Club, and honoring our parents? Our lesson for the week was on the Tower of Babel. Scripture says that when God came down he said "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." God had told the people that they were to fill the earth and they wanted to build a tower "so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." In their unity they sought to disobey God so God confused their language and the result was obedience. They scattered over the face of the whole earth. When we unite to honor God we can accomplish much but when we unite to dishonor God he can break the unity to bring about his will. As families let's be united to honor God. Let's use our time together to accomplish much for God.

As you spend time this season decorating Christmas Trees or baking great Christmas goodies, think of things you can do as a family to accomplish much for God. As a family seek out an opportunity to show love to someone who needs it. If they ask why tell them you just wanted to share the good news of the season.

Haiti Packing Night

We'll let the pictures speak mainly for themselves - we had a great night and pray that our gifts will bless others with God's love.

Christmas Packing Party

Kid’s Club Haitian Christmas Packing Party

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2007 6:00 pm

New Hope EFC Sanctuary

The kids are almost ready for the packing party, having completed crafts for giving a gospel message through the colors of faith ornament and a gift tag for each of the Haitian children.

We would encourage you to sit down with your child and write a special letter telling their friend something about themselves, their love of Jesus, and their hope for their friend to know Jesus as their own personal friend as well. The letters can be translated by Krissie and Jean Jean and read to each child.

Following are some final needs we have in preparing for the packing party. Please bring donations to the church and deposit in the box placed by the mailboxes at the church entrance.

DONATON REQUESTS:

6 boxes of Ziploc 2.5 gallon Jumbo Bags
Toothbrushes & Toothpaste
Soaps and Other Toiletries
Band-Aids or First Aid Items
Small Penny Candies (no chocolate…it might melt in shipping)
Packing Tape (2-3 Rolls)
Scotch Tape (for Krissie)
Duck Tape (for JeanJean)
(excellent for Bible Repairs)
Twine for additional gift tying.
Large Sterilite storage containers for packing and shipping gifts in. (They are useful after presents are distributed.)
Offerings for mission gift to Wilson’s ministry with HAFF


SUGGESTED GIFTS FOR HAITIAN CHILDREN:

Clothing 2 sizes smaller than their age for children ages 6-12
No battery operated toys.
(They won’t be able to replace the batteries.)
Clothing for younger children are closer to their age but larger is always good for growing into.
Flip Flops or croc type shoes.
Deflated soccer balls are a favorite toy.
Rain Jackets.
Ribbons, beads, & hair ties for Girls
Colored Pencils and Coloring Books

Everyone is invited to participate in the packing party and share our Christmas party with the children of New Hope as an all-church event. Even if you have not adopted a child, your help would be appreciated, as there are plenty of ways to come alongside the children and help with the packing and shipping process. You may also come just to enjoy the social experience with children!

Please bring a Christmas goodie to share with the group. If you can’t bring a goodie, come anyway!

Cinderella

We had a great time with Rebekah's Parents. We enjoyed having Mark and Lisa visit us so we could honor them as parents.

Kids: We are finding that honoring our parents is no little thing. Some of the ways we honor our parents are by obeying, respecting, loving and spending time with them. This week we explored yet another way we can honor our parents. Rebekah told us how when there is a storm she feels at peace because her parents are around. She even shared with us that when there is a tornado warning her family, just like our family, camp out in the basement until the storm is passed. We also talked about how Rebekah learned to ride a bike. Her dad held the bike upright just until the right time when he knew she could stay up. Then he let go and she was able to stay up. In all of those events Rebekah was showing that she trusted her parents. This is another way that we honor them. By trusting them we show that we know they want to take care of us. They love us and we put our faith in them to care and protect us. Some of the ways we can trust them is by listening to what they say and then following what they say. Trusting and obeying kind of overlap. We obey our parents because we trust that they want the best for us.

Parents: Our children trust us. All through their lives there will be times when our children will come to us for support, advice, encouragement and love. As parents we need to be there for them, to be available, ready to do the things that say "you can trust me". I want to share with you an email that I received last week. I receive some great encouraging emails from the Familyman Ministries, started by Todd Wilson. I am attaching one of his emails and then a link to a great song by Steven Curtis Chapman.

Dads, follow this link http://www.familymanweb.com/newsletter to signup to receive the newsletter. Moms - If your husband doesn't sign up to receive this newsletter go sign him up yourself!! Todd has a heart for men being great dads and husbands. His weekly emails are an encouragement and his website has many resources to encourage dads to be the best husbands and dads they can be.

Here is the email:

You know, there’s just something very pink and tinkerbellish about girls. Sure,
there’s also a ton of unbridled emotion and changing of clothes that goes hand
in hand with having a girl, but there’s just something wonderful about
daughters. My daughter Katherine (10) has proven that to me more than once in
the last two weeks. The first time happened on a beautiful, fall night when we
were still able to eat dinner on our screened-in porch. We were halfway through
dinner when Katherine asked a question, and I responded in a fairly normal
way---I thought. Katherine was hit with a wave of emotion and burst into
tears. I was touched by her brokenness and in my softest, most fatherly voice I
said, “I didn’t mean it that way, Katherine. I’m so sorry---” Her tears stopped
and later that evening she walked up to me and apologized for her outburst, and
we hugged and talked. A few days later, I walked past her and she gave me a
funny look. "Dad,” she said, “can you dance with me?” I have to admit that I was taken back by her question---she’s never asked me to dance before. But without hesitation, I put my arms around her and swept her off her feet to giggles of delight. Then, last Thursday a tornado touched down just a few miles from our home. The radio blared its emergency test warning---but it wasn’t a test. Katherine was a mess---and she’s never even seen the Wizard of OZ. The entire night she clung to me and wanted to hear my words of assurance.
And lastly, she proved it to me again when our whole family went to the mall recently. As I walked to the pretzel booth, Katherine walked with me with her arm around my waist---like a teenager with her boyfriend. It felt a little weird, but it grew on me as we walked. In fact, by the time we got to the pretzel place, I was kind of bummed that she removed her arm. OK, so here’s the point, Dad. Our daughters find comfort, security, and love in us. They need us to sweep them off their feet from time to time, talk gently, and try to understand their emotions. If we’re not there for them---some other guy with baggy jeans will be. So, Dad, be there. Make the time to hold your daughter on your lap, ask her about her day, and put your arm around her waist like you’re a teenager and she’s your girlfriend---because she is.