Some fun & different projects I am working on!

Here are some projects I am working on in addition to my regular stuff.

Project #1
Along with another Children's Ministry Team member I am writing a Jonah Curriculum for my teachers. It's called Wrong Way Jonah! We will be doing this series in Preschool & Kid's Church throughout May. This curriculum is for the Kid's Church program, although I will be passing supplemental ideas for the Sunday School Preschool teachers. I am having quite a bit of fun with this. It is a change a pace for me & allows me to jump start my creative energies. Here is a sneak peak at what's coming to Kid's Church.
Week 1 A Stinky Situation!
Week 2 A Stinky Attitude!
Week 3 Nineveh or Bust!
Week 4 That Stinking Worm! My co-writer thought of the first 3, I came up with the last one. What do you think?
We have a theme song & theme verse, plus a couple of extra Bible verses to learn & apply. I also hope to have Jonah himself be part of the lesson each week.

Project #2
Our church has been offered a Bible Sports Camp at a very low cost, free or $20 per child which would pay for T-Shirts for the kids. It will be June 25-29 from 9-12. All I have to do is obtain lots of volunteers, snacks for the kids & meals for the college athletes who are coming from Yakima, Wa. Kids can choose soccer, basketball or cheer leading for the girls. But girls can do soccer or basketball. This should be a excellent training for me in this area. This will be a very busy week & on Friday after the Sports Camp is over I get to go & crash at the Women's Retreat! Whoo Hoo!

Project #3
Spliting Kid's Church in June into 2 groups. This involves recruiting more teachers. Actually recruiting is a prayer request. Due to various reasons we are in need of 6-8 more teachers at both hours. Spliting Kid's Church will be a stretch for us, I except to pinch hit & assist teachers quite a bit this Summer. Kid's choir is also ending for the Summer, so we have a full hour to fill for Kid's Church. We will continue with music, but more of a Worship Theme, music & motion, prayer & offering.

Project #4
Sunday School Advancement. This involves parent notification (letter is already written) & organizing the event which is May 27. Then helping parents, kids & teachers through this transition.

Project #5
This one is easy & benefits me & my son. Park days this Summer. Meet up with other moms at a local park twice a month.

Better buy some good running shoes for my footsties wootsties!

Lions, Tigers & Bears Oh My

Posted Monday, March 26, 2007 (date would not appear & it was driving me nuts)
FOLSOM ZOO OUTING FOR CNC KID'S & FAMILIES!

DON'T MISS IT!

IT'S GOING BE FUN!

LOTS OF FUN!

HOW MUCH FUN?

WHEN?

KEEP READING TO FIND OUT.

WELL, LOTS OF FUN.

WHO'S INVITED?

WHAT COULD BE MORE FUN THAN THE ZOO?

MAMAS, PAPAS, KID'S, BABIES, GRANDMA'S , GRANDPA'S ARE INVITED.

FRIDAY....

BRING A PICNIC LUNCH.

TO ENJOY AFTER THE ZOO.

APRIL...

OH, WHERE, FOLSOM ZOO.

TIME?

10AM WE WILL MEET IN FRONT OF THE ZOO GATE.

WHEN, WHEN, WHEN

FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 10AM

ALL THE ANIMALS IN THE ZOO ARE JUMPING UP & DOWN FOR YOU!!!

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL CORDOVA NEIGBORHOOD CHURCH 635-5992X14

Spring Events

Here's the scoop on Springtime happenings at CNC.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you...
Children's Ministry & anybody who wants to go will meet at Folsom Zoo on Friday, April 6 at 10am. We will visit the animals, then picnic & play at the park next to the zoo. Click here for Zoo entrance fees.

I'm putting all my eggs in one basket...
Sunday, April 8 Easter Egg Hunt. Time of hunt still to be determined, between Services or after the 2nd Service. Such decision we have to make.
Egg donations are needed. If you would like to stuff a dozen or two plastic eggs, we would appreciate it. Please mark donations Children's Ministry & drop off at the main office or CM Office.

It's a whale of a tale...
Pastor Mike will be doing a series on Jonah & so will we. At the end of the series on May 11 we will have movie night. Can you guess what movie we will show? I will give you 3 chances (answer is at the end of post). Cucumbers & carrots are optional.

Sunday School Advancement will be at the end of May. Details are forthcoming.

Oh those lazy, hazy days of summertime...(I am feeling rather lyrical)
Park Days this summer. The days are June 11 & 25, July 16 & 30 & August 6. We will meet a different park each time from 9:30-12:30pm.

Did you guess the movie Veggie Tales Jonah? If so, you when the prize. Free admission to the movie & a carrot to munch on. Sorry no dip, we don't want to mess up the pews.

I am feeling please as punch I can now do links. Yeah me!

Edited March 15. Movie date has changed to June 8.

Treasures in Heaven

Today at church we celebrated treasures. This past month our Pastor has been teaching The Treasure Principal by Randy Alcon. I admit I have not purchased the book to read, but each week the sermons have been insightful & useful. The Holy Spirit is working in my heart in regards to my attitude toward money.

In the midst of this series, the 1 year anniversary of our new Children's Wing just happened to be today.

It was a day of celebration. With balloons, cake, testimonies, music & prayer.

I had the privilege of sharing the Kid's Message. Here is what I shared.

On February 19, 2006 we held classes for the first time in our new wing (to my surprise,the congregation broke out in a applause). Typical of any move, the classes were not fully furnished, boxes still needed to be unpacked, but we were in our rooms & happy. Today we celebrate our treasures.

(BTW, we had all the kid's in both services come to the sanctuary first before going to their classes.)

I invited all the kids down front & once they were settled I explained to the kid's what all the balloons on the platform meant. I had 60 balloons delivered that morning. The orginial idea was to have 150 ballons, one for each child with their name on it, but because of the logistics & cost of it I changed it to 6 balloon bouquets each one a different color. Each bouquet had 10 balloons in it.

Back to the message. I told the kids what each bouquet represented.
Yellow-The Big Kid's Club, they have 30 kids in the before & after school childcare.
Green-The Arabic Church, they are part of our church but most speak Arabic so they hold their own services in the afternoon. They have 55 kids in their program.
Orange-The Youth Group (about 50 kids)
Blue-The teachers, assistants & helpers (54 teachers)
Red-Children's Ministries (71 kids in the program). When we moved in we had 30 kids in the program. Teachers & children we totaled 125, a quarter of the church.
The last bouquet was a mix of all the above colors. It represents we are all intergrated together as community sharing one vision. The vision to bring Jesus to the hearts of kids.

I then interviewed my little 5 year friend DL. He accepted Jesus in his heart a few weeks ago. If I knew how to link to the post I would.

The Interview
This is my friend DL. DL is here with his mom, dad & 2 sisters, J & A. J & A. joined us up on the platform in the first service.
Me: How old are you?
DL: 5
Me: 5 is a great age, I like being five.
Me: Whose class are you in?
DL: Miss Sydney & Miss LaRee
Me: Sydney & LaRee teach the Kg & 1st grade class.
Me: A few weeks ago you told me some special news, can you tell all my friends.
DL: I have Jesus in my heart!
(applause)
Me: Oh that is wonderful, how did He get there?
DL: I prayed.
Me: You prayed & Jesus come right in?
DL: Yes
Me: I am so happy you are part of our church family & part of Jesus family. Do you have anything else to say?
DL: No, yes I have a new Bible Book.
Me: Dl has a new Bible with a cool Veggie Tale Bible cover. I want one like it.
Thank you, now that is better than any Oprah show!

I then dismissed the kids to Sunday School.

We did it all again in the 2nd service. I forgot the mixed bouquet in the 1st, but did remember the 2nd time around. Thank goodness for 2 services. In the 2nd service I walked from bouquet to bouquet,which was fun! I also had DL stand on the treasure chest so everyone could see him better & he is one of our 71 treasures at CNC.

Treasures in heaven, that is what we are striving for.

In the 2nd service 3 kids were baptized, 2 kids dedicated to the Lord & their Mom was baptized also.

It was truly a day to celebrated. But shouldn't everyday be a day to celebrated God's Grace poured out on us.

I will "treasure" today in my heart!

Always on vacation

My son thinks I am on a perpetual vacation because I work for my church. Generally I go into work on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, but do much of the work from home. Last week J was home on Monday (mental day off from school), then on Thursday, Friday & again Monday because of illness. The first Monday he was off & complaining that I get to be home all the time, I got wise & showed him my to do list (for church & home) & asked him if he thought it was for 1 month or 1 week (it was rather long). He said 1 month. When I told him it was for 1 week his eyes bugged out. I think he knows that I am not on a perpetual vacation, but I am lucky I get to work from home. He is right, I am lucky, more like blessed to work from home.

The last two weeks my to do list has been rather long. I have to write things down lest 1. I forgot about something or 2. I lie awake at night going over it in my head.
Over at Fruitful Words, Susan gave us tips for phone messages. I thought I would share my tips on "to do lists". Like Susan I had list everywhere, on the fridge, in my purse, in my work binder, but none on the dog, she would eat it anyway.

Susan got me started with a binder.

1. Last year Susan help me get organized by suggesting a binder for Children's Ministries. I used to be very organized, but something happened to my brain either after having ds or turning 40.
The binder is organized by departments, Nursery, Preschool, Sunday School,Kid's Church, Pioneer Club, Visitors, Special Event & Office. When ideas,concerns, questions, needs or task come up, I jot them down in the proper section. This has help tremendously.

2.I then took it a step further this year. At the beginning of each week, usually on Sunday evening or Monday morning. I go through each section & check what needs to be done.I also check my home calender & put that on the list.If any one section has a long list, they are put in A,B, C, order A being the most important. I then type up my "to do list." It looks something like this.

Week of February 4, 2007
Tasks:
Finalize Schedule
Add new teachers to master list.
Video ideas

E-Mail/Phone Calls:
Bulletin Notices
Confirm Helper Get Together (Wed)
E-mail team for next meeting date

Meetings/Appointments:
Staff-Tuesdays
Meet with A on Wed at noon

Home:
Pick up vacuum
Buy floor cleaner

Leftovers:(not everything gets done)
Table/storage for Preschool
Clean file cabinet
Laminate signs & hung (this one has been hanging around for a couple of weeks)
That is a very short list, but you get the idea.

3. Since the last 2 weeks have been very busy, each day I would check my list & pull off what I felt could be done on that day. It worked very well. I also learned which task take longer than others. The Attendance Binders 2-3 hours once a month, so I know now not to add to many larger task when I am updating binders. I also learned on Tuesdays-staff days, to keep my task simple. Staff takes up the morning & I have a short time after lunch to do a couple of things before picking up j

The benefit is I have everything in one place. I keep a calender (mine & the church's)in my binder, church directory, CM Teacher schedules & the list all nice & neat in the binder. I even have Tips from Volunteer Group Central in the back.

I use to use the computer to keep track of stuff. The binder method has work much better & has became my side kick. It is big, purple & easy to find. I have used it so much I noticed the edges are starting to rip. The picture on the front is my alter-ego, blonde, powerful & purple.(Susan gave me the card, her daughter drew the picture).

On Sunday's I do not bring it with me. When I meet new people, I write their names on my bulletin (usually on the sermon notes). If someone has a question or needs something done, I write it down also. Once home I transfer my little notes into my binder. Most of my teachers now to e-mail me, call me or use the communication slip I have for them. They are all very gracious & understand on Sunday if I am told something verbally, I may forget within an hour. I return the favor by taking care of CM business during the week. Sunday's are for being there for my teachers. Things do come up & I do take care of those needs.

My goals have been get the stuff out of my head & onto paper & to not work on Children's Ministries task when J is home. My work day is when he is in school. Except for Wednesday nights-Pioneer Club night. I oversee the childcare for the little ones. So far this has been working pretty well.

Any other ideas out there for keeping track of work, home, school (kid), car, myself?