love notes.

This past 2 weeks our church was a part of Champions For Life Kids' Camp, a camp for foster kids in our area. One of the focus' of the week is a "love note" station, where kids and adults can come and write notes of love and encouragement to one another. It may seem like a simple thing, but some of these kids have never received mail for themselves, and a lot of them keep them for years.

Seeing the love note station while I was up there really challenged my heart about the amount of time and effort I put into making my own kids feel loved and special. Sure, I try to meet their every need and I am constantly grabbing them for kisses and hugs... but there is something different about a handwritten note... something you can keep.... something that took an extra effort.

I found these super cute lunch notes at Michaels today for $.20 (I love a good clearance section!) I quickly scooped them up. You don't have to have pre-made notes, even writing on a napkin will do. Just think of ways you can constantly remind your kids of the love you have for them. I know of kids that even have a journal with their parents that they pass back and forth and write to each other... just simple ways to love constantly. I even have notes saved in my memory box from my parents growing up... and they mean so much because it's in their handwriting! Hide them under their pillow. Sneak one by their seat in the car. Put one in their backpack, their Bible, or even send one in the mail!
You can download some fun free printable lunch notes HERE.

right now: 20 days. 5 hours. 26 minutes.

I haven't met anyone who doesn't love the summer Olympics.

What a great opportunity to have some fun with your family using the Olympic theme!

Here are some ideas I've come across that I would love to use with my own family. These are easy things to do as you are sitting down to watch the Olympic games.

{Please post other ideas in the comment section if you run across anything else you would like to try.}

Olympic Biographies.

Have your kids choose the sport that they are most interested and read as a family the story of one of the Olympians competing in that sport. It's interesting the conversations that are started by looking at another person's life and the choices they've made to get where they are today. You can find some biographies here, here and here. Use some follow-up questions for further discussion:

• Why was this athlete so successful in their endevors and how were they able to make it all the way to the Olympics?
• Did they have any struggles that they had to overcome?
• What character trait do they possess that made it possible for them to become a champion?

Banner Bonanza.

Purchase a poster-board or piece of heavy-duty fabric and create a "Family Olympic Banner" that reflects the most valuable characteristics of your family.  Talk about the Olympic flag and the unity it represents. Discuss ways that you can unite as a family and things you can do to connect more with one another.

"The five rings represent the five continents. They are interlaced to show the universality
of Olympism and the meeting of the athletes of the world during the Olympic Games.
On the Olympic flag, the rings appear on a white background. Combined in this way,
the six colors of the flag (blue, yellow, black, green, red and white) represent all nations."

Bible Search.
Have each member of the family find a verse in the Bible that would relate to the Olympics... running a race, training, perseverance, etc. Come together and discuss how these verses relate to us as followers of Christ.

Out of Darkness, into the Light

We had another successful CONNECT event. Our church gathered together Friday night after our prayer service and headed to our neighborhood St. Clair Shores Fireworks. We did an outreach while we were there that I am sure we will be doing yearly! 

Our kids passed out free glow sticks to the strangers and neighbors around us at the Fireworks (what kid does not want a glow stick at the fireworks?!!!)  On the glow stick, we had the scripture Micah 7:9 God will bring me out of darkness into the Light and I will see his goodness and also included our church's website. Everyone was very happy and grateful to receive their free glow sticks :)

We had bought extra glow sticks for our kids to also enjoy but they had so much fun passing them out that most of them gave the extra ones away too!! We were SO PROUD of our kids and their hearts to serve and bless others!

faith like a child.

Our family has been having some health problems this week, so this morning one of our kids was getting pretty worried and upset that one of us wasn't getting any better. This spurred on a wonderful conversation about FAITH and TRUST in God. It's so much easier to explain to a child to have trust.... they understand trust because, for most kids, they have many people in their lives that they trust already. It's challenging to me, as an adult, to trust the way kids do.... I can sometimes be scarred by my experiences and critical of things I don't understand. A lot of times when I have doubts, I re-read biographies of men/women of faith that I have grown to love and respect. I was so excited when I found the "Little Lights" series, which takes the biographies of the heroes of the faith and puts it in ways that little ears can understand.
Check them out here.

God's Great Covenant Session 2: Creation of Man

Here is one more excerpt from our study entitled "Creation of Man": We learned today about how we were created in God's image. That our lives are to reflect Him... to give Him glory. This was such a fun lesson to do! I do feel this particular curriculum is a little over my kid's head as is, so I've taken the lesson and adapted it for their ages. It's been fun doing the lesson on my own (getting my own challenges out of it for my own life) and then breaking it down for my kids to digest. Remember: there are a lot more curriculums that are age appropriate, so you won't have to do as much work!

We went over to our closet mirror to see our reflections. The kids thought it was so funny that they could see themselves, but what they were looking at wasn't really them... just a reflection of themselves. (Please ignore my daughter's crazy hair... her pony tail had just broke and she wasn't too thrilled about putting in another one)

Lastly, we talked about the moon (Special shout-out to Keagen and Emma for the cool moon light). We learned that the moon doesn't produce light on it's own, it just reflects the light of the sun. In the same way, we are to reflect the light of Jesus in every decision we make and the way we treat other people. This led into a wonderful rendition of "This Little Light of Mine" complete with hand motions.

God's Great Covenant Session 1: God's Power

Today was our first day home for summer vacation and I was so excited to start a new series with the kids that will take us all the way until they go back to school. (maybe even longer!) It's a study on the Old Testament, called "God's Great Covenant."

Today's lesson was about creation and about Elohim, "the mighty God." We discussed how powerful God is and how he created the entire universe with His spoken word. We discussed the meaning of "omnipotent," the trinity and even "Ex nihilo" (meaning "out of nothing"). The kids loved finding things around the house that were powerful and as we plugged them in we talked about the power of God.

I will post another one of our "God's Great Covenant" discussions and activities for you to adapt to your own home if you so desire, but the main idea is to let you know that there are a lot of resources available for a variety of ages... and some free to you on the internet! The summer is a great time to change up your morning devotions a little bit and have some fun discovering the Bible in depth!

Summer Notepad

With the kids almost out of school, its a good time to start thinking about summer plans. Maybe you have a lot of fun activities planned like our FM Activities Director Nina (her list). Maybe you want to participate in the Summer Reach List from our FM Director Lori.

Whatever your plans are big or small, a fun and memorable idea is to have your kids journal the events and activities they participate in. 

MAKING THE JOURNAL

Buy a notepad for each kid and have them decorate the cover in their own unique way.

Then for your first page, have your child draw a self-portrait of his or herself. Around his or her picture, write his or her name, age and list of favorites things.

JOURNALING

At the end of each day, have your kids write or draw a picture of what they did that day. Talk about how they felt during that activity or about what character was learned that day!

For instance, here is a journal entry of our EACH Nautical Mile Event that we did this month. Alina drew a picture of raking leaves. She glued on some extra leaves from outside. We talked about how Jesus is the servant of all and how it was fun being like Jesus and serving others!

I'm looking forward to many other journal entries and conversations!! This also might be a lot of fun to look back on in the future!

Summer Reach

Well, it's that time of year.

The time where you figure out all the fun things you are going to do for the summer.

Vacations. Water Parks. Garage Sales. Pool Parties.

The kids and I were making our list of things to do over the summer, when one of them asked if we could clean up at the park like we did last week. (Our church helps clean up the city one Sunday out of the year).

It got me thinking.

What other things could we do to make our summer count.

And the ideas just started to roll in.

Here's the challenge:
What can your family do this summer to make an impact? To reach out?

You might even have a family team meeting to come up with a larger project you can all work on together... or it might just be some simpler things here and there.

I don't want to teach my kids to share... I want them to be generous.

I don't want them to be kind... I want them to love.

To quote my lovely sister, "they do what they see."

What can you have your kids SEE and DO this summer that will change their worldview?

Any other fun Summer Reach ideas you have thought of? Post them here!
Here is one of my favorite blogs to get some more ideas.

El Roi

There is a name for God, El Roi, which means "the God who sees me."

It's only mentioned once in the Bible by a women named Hagar.

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her:
“You are the God who sees me” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me."

{Genesis 16:13} 

I've been really studying this name of God out and the more I search, the more in awe of God I am. He sees me.... that's powerful. I wanted to use something simple to show my kids that the Lord is constantly watching them... that He always sees them- not to evoke fear of messing up, but to build confidence in a Creator who loves.

We took some painters tape  and made a road on the ground. Then we took all of the stuff we had around the house and made a little city (bridges from our train table, picnic table from our dollhouse, Animals from our jungle, etc). It was so much fun finding stuff to put in our city... we had a zoo, a construction site, a Monster Truck show... all sorts of stuff. After we were playing for awhile, I had the kids get up on the couch and look down at the city. 

Do you see everything?

Do you know what's going on?

They came to the conclusion that since they were big and because they made the city themselves, they knew everything that was happening. I loved the tie in with our Heavenly Father! Such a successful hands-on Bible story... one that challenged me as well! 

The kids LOVE playing with our city and there are even talks of adding a hospital, a castle and a real-live ant farm! Here are some links to some more awesome ideas for your El Roi playtime.... here, here and here

Or you could make it super easy on yourself and get this.

If you are nervous about the inside... just use chalk outside on a nice day.

FM Spring Seminar Notes

Hi Family Ministries Teachers/Workers/Leaders...
I know there were quite a few of you who were unable to make our Family Ministries Seminar on Saturday, so I wanted to forward the notes to you.

I want to thank you one more time for the time and effort you have invested into Family Ministries. Our kids and students are benefiting immensely from the ministry that you bring them week in and week out. You are not taken for granted!
-Pastor Lori-

Family Ministries Seminar
Spring/Summer 2012
Saturday, April 21st, 2012

Connecting in the Classroom
Connect [kuh-nekt]
to join, link, or fasten together; unite or bind: to establish communication between; put in communication: to make contact; to become connected.

How do you connect to something/someone?

Active Learning:
1. Helps evoke an emotion
2. Gives room for adventure
3. Keeps wandering minds focused

2 Timothy 3:14-17
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Active Learning Spiritual Insight:
Jesus was a teacher.
Jesus used active learning principles.
We are connecting them to Jesus.
With Jesus, it’s all about application.

Active Learning Practical Information:
Active Learning takes more preparation.
Mistakes don’t equal failure.
Active learning - Age Appropriate
Learn what helps and what distracts.

Listen to message’s from the MAIN online: www.thisisnewlife.com (click on “Resources” and then on “Messages”)
Check out the Kid-Nection Blog! www.thisisnewlife.com (click on “Family” and then on “Kid-Nection”)

Just a quick reminder...

Family Ministries SPRING Seminar

Saturday, April 21st
10:00am-Noon

In the Small Town Room

This Bi-Annual Seminar is for all Adults/Students involved as Teachers or Workers in any ministry of Family Ministries (Nursery, Walkers, Toddlers, Preschool/Kindergarten, Small Town and LEGACY)

Come join us as we equip ourselves to minister to the children God has entrusted us with.

Refreshments will be served.

Simple Easter Crafts...

Here are a couple of simple & cute Easter craft ideas I found online that we have done in the past...

Empty tomb...this one is fun!  On Good Friday, we talk about how Jesus died on the cross and place the stone (attached with a fastener) over the tomb.  On Easter Sunday we roll the stone away to reveal the empty tomb and celebrate!!!

He has risen!!! For this one have the kids cut out a cross from cardstock.  Place on paper and use a cottonball to paint around the cross...

There are also a lot of good ideas HERE from Focus on the Family that help to re-inforce the story of Easter with your children...

HAPPY EASTER!!!



At Home, Family Easter Ideas

Since Easter is approaching, here are some exciting activities to do with your kids at home to remember what Easter is really about....the death and resurrection of our Jesus Christ. 

DIY Resurrection Eggs

Make your own Resurrection Eggs. Number 12 plastic eggs 1-12 and place them in an empty egg container. Place little objects in each egg that represents a part of the Easter story. On Easter, hide the 12 numbered eggs. Once your child finds all 12 eggs, go through the Easter story with him/her. Here are the 12 items that will guide you in the Easter story:

1. Palm Branch/Leaf: Jesus triumphal entry (John 12:12-13)

2. Communion Cup: Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28)

3. 3 Dimes: Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-15)

4. Rope/Yarn: They bound Jesus (Matthew 27:2)

5. Soap: Pilate washed his hands of the matter (Matthew 27:24)

6. Toothpick cross: Jesus had to carry his cross (John 19:17)

7. Nails: nails in His hands (John 20: 25) Jesus died on the cross (John 19: 30) (For younger children, use a picture of a nail rather than a real nail)

8.   Linen fabric: they wrapped Jesus in linen and then placed him in a tomb (John 19:40) (I cut a strip of a wet wipe and let it dry out)

9.  Rock: the stone placed in front of the tomb was rolled away  (Matthew 28:2)

10.  Empty Egg: Empty Tomb—Jesus was not there—HE’S ALIVE! (Matthew 28:5-6)

11. Cotton Ball: Jesus ascended in the clouds (Acts 1:11)

12.  World Map: Great Commission—Now, it is our turn to share this message to everyone so they can experience God’s love too! (Mark 16:15)

Lamb of God
In John 1:29, John the baptist describes Jesus as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John was rightly predicting that Jesus would be the sacrifice that would atone for the sin of the world. How blessed are we that Jesus loves us so much that he did sacrifice his life for us on the cross for our sins. 

For a family activity at home, you could use Meaghan Mountford's little lamb cake ball recipe and as you make this adorable snack, talk with your children about how Jesus was our sacrificial lamb.

Resurrection Rolls
This is an edible Easter activity that I have been wanting to do since I first heard about it. The ingredients needed are 1 can of refrigerated crescent dough (unrolled and separated into 8 triangles), 8 large marshmallows, melted butter (1/3 stick), and mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Preheat oven to 350°F

Read with your kids John 19:30 Jesus said "It is finished. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."  This is the scripture in the Bible where Jesus dies on the cross. 
Give each child a marshmallow which represents the body of Jesus.

Read John 20:38- 42 With Pilate's permission, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus then took the body of Jesus, covered him with spices of myrrh and aloes and wrapped Him in linen as was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. They then placed Him tomb. 

Take the marshmallow and dip it in the melted butter. Next, roll it in cinnamon and sugar. This represents how Jesus was covered with spices of myrrh and aloes. Place marshmallow on one of the triangular doughs and wrap the marshmallow completely tight (this represents the linen they wrapped Jesus in). Make sure all seams are closed tightly or this activity will not work. 

Have kids place their crescent rolled marshmallows on slightly greased baking sheet. Place baking sheet in the oven (which represents the tomb) and close the tomb (the oven door). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Talk about how Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days.

 Remove resurrection rolls after time is completed or until rolls are golden brown. After the rolls have cooled, break open the DELICIOUS crescent rolls and you will see the marshmallow is gone.
John 20: 1-18 Christ has risen from the dead and we should celebrate!!!

Lego Night

We had another CONNECT night at our church. A family night filled with friends, fellowship, legos, building blocks, competition and tasty snacks. 

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..."

...and we sang for joy

We did a fun and simple experiment today to talk about the joy of the Lord.

We made Jugs of Joy

The kids got so excited when they saw the bubbles start to come from the bottom of the jug. We talked about how God wants to give us joy in every situation and all the things the Lord has done for us to give us joy.

Here was the scripture we focused on:

Psalm 126:2

We were filled with laughter,
      and we sang for joy.
   And the other nations said,
      “What amazing things the LORD has done for them.” 

Here is what you need to make your own Jugs of Joy:

Empty plastic bottle

Water

Cooking Oil

Food Coloring

Fizzy Tablet (alka-selzer/airbornes)

Fill your bottle 1/4 of the way with water. Fill the rest with oil. Let it settle. Put in 10 drops of food coloring. Drop in 1/2 tablet. Watch the bubbles form!

To watch a video of how it works, click here.

Kindness Challenge

Yesterday, Route 412 went to the Lighthouse Outreach Center and helped distribute food to the elderly who are home bound. What an amazing experience to serve those around us.

Today, in Small Town, we learned about the Good Samaritan. I thought the lesson went perfect with our experience with the outreach. We now have a better understanding of what it means to "Love your neighbor as yourself" Luke 10:27. This week I challenged the kids to do 10 acts of kindness to others. Here is the challenge (for adults and children).....will you take it??!


1. Give someone a hug
2. Hold the door open for someone
3. Sit by someone new at church
4. Tell someone that Jesus loves them
5. Let someone go in line in front of you
6. Pick up trash
7. Send a card to someone who is sick or lonely
8. Thank your mail carrier or trash collector (if you don't see them, leave a thank you note!)
9. Say something nice to someone
10. Do another family member's chores

1 Thessalonians 5:1 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. 

Fruit: Some Yummy, Some Not...

Our church recently participated in a 21 day fast as an entire church body. If you have ever fasted before, you will know that God tends to reveal areas of your life that need some improvement. Well, He showed me that there were some character issues that were in desperate need of some serious work.

Matthew 7:18-20 were received as a challenge, a sober challenge yet exciting too. "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore they will be known by their fruit."

Yikes! That puts a new perspective on things in a blink. So if I want to be a good tree growing good fruit what does that look like? In a nut shell- Walking by the Spirit will produce...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control ( Galations 6:22-23).

I thought it might me a good time to actively and purposefully teach this to our children while I am learning too. Things are much easier to walk out when you are expecting others (ages 1 & 3) to do the same.

So a difficult process to live out has become a fun, new adventure when the kids are brought into it. Each week, we are picking one or two "fruits" to learn and work on. Wintertime puts a bit more difficulty into finding a variety of fruit but so far we are doing ok.

We began with Loving Lemon...


Kate LOVED the lemon with a face and throughout the week, if she made poor choices, we brought the conversation around to what Loving Lemon would choose to do instead. Kate totally got the concept...not that it was always the way she chose, but it certainly helped.

Loving Lemon was quickly joined by Obedient Orange (our version of self control) since Joseph was getting mighty jealous that his big sister was walking around the house with a cute piece of fruit.


They both are enjoying the fun invovled, plus they learning foundational principles that can be carried out through their lives. And it is super fun to think of all the crafts, delicious recipes, etc that can be incorporated into learning about Peaceful Pear, Kind Kiwi, Good Grape and the like!

Matthew 28:19

Our kids in Small Town, Big God (grades 1st through 5th) have learned a new song "GO" from Seeds Family Worship.  If you want to practice it at home, here is ROUTE 412 (4th and 5th grader leadership team) leading the kids in the actions. Feel free to  watch the video and join in. Come on - get up out of your seat and worship!!!!

To listen to the song or worship from home, click here!!

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and 

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

remembering God's love for us....

Are you looking for a fun, easy craft for Valentines Day? Right before Valentines Day last year I found a fun recipe for Homemade Gel Paints. The kids had a blast painting old cardboard with the paints, and then I cut them into hearts. I hid the hearts around the house and throughout the month of February the kids had to find them and bring them to me. I plan on doing the same thing this year, except I want to attach a scripture verse on love to each heart. When the kids bring it to me I want to read the verse to them and then display them throughout the house. Just an easy way to remind the kids of the love of God!

Scriptures on God's Love to get you started:

• {1 John 4:10}This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 
• {Romans 5:8} But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 
• {Romans 8:38-39}For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
• {1 John 3:1} See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 
• {Psalm 36:5} Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies.

Recipe for homemade gel paints:

Over a stovetop, heat 1/2 cup of cornstarch and 2 1/4 cups of water.
Wisk until gel forms. Once cooled slightly, pour into heat safe containers.
Mix with food coloring (about 10-12 drops) and stir.
Make sure the kids don't use them until they have cooled off enough.

 

 

Happy 2012!

 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

2 Corinthians 5:17

  

HAPPY NEW YEAR NEW LIFE FAMILIES!

It may be cliche', but I LOVE being able to re-access my life at the beginning of the year and make changes for what works for our family. It's like a fresh start... and I LOVE having a fresh start. So, as I am figuring out ways to better organize my office and more efficient ways of meal-planning, I am also pondering ways to purposely focus our family's attention more on Christ in the year 2012.

One goal that I have set for our family this year is to really step up our scripture memorization. We always use our drive to school in the morning as our time to go over our scripture songs (I put all of our scriptures to cute little songs to make them more fun and easy to memorize). The kids love it and I find that it gets us all focused on the right things early in the morning. I found this really great site that gives me ideas for scriptures to memorize with my children. Check it out here at Seeds Family Worship: Verse Memorization Check-list. (If you find it hard to come up with songs yourself, or if your kids are struggling in the memorization, there are plenty of scripture memorization songs available online for you to purchase/download. Even if you have them playing each morning and say nothing, those songs/scriptures will make their way into their memory by default! Seeds Family Worship has some GREAT ones HERE)

 Another fun activity I am excited about it going through the ABC's with scripture. I did this when I was young and can still remember most of the scriptures for each letter. Here is a cute little website that will get you started (just click on each of the letters to get the scripture and some activities to go with it.) It might also work great to have the kids write out the scriptures for each letter and display them in their room or playroom to keep them reminded.

Lastly, I am starting a prayer wall for my kids. I remember Tommy and Keri having this up in their apartment when they first got married, and have wanted to do it every since. Just get some poster-board, or a large sheet of paper, and have the family keep track of prayer requests over the year on the board. (If the little ones are too young to write, have them draw pictures). It is also neat to write down when a prayer is answered and the date God made it happen! How fun to look back next New Years Day at all the things you prayed for throughout the year, and how faithful the Lord is to answer! (Here is a similar idea from "Kids Prayer" called a "Kid's Wailing Wall")

Some links for Resources for the New Year:

"One Thing" Lesson for New Year

3 Biggest Dreams Printable

3 Happiest Moments Printable

25 Day Challenge Chart Printable

50 Day Challenge Chart Printable

Progress Road-map Printable

Merry Christmas

We want to wish all the wonderful families at New Life a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy your time together.... make lots of memories... and remember God loved you enough to send His Son into the world He created. Amazing!

Here are just 2 more resources that our family LOVED this Christmas season.
{Keep your eyes peeled for after-Christmas sales!}

1.  What God Wants For Christmas. There are 7 boxes for the kids to open that tell the story of the 1st Christmas. We loved being able to read the story together and talk about what happened.
2. The First Christmas Sticker Book. This was also a very fun way to talk about the Christmas story. The kids took turns putting the stickers on the nativity scene and took turns telling the story themselves.

"In everything give thanks..."

I think it is so important, especially during this season, to always remain thankful. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, it says, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I had an opportunity to talk to my kids this month about being thankful when we had a conversation about buying presents for our AngelTree family. They had so many questions about why these kids couldn't spend Christmas with their father (he is incarcerated.) I was reminded once again, that we are so blessed and our family needs to remember the blessings of the Lord during this crazy time of "give-n-GET." One thing our family has done over the years (this dates back to when my sisters and I were very young) is go around the room on Christmas and share with everyone the things that God has done over the past year. It's such a wonderful tradition because we are reminded of how many of our prayers were answered and all the ways God has had our back. Try to make time with your family this year in reflecting on the things God has blessed you with.

Merry Christmas

We pray you have a very Merry Christmas!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6