Paul

An awesome character trait about Paul is that he did what God wanted no matter what people thought of him for it. That is what we wanted the kids to learn this week in KC - that even when people don't feel that it is good or important, if God does, that is all that matters! We began with a great time of worship and prayer. The kids always jump right in to give their prayer requests - written down and orally - and also to tell of answers to prayer.





We enlisted some of the kids to help out with a simple skit retelling the story of the good Samaritan to reinforce the character trait Paul was demonstrating.

Brock was the man who was beaten by theives (just for pretend!):



Caleb was the priest who came by and ignored the injured man:



Jiliane was the Levite who was too busy to be bothered:



Jaycie was the good Samaritan who put the man on her "donkey" and took care of him. It was unplanned but worked out perfect that she was Brock's sister and brothers and sisters would not normally be ready to help each other, but she did what was right no matter what anyone else did!



Next, we separated into small groups for some focused lessons. Brother Mark used a potato head to teach his lesson. If we listen to what other people say, even if it is not what God would want, we end up as messed up as a potato head with a foot for an ear and a mouth for an eye! The kids really seemed to catch on that that would not be good and that it is better to obey God and have things turn out the right way. They got to make their own potato head pictures to take home with a reminder that it is better to obey God than man.





Sister Dawn talked about caring too much about what our friends think. We have parents and teachers to help lead and guide us, but our friends can often tell us the wrong thing. She led the children in praying with and for each other to be set free from worrying about what our friends think and standing up for what is right.





Sister Tammy used pudding to reinforce the truth. She had a box of pudding to make for a treat for the kids, but didn't really think that it was important to follow the directions on the side of the box and just did it any way that sounded good. Instead of 2 c. of cold milk, she just used about 1/2 c. of warm water that was nearby and easy to get to. Then, it said to stir quickly for 2 minutes and she was too tired, so she just did about 30 seconds. (lots of sweet children offered to help when she was too tired!) Needless to say, the pudding was not very yummy looking! She compared that to living for God without following His instructions for us - those found in the Bible - and how yucky our lives would be if we don't follow those guidelines. The kids still got to have some pudding made the correct way!





Riley and Christina before church:


Jared before service:


Jeremiah and Dylan:


Thank you for sharing your children with us!

Happy New Year!

2009 is here and it is the perfect time for new beginnings and fresh start - even for kids! We began with brainstorming things that we do that we really don't like to do or don't want to do anymore - things that Jesus probably wouldn't want us to do. They were so honest and we were amazed at some of the things they brought up - realizing that they are not concentrating in school, needing to stop mocking others, needing to obey their parents better, needing to be more honest, not eating too much sugar... - they were really thinking!

After we brainstormed, each child was given a blank piece of paper. They were encouraged to close their eyes and think of the thing they wanted to try to stop doing this year and then we prayed together, asking Jesus to forgive us of those things and to help us to stop doing them.







After we prayed, they brought their blank cards forward and placed them at the foot of the cross. We rejoiced that as of right then, when we repented, Jesus forgave us and it was as if we never did those things before! We are clean now!

Next, we helped them brainstorm good habits that they wanted to developed this year. We compared starting new habits to seeds. When you plant a seed, you need certain things to help it grow - you have to prepare the soil and get rid of the weeds. We just did that by giving things to Jesus! You need water and sun - we get those from spending time with Jesus and he washes us and shines His light on us. We want to plant good seeds so that good things will grow in our lives.

Then, they were given seed shaped papers with the verse "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" written on one side. They were encouraged to put some good things that they want to do this year on the other side and then to place that by their bed or in their Bible, so that they could see it and remember to continue to ask Jesus help them to be their best for Him.

We pray that they will continue to want to live for Jesus and allow Him to work in their lives this year while their good seeds begin to take root and grow! 2009 can be our best year ever!

Merry Christmas!

Although we haven't had kid's Connection due to various events, the children were so excited to get back in the swing of things and we were excited to get to hang out with them for the evening. We had a lovely party planned for them with fun, games and lessons to learn.


We started the evening with a Christmas Carol game. Each of the children had a number. As we played a familiar Christmas Carol, we would randomly call out a number and stop the music - while each child with that number would stand up and continue to sing the song. Then, the music would start again and we would go another round. The kids really got into it and enjoyed singing loudly and with gusto.









The next game was a Christmas card toss. They got into a line, were given a Christmas card and had to attempt to throw the card into a bin about 3 feet away from them - much harder than it sounds! The winning team was only able to get 2 cards in the bin!


Kirstyn, Collin, Brett, Cameron and others wait in line for Sister Shanna to give them their card.




The next game was the "big one"! The children sat around tables and picked up a small Christmas stocking, waiting anxiously for the next step.





Next, we placed a tray filled with candy, toys and goodies in the center of each table with instructions to NOT touch until instructed. They couldn't take their eyes off the prizes, though!

Caleb and Jeremiah eye up the goodies while Amber looks on:





Such a lot of good things to choose from:





Waiting patiently, kind of!




On the "Go" signal, each child had 30 seconds to fill their stocking with the goodies from the tray.














At the end of the time, they had to stop immediately and listen for the next instructions. This was where it got interesting. We reminded the children that Christmas is not about getting, but about giving, that it is better to give than receive and that sometimes, we can get too caught up in thinking about all that we can get to make ourselves happy. For that reason, they were asked to pass their stocking to the child on their right! Each child now still had a stocking, but it was different than the one they had filled. Some were not very happy with this arrangement, but were again reminded about the true meaning of Christmas. It is our prayer that they will have learned a valuable lesson from this experience that will go with them for the rest of their lives.


After finishing up with the stocking game, we moved to the front to have a snack of Christmas cookies and here a story - The Legend of the Candy Cane - that incorporated the true meaning of Christmas in a unique way. Each of the children was given their own candy cane at the end as a reminder of what Christmas is truly about. Again, it is our prayer that each child will remember the most important things about the Christmas season.


A few more random pictures. Evyn was a great help during the party:




Cheyenne and Alexei wait for the party to begin:




We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas filled with good times and people that you love!

Thankfulness

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We spent this week in KC simply learning to be thankful for the things we have and to not take the little things for granted - even toothbrushes and shoes! We related some of the stories the men brought back from a recent trip to build a church in Guatamala and all that those families go without - we are so blessed in our country!

In addition to those lessons, our KC children participated in creating a gift for the Women of Worth - the widows group - from our church. They have an annual Christmas party and KC wanted to contribute something to make them smile. The children all helped in making pretzel rods dipped in different types of chocolate and then putting various toppings on them - so pretty, fun and easy to do! They also signed cards to give to each woman.

Alexei and Alexandria sign cards:

Zach uses M&M's to decorate a pretzel:

Alesha and Corbin work on their masterpieces:

A group signs cards while others work on various "Thanksgiving" activities:

The prayer request box in an important weekly part of kid's Connection. Students have the opportunity to right down their prayer requests and their praise reports and turn in for all of us to pray over them or rejoice with them. With continue to have prayers answered from requests turned in each week! God is building their faith.

Some of the finished products:

It is our prayer that you and your family have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving week filled with faith, food, family, friends and all the things that you love the most!

Surprise!

This past Wednesday turned out a little different than all of you were expecting! If you were at church with your children, you know that we did not have kid's Connection. Instead, Pastor made a few remarks and then we were all asked to go and tour the new building!

Some of the kid's Connection staff were stationed in the new children's chapel to welcome everyone and to answer questions. It was awesome to see the looks on everyone's faces when they saw the new facilities.

We are so excited to start having services there on Wednesday nights! What a blessing it will be.

We pray that you are all as excited as we are of the great things that God is doing and that He is going to continue to do in and for our kids and our kid's ministries.

See you next week for our regular kid's connection service!

Party Time!

Well, the big night for our KC kids finally came last night! What a great time we had together, celebrating, playing and eating. As the kids came in, we had activities for them to work on at their tables - word searches, puzzles, mazes, coloring pages, etc - not to mention some candy to snack on! Here are some pre-game shots of the kids:

Caleb and Blake:

Brooke:

Alexei and Jaycie:

Angelica, Christina and Alexandria:

Melissa, Amber, Angelina and Maya:

Corbin, Scotty, Brock, Cameron, Devin and Colin:

Alesha, Nike and Daisy:

Brittany and Alex


We started the evening off with snack - the green team voted to have cupcakes, so we had a nice variety for them and capri suns to drink. We separated the kids into 5 teams to do rotations to our games stations and quickly got started. Here are shots and info from each of our games.

Our first game station was mummy wrapping. The children got into teams and one was the mummy while the other was the wrapper. They were given 2 minutes to see who could get the most wrapped - it's not as easy as it sounds!

Jiliane wraps Brooke and Angelina wraps Taylor:


Alexandria wraps Amber:

Caleb wraps Colin:

Corbin wraps Peyton:

Delaney wraps Melissa:

In another session, Jonathan performed tricks for the kids to enjoy.

Nike, Alesha, Alex, Christina, Vanessa and Presley wait for Jonathan to start:

Jonathan and Megan:

Is that really an empty container or is it a trick?

How did he make a baby rooster appear from just an egg?

A third station gave the kids a chance to "bob for donuts." Individual donuts were tied to a string. While one player held the donut as still as possible, the other tried their best to eat it - without using their hands! It was quite fun too watch and just a little messy! =D

Spencer gets a piece of one:

Donte and Taylor give it their best while Brock and Brooke hold the string:

Gavin is trying hard to get a bite!

For a 4th game, we had a relay race in which the kids had to hold a balloon between their knees, run to their teammate on the other side of the taped off area and pass off the balloon so they could put it between their knees and run back - so fun to watch!

Carrigan and Brittany run as fast as they can:

Get it quick, Delaney!!

Which team was the winner?


Our 5th game was a candy corn toss game. One child tied a plastic pumpkin around their waist while their partner stood across from them and tried to throw as much candy corn into the pumpkin as possible - again, not as easy as it sounds!

Presley, Jadyn and Alex ready to catch:

Tate, Alyssa and Faith ready to catch:

Blake, Hanna and MaKenna give it a try:

Christina, Vanessa and Jaycie wait for "Go!"


Tyler, Alexei and Ben toss the candy to the buckets:


Amber, Alexandria and Mandy try to get as much as possible while Ben tries to find a faster way to get more candy in the pumpkin!

Devin and Andrew look pretty intense!

Hmmm - did more get in the pumpkins or on the floor??

Time to clean it up!

At the end of the evening, everyone had a hard time choosing their favorite game and they all said that they had a great time! Isn't good for our children to have good, Godly fun with their friends?

Jiliane and Brooke had a great time:

Vanessa, Jadyn, Christina and Alex agree - the party was a ton of fun!

We are already preparing for the next one and hope that it will be as much of a success as this one was!