December Happenings

We have made our fair share of sugar cookies, decorated beautiful bags to sell those cookies in, and Waffle Shop has come and gone. Thank you, Everyone, for your help this year.

We are also now approaching the second week of Advent. I hope, by Christmas or before, all the kids will know that Advent is for watching and waiting. It is for preparing for the birth of baby Jesus.

Christmas Schedule:

Book Club is POSTPONED until January.

Saturday, Dec. 17 @ 1pm-- ALL KIDS meet at DPC in the fellowship hall to assemble gift bags for the Homeless Breakfast (12/18). We really need your help for this. Come join the fun!

Sunday, Dec. 18 Homeless/Congregational Breakfast and bag hand-out. **The JuveNiles will also be singing**

After church (12/18)--CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY--William and Lenae will take ALL KIDS (ages 6+) to Plaza Art store for FREE ORIGAMI making. We will eat pizza in the fellowship hall directly following worship. **Parents please pick up your child at Plaza no later than 3:45pm.**

Sunday, Dec. 25-- NO SUNDAY SCHOOL for any age. Nursery care will still be provided during worship.

Wait, Wait, Wait

A couple photos from our last book club. The boys intrigued by Buddha.
Dorothy started The Scarlet Letter.

On Sunday I handed out (as many as I could remember) calendars for upcoming events. If you didn't get one, they will be available at the classrooms again.
The main points to note are the following:

Sugar cookie decorating (Sunday 11/27)
Pizza eating and Origami making (Sunday 12/18)
Book club is canceled until after Thanksgiving
Advent (11/27-12/18)

Here, I will expand what is on the Calendar for Advent. I believe all ages will enjoy this Advent season as we joyfully look forward to the coming birth of Baby Jesus.
The High School girls will be reading Watch for the Light with Jewly. Authors range from C.S. Lewis to Thomas Merton to T.S. Eliot.
Even the 2-5 year olds will begin to look forward to Christmas as we learning about the quiet, waiting colors of Advent. They will learn about the shepherds, farm animals, Mary, Joseph, and the little baby Jesus.

Their experience will only be enhanced through family participation. If you would like to participate, suggestions are on the calendar. You can find simple instructions online for making an Advent wreath or paper chain calendar together.
Luke 1:26-45 is the suggested reading because this is the "before story." It tells about Mary and Mary's pregnancy with Jesus.
I hope your families are able to embrace this church season of quiet and waiting while we wait, wait, wait for the birth of Jesus.

Oz, Buddha, Cookies, and Waffles

A photo from the archives. Sweet sisters.

There are some strange things a-brewin' for the kids at DPC.

Book Club this week will be at the Dark's House for boys and girls. There may or may not be Halloween snacks. There will definitely be the reading of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (manga version) for the girls, and probably some trading cards made by the boys. Costumes are definitely welcome.

Only two weeks remain for the Experiencing Homelessness Curriculum. We will then be moving into the Season of Advent.

Sugar Cookie making/decorating will be Saturday 11/26 and Sunday 11/27. These delectable morsels will be sold at Waffle Shop. Adult volunteers are needed for both. Please let Lenae know if you would like to help.

Gift tag crafting is also coming up for the middle school and high school students. The date is not set. What date works for you? Parents and other adults are welcome. These tags will also be sold at Waffle Shop.

Happy Halloween! (almost)

***Breaking News***

In Sunday School this week...
**We are right in the middle of the Experiencing Homelessness series**

In JuveNiles Choir practice...
**It's still going. 9am Sundays**

In book club this week...

**The boys are still reading Buddha**
**The girls are still reading folk/fairy tales, mythology, and, newly added, Oz: The manga, v.1**

Have a great week!

Experiencing Homelessness, Session 1

Open Table of Nashville has created an outstanding curriculum for the adults of DPC to discuss and learn more about the people in our community who are experiencing homelessness. As many of you know, the adult class started this curriculum this past Sunday and so did the elementary aged members of our community. We have tailored the adult curriculum to meet the needs and learning styles of the elementary aged students.

We explored the history of DPC: when our building opened, when we housed flood victims and soldiers, and when we provide food and support groups. We also explored the questions and observations they have about homelessness: how do people lose their homes? why don't we provide healthier food for them? Another activity explored where homelessness and poverty are mentioned in the Bible. One verse in Leviticus instructed the early Jews to leave the edges of their field or garden for the poor and immigrants. That seems like a lot of food they were supposed to give away!

Next week we will explore more about how someone loses his or her home.

Good News for our nursery! This week we hired Liz Streight to work in the nursery along side Beth. We are so so happy to have two lovely care givers for our youngest members. They are amazing. The middle school girls have also worked out a schedule to volunteer in the nursery about once a month.

Schedule this week:

Friday: NO BOOK CLUB (unless the kids and parents want to organize something)

Sunday: JuveNiles Choir practice
Elementary students in the atrium classroom for Experiencing Homelessness Session 2
Middle School and High School students in Parlor 1 with the adults for E.H. Session 2

Fall, Here You Are?

Well, it seems with the end of summer art at DPC came the end of summer weather (though I'm sure those two things are not really cause/effect and I'm sure we still have summer weather ahead of this rainy-cold-stuff). The art show was great--yummy food, friendly people, creative art, and fun projects. I also heard that Mary, Petra, and Jewly's work was requested for purchase by the Tennessee State Museum. Way to go, friends! If you weren't able to be there on Saturday, the art will remain up in the fellowship hall for a while longer, though the fun houses/secret agent headquarters/and such have been relocated to the kids' houses.

Art Show This SATURDAY

Well, Friends, this Saturday is it. We made it. We talked about ritual, created art based on ritual, and the art-making became a ritual. We have done it "over and over." We are finally hanging the art in the Fellowship Hall, and Saturday at 6pm the doors will open for all to see. We are so excited to present this fun show!

Friday book club will be at my house again (6-8pm). Girls, read to approximately page 200 in The Mysterious Benedict Society. Also, choose one fairy tale you want to read and discuss this week.
Boys, we are still meeting at my house this week. Bring your trading cards.

Sunday the middle school and high school kids will meet with the adults again to watch the second half of The Soloist. The Elementary kids will meet in the snack room as usual. They are also being introduced to the special curriculum on homelessness.

See you soon!

Picnics and New Classes

Friends,

Happy Thursday!

As you can see below, we had fun making candles with Pastor Ken last Saturday.

Book Club is underway again, and happening this Friday at my house, 6-8pm.
The girls are reading fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm and we will be discussing the first few chapters of The Mysterious Benedict Society. The boys are reading the Buddha comic/graphic novel and creating their very own trading cards based on characters from the book.

The annual church picnic at Dragon Park will be this Sunday after the morning gathering. We will have several fun yard games and, I'm sure, lots of great food.

With the end of summer :( comes the end of our summer arts program. This also means we will (soon) not be gathering to make art on Sundays. Instead, the middle school and high school kids will meet with the DPC adults for the new class series provided by Open Table of Nashville. These classes will provide resources and a safe space to discuss ways we can better interact with our homeless friends and neighbors. Several guest speakers will join us throughout the series. Folks, I am excited about this opportunity!
The elementary kids will be meeting in the snack room as usual, but will focus on the lessons taught using the curriculum Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

Our annual art show is coming up (Saturday, September 3)! The Ritual of Play, featuring local artists, namely, the youth of DPC.

That's all for now. I hope to see you Friday (book club) and Sunday (our last day of art).
Peace.

The Light of The World!

Making Candles with Pastor Ken. 

Routine and Ritual

Goodmorning, friends! Here is your weekly update for the DPC youth.

For most of our youth, school has begun! Back to routine, back to ritual.

This week we had 9 people show up for the JuveNiles choir practice. Way to wake up early!

We are searching for another "full-time" (3hr.s a week, paid) nursery worker to assist Beth with the little ones.

The elementary kids read a book, Pajama Light, about one girl's ritual of a night-time walk with her dad. Of course, the kids are too smart to be stumped by me, and they pointed out that this girl does the same thing "over and over and over." We call that ritual. So, we continued our "Ritual of Play" painting cardboard houses/police stations/secret agent headquarters (I think it was our third week working on them). You'll have the opportunity to explore their creations on September 3rd!

The middle school girls also continued work on their cardboard houses. They had some interesting discussion with David (though I didn't catch it all). We also decided on the next few books they want to read in book club. Which brings me to...

Book CLUB! The girls would like to continue book club on Friday evenings this Fall, beginning with The Mysterious Benedict Society. So, hopefully that will continue this week or next.

Now, for our high school girls. They are finishing a beautiful mixed media portrait of themselves that will (hopefully!) be done for September 3rd. They are working hard with Julie to finish on time.

That's all, folks.

JuveNiles Choir Camp 2011

Weekly update for the church:
"Jubilate, everybody, serve the Lord in all your ways..."

Last week was choir camp. If I am correct, the first ever youth choir camp at DPC.
We had several faithful and lovely volunteers who helped make it possible.
William Taylor also made it possible with his musical skills.
And without our wonderful kids who already had an ear and voice for music, it would not have been possible.

We started each day with voice warm ups..."eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two one," we sang to a descending scale.
We also played music theory games, like musical bingo, to help us learn the names of rests, notes, and other musical language.

On Saturday, we picnic-ed at Sevier Park with many other friends and SafeHaven Families.
Despite the rain, we had a great time eating, playing, and enjoying each other's company.

But now, choir camp is over.
Youth may still join the JuveNiles at any time.
We will sing one Sunday each month with practice (9am) preceding the service (11am).

This week and next week, many of our youth are starting the 2011-2012 school year.

For the kids:
Good luck with school!
Many of you said you would like to continue book club during the school year.
So, we need to decide what day will work best for all of us.
Also, be thinking of book ideas...I have a few ideas.

See you Sunday!
Peace and love.

July 31, 2011--I am... a Cardboard Box, cont'd

So, I am still trying to figure out the "ins-and-outs" of blogging and once I uploaded the photos to the last post, I couldn't figure out how to write about what's going on in them...so, this post.

Today Matt and Amy (Wilmer and Edith's parents) helped us make cardboard box houses/police stations/secret agent headquarters/etc. The kids loved it! Sarah and I loved it. These will proudly be displayed in our art show, The Ritual of Play (September 3).

Any unfinished buildings can be finished next week (or the next, or the next, or the next, but not the next).

After Sunday School and the service, many of us enjoyed a delicious POT-LUCK lunch in the fellowship hall where the "I Am" photo station is located. There, we wrote a word or words to describe what we are (or what we think we are). This photo project (thanks, Ben Oliver!) will be an ongoing project. After the visitors of the art show have a chance to participate (yes, you still have time to become a face in our "I Am" stop-motion video), we will create a STOP-MOTION VIDEO inspired by Open Table's great idea.

So, here's a sneak peak of the video and a peak into the kids and their buildings.

Peace and Love, friends.

July 31, 2011--I am... a Cardboard Box

Creating Summer Art

Here are some pictures of the creative minds at work! This summer, we are creating art from the materials we find in the closet, around the house, and in the recycling bin. We've managed to not buy anything for the art show! We are also creating based on ritual and repetition--the art show will be called The Ritual of Play (September 3 at DPC).

Everything looking like Easter when something had begun

Change Bandits 2011

This year we raised 307.63$ for the Children's Hospital. Thanks to all the kids who helped collect change through the month of February. Thanks too to Faye Dickson who organized DPC's involvement! Year three and the numbers keep growing. Go team!