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).