God sure did bless the Martin/Henderson Life Group in 2014! We had LOTS of wonderful families join our class, we laughed together, bruised ribs together, shared lots of amazing food and grew closer to our God and each other.
Here’s just a little look back:
Please join me in praying for our class for 2015. I can’t wait to see what He has in store!
2013 was a great year for the Martin/Henderson Life Group. We added lots of great new families, grew in our knowledge and love of God and the beauty of the Gospel and got to do some really neat stuff in our community, nation and around the world.
This is a quick housekeeping post to help the new folks get some info on how we do things around here and to keep all of you in the loop on what’s going on and coming up.
Once a month our class sends two volunteers to work in a children’s class during our life group hour. We each take a turn, or as needed to fill the dates, so that we only have to do it once a year. When it is your turn to pinch hit: drop your kiddos off, go to the check in booth right outside of the glass enclosed playground and tell the volunteer there you are here to pinch hit for the Martin/Henderson Life Group. They will then send you to the room where they need you. Try and leave service promptly to check in on time.
Please bring a snack of your choosing (baked goods, chips, dips, etc.) and a drink (2, 2 liters is plenty). Try to get your snack to class before it starts. You may drop it before service or leave service a few minutes early to set up. You will need to take the big plastic bowl from the class to the children’s ministry kitchen (we can show you) and fill it with ice. After class, please clean up the leftovers from snack and dump out the extra ice.
Please know that both of these are voluntary and you do not have to do either one. If you have been assigned a date that doesn’t work for you or if you feel uncomfortable with it, please let us know. It is no problem to reassign it.
Hurray for a fabulous fall feast! Thank you so much to everyone who purchased, prepared and brought so much wonderful food. It was truly a feast and so much fun to just sit and fellowship with one another.
I totally forgot to take any pictures during the feast but when I came home and got to read through everyone’s thankful leaves, I felt I had something picture worthy. Here are the wonderful things you all wrote that you are thankful for:
We kicked off a new school year in the Martin/Henderson LG last weekend and had a blast doing it! Thanks to everyone who helped decorate, brought yummy treats and sacrificed your dignity for a laugh. Here are a few pics from the night:
We had such a great time at the Martin’s house Sunday night watching the little ones and a few brave big ones fly down the slip n slide. Big thanks to the Martins for hosting and to Chris for creating the awesome, 100 ft long slip n slide. Here are some pics from the night:
I see a super moon rising…
Guess what, folks? There’s a super moon on the way and we’ll get to see it in full effect Sunday night. Here’s a little about the super moon.
This is such a great opportunity to talk with our kiddos about the glory of God displayed in the skies. Psalm 19 beautifully describes this:
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Our family will be outside looking at the moon, reading this scripture and praising God for the way He displays His glory and might in the skies. Well, hopefully. It might look more like the kids running around in the backyard, me swatting mosquitos and Jeremy yelling Psalm 19 at us over the chaos. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see! Let me know how it goes for y’all.
Summertime is here! The hot Texas sun rolls in and with it comes lots more time with the kiddos. I know that some days that may be more of an exciting idea than others (wink wink) but here we are. We’ve got ’em home. Now, what do we do with them?
Jeremy Henderson came across a great resource from The Village Church with ideas for how to take advantage of this time with our kiddos. The activity book they created is a whopping fifty-seven pages long. So, although I’m including it in this post, I certainly don’t expect you to read it all.
Instead, I’ve perused this little gem and have pulled out some of their ideas to share with you. Here are three to get you started and I’ll keep sending more over the next couple of weeks.
SUMMER MEMORY JAR
Keep track of all the fun and significant things that happen this summer by making a Summer Memory Jar. Put an empty jar or container in a central location in your house. Put small strips of paper and pens next to it. Throughout the course of the summer, write down memories you make as a family — funny things you say, hard lessons you learn, trips you take, people you meet, fears you overcome, etc. At the end of the summer, do the Dump Your Summer Memory Jar activity (p.25).
ICE CREAM OPPORTUNITIES
Use the neighborhood ice cream truck as an opportunity to meet and talk with your neighbors. Your family can show God’s generosity by collecting money each week to buy an ice cream for someone who lives near you. Another option would be to consistently visit the same local sno cone stand. Get to know the people there and consider buying someone you meet a sno cone.
LOOK UP
Throughout the course of the summer, challenge your family to take greater notice of the sky. Watch the sunrise or sunset together. Spend time watching the clouds, noticing how they change and looking for different shapes they make. At night, try to count the stars or find constellations. As you do these things, read and talk about Psalm 19 and how the beauty of the sky glorifies the God who made it.
Here’s the link to the complete activity book: The Village Summer Family Fun Activity Book
Please let us know if you try any of these out or have any other ideas.
Happy Summer and may God get great glory out of our families during this season.
We’re looking forward to filling in our 2013 calendar at Life Group Huddle on January 30th. Before we do that, we want to hear from you.
Here’s a little survey I created to find out how you think things are going in our class. Please take a few minutes to answer the survey. Your answers are anonymous and you can choose more than one answer for each question.
Here’s the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CHNSY8Q
Thanks!
We had such a great time celebrating Christmas with the Urbina family Tuesday night. Thank you to all of you who came, contributed and brought food for the potluck.
Here are some pics from the night. If you notice any weird shots, you can blame the goofy camera man (cough cough chris martin cough):
mh life group 