September 2009 Archives

As many of you are members elsewhere I am sure it can be confusing to catch only snapshot images of what this church is doing. We want to share some information about the work here so you know just what type of place you are entrusting with your children. They are your most precious treasure.

You may have noticed the words "Worship, Grow, Serve" and a new logo popping up around the church. The staff of Schweitzer have begun to organize the ministry and define our work by looking at how it fits into these three categories. To make disciples we encourage others to worship God, serve others and grow in their faith and knowledge. To accomplish this Stephanie Haase is directing Serve Ministry, the pastors and worship team are leading Worship Ministries and a new staff member Mark McKnelly is leading the Grow Ministry. If you are looking for more information www.schweitzerumc.org has all the info. Each pastor has a blog that you can link to from the home page of the website and Mark has a blog at   http://marksumc.wordpress.com. There is also a link so that you can listen to sermons as a podcast.

We want for you to know who we are. If you're searching for a church we invite you to give us a try. If you're involved happily in a local church, Hurray! We hope we can be an asset, a resource, and an encouragement to your growth there. We are thrilled to be part of your child's spiritual growth. Please let us know of any needs we can assist you and your family with. God bless!

Kayla

I wanted to do a combo blog today; one part Green Corner and the other Health and Fitness. Those two things go well together anyway!

I found an interesting web site to share www.Earth911.com with an index of where to recycle by category of recyclables. I typed in "paint" and 65804 and got the address for the household chemical collection center on W. Nichols. The site had lots of interesting articles and information on other aspects of GREEN living. There are probably great ideas for you to implement in those teachable moments with your children so they will grow up green.

Did you know that you can eat your way healthy? You probably did know that. If it is going lean you desire, a one-two punch of chick peas and salsa will fill you up and give the metabolism boost you need. In a healthy eating article on MSN there was an entire list of food combinations for healthy living such as a garden salad with wild salmon to feed your brain and heart or scrambled eggs and red peppers to smooth your skin. Zinc in a smoothie with wheat germ will heal cuts and bruises. For more info check out http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100230191 

Yes, it is another one of those "get your attention" headlines. While being on the news at 6:00 AM won't make me a movie star, I did want to let you know that the projected airing of the preschool footage shot today by KOLR is Friday the 18th at 6:00 (and 7:00?) AM.

Thank you to Grandma Tanya for being willing to go on camera for a "parent interview."

We did have a visitor to the building who may now have meningitis. If this is a confirmed reportable case (HIB) or should we have any subsequent occurrance of this illness in either staff or children we will be contacting you with further instructions. When "universal precautions" are followed properly risk from casual contact is very small. I did consult with the health department and we have done what needs to be done at this point. I will update this blog if addition information becomes available.

Jessica from KOLR news will be here first thing Thursday morning to conduct an interview with me. There are release sheets for you to sign so that they can use generic footage of the preschool on the news. They have always done an excellent job of disguising faces and blurring the identities of children. They do not ask or give out children's names.

Please be sure that you sign a form and if you have any specific restrictions we can certainly be sure your child is not photographed.

Thanks,

Kayla

What do those two things have in common? Nothing as far as I know except that both of those things are occupying my mind in regards to what to blog about today. Got your attention though, didn't I?

Today's Ideal Bite green newsletter reported on organic jeans and the environmental impact of traditionally grown materials for denim. The figures were scary-$70 and upwards for jeans from the purest cotton sources. That is not in my budget. They did say however that WalMart and KMart now offer "Greensource organic denim options" for Route 66 and Faded Glory .

From Ideal Bite September 14, 2009 at daily@tips.idealbite.com

Now for the less pleasant topic. We are in contact with the health department to have plans in place should there be a significant outbreak of swine flu locally. You all have been receiving some information from this blog and the Growing Times newsletter for preschool. Today we started a small committee of staff members to look at implementing sensible precautions church wide. The primary methods of preparedness remain these common sense ones:

Wash your hands with soap and running water; often and thoroughly.

Cover your coughs and sneezes with cloth not your hands.

Stay home/keep your children home if you are ill.

Follow good hygeine and keep your surroundings clean and germ free.

This interesting tidbit from the Ideal Bite:

If 10,000 Biters opt for a pound of in-season, locally grown sweet potatoes instead of nonlocal ones, we'll avert 283 gallons of diesel gas from being burned up by a semitruck.