January 2010 Archives
We had surprisingly good attendance for such a yucky day. With Springfield Schools releasing early our numbers have dwindled quickly.
There will be two rooms open this afternoon, so Teal and Purple rooms will be together with Ms. Eleanor and Mr. Scott. Yellow and Green rooms will be together with Mrs. Jacklyn and Mrs. Vanessa until 4:30 and then Miss Glori and Miss Kari will close the center.
Be sure to allow yourself plenty of travel time. We hope everyone will be warm and dry at home before dark.
The church office closed early today so it may be more difficult to get calls in. If you are experiencing difficulty reaching a human being the extensions are:
110 for Purple room
114 for Green room
and if you can't reach anyone while they are in the gym, call my cell number 576-0698 and I will call Miss Glori's cell and pass on the message or your number so they can reach you.
These are the current requirements for birth to school entry. Watch for changes in July.
The biggest change is that if your child had the actual Chicken Pox disease, a doctor's note is required with date of occurrance rather than just a parent statement.
In the event we would need to alter our opening time or should we be forced to close the center for bad weather on Friday, this would be announced via public media.
KY3 and the other major local TV stations as well as KTTS and the other major radio stations all carry school cancellations. I will also update my greeting at 881-6800, ext. 117 and the bulletin board message at extension 183.
I may not be able to announce a closing via my blog as I cannot always access it by phone. I can however update the phone messages at the above listed extensions unless phone service is out to the church building. My cell number is 576-0698 if that should occur, but it has only happened for 1/2 of a day once in 11 years (so not likely).
If Ms. Debbie and Ms. Katie or Ms. Jennifer can physically reach the church building we will have at least one class open. We will open as many classes as we can safely staff for the day. Be prepared to have some classes combined if we get all the snow that is predicted.
Remember that if your child comes to the morning only classes in Burgundy, Raspberry or Blue rooms, we do not hold class if Springfield Schools are closed.
For those of you who do not have a church home, or do but want to participate in any of these events, here are some upcoming happenings at Schweitzer that might be of interest:
Membership class January 31st. What would it be like to join Schweitzer? Come check it out.
Life groups are forming.
Why Not Waste Time with God: Moving beyond a superficial relationship... class beginning February 21st.
Super Clean for Super Bowl Weekend. Packaging hygeine kits for the Missouri Hotel, February 13th. Items will be collected the 6th and 7th for this event.
For more details: www.schweitzerumc.org
The orphanage is taking on 100 new children. Please keep them in your prayers.
Father Marc's blog
In an earlier report I misspelled Father Marc's name. My apologies. They have an update on their website that I thought you might be interested in. Their dining hall was damaged in the most recent aftershock but everyone is alright.
See link below:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Earthquake-Relief-For-Project-Hope-Les-Cayes-Haiti
As I mentioned in the previous blog on Haiti, the United Methodist Women are meeting to assemble health kits for the earthquake victims. The following items may be donated for this effort.
One health kit consists of the following items:
1 hand towel 15" x 25" up to 17" x 27" (no kitchen towels)
1 washcloth
1 comb
1 nail file or fingernail clipper (no emory boards or toenail clippers)
1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
1 toothbrush (single brush in original wrapper only-no child-sized brushes)
6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages
$1.00 to purchase toothpaste
Gallon sized plastic ziplock bag
All items must be NEW.
Do not include personal notes, extra money or other materials as they will have to be removed from kits and thus slow shipment. These are carefully planned to meet requirements for the strict international shipping rules.
Any and all donations of the above items will be appreciated.
In speaking with Liz Craig today, she passed on some useful information for parents. If your children have absorbed some of the media information about the earthquake and have questions, a child psychologist that Ms. Liz watched this weekend advises to focus on the positive. Tell them that many people from all over the world are sending help, food and water.
My additional thoughts are that if they seem stressed or bothered about the event, limit their possible exposure to television coverage and involve them in helping. If your family is contributing financially show them the check you are sending and say, "This will help buy food and water." Let them attach the stamp and put it in the mailbox. Consider donating items to the health kits the church UMW will be packaging. Most of all pray with them about their concerns and for the people of Haiti.
As many of you know, Pastor Lori was in
See Lori's blog from that visit at http://lorilampert.wordpress.com/
If you are looking for a reliable avenue through which you might donate to
This week a special offering will be gathered and sent to
Schweitzer United Methodist will also be gathering materials for health kits to be packaged here and distributed to people in the
If you would like to have additional information on these organizations, I have provided the links below:
http://www.freethechildren.com
Schweitzer is committed to being a church that gets its hands directly into mission work. One of the strongest examples of that locally and nationally is the excellence with which Ed Hewlett and his team attack disaster related emergencies. They have worked ice storms and tornado cleanup just for starters.
In the event that lovely Ozarks weather creates the need for emergency shelters, Schweitzer UMC is on the list of shelter sites. In the past such events have been successfully and effeciently managed.
Should we need to become an emergency shelter, extraordinary safety measures are enacted so that it is safe and comfortable for Grow To Know families to attend preschool. Shelter sites are locked off from preschool space and likewise classrooms are locked off from entry by anyone other than families and staff. A guard is posted to protect the shelter visitors and other people within Schweitzer. If an event happens locally or nationally with victims being housed locally and we are to be used as a shelter, the phone bulletin board and blog will be updated as quickly as humanly possible so that preschool families will be informed.
Springfield Schools are closed Friday, therefore morning classes will not be held (Burgundy, Raspberry and Blue Rooms).
We intend to hold full day classes. It is important to notify us if you are not attending so that we may schedule teachers accordingly. We have a few staff who live in outlying areas that have not made it out yet.
If you do not have to work tomorrow it might be nice to keep the kids in out of the sub zero windchill. Hope and pray all of you are safe and warm.
Yes, oh, yes, we are here today. We have two classes open and about 15 kiddos. If you are coming in late PLEASE call us as we will have to rush to prepare extra lunch.
Remember updates can be obtained by phone at 881-1447, ext. 183 whenever the weather is "iffy."
There is a pink, fuzzy Children's Place hat missing at this time.
Found
Offwhite girls Polo sweater.
Pink Princess cloth purse.
Welcome 2010 and welcome Mrs. Vanessa, our new Green Room teacher.
I hope you all had wonderful Christmas times with your loved ones. I hope that all of you drew close to God and worshipped His Son as we commemorate His coming to Earth for us.
