DLmail 9/22/2009 welcome Joshua

We haven't had a baby born to a small group leader in several years. I believe Renee was our last and she pulled out all the stops and had three in about three years. That is a record that Kevin and Monica can shoot for. The Stewarts welcomed Joshua into this world last week. He is a big, healthy boy and everything went well concerning his delivery. He is home now with his proud parents and someday you all will get to meet him personally at church. Congratulations Stewart family!

We managed with just 4 leaders last weekend, with Amy doing a fine job taking Monica's group and I will give kudos to myself for not totally screwing up the 4th graders I took. Pam and Tim did an awesome job with their small groups and the night was a great success. Keith programmed, taught and lead worship without missing a beat. Goofy Gary even showed. I planned to post a pic of him, but the threats of physical violence seemed all too real so I decided to not post it.

This weekend we will have Timberly stepping up to lead the 5th grade girls for Monica. I'll be there for Kevin. If anyone else must miss, please let me know.

This weekend we continue our study, The Word on Wisdom. Wisdom (finding out what you should do and doing it) is our virtue for one more week. The small group leader info can be found by clicking here. Please notice that the date for our material says September 19/20 for the second time. Just be sure you are using the pages 12-13 with the Bible story Benefits of Wisdom, Proverbs 22:3. Our memory verse remains, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6. If you would like to catch Cal's main stage message from last weekend, click here.

The truck dock bucks seem to be a mild success so far. The kids seem motivated to get them. Remember, they can earn up to 6 bucks per week. They can earn one for doing each of the following: 1) attending 2) bringing a Bible 3) bringing a visitor 4) memorizing the month's verse and 5) returning their completed Livin' It. More than one buck can be given for bringing friends, but remember, no more than 6 per night....EXCEPT... you can offer a one time larger payout of 10 bucks for memorizing the books of the Old &/or New Testaments in the correct order. Something for the kids to shoot for. If I did it as a kid, anyone can do it.

Thank you all for selflessly giving up your Saturday evenings for these kids. I know there are a lot of other things you could be doing, but appreciate your willingness to make serving God with these kids in the factory your priority. Besides, I have said it before and will say it again, church is out by 7:15pm. You don't have to give up much to serve. If you know of anyone who may want to join us on a regular weekly basis, we sure could use another gifted woman to take a small group of girls.

DLmail 9/16/09 truck dock buck

Yep, we call them truck dock bucks, and we are giving them out in DL. The truck dock buck can be spent at the truck dock, located just outside of our room. It is hard not to notice. The kids seem excited about this new idea. Let's see if they are excited enough to remember show up, to bring a friend to church, bring their Bible, actually do their Livin' It, and maybe even memorize the monthly memory verse (which is a long one this month..."Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6). Just remember, they can't earn more than 6 in any one night.

Last Saturday we got a glimpse of this coming year. Looks like a lot of girls. That is the opposite of the past two years where we saw boys coming at the rate of 2 to 1. Kind of troubling in a way. The model Discoveryland uses puts emphasis on consistent small groups. Same kids with the same leaders each week. Our promise to small group leaders is that their groups will remain small. Large small groups are obviously not ideal for the kids or adults and it is an oxymoron to boot. Last Saturday Pam and Monica, our only committed 9 month women leaders divided 23 girls. They are over what we promised they wouldn't be as far as numbers and we were only on the second week. Our A team men (weekly 9 monthers), consisting of Kevin, Tim and Emory (I guess I could be thrown in that group making us 4), divided 13 boys. Pray for more gifted women to commit to serving each week. For now I will keep the girls groups smaller by taking one group myself, but I am not the ideal small group leader for girls.

We continue our study of the virtue Wisdom (finding out what you should do and doing it) this coming Saturday. Our Bible story is Solomon's unwise choice, from 2 Chronicles 10:1-19. Your small group info can be found by clicking here. Our bottom line...to be wise, hang out with wise people. Spend time in prayer and Bible study this week as you prepare. If you want to hear Emerson Eggerich's message from last weekend, click here.

We'll be doing DL this Saturday without Monica. Monica is with child. She doesn't show it very much, but she is really with child. Like he was supposed to pop out a week ago and he is still hanging in there. So tomorrow or Friday she expects the issue to be pushed medically. At that point Kevin becomes more of a dad and less of a stunt motorcyclist. Pray for the Stewarts at this really really exciting time. They will be great parents! I am expecting Amy this Saturday in Monica's spot.

DLmail 9/9/9 DO NOT READ UPSIDE DOWN

Like the title says, don't read this DLmail upside down or else the number will be a lot less churchy.

Discoveryland has started back up. It felt good to be back in the Factory. Double the good feelings for me for many reasons. At long last my daughter Erin has made it to the 4th grade and the Factory. We have both been waiting a long time for this. With Erin came Pam, putting us together in the same room for the first time in 5 years. And last but not least, I got to see my fellow volunteers again. Great to be back with Kevin, Monica and Tim. Great to welcome in my brother-in-law, Pam's little brother, Emory. It is going to be a great year.

Our numbers weren't large, too much competition for their time as it was Labor Day weekend, but still quite a few made it. I expect many, many more in the weeks to come. We'll do our best to cover the next few weeks. Tim will be with us this weekend, as will Em. Pam is a big question mark. As I type she is in Miami at her grandmother's funeral. She is scheduled to fly back on Saturday, but may catch a flight on Friday, we'll see. Kevin and Monica...I was remiss by not getting a photo of Monica to post on here. I meant to. But it would have been a bit disappointing. She is set to have her baby (Joshua:) any day, but she doesn't look super pregnant. Really not much different than a month or two ago. She didn't get big, take my word for it. So I don't expect Monica, but maybe Kevin. Amy Crose will be there a week from Saturday. Timberly???? I don't even have Timberly's email, so she doesn't get these messages to see what she is missing. Can someone forward this to her?

Here is the lesson material for this coming Saturday if you don't already have it. We will continue with the virtue Wisdom (finding out what you should do and doing it) for the entire month. Our memory verse is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6. Our Bible story this week is "The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon" from 1 Kings 10:1-13. Be wise and spend plenty of time in prayer and preparation so that you can effectively reinforce the lesson with your small group. Encourage your kids to 1) bring their Bible each week, 2) bring a friend 3) memorize the monthly verse...what else??? We are now doing the truck dock bucks and you will reward the kids accordingly. I will get you more details. Finally, you can always click here for the main stage message for the previous weekend.

Looking forward to seeing you all this weekend.

Nonnie in Chilli

From the family email update archives, Nonnie in Chilli. June of 2003 was the last time Pam's grandma traveled the 1200+ miles from Miami to come see us. She stayed for a week in Erin's bedroom and we really cherish that visit. Life was a lot different for us in those days. It was a lot different for Mary as well. 7 months after her visit she found herself on her death bed (Jan. 04). Pam flew to spend the week with her in the hospital. She managed to recover but life changed for her from that point on. Within a year or so she ended up moving out of her condo on Biscayne Bay into a "retirement" village and even stopped driving.

June 12, 2003

Nonnie in Chilli

Sometimes when you invite your 91 year old grandmother to spend a week with you, traveling 1200 miles alone, you get tense. The severe thunderstorms predicted for Tuesday afternoon this week didn't materialize and Nonnie made it to Peoria ahead of schedule. The trip went well and we had a wonderful birthday party for her on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday was spent hanging out at the house and eating. Today, Thursday, we realized that Nonnie is capable of more than doing hair with the girl, playing patient to Erin's doctor, and posing nicely by beautiful flowers. Her energy level seemed more like that of a 65 year old, so we put her to work.

The pictures speak for themselves. We found her to be a little slow on the uphill portions of our yard while mowing, but she gutted it out and managed to get us some supper to boot.

Talk to you later.

Rick

DLmail 9/1/2009 whale tail

There are whale tails.
Then there are cool whale tails.
Then, of course, there are the dreaded whale tails (or remnants of such in this case).
Why am I bringing this up? Well, Discoveryland is set to kick off another fantastic season for us September thru May volunteers. We need to break the old habits of the summer and get back into the groove of serving these eager 4th and 5th graders in the Factory. So team, join me as I put my thong in storage, and dress in a non-revealing fashion as we lead these kids.


Our team is kind of set, I think. I have to admit I have really taken a break this summer. A couple connections with Kevin Stewart and Kevin Elder have been about the extent of my DL involvement recently. As we draw close to beginning I will tell you who I think is joining us this year (and we will need everyone...I predict big numbers with the incoming 4th grade class). Rick & Pam Lingenfelter, Kevin & Monica Stewart (Monica may be with us later rather than sooner considering the baby on board that is pretty much ready to pop out any minute now), Zach Van Buren, Tim Thorson, Timberly Miller, Amy Crose...uh, uh, seems like I am missing some names...I really took the summer off.


We kick things off this weekend with all large group activities. No small groups to prepare for, just show and reacclimate yourselves to serving. I really look forward to seeing you all. Remember, dress appropriately, bring your H1N1 face mask, and get ready to have a great time. It is expected that on the nights you serve you can arrive by 5:15pm. This will be an important time for us adults to connect, pray, and prepare. We will have kids arriving beginning at 5:30 each week, so you can see the importance of being there 15 min. prior. Each week I will give you a link to the small group material on Monday so you can prepare throughout the week. Concentrate on the Scripture. Use it in your small group time. Use your gifts to the keep conversation going in the right direction. Put great priority on praying with your small group. You just might be the only person praying for/with them each week. We should all try to connect with our small group kids occasionally through mail or in person outside of the church setting. Find out what they are up to and maybe try to make their football game to watch them play or cheer. I have loved bumping into DL kids in this way. We see them all the time at baseball games in the summer. You get my drift.


One major, major difference for all of this year will be the absence of "born to work with kids" Rachel White. Rachel was called to take a teaching position at Lincoln Grade School (in E.P.) this fall, where she will have an impact on an entirely new set of little heads and hearts. Lucky kids. All my favorite Nwoods staffers get "calls" eventually, drives me nuts, but I understand (still don't have to like it). Rachel, we will all miss you. We all are thankful for the time you spent with our kids and for your friendship through the years.