Saturday, April 18, 2015

Spring Flowers and Photography Fun

After being gone for NCHEA, I noticed that our tulips had bloomed!  So Sunday afternoon when Mom, Ellen, and I were outside enjoying the warmth and sunshine, I decided to take some pictures.  
I love all of the colors God created and especially the pinks in the trees.  It's so fun to be out and around the city and see patches of pink redbuds or blooming crab trees!

 I got rather carried away with the spinning effect. :-)
(These pictures were from last week.  Now things look much different with the rain!)

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

NCHEA 2015!

Again this year I had the opportunity of being an assistant leader in the NCHEA (Nebraska Christian Homeschool Educators Association) Kids' Conference April 9-11th.  This year the theme was LEGACY and seeking wisdom.  It was set a little after World War 2 in Europe.  The drama was about four orphaned children as they traveled through Scotland, Germany, Italy, and Holland following clues and trying to discover the inheritance their parents had left them.  

All the small group lessons were based on James 3:17:
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, 
gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, 
without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

I taught the lessons on gentleness and good fruits.  Then I wrapped up the lesson on impartiality after a Leader in Training came and told the story Beggar at the King's Court.

This year I had some great team leaders! They did a great job, and it was a joy to work with them.  Our team was Edenkoben, Germany.
Below are pictures of my room: 
Kaylin made the window boxes and came up with the tree. Ellen and I made the signs that went with each lesson. (Thank you Ellen for writing them for me!)  Then our team leader came up with the tree stump since we had some extra tree supplies.  It all turned out so well, and we were awarded first place for the most distinguished city.


(It was a wonderful disguise for the unused tables!)
Decorating!
Leaders' teaching session
Drama practice!

This year Ellen had a part in the drama as a French waitress.  I love her costume!
Teaching Staff

It was a wonderful weekend!  There were almost 300 kids who attended and I'm not wuite sure how many staff members and actors! I always love the drama, singing, and time investing in younger children's lives.  It is such a highlight of my year!  It also stretches me as speaking and teaching is rather out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoy doing being a part of it. :-)


Sunday, April 12, 2015

LTC 2015!!!

These have been a very busy two weeks!  Two of our biggest events this spring landed back to back weekends which made for a pretty busy schedule!

The first event, which this post is about, is our annual Leadership Training for Christ when we prepare for events throughout the year (primarily the spring semester) with our church.  Then we go down to Kansas City and perform those events.  This year Ellen and I were each in five events: Bible Bowl (a multiple choice quiz on the book of Luke), puppets, song leading, large chorus, and small chorus.
This year the theme was Give It Up from the book of Luke.
Kansas city downtown from the 32nd floor or our hotel
In the "Link" that goes from our hotel to Panera
 Helping with t-shirts before the kick-off 

 One of the bulletin boards done by kids from our church

Ellen and Alexis
 Such a cute baby!
The song that Ellen led.
The song that I led.
My puppet team
I'm the blonde haired girl on the left :-)
The Ellen pose!

Ellen and her puppet team
 Ellen and her purppet :-)
Ellen's favorite puppet show was last year's, and she just couldn't help getting a picture with "her fox".
 Ellen's small chorus

My small chorus
 Large chorus
Group picture
There was 32 kids from our church participating and 105 people total from our church.  We all had a great time!