KICK Team Training is almost here! Rising 6th graders to HS seniors we need you! Join us Wednesday, June 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for training. Want more info? Email michaela@flccs.net!
The Great Pumpkin Patch at First
Saturday, October 15, over 1200 pumpkins were delivered to the front lawn at First Lutheran Church. We had amazing volunteers that made the work breeze by!
Join us daily until October 31, 2022 from 12 – 8 p.m. to pick the very best pumpkins and support the youth mission trips in the process! Win win.
Here are some photos from unloading day…
Children’s Spirituality Forum: Mindfulness Practices for Children
Sunday, April 18 at 11 to 12 p.m. on the First Lutheran Lawn
This event is for preschool and elementary-school children and their parents. We will be doing mindfulness practices (think yoga poses in game-style and breathing techniques) from Tracy Daniel’s book Mindfulness for Children: 150+ Mindfulness Activities for Happier, Healthier, Stress-Free Kids. We will also be doing mindfulness games that will help us get in balance with our bodies and snacks will be provided!
Mindfulness is a way to connect to your body and your mind in a way that is relaxing and fun. It is good for when you feel moody, stressed, or just need to relax. These practices are great ways for your children to settle their bodies after long hours in front of screens. We hope this will be a helpful resource for you during this stressful pandemic time, but also activities that you can use whenever you need them.
Youth Handbells Are Back!
Calling all youth in grades 2-8. You are invited to come ring handbells for a six week session. This is for returning ringers, as well as those who would like to learn how to ring. Youth will be divided into groups by grade level. Masks must be worn and social distancing will be observed. It is fun to ring bells. It is fun to make music together with other ringers. Come be part of our youth handbell program. Click here to sign up!
The 2021 Lenten Family Devotional is here!
In this time of distance and ample time with our families, First Lutheran would like to offer you a Lenten Devotional that is specifically adapted for families with grade-school children (though believers of all ages are welcome to explore their faith in a new creative way through this resource). As you seek to fill your time with arts and crafts, home schooling and screen time, we hope you can also add in some faith formation.
The Lenten Devotional was written to carry you week-by-week through the Lenten season with special devotions for Holy Week, but please adapt it to your own family’s needs. The Children’s Sermons each Sunday will be tied to this devotional, as well as Sunday School curriculum, so it’s a perfect partner for discussing faith at home. The devotional is filled with fun videos, crafts, and hands-on projects to make the stories come alive.
We pray your family finds a meaningful Lenten journey within these pages and we look forward to the day when we can once again return to worship and learn together.
Rainbow Trail Summer Camps for Summer 2021
It’s time to register for Summer Camp!! As we look toward the end of this pandemic, there is plenty of hope that we will be able to have a fun and safe summer with some of our old traditions back again. Please notice the dates below for the upcoming summer camps at Rainbow Trail and the link to register for these camps.
Intro to Camp (2-3 grade)
June 20-23
June 23-26
August 1-4
Juniors (4-6 grade)
June 20-26
August 1-7
Junior High (7-8 grade)
June 13-19
August 1-7
Confirmation Camp** (6-8 grade)
June 27-July 3
Senior High (9-12 grade)
July 11-17
July 25-31
Register Here! https://rtlc.campbrainregistration.com
Some of these dates might already have a waitlist.
Scholarships are available to those that need them. Please reach out to Michaela Eskew at michaela@flccs.net.
**Confirmation Camp is now a part of the confirmation curriculum for entering 8th graders and 2nd year 9th grade confirmands.
Netflix Watch Party – The Social Dilemma (2020)
January 22 at 9 p.m.
If you haven’t seen this documentary already, it is a must-see for anyone with a nine-year-old or older! This documentary addresses the way technology is behind the unprecedented levels of self-harm, suicide, technology addiction, depression, and rising intolerance in society today. With technology taking over more of our lives now that it ever has, it is important to know the ethics (or lack-there-of) behind some of the biggest technology companies in America. This is a critical expose that features former executives from Facebook, Google, Instagram, Pinterest, and more exposing the gloomy underside of social media. It’s not all dark though, this eye-opening documentary shows us the ways that social media can be used for good and were ultimately created with good intentions. This documentary helps us to regulate social media when it has been known to not regulate itself. How do we use social media as the tool it is meant to be rather than being played by it?
Join me on a late Friday night (after bedtime) for a Netflix Watch Party. There will be a chat box next to the movie that will allow us to interact and discuss while we watch. **You will need to have a Netflix subscription to join and add the Teleparty extension to your Google Chrome browser. More information can be found here: https://www.netflixparty.com
If you are interested in this event, please email michaela@flccs.net. The link to the watch party can only be shared at the start of the event, so to receive the link you will need to RSVP via email before the event date and time.
Welcome Back to Sunday School!
Sunday School will resume on January 10. We are so excited to see you! For 2021 we will be practicing tighter security on all our Zoom Sunday School gatherings. This means that we will no longer be publishing the zoom links in our newsletters or on our website, despite the increased security of a waiting room. Zoom links will now be sent only through emails from Shelly. We are going to be as careful as possible to make sure that all families are safe while meeting online at First Lutheran. Please see the schedule below for our Sunday School offerings. If you have not received previous emails from Shelly, our Director of Children’s and Youth Ministry, or are interested in these gatherings and would like the zoom links, please email her at shelly@flccs.net.
Preschool Zoom 11 a.m. on Sundays
Kinder-1st Grade Zoom 7 p.m. on Mondays
2nd-3rd Grade Zoom 7 p.m. on Saturdays
4th-5th Grade Zoom 7 p.m. on Tuesdays
6th-7th Grade Zoom 7 p.m. on Wednesdays
Children’s Christmas Program – ZOOM Style
Another opportunity for being creative! We are planning to put on our traditional Christmas program via Zoom – if kids are interested. Please ask your kids if they want to participate and explain that they will need to commit to doing it. They also have to be pretty good readers and good with doing it via Zoom.
If so, ask them to provide their first and second choice for a part (the part of Mary always goes to a 5th grade girl). We will edit the script to shorten and accommodate whoever is interested and mail a printed version. It is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 6 at 3:30 p.m. and will be available for our members and your families to watch live. The point of doing it is for the kids to maintain this tradition of learning the story and being a part of the Sunday school community. As for costumes – the kids are charged with making one from whatever they can find at home! Let Shelly know by November 23 via email – shelly@flccs.net.
Coping in a Pandemic: Three Strategies for Setting Mental Health Boundaries on Technology
By Michaela Eskew
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many children and youth to experience mental health problems including anxiety, stress, and depression. This 3-part podcast series includes three coping strategies for combating the technology overload we have all experienced in this pandemic. Connection, Focus, and Rest are three things we may feel like we were always lacking but this pandemic has only put a greater spotlight on their necessity for proper mental health. Using the book The New Adolescence: Raising Happy and Successful Teens in an Age of Anxiety and Distraction by Christine Carter, PhD, this series helps with practical strategies for giving ourselves grace and proper mental health boundaries in this pandemic.
Start the series by clicking below for Coping in a Pandemic – Connection
https://flccs.net/media/712625-3943678-2764845/coping-in-a-pandemic-connection
For those parents out there, there is a special fourth podcast just for you! If you are wondering, “How do I possibly get my kids to listen to these podcasts or even implement these strategies?” this podcast is for you! It’s a bit longer than the strategy podcasts, but it uses Christine Carter’s amazing book to provide solid research for what is stressing teens today (trust me its more than you handled as a teenager) and how to work with them to alleviate those stressors.
https://flccs.net/media/712625-3943678-2764763/coping-in-a-pandemic-the-new-adolescence-podcast
I hope these podcasts will be a resource for all that feel fatigued by technology and it is something you can come back to again and again as you need.
First Thoughts at First 