Hello Chapel Hill Families!

CH Kids learned about “The Two Houses” (Matthew 7:24-27) this past Sunday. We talked about which lessons from Jesus are our favorite (the rock), and discussed what they though the “rain” was symbolic for. We had very insightful answers from kids of all ages. “The Hard Stuff”, “When things go wrong”, and “When Satan tries to tell you lies” were a few examples given. They are so incredibly wise and I am going to miss them so much!

Here are our upcoming Bible lessons:

• March 19th – “The Sower and the Seed” (Matthew 13:1-9)
• March 26th – “The Last Supper” (Mark 14:12-26)
• April 2nd – “Palm Sunday” (Mark 11:1-11) Please plan on coming to the 9:30AM service and staying to sing and wave palms at the 11:00 service before enjoying lunch to support our Youth, and participating in our annual Easter Egg Hunt. We will have face tattoos and a bouncy house for extra fun!

We have started the countdown until my last day by singing and dancing to all my favorite songs before I go on April 2nd. I am going to miss this part of my job the most! We started practicing our Palm Sunday song, “Ho Ho Ho Hosanna”. Click the link if you would like to practice with them at home.

PALM SUNDAY EASTER EGG HUNT & LUNCH

I hope you and your children will join us for our annual Palm Sunday Easter Egg Hunt and Lunch! Kids will be singing during both 9:30 and 11:00AM services so plan on coming at 9:30 and staying to enjoy a meal until the egg hunt at NOON. Lunch proceeds benefit our CH Youth Summer Mission Trips.

If you would like to donate candy or small items to stuff the eggs, please deposit those in the GREEN bins located at the entrances of the church by Sunday, March 26th. Thank you!

KDIC & PRESCHOOL ENROLLMENT

Kids Day in Christ and Chapel Hill Preschool opened their enrollment to current families and Chapel Hill members on February 1st. If you have young children interested in attending these programs, please click the links below to get them signed up. These programs fill fast, and are now open to the public to fill the last few spots.

Summer KDIC

KDIC 2023-2024

Preschool 2023-2024

Lunch Bunch 2023-2024 (Extended Preschool Day)

VBS 2023

Save the Date for VBS at Chapel Hill! Volunteer Registration is now OPEN! Child attendance will be limited to 250 children. To ensure your child gets a spot, join our team to receive a link for EARLY child registration. We will open child registration to the public on Palm Sunday, and will close once we fill all our spots.  We filled all 250 spots before Memorial Day last year, so do not delay!

Information for our new families:

• Our volunteers are supposed to arrive by 9:00, but life happens and sometimes they are running late. Please try to drop off kids between 9:15 and 9:30 AM to avoid waiting on them to arrive.
• Please walk your children back to their classrooms at drop off. We want our volunteers to see who goes with which kid to help speed up our pick up time.
• Don’t forget your pick-up ticket. You will show this to get back to the children’s wing and again to their teacher to pick them up.
• Remember that kids are now promoted to their next grade level so check that their name tags show they are in the right group. Please let Ryan know if it is incorrect.

We sponsor cousins, Neema & Kikwete, who live in the Angel House Orphanage in Tanzania, Africa. We have pledged to give $90/month in order to provide food, clothing and schooling to these children at Angel House. Each Sunday, kids have the opportunity to bring money to put into our offering for Neema and Kikwete. Would you help us meet our goal by sending your child with $1.00 each week? Our former Director of Children’s Ministries, Raegan Brane, has visited Angel House in the past. You can find out more information about the Grassroots Organization and Angel House by clicking HERE.

REMINDER:

If you have a 3rd, 4th or 5th grader that has a Deep Blue Bible, please help them remember to bring it with them to Sunday school each week! We don’t have many extras of that particular version at the church and they will be looking up and reading scripture every time they come to church from now on.

Don’t forget to check our Chapel Hill Kids Facebook Group regularly for the most up to date information. If you haven’t checked your child’s information on the birthday post, please make sure you do so as soon as possible. I have marked it as an announcement so you can easily find it. If you have moved in the last year, please contact the office so that we have your correct address on file so they can receive some birthday mail. The office number is (316) 684-1117.

Blessings to you and your children,

Allison

Celebrate Wonder is a Sunday school curriculum that engages children’s natural sense of curiosity to help them understand God’s love. It creates a safe environment for kids to ask big questions — helping them explore the Bible in ways that feed their imagination and encourages creativity. Through carefully-selected Bible stories, songs, videos, and hands-on activities, Celebrate Wonder gives children the tools to explore their faith while incorporating it into their daily lives.

Each month, our weekly stories will align with a Faith Word. The Faith Word for the month of March is “PARABLES”.

Jesus often used parables to teach people. Parables are short stories used to teach a lesson. Parables show us how God wants us to live. This parable is unlike some of Jesus’ parables, because after telling this one, Jesus explains its meaning to his disciples. In this explanation, we are cautioned against being like the seeds that falls on the path, hearing God’s word but then letting the evil one steal it away. Nor are we to be like the seeds falling among the rocks, joyfully embracing God’s word but then becoming distracted by other things and falling away. And then there are seeds that falls among the thorns. We are not to worry so much about the concerns of this world that we forget God’s word.

How then are we to live? We are to be like the seeds planted in good soil, hearing God’s word and following it. When we put God’s word into action, we will bear fruit. Or, as we read in James 1:22, “You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves.”

Parables can be hard. Remember that younger children may hear the stories but may not yet make the connection to their meaning. The disciples didn’t always
understand the parables either. Hearing the stories is the first step. Children will be able to understand that Jesus told these stories to help us understand how to live and love

This week’s Bible story is about growth. Growing can be hard. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable to grow and change. The world around us is constantly changing and sometimes it changes us. When we grow and change, we learn more about ourselves and our faith. This week, take some time to consider one way you have grown or changed over the past year. Then consider how this has affected your faith. Is your faith stronger, or has it been like rocky soil? There is no right answer, but as you reflect, look for ways you can be replanted to reconnect with God and to enhance your growth as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ