Important Announcements--Meeting is This Week!!!

I cannot believe this. It seems like we just had a meeting. Where does the time fly to???

Here are a few announcements:

Don't forget about the First Family Challenge: There will be a challenge for the family arriving first to complete; if they can do so, they'll go first in line at lunch AND get to blow the crazy loud whistle at club time. (Remember, we are supposed to start getting there at 9:45. Meeting starts PROMPTLY at 10 a.m.)

Lunch: Thanksgiving themed! Please bring your favorite Thanksgiving dish (plus a pie or other dessert if you'd like!).

County Library presentation: At 12:45, some folks from the library will make a quick presentation in the lunch room on the myriad resources offered by the county library system. This is always SUCH an interesting & informative presentation. 

HIS Jr Encouragers. Our poor Jr Encouragers are still partnerless. Please let me know if your child would like to sign up for this wonderful service opportunity.

Share Your Gift night: Yes! already! Tues, Dec 3, 7pm @ First Baptist in Woodstock. Signups will be out next week, Talent of every form is welcome!

Unattended Child Policy: Since HIS was established as a ministry to families, and to relieve the organization and any individuals the responsibility and liability of caring for children not their own, it is our policy to prohibit the leaving of children at the meetings without a parent or legal guardian, unless a signed permission slip with emergency contact information is on file with the leadership team.

Registration: If you have not yet turned in your registration form, please do so asap. 

 

Horse Crazy Field Trip

The Horse Crazy club will be taking a field trip to Sunset Willow Stables next Thursday during club time.  They will leave the church around 12:50 and be back to the church around 2:00.  

 

They will have a tour of the stables, meet their horses, and spend time with the stable owner and riding instructor.  

 

Please wear clothing appropriate for the weather and boots or tennis shoes.  

 

Nita Sudlow has offered her 16 passenger van to get us to and from the stables.  Lisa Schroeder also has a vehicle that will carry seven additional passengers.  

 

Parents are welcome to come along, too.

 

Waivers for the stable and Anne Morrison, the riding instructor must be signed before attending.  Please have them signed and ready to turn in on Thursday morning at the greeting table. You were sent waivers via email yesterday, 11/14, so if you don't have one, check your email inbox.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email the Schroeder's.

Opportunities this Week!

We have a few opportunities for our kids this week:

Homeschool PE Day: This Friday, Nov 15, from 1-2:30 p.m. at Liberty Baptist in Strasburg.

Free. All kids welcome!

Girls' Club: We are kicking off this year in high style with outdoor games! This Saturday, Nov 16, from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Sloans' home in New Market. Please contact Margaret Sloan with any questions/help with directions. Email Rebekah if you need her number.

October Meeting Review

If you missed the October meeting, this is what you missed:

 Awesome food. Did you get the pumpkin soup recipe? If not, look below.

 

GAMES!

 

SCIENCE!

 HORSE ANATOMY

AND TRAFFIC JAMS!!!

I have never, in 16 years, seen so many strollers at HIS Meeting. Praise God for all our future homeschoolers. Of course you also missed the Knock-Knock Jokes, too. But you can't take a picture of a Knock-Knock Joke. ;)

Our next meeting, our Thanksgiving to God for all His Many Blessings, meeting, is Thursday, November 21. Don't forget to bring Thanksgiving food (turkey if you signed up), and a blessing to share.

Now, as promised, here is the recipe for the Amazing Pumpkin Soup from Katie Brown:

Pumpkin Soup with Sausage and Greens

1/2 to 1 lb sausage spicy or mild, browned and sliced/crumbled

1c onion, chopped

1/2c red bell pepper, finely chopped

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

 

1-2 tsp each fresh thyme and sage, minced (or 1/2 to 1 tsp each if dried)

2c tomato, chopped (or may use canned diced tomatoes)

2-3c greens chopped (spinach, beet or turnip greens, kale – if tougher greens and/or stems, may saute with the onions)

2-3c chicken broth

 

4c pumpkin or winter squash puree (may use canned, but freshly baked and pureed is better)

1-2 TB lemon juice, to taste

salt, pepper, and hot sauce, to taste

 

Brown the sausage, remove and drain (if needed).  Saute chopped/minced vegetables.  Add herbs, tomatoes, broth and greens.  Simmer until greens are tender, 5-15min.  Stir in pumpkin puree and sausage, lemon juice and additional seasonings.  May add more broth/water to thin if desired.  Heat thoroughly.  Serve garnished with dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt and hot fresh bread or muffins.  Enjoy!

 

Blessings to your family,

~The Senior Advisor~

Teacher Needed for 4th/5th Grade

Due to some unfortunate circumstances, we find ourselves in need of a teacher for the 4th/5th grade class beginning next week. New HIS member Dawn Schauer is prepared to teach the class next week, but could really use some help.

For more information, or to volunteer for this position, please email Rebekah at ShenCoHis@gmail.com or call her number in the directory.

Thank you for prayerfully considering this opportunity,
~~The Senior Advisor

MTO Cancelled

Due to inclement weather, aka RAIN, Moms Time Out will be cancelled tomorrow morning 10/10.

When it has been re-scheduled, you will hear from me again.

:)
~~The Senior Advisor

Playground Supervisors Needed

We do not have any supervisors signed up for morning playground duty on Oct 17. We need at least two parents, please. Please email Rebekah if you are willing to help with this need. Morning duty is 9:45-10am.

For the afternoon of Oct 17 (after lunch, 12:30 - 1pm) we have:

4 years old and under supervisors: Jennifer Wages & Amy Horton

5 years and up: Lisa Croft (need a 2nd person please!)

Ooops! Another Club to Add to the List

 

Stop the Presses!

Doesn't this look cool? Well, Rebekah thought this art series would make a great club option for some of our older kids.

Soooo, if your kids think this might be of interest, please give Rebekah a hollar.


Have a great day,
~~The Senior Advisor

Are Your Kids Signed up for Clubs?

Happy October!

Rebekah is getting ready to send the list of club assignments to the leaders, but she wants to make sure everyone is on the list. If your child has not yet signed up for a club, please let her know their first/second choices as soon as possible.

Club offerings this year:

Backyard Ballistics

Handicrafts

Horse Crazy

Indoor/Outdoor Games

Lego Club (preschool/elementary)

Preschool

Science
Young Ladies' Society (still needs leaders)

Thanks so much!

~~The Senior Advisor

Thank You from Lisa Schroeder

(A little thank you note from Lisa)

Blown away!  The two words that seem to best fit how I feel about the lovely and generous gifts that I received at the picnic on Thursday.  Thank you for the beautiful yellow mum, the gift certificate to the Irish Isle, and the over-the-top generous Visa gift card.  I am most appreciative of the lovely cards from moms as well as students whose words were so kind and generous.  (And don’t think I have forgotten about the oh-so-gracious thank yous that I received in the HIS Gazette in the spring.)  It truly has been a blessing to serve along side of each of you.  And I am very excited about Rebekah and Barbara’s leadership debut.  The picnic was well organized and fun and promised a great year with these two very capable ladies as our servant-leaders.  Thank you again and blessings to you as we continue to follow Christ and resolve to be entirely HIS.

 

With love and care,

Lisa Schroeder

Service Opportunity--Pregnancy Center Yard Sale

HIS help needed (again)! 

 

The Pregnancy Center has been so appreciative over the years for the help that our HIS group has been in setting up for the annual fundraising yard sale that is held in conjunction with the Walk for Life.  We have an opportunity to help again!  We will be setting up at the fairgrounds next Thursday, September 26th at 9 a.m.  Stay for a couple of hours or stay for the day . . . whatever your schedule will allow.  Would you please let me know if you will be coming? 

 

Thank you!

Lisa Schroeder

2013-2014 Kick-Off Picnic

I hope you didn't miss it. But if you did, here are a few scenes from the picnic yesterday. I didn't think to take a shot of the food until it was all gone, but Jamerrill got one, so nudge her to send it to me so I can put it up here. The Oakes did their usual FANTASTIC job on grilling hotdogs, and the rest of ya'll went above and beyond in bringing in the sides. And whoever made the loaded baked potato casserole, please, please, put the recipe in the comments. Also rave reviews were heard regarding the grape salad and the pumpkin cake. Let me tell you, this gal left stuffed to the gills.

As you all know, we took up a collection to give Lisa a gift for all the years she served as the HIS group leader. Well here it is:

Tucked inside this gorgeous mum is a Visa gift card and a gift certificate to Lisa's favorite restaurant. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Since it was National Talk Like A Pirate Day, incoming leader Rebekah Postupak was up to the task. Complete with goofy hat, knock-knock jokes, and the frequent "Aargh" throughout the announcement period, we even had the flags flying high:

Of course, for the picture they are standing still, but the rest of the time, they were flying high in the breeze. :)

Oh, by the way, if you see an opening next to any of the positions on these posters, feel free to VOLUNTEER! We'd be glad to have ya'.

Stay tuned for more announcements to come.
~~The Senior Advisor

How to Find the Picnic!

The address for Woodstock Park is:

540 Park Avenue

Woodstock, VA

Here is a map:
To get the street names, click on the + sign.

View Larger Map

Letter from the Chief!

Dear The Troops!

Fall kickoff for the 2013-14 HIS year is Thursday!!!! I'm giddy to see y'all again, and only partly because I'm sick of my own cooking.

BIG IMPORTANT REMINDER: We are at WOODSTOCK park this year. Please come at 11am to chat & register & sign up for clubs and all that good stuff. We'll do announcements around 11:45 and lunch is straight up at noon. To sum up in tidy bullet points:

* 11am Thursday 9/19, Woodstock Park (W.O. Riley Park, at 540 Park Ave in Woodstock). We're the pavilion closest to the bathrooms.

* Bring picnic blankets for fun!

* Bring a side and/or dessert to share. Kindly label ingredients for folks with allergies. HIS will provide yummy hotdogs (not a joke--the Oakes do an amazing job!) & drinks

* Dues are $25 per family for the year

Below is what I've got so far for teachers/club leaders. As you can see, we've still got lots of places to serve. Please shoot me an email or give me a call if you'd like to help out in any of these areas.

Thanks, everybody--we'll see you in 37 hours (but who's counting?).

In Christ,

Rebekah

Coordinator positions

Box tops - Staci Woods                                  

Clean-up – Barb Oakes                                  

Directory/blog – Carol Alexander                 

Field trips - OPEN                                                     

Graduation – LeAnn Wakeman                      

Greeter – Carol Alexander                             

HIS Encouragers – Terie Conner

HIS Gazette – OPEN

Lunch – Sheri Sheering

MTO – Terie Conner/Kimberly Pitcock

Playground – Lisa Copp-Croft

Special Events (SYG, X-Fair) – OPEN

Teaching positions: TWO per level

Nursery – Katie Brown/OPEN                     

Preschool – Lynn Rhodes/Margaret Sloan                

K-1 – Holly Neff/Lisa Copp-Croft     

2^nd & 3^rd – Carrie Grimsley/Tami Huffman

4^th & 5^th – Terie Conner/ OPEN

6^th – 8^th – Barb Oakes/OPEN

High school – Tamara Moore/Jen Wages

Club ideas/leaders

Handicrafts – Kristi Zirkle/Lynn Rhodes

Horse crazy –Abigail Schroeder                                

Indoor/outdoor games – Staci Woods

Lego play (preschool) – Tamara Moore                                                        

Nursery – Carrie Grimsley

Science (limited to 10 students) – Dave Evans/Terie Conner

Young Ladies’ Society -

Are You Ready for a Picnic???

Can you believe that next Thursday (9/19) starts off our new year of HIS???
I'm still in unbelief.

This year the picnic will be at Woodstock Park.

Festivities will begin at 11 a.m.

We'll be in the pavilion closest to the bathrooms. As there may be limited space under the pavilion, we also encourage you to bring blankets and make it a real picnic!

The club will provide hotdogs & drinks--but everyone bring a side and/or dessert, please, to share.

Come prepared to register your family for the year and sign your kids up for clubs.
 

Come prepared to have fun!

HIS Positions Available

It's almost that time and we still have a few positions available for willing helpers. If you can see your way clear to help in either of the following capacities this year, please leave a comment below or email Rebekah.

Coordinator positions:

Field Trips

HIS Gazette

Special Events (X-Fair etc)

Teachers (morning session):

Nursery (1)

4th & 5th (1)

6th - 8th (1)

Clubs:

Horse crazy (1)

Indoor/Outdoor Games (1)

Young Ladies' Society (2)

Preschool (2)

 

Also, if you have any other ideas for clubs, that you would be willing to lead, please let us know about that, too.

 

Don't forget the picnic is next week. Details to follow in a separate post.

 

Cheers,

The Senior Advisor

Fall Planning Meeting

Tonight we will have our fall planning meeting for the 2013-2014 school year.

It will be held at Denny's in Mt. Jackson at 7 p.m.

The club will pay for drinks and desserts. If you need supper, that is on you. ;)

Please come out and support our new leaders Rebekah Postupak and Barb Oakes. (We still have not made a decision on a third leader, so please be in prayer for that.)

Also, tonight is the night for you to give your opinion about anything related to HIS. And since this is YOUR group, we want YOUR thoughts.

So, as I always say, Be There OR Be Square!

~~The Senior Advisor