Graystone Kids

These are in no order but I thought I’d let you know some exciting things about Sports Camp 2012 that I’m looking forward to:

1. Our head coaches include: Former Pro Football player leading the Football track; Pro Tennis players teaching Tennis; Archer HS Basketball Coach teaching Basketball; Former Archer softball coach teaching Softball; Pamper Chef Consultants teaching Kitchen Chaos.
2. Orange T-shirts! Available for $5
3. Any child completed kindergarten-5th grade can come for FREE! We have invitations for you to invite your friends and ball teams.
4. Brusters Ice Cream will be served one night. We need lots of Capri-Suns. If you’d like to donate, pick some up when you’re at the grocery store.
5. Love to watch the church come together. Everyone participates during sports camp. Still haven’t volunteered? E-mail me at katie@graystonechurch.com We will have a volunteer meeting this Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
6. Thousands of baseball cards have been sorted and a memory verse has been placed on the back for kids to memorize scripture every night.
7. Rookie will wear a tutu. (that’s funny enough to check out what he’s going to be doing this week)
8. Chopper from Gwinnett Braves will be at camp. We also will have Graystone Night at the stadium June 15.
9. We’ll have a Fast Track check-in option and you can use your key tag!
10. Just booked our entertainment for Thursday night. The only thing I’ll tell you is that we are installing a permanent basketball goal.

I can’t believe it’s 21 days until Sports Camp 2012. We need your help. Please e-mail me at katie@graystonechurch.com if you can volunteer. This Saturday we will have a Work Day to get the facility ready for sports camp! Make plans for  Sunday at 5:30 and we will have a volunteer training. I promise to have you in and out in 45 minutes.

Invite your friends and make sure you are registered to attend. Check out the Web site at www.graystonesportscamp.com

June 4-7 is Sports Camp 2012. We are busy planning and super pumped about it. It’s my favorite week of the year! Our theme is Zapped and our kids will take a journey through the life of Peter as they learn how to plug-in to God’s power. We’ve got some things cooking for Rookie to do this year. He’ll be showing off his “Power!”

I wanted to let you know of some things we need if you’re interested in donating:

• Baby food jars. Please wash them and bring them in. We need them for a craft project.
• Styrofoam cups for water
• Gatorade
• Capri-Suns or Kool-aid Jammers
• And of course any sports equipment

E-mail me if you have any questions! You can pick up baseball cards to pass out to all your friends and family at Guest Services and invite them to camp. Click here to register.

In January Jonathan challenged us to draw circles around things that we need to trust God with. These are HUGE things that only God can do. My prayer circles are a chance for God to change me as I see more of Him. Above is one of many of my prayers that I’ve been praying about for the last five months.

I’m excited to tell you that God answered our prayers and Brie Neuhart will be joining our children’s team on June 1st. Brie has been serving with our kids for years. She’s been a part of Graystone since almost the beginning. God has blessed our children’s ministry so much this past year and I had no doubt He’d find the perfect fit for us! Brie has been teaching 5th grade at Alcova Elementary School for the past 5 years. Welcome to the team, Brie!

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Can you believe it’s already May? Wow! April was an amazing month for our Graystone Kids. Here are a few things I’m thankful for:

• New check-in system.
• New kids’ space design. What do you think about it?
• New elementary space.
• Completed our first year of Good News Club with about 12 salvations from kids at Grayson Elementary!
• Volunteers stepped up multiple times throughout the month and served. Stop in and see our elementary groups. We’ve had more men step-up to serve than ever before.
• Apple and Peach Pies, Frosted Oranges, and hotdogs at the Easter Egg Hunt!

This month your preschooler will be learning To Do What’s Right. “Learn to do what is right.” Isaiah 1:17, NIrV is the memory verse. Food for thought: if you’ve got an early reader, get a Bible with the initials NIrV. The “r” indicates that it’s a Bible for early readers. The Adventure Bibles are great for early readers.

If your elementary child received a W.W.J.D. bracelet, it was to remind them about our theme Conviction that we studied in March. I do have extras if you need one. For May we will be learning about Responsibility! I’m looking forward to what they learn! By the way, Jersey Day was awesome. Our kids were all over the campus! You know your a sports church when some of the lesson for g45 is taught in the infield outside!

Check back later. I’ve got lots of things to share with you this week!

As I have reflected on Easter this past week, God has revealed to me a verse that I wanted to share with you:

I have told you these things, so that in me you have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

There are seasons of life in which circumstances can consume our minds, cause us heartache, and we want more than anything to run so hard the other way because we can’t stand the weight of the burden any longer. This week I received a phone call from a friend whose dad was in a terrible motorcycle accident and my heart ached for her and her family.  I received another phone call as a family member is awaiting test results from a doctor and yet another conversation with a friend whose dad is undergoing chemo and radiation this week. In addition, I’ve been presented with my own burdens. My heart has just ached this week and the verse came to mind over and over again.

Hope. This weekend we remember Jesus’ sacrifice and we will celebrate tomorrow that Jesus is alive! We are only here for a brief time and this world doesn’t even compare to eternal life. There is a hope I have that is indescribable. There is a peace that I cling to that focuses my heart and mind on Jesus. Jesus tells us we will have trouble, so get ready. But, He has overcome. He carried a weight that doesn’t compare to my heart this week and died on a cross. He conquered the grave! You can have hope and peace because Jesus is alive…He has overcome the world.

I’m very excited about about this weekend. I hope you are planning to attend our Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday at 5:30 p.m and are inviting your friends! The hunt will start shortly after 5:30 p.m. with a preschool egg hunt, followed by a 1st-5th grade hunt.

We will be begin hiding eggs at 3 p.m. and need lots of help. If you’re available, come and help us put out over 10,000 eggs. We also need help during the hunt and if you’re able, please respond back. Graystone families are amazing and I appreciate all you do!

Also, The Varsity will be here with lots of food! They will cater hot dogs (naked, chili, onions, etc.), chips, and a drink for $5 and will have frosted oranges, peach and apple pies for $2.50.

Thanks for your help!

Can you believe in a few weeks it will be Easter? I wanted to update you on events coming up:

Monday, March 19 Easter Egg Stuffing Party
10-Noon & 6:30 p.m. – Until
Please drop by any time during those hours to help us stuff over 15,000 eggs!

Sunday, March 25th Easter Egg Hunt
5:30 p.m. Hunts beginning at 5:45. The Varsity will be there so bring extra money for a hotdog, frosted orange and pie!
We will have games, face painting, bounce houses, and a petting zoo!

I hope you’re inviting your friends! It’s going to be so much fun!!

It’s been weeks since I’ve blogged. It’s been so long that I didn’t remember my password and there is a new format! We’ve had an exciting month with Graystone Kids: additional service, tons of new volunteers (and we could always use more), and lots of new families to meet! One of my favorite things that has been going on is Children’s Small Group.

g45 has been studying how to use the Bible and has been walking through the New Testament. Our 1st-3rd grade kids have been learning about missions. This has been so much fun that I wanted to share with you pictures and some of my favorite quotes and things we’ve talked about:

• The children are so excited about what country/area they are learning each week. They “attack” me the first 10 minutes asking, what are we learning today!
• “My family is adopting a child from Haiti.” “Will they be able to get flat screen tvs?”
• “I loved trying pineapple for the first time. It’s so good.”
• We have been praying each Sunday night for the missionaries and countries that we are learning about. Love hearing children pray and how they communicate to Christ.
• We’ve eaten chicken, rice, and plantains from Haiti, oranges, pineapple, tres leches cake, rice and beans, and quesadillas.

It’s been fun to see children get so excited about learning, and they have been so excited to learn new words from the different places. Thanks to everyone who took time to talk with our children: Pastor Jeff from Haiti, Jim & Melinda Hollandsworth – Hope Center, Pat Ball – South Africa, Steve Cohoon – Nepal, Rusty Knight – Costa Rica, Candace Lane – Brazil and of course we learned about how we can missionaries at our schools!

This Sunday is our last small group meeting. It will be wild and crazy night so make sure you come tacky and crazy!

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