Attention all Grade 4, 5, & 6 Students and Parents!

We are back into the swing of things again after a nice Christmas break! Charged Up! our Tween event will be starting up again on Tuesday, February 7th at 6:30 — 8:00 pm here at Trinity!

Our events are geared specifically with your Tween in mind–they’re crazy, high-energy, and fun events will a small devotional time that will connect with your kids!

This time around the girls will be engaging in a Zumba night! What’s Zumba? Well, it’s a high-energy, aerobic, dance-type event. We are bringing in a local Zumbatomic  instructor to help us out and to ensure that your girls will have the best experience possible. All the music is appropriate as are the movements as this program is geared for kids ages 4-12! *Moms are invited to join their daughters for this event.*

Meanwhile, the guys will be taking part in learning some Kung-Fu moves from a local martial arts teacher.

February is Fitness oriented for sure so make sure your Tween is dressed to move around. As always, we ask you to encourage your kids to invite their friends and please bring a toonie to cover some basic costs of the event.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Lisa at lgaytan-berg@trinitybaptist.net  in the Adventureland office. No registration required for this month. We hope to see you there!!

Attention Parents of Infants & Preschoolers! Our Trinity Care ministry is offering an eight-week parenting course just for you! Starting on January 23rd from 6:30Pm–7:45Pm Janine Lavroff will be walking you through a Willow Creek based program to assist you in parenting your precious little ones!

This group will help you as a parent as you learn to see parenting from your child’s perspective. The course will cover the following topics from a child’s perspective: My Body, My Feelings, My Relationships, My Intellect, My Spiritual and Moral Development.

Take advantage of this opportunity to learn from other parents and celebrate the chance to parent your children and deeply impact their lives and your family for years to come.

The course is free of charge with childcare provided for a small one-time fee of $20/family should you take advantage of this care made available.

Register by January 19th by calling Carol Stevens at: (250) 860-3273 or emailing her directly at: cstevens@trinitybaptist.net

We hope to see you there!

As we look forward in 2012, here are a few highlights to consider for the month of January!

–This month Adventureland is partnering with our Youth ministry to raise funds to go to Bolivia! All of the funds that are collected during January from our spiral giving well will go towards this ministry. It’s kids helping kids this month!

–Starting on January 4, our Moms and Tots Group is meeting again on Wednesday mornings in the Preschool Wing from 9:00am-11:00am. Come meet up with other Moms and have a built-in playdate here at Trinity! For more information, please contact us in Adventureland

–Charged Up! our Grade 4, 5, & 6 event is taking a breather this month.  Our team is finalizing the details for a special night in February for your tweens so stay tuned for details!

And finally, our team is excitedly preparing for our Adventure Zone Day Camps for summer!! We are thrilled to announce that our Preschool Camps will be running again this summer as legislation was changed to allow for us to host again! Camp dates are as follows:

July 9-13  Sports Zone Camp

July 9-13 Preschool Camp #1

July 23-27 Grade School Camp (Grades 1-6)

July 23-27 Preschool Camp #2

We will be sending out an informative newsletter with more detailed information on the theme and what to expect along with important dates in the next few weeks–if you are not on our mailing list, please contact Lisa Gaytan-Berg lgaytan-berg@trinitybaptist.net to get your name on the email distribution list.

Also, featured in January is the LIFE OF CHRIST curriculum for Preschool kids and MYSTERIOUS STORIES OF THE BIBLE curriculum for Grade school kids. Check out a detailed look of what your kids will be learning!

LIFE OF CHRIST

January Preschool Curriculum

Jan 1 — Families Together for the New Year!

Jan 7/8 — Teaching in the Temple (Luke 2:41-50)

Jan 14/15 — Jesus’ Baptism (Matt. 3:13-17)

Jan 21/22 — Jesus Prays (John 17; Matt. 6:5-13)

Jan 28/29 — The Two Greatest Commandments (Matt. 22:34-40)

Monthly Memory Verse: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” (Matt. 22:37)

MYSTERIOUS STORIES OF THE BIBLE

Grade School Curriculum

Jan 1 – Families Together for the New Year

Jan 7/8 — Naaman & the Search for a Cure (2 Kings 5)

Memory Verse: Ecclesiastes 4:9

Jan 14/15 — Elisha & the Missing Axe Head (2 Kings 6) Memory Verse: Galatians 6:3

Jan 21/22 — Daniel & the King’s Dream (Daniel 4) Memory Verse: Luke 4:8b

Jan 28/29 — King Saul & the Missing Shepherd ( 1 Samuel 24)

Memory Verse: Matthew 5:7

We want to celebrate the Advent season together with your family as we prepare to remember the birth of Jesus.  Many of you have picked up your Christmas magnet, but if you haven’t, be sure to ask our Adventureland staff.  For this final week, as we continue to prepare our hearts for this season, we want to remember with our children that it’s all about “Happy Birthday Jesus!”

• Fear Not! – Our kids and our church family have been reminded of this message brought to us by the angel, Gabriel and then, lived out through the Baby Jesus.  We all have fears.  For our kids, it could be someone on the playground at recess, worries at school, a grandparent’s health, things they hear about on the 6:00 news.  Talk together about fears that we may have, but then remind the kids that one of the titles Jesus came to fulfill was that He would be our “Prince of Peace.”  The angel army of heaven proclaimed in Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.”  Pray together that God will fill our hearts and the hearts of those we love with His peace throughout this year.
• The Census Classic – This activity has become a Christmas classic in our family.  Give each family member a box of Smarties or M&Ms, a pencil or crayons and paper.  Have them take a census of all the different candies and colors that they have in their package.  Talk about how they have just taken a census of their candies.  A census is when a special count is taken of the citizens of a country.  When Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for a census, they were fulfilling a prophecy from Micah 5:2 – then read Luke 2:1 – 5.
• The Wonder of Worship – Many of us have the tradition of pulling out Luke 2 as we read it around the Christmas tree.  For younger children, you may want to read together until verse 20, for your grade schoolers, keep going to verse 38 and see if your kids can pull out all of the worship that happened at the birth of Jesus.  There’s the angels, Mary, the shepherds, Joseph, Simeon and Anna.  They were surprised, amazed and filled with wonder at what God was doing through the gift of the baby Jesus.
• Christmas Day is Drawing Near – If you can sing the tune to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” – here’s a Christmas song for you and your little ones.

Christmas Day is drawing near,

Bringing hope and lasting cheer.

Count the days till Jesus comes,

Bringing hope to everyone.

Christmas Day is drawing near,

Bringing hope and lasting cheer.

We have much to celebrate this Christmas – God is with us!

Because Children Matter,

Carol A. Wiebe

We want to celebrate the Advent season together with your family as we prepare to remember the birth of Jesus.  Many of you have picked up your Christmas magnet, but if you haven’t, be sure to ask our Adventureland staff.  For this third week, we want to think together about the Christmas story as found in Luke 2.

The verse on our magnet comes from verse 11 – “Unto to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.”

• We’re Waiting! – Ask your kids to describe a time when they had to wait for something.  Maybe it’s waiting for the doctor to come.  Maybe it’s waiting in traffic to get across the bridge inKelowna!  Maybe it’s waiting for a special family trip toDisneyland.  How did it feel when the waiting was over?  God’s people waited a long time for a Savior to come.  Have your older children look up these promises that talk about waiting and how God kept His promises:  Isaiah 9:6/Luke 2:11-12; Isaiah 11:1-2/Matthew 3:16-17; Micah 5:2/Matthew 2:1; Zechariah 9:9/John 12:12-16.
• What’s It Worth? – There will be times throughout the next couple of weeks where kids are coming along while you do your Christmas shopping.  While you’re shopping, pick up an item and ask the kids what they think it’s worth – and have them guess the price tag on the item.  Have them decide if the item is really worth what the store is asking for it.  Repeat this a few times.  Then, end by finding a very expensive item and repeat the process.  Ask the kids, “If our family purchased this item, how would we treat it in our home?”  Then, ask them, how much do you think Jesus is worth?  There is no price tag that could describe the value of the gift God gave to us in His Son, Jesus.  This Christmas, we want to recognize the worth of Jesus and worship Him.
• He is Closer Than You Think! – If you have a nativity set, take the small figure of baby Jesus to use for this activity.  Gather everyone together and choose a “hider” and a “finder”.  The “finder” leaves the room while the “hider” hides baby Jesus somewhere in the room.  Then, choose a favorite Christmas carol to sing while the “finder” looks for baby Jesus.  Sing softly when the “finder” is far away and sing LOUDLY as they get closer to the spot.  When baby Jesus is found, everyone celebrates.  Continue until everyone has had a chance to be both the “hider” and the “finder”.  Ask your kids if Jesus is close to us, or far away from us?  Then read Isaiah 7:14 together as family, and thank God together that the child Jesus is God’s sign that “God is with us”!

Because Children Matter,

Carol A. Wiebe

As with the other Charged Up! nights we ask that you send a Toonie to cover the cost of putting on the event and encourage your tweenager to bring a friend!

If you have any questions, please contact us.

We want to celebrate the Advent season together with your family as we prepare to remember the birth of Jesus.  At each Adventureland sign-in
station, we have one gift for each family.  We want to encourage you to pick your gift up at the station of the youngest member of your family.  For this second week, we want to think together about the “Trust and Love” that Jesus came to bring.  Hope these ideas work for you and yours!

• Gifts From the Past – In a gift bag or box, place the name of Jesus, or a picture of Jesus – don’t let the kids see it.  As a family, take turns playing charades and act out your favorite gift from a past Christmas.  See if the other family members can guess what it is.  Ask the kids what happens to gifts after you’ve had them for a long time – they quit working, they break or parts get lost.  Bring out the gift and ask the kids to guess what they think is inside the box.  When you open it, explain how Jesus is a gift that will last forever.  We can enjoy the gifts we get this Christmas, we can be thankful for them, we can share them, but we know, they won’t last forever.  God’s gift is too wonderful for words – He gave His Son Jesus.  Then, have one of your grade schoolers look up 2 Corinthians 9:15 – “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

• Do You Trust Me? – Set up a simple obstacles course in your family room (pillows, chairs, boxes, nothing breakable!).  Blindfold one of your children and have someone talk them through the course.  Then, slightly rearrange the course and have Mom and Dad take a turn –  the kids will love directing you!  Ask each person how they felt when they walked through the course blindfolded?  Why was it important to listen and to trust what the other person told you to do?  God loved us so much, He sent His Son Jesus, to make a way for us to come back to God.  God wants to direct our paths and show us the way we should go.  We need to trust in God’s love for us.  Read John 1:1 – 5, 14 together as a family.

• Great Big Love – Have your kids create and decorate a great, big red heart.  Throughout the week, think through the alphabet together as a family of things that we know and love about Jesus.  “A” could be “Almighty God”, and here are two others for this week – “Trust” and “Love”.  Did you get from A to Z?

• Candy Cane Clues – They’re in all the stores, but purchase the original red and white candy canes.  Find a Christmas story book, break out the candy canes and after the story, have the kids think of ways a candy cane might remind them of the Christmas story.  It looks like a “J”, the first letter of Jesus’ name.  It is shaped like a shepherd’s crook – they were the first ones to hear about Jesus’ birth!  The color red reminds us that Jesus died for us.  White reminds us of the clean heart He gives us when we ask Him to forgive us.  It tastes sweet, and the Christmas story is the sweetest story ever told!

Because Children Matter,

Carol A. Wiebe

Dear Adventureland families: 

We want to celebrate the Advent season together with your family as we prepare to remember the birth of Jesus! At each sign-in station in Adventureland, we have one gift for each family.  We want to encourage you to pick up your gift at the sign-in station for your youngest member of your family.

During the first week of Advent we want to think about Jesus and the ‘Helping, Caring and Giving’ He came to bring.  Here are some ideas to help reinforce this with your family this week!

          1. Switch & Swap — Here’s an opportunity to expand on the family’s understanding on how to help each other.  Have each person write one of their main chores they do each day on a slip of paper.  Put them all in a jar and have each person in the family draw a new chore they will do for that day or for the week.  At the end of the day/week ask:    

We have a plan! Keep reading…

Rock Solid Choir Christmas!

The ‘Fear Not Factor’ production is just around the corner! Keep reading…

CHARGED UP! Our Grade 4, 5, 6 Event!

When tweenagers are CHARGED UP! - you know it! The next event is on December 6 from 6:30 – 8:00pm. Keep reading…

We’ve Moved to One!

At Trinity, we have “Moved to One!” Adventureland will now be offered at all three weekend services.  Keep reading…

Bring One! Buy One! 

This month we are supporting “Operation Christmas Child” in Adventureland… Keep reading…

Parents and Tots

Parents & Tots meet every Wednesday morning from 9 am to 11 am… Keep reading

Volunteer Opportunities

We have opportunities to connect with kids as we take them on an adventure with God! Keep reading…