Friday, July 26, 2013

Family Information for Sunday, July 28, 2013


Hello Families and Friends of Westside,
 
Hope everyone is doing well this lovely Friday evening, and has enjoyed this magnificent week of sunshine!
 
Just a quick reminder that this Sunday there is going to be a multigenerational service (one of only two this summer). This means there will be no RE class this week, however the Nursery will be open for kids ages six months to four years old. All kids over four are encouraged to attend the upbeat service centered around drumming and rhythm. Below is the description of the service to get a better understanding of what it will be like.
  
"In this multigenerational service, congregation member John Britt, along with the beat of our Westside drummers, will remind us of some simple life lessons from the drum circle in this all-percussion service. Both the individual impulse and the united beat of community fill the cycles of our human experience. In this service, our youngest and our eldest community members will experience joyful rhythms and diverse rhythms together, from different cultures."
 
Hope to see everyone there!
Mackenzie
 
 
Announcements:
Middle School Con Registration: Families of middle schoolers –  Fall Con registration is open! September 27-29, Vashon Island. The registration form is attached here. I encourage you to register in August to get the cheaper rate. Please make a copy of your registration for Betsy so she has accurate medical information. She will be attending Fall Con with our middle schoolers. Also, contact her directly if you have any questions (Betsy Lowry, dre@wsuu.org410-274-2018). 

Teaching and Advising in our RE Programs: We like to say that our children are our future. Well, Westside is making beautiful contributions to the future, as we help our children and youth to navigate their hearts, their self-confidence, their faith development, and their social justice sensibilities. Our children and youth come eagerly to our Sunday classes, to our special events and youth groups, and multigenerational worship and other activities. They blossom – from infant and active toddler size to middle and high school youth – in the safe and nurturing environments of our RE classes and programs. They grow and learn by being in relationship with their adult teachers. WE NEED TEACHERS! We want to offer our best to these precious gems of our community. Come talk with anyone on the RE Council, or anyone who has taught before to learn more about the connections you will make with other teachers and the difference you can make in kids’ lives. Let Betsy Lowry (dre@wsuu.org 410-274-2018) or Julie Forkasdi, RE Council Chair (julieforkasdi@email.com) know of your interest to contribute to our RE ministry.

OWL Update: We are offering two OWL classes this year, our Junior High OWL for 7th and 8th graders, and our elementary OWL for 4th and 5thgraders. The Junior High class will likely begin in October and end in April, meeting early on Sunday evenings. The elementary class has eight sessions, and the time of year will be determined with the teaching team and parent input. OWL is a significantly important experience for our children and youth, and requires a serious commitment on the part of families. We look forward to rich experiences with bonding and community building, trustbuilding, and learning in our OWL adventures this year. We now have solid teaching teams in place, and we will offer informational meetings for families in August. See Betsy Lowry (dre@wsuu.org) if you have any questions.

Coming of Age Program: Coming of Age (COA) is a program that marks the transition from childhood to young adult. UU’s generally emphasize four areas in the COA experience: pairing youth with adult mentors; discussions and retreats that emphasize self-awareness and confidence-building; service to the church and community; and a culminating affirmation ceremony. We are offering a COA program this year for any high schoolers from grades 9-11 who have not yet had this experience. Our class will start and end with retreats, and will meet on Sunday mornings every other week. We have a teaching team in place who is planning the curriculum and experiences for this program, and we will invite youth and families to an information meeting in August. See Betsy Lowry (dre@wsuu.org) if you have any questions.  

Family Information for Sunday, July 21, 2013


Hello Friends and Families of Westside,
 
Good evening everyone, hope you all had a fantastic week. And if not, well at least it's the weekend!
 
Speaking of, we have a great Sunday session for the kids group (ages 5-12). Tom Townsend and Amy Hance-Brancati will be teaching about an organization called Wild Burro Rescue, which as the name implies rescues wild burros (aka donkeys) from Death Valley National Park. Our own Tom worked for them for two years, where he was deeply impacted by the burros' gentle nature and intelligence. His lesson for Sunday is to relay his passion for the organization and the animal through a cool PowerPoint, art, and some games!
 
For kids aged 6 weeks to 4 years the Nursery will be open. All teens are encouraged to come, and can either help out downstairs (for service hours!!), or enjoy the service. This weeks service we'll hear from Marcus Green about finding heroism in an ordinary man's extraordinary actions, rather than an extraordinary man's (think Superman, Black Widow, Capitan  America) unrealistic actions. Should be quite interesting!
 
Hope to see you then!
Mackenzie

Family Information for Sunday, July 14, 2013


Hey Friends and Families of Westside,
Hey everyone this week is going to be super fun! Thomas Terence and Jeanette Hitch are going to lead our multi-age (usually 5-12) group in some adrenaline pumping and teambuilding games!! Through the games and Thomas and Jeanette's guidance they will learn more about the Unitarian values of acceptance, support, and feeling love from the community just the way you are.                                                                                                                                                                                
For children ages 6 weeks to 4 years old we also have an amazing nursery open. However all youth are encouraged to attend our service, which is about how Unitarian Universalists discern our own beliefs about spiritual, ethical and theological issues under an umbrella of shared principles.    
Hopefully we'll see you Sunday!
Mackenzie

Family Information for Sunday, July 7, 2013


Hello Families and Friends of Westside!

Hope you're all enjoying this beautiful, sunny, July 4th weekend.  

This week in our RE program, our children and youth ages 5-12 will learn about Seal Sitters, a volunteer group dedicated to protecting marine mammals in our urban, Puget Sound habitat. Karin Cumming, a committed member of this group, will share her experiences with seal pups and the work that Seal Sitters does. And we'll watch some videos to see it in action!

Just a reminder that our Nursery is open for children ages 6 weeks to 4 years old. Our older middle and our high school youth are invited to enjoy our service. This week in our service we'll hear about "Summertime Spiritual Practice" from Kevin Lawson, a UU ministry candidate.  

See you on Sunday!
Mackenzie

Family Information for Sunday, June 30, 2013


Hello Families and Friends of Westside!

I am Mackenzie Murphy, your new RE Summer Coordinator, and I'm looking forward to meeting more of you in the coming months! 

We have a super fun class planned this week for our kids ages 5-12. Keo Capestany will be our guest speaker, to share the story of Plumitas about a purebred canary that could not sing, and how it was that we discovered its reason for not being able to do it.  We're going to learn about why dogs and cows do not have to learn their "language," and we're going to learn about why Cuna natives from Panama do not want to be called "Cuna" anymore!! Lots of interesting things to talk about, connected to several of our core UU principles!

Just a reminder that our Nursery is open for children ages 6 weeks to 4 years old. Our older middle and our high school youth are invited to enjoy our service. This week we'll hear from Peg, our Board President Joe Rettenmaier, and Lewis Brancati and Henry Bennett about their General Assembly experience in Louisville. 

See you on Sunday!
Mackenzie