Fall Bucket List
Today is the first official day of FALL! It’s a time when hopefully the air starts to cool, the leaves may begin to change, and pumpkin spice is everywhere. It is the one time of year the store shelves are full of pumpkin-spiced-scented candles and the pumpkin/fall décor is lining the aisles. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. When the season hits, I tend to make a list of what all I want to try and do this fall. Starting with… I love having football on the tv and homemade chili simmering on the stove while curled up on the couch under my cozy blanket. It brings me back to some of my favorite childhood memories and always gives me that warm homey feeling. What gives you that childhood warm homey feeling? Is it baking chocolate chip cookies or making a hot bubbling apple pie with a family member and then cooling it down with the cold vanilla ice cream? Or is it getting to pick out a caramel-covered apple and wash it down with hot apple cider at a Fall Festival?
When we lived in Indiana many years ago, we only had two of our three kids at the time (the third one wasn’t born yet), we would have a family day and take them to one of our local farms that put on a Harvest Festival every year. The kids would have so much fun laughing and running around playing the different games they had set up, winning treats to take home (actually they never made it home because they would eat them there), attempting the different mazes they put together, and then finishing up with the hayride that takes you to the pumpkin patch where you get to pick out your perfect pumpkin to take home and carve with your family in preps for Halloween. Before we would take the kids out to trick or treat, we would light up their little pumpkins that were on the porch and the joy and excitement on their faces will be one I will never forget.
Family memories are amazing to make, and I will forever be grateful to the people who put on these festivals every year for families to enjoy. This is one reason why I love to get involved with our church’s annual Fall Festival every year. Becoming a part of something for not only my church family but all our families out in the community brings so much joy and happiness. Knowing that I have become a small piece in helping make memories for these children and their families that they will hold onto for a lifetime is such a blessing. Our fall festival takes a lot of pieces to put together and organize each year. I am blessed that God has put together such an amazing crew to work with and we still need more pieces to make it amazing. What’s on your fall bucket list this year? Would you like to be a part of making family memories that they hold onto for years to come? If so, please feel free to contact the church office so we can get you added to our crew! Now time for me to start planning the theme for my trunk this year to pass out candy to the smiling faces.
Jen Neely is our Preschool Assistant Director. She enjoys cooking, being artsy, and raising her three amazing children.
In The Seat
2 years ago, the world shut down, when COVID hit, a lot of places were told to close their doors. People were mandated to social distance and were told not to go out and with that a lot of businesses and churches started to go online as best they could. It has been amazing to see the growth of Navarre United Methodist Church online service throughout these past couple years and, although it has been very enjoyable to sit out on my back porch poolside drinking my morning coffee while watching and listening to service, there’s just something about being in person at church on a Sunday morning. The online service has given the opportunity to reach so many more than just our community and has been an asset to help grow our congregation. I enjoy watching when people type in the comments “Good Morning from…….” And see how far we are. Did you know that we have had people watching as far as Germany! How awesome is that! It has also allowed our daughter who has grown up in NUMC the opportunity to attend when she is away at college in a different state and not miss a beat!
Attending on Sundays and singing along with the band and listening to the word of God, it is an indescribable feeling and connection when inside a great church environment. I’ve always believed that Jesus is with you wherever you go, not just when you’re in church, but he’s with you at home and in your car sitting in traffic, or even at the store while dealing with the crowds. Being a Christian doesn’t mean you have to have perfect church attendance every Sunday, but when you are able to be in person and present, the people connection doesn’t compare to the computer connection. There has come a lot of success with church online and I, for one, am excited that our church has that as an option because if I am out of town on vacation or sick at home, I can still attend my church on Sunday morning and not miss a thing. On Sundays I’ve sat regularly at home for church online for a long time, I am back in person and am looking forward to continuing to grow alongside my congregation.
Bible Journaling
The Lord works in many different and amazing ways. He has created and wired his children all a bit different. He puts you through experiences, brings people in and out along your path, and at times you don’t understanding why they are here or have to leave. Although things sometimes get hard and God puts you through challenging obstacles, He has a plan and at times you have to walk alone with him. Other times you’re blessed to walk with a group. As I like to say, “Everything happens for a reason and there’s a reason everything happens and at times we may never understand it, but he has a plan”. It’s a quote I use often, especially raising my own kids and supporting them through good days and bad, ups and downs, challenges, and successes.
One way I connect and walk with God (to try understanding the plan) and build myself to be better is through one thing I truly enjoy, and that is Bible journaling. I can journal whether I’m alone in my living room or with a group of people who become friends. Bible Journaling is, and can be, a form of Bible studying. When many people hear “Bible study” they immediately think it is just a group of people getting together to read a big book about God. When wanting to become more involved with your church or with the Lord, most people look into joining a group. A lot of churches offer many different types of groups to become more involved, not only with God, but with others in your community. In looking for a group you want to find one that you can stay interested in and enjoy your time. Well bible journaling became just that!
Once I became part of a journaling group (and eventually led a Bible journaling group) not only did it benefit me and help me become closer to God and stay interested in reading through my Bible, but it also gave me the opportunity to introduce this new way of Bible study to others. A group that would read, color, and draw in your Bible… I know sounds crazy, but it wasn’t just normal coloring and drawing. After reading a few pages or a verse that stood out to you, you could design and put something that helps remind you of it, or a reflection of how it made you feel or relate. I am definitely not one who is able to remember verses from the Bible to quote them often, so I use images to put with the verses to help my memory with the way I’m wired. You can go simple on pages with just colors and small drawings or phrases or you can get more detailed with your artwork.
My favorite is to use Disney and some of my favorite childhood themes. For one example, I read Matthew 7:7 and on that page I kept it simple, I wrote the phrase “Knock and it will be opened to you” and along with it , I drew the Alice in wonderland doorknob. Another favorite is Mark 1:12-13 and with that verse I went more detailed and I drew red riding hood and the wolf in the forest. Now every time I see something that reminds me of wolves or hear the story of red riding hood, I remember that verse and how it makes me feel. Along with that, you are surrounded by others and get to make bonds and memories with people you know or are getting to know. I feel it is a very creative and different way to learn about the bible and be involved with others. It’s a fun, relaxed learning environment, which helps us be more open minded to trying something new. Everyone is wired differently and therefore learns differently. I am very blessed and thankful for the ones who introduced me to be creative with and in the bible to build my understanding of God’s plan.
Jen Neely is our Preschool Assistant Director. She enjoys cooking, being artsy, and raising her three amazing children.
My First Blog
When I was asked about doing a blog back in mid-October, I took one look at them and was like “Nope, not doing one. I’ve never done one, it’s not my thing, I don’t know how.” You see, I’m not big on, or in the know about, a lot of online stuff or the computer world. I mean I have never even really read a blog (until now) or gotten into that sort of thing. It took me a long time when emails became a thing to start using one and what felt like forever to figure out Facebook. Even now, I am not a big fan but I had to learn for my kids’ schools and activities because that is how they put information out to the parents. I do have to say, it was helpful living overseas to be able to Shae pictures and stories with family members stateside. However, after some more conversation and knowing that on the schedule I had until mid-December to figure it ou, I decided why not? How hard could it really be? So, me being me, I started googling and scrolling through Pintret “What is a Blog?”, “How to Blog”, and “How to start a Blog”. The amount of information coming across my device screens was totally overwhelming. My anxiety about something new and uncomfortable would start to increase, so I would close the computer or swipe out of my phone and say “I’ll do this later.”
After continuing to do this multiple times and then getting in the groove of the holidays with work and home life, I totally space on working on it. The person in charge came to me on the day is was due and asked if I had it finished. My first thought was “oh crap” and of course I apologized profusely and asked for a new date promising to do it then. With him being the amazing person that he is, he gave me a new date in January.
So, again I opened up my computer and started the whole “How to start a Blog” search. But instead of closing the laptop and giving up because it felt overwhelming, I decided to adult and started scanning over all the options to click on. Apparently, there are multiple ways to start a blog. For example, one link said “8 Steps to Start Blogging”, “9 Steps to Start Your Blog”, “Sign up here to Start Blogging”. There were way too many options in my opinion. And then there are multiple layouts you can use to help get you started on your topic. Some of those you had to subscribe to in order to access. My thought was “nope, I get too many junk things sent to e as it is”, and went back to searching.
The more I decided to adult and read everything, the more different pieces of information I pulled from and concluded that a blog is basically just someone, somewhere talking about anything. I sat in my chair and thought “Well, now what am I going to write about? Do I need to use a layout? Can I just type?” Too many decisions and not enough coffee. I get told that I overthink things and that I am overthink this. As I stare at the blank page on my laptop, it clicked. I can write about my experience of having to write my first blog. I decided not to use a fancy layout and just typed like I am sitting across from you with a cup of coffee talking about myself and my insecurities when it comes to learning something new that has to deal with technology. So here’s my first blog. If I’m asked to do one again I may try one of those fancy layouts with an interesting topic like “How to…” or “Did you know…”. But for now, I suppose I’ll conclude with this thought.
Don’t be afraid of trying something new. You can learn something cool or learn about gibberish that you still don’t understand, but hey, you gave it a shot right? I’m going to keep trying and who knows, maybe I will get good at these one day.