YOUTH ACTIVITIES AND MORE - read through the following to see what we have been up to!
A number of our people this summer were able to attend resident camp at Lutheran Memorial Camp north of Columbus, Ohio. They all have so many good memories to share. Karen Izor shares some of her memories by listing her top 12 favorite camp songs (in no particular order)....
-Humpty-Dump
-Amazing Grace (funky style)
-Waves of Mercy (a.k.a. Every Move I Make)
-The Moose
-I Had a Little Turtle
-The Hippo Song
-Love the Lord Your God (a round)
-God is Good and God is Great (to the Jaws theme)
-The Buffalo Song
-The Shark Song (baby, mamma, grandpa and daddy shark)
-Keep My Eyes on You
The Lions Song
Shelby Stephens and Megan Davis highly recommend the following games!! Try them today!!!
Have you heard of the Kids Bible? There is not only a Kids Bible in print but there is also a website with Bible activities and more. Check it out and tell us what you think about it! http://kidsbible.com/
This is funny! Try this puzzle from Europe. Is that German or Dutch or what? Anyway, God thinks you are tops! http://home.wanadoo.nl/gouwegroep/fotopuzzel.html
Want to play a good game of checkers? Try this Christian site: http://christiananswers.net/kids/checkers/home.html
Do you like to color? This is a Christian page you can color that changes each month: http://christiananswers.net/kids/coloring-chameleon.html
ONGOING ACTIVITIES INCLUDE...........
Our elementary youth meet regularly for music and more. We begin this at 4:00 on Monday afternoon.
Our junior high youth meet for confirmation instruction. This class is from 6:30-7:30 on Thursday evenings
Our High School youth meet weekly for youth night. Our HS youth meet from 4-7 on Wednesday afternoons.
Our toddlers meet with their mothers in the nursery for Toddler Time on Thursday morning beginning at 10:30. Check out their activities and their website at http://www.geocities.com/sjtoddlertime@sbcglobal.net/index.html
!!!!!!!!!! Lots of surprises at this place!!!!!!!!!!! COME AND BE A PART OF ALL THE EXCITEMENT!
Day Camp 2005 was terrific and bigger than ever with a 50% increase. We can't wait for 2006. You will want to join us. Our Day Camp is for youth from pre-school through high school. Each day it is from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Connect and read about other Lutheran youth at http://www.thelutheran.org/young/
Here is the official youth website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America http://www.elca.org/dcm/youth/
TOP 10 UNUSUAL MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH GROUP:
10-setting a new record of 14 baskets of chips eaten at Chi-Chi's.
9-giant pillow fight at the synod youth gathering.
8-making snow angels while in swimsuits.
7-breaking the pastor's back window in his van.
6-visiting a local funeral home (who got sick?)
5-a record three spills of sodas at one meal in a local restaurant.
4-lost while rafting on the Miami River.
3-receiving a free birthday ice cream special at Chi-Chi's and then dropping it while walking back to the table.
2-getting pulled over by the police for running around the car at an intersection.
1-finding out those who were running around the car were the adult leaders.
Here are some pictures of the pastor in non-pastoral activities:
Here are some pictures from the "inventing flight" event in downtown Dayon. Check out the pants made by our organist Sidney Wagner. Does he have them pulled up high enough or what? http://www.daytondailynews.com/inventingflight/content/inventingflight/gallery/0706celebration4.html
Pastor Hout meets a man from NASA at inventing flight and finds out he can juggle. Guess what? Next thing you know they are passing. These are two pictures from the NASA website with Martin, an engineer with an avid interest in shooting rockets.....http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/outreach/flight/pages/dayton63.htm
.........................http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/outreach/flight/pages/dayton75.htm
HERE IS A YEAR'S WORTH OF ACTIVITIES.............
September 6th - Our unicyclists ride in the Holiday at Home parade with thousands of cheering spectators! Read more about unicycling at http://www.unicycling.org/
October 17th - In worship we had a special visit from the world famous magician "Dima". Dima says "Priviet" (Hi in Russian) http://www.ru/
October 17th - Oktoberfest with lots of dancing, food, costumes, a caricature artist, balloons, bracelet making and more. http://www.oktoberfest.de/
October 24th - Hayride at Hook's farm starting with bonfire and cider and a pumpkin for everyone. http://www.pumpkin-carving.com/
Early Thanksgiving morning - a small group of nearly 5,000 people gather to run the annual Turkey Trot in downtown Miamisburg. Among the group are a number of St. Jacob folks. Get ready for the next Turkey Trot by checking out the following site: http://www.ibiblio.org/drears/running/running.html.....................and here is the official site of the Ohio River Road Runners Club that organizes this largest run in the midwest http://www.orrrc.org/
November 25th - Thanksgiving Day Meal at St. Jacob for the community. We served nearly 150 people on this day of giving thanks. http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/
December 15th - Our sanctuary was packed beyond belief for the Christmas tour of Lost and Found, the Fitz Family Jugglers and a drama team. We had over 400 people in our sanctuary for this wonderful Christmas Concert and Family Night. Here's some stuff that Lost and Found has for sale: http://www.speedwood.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=stuff&Category_Code=ALL...........and here is a site that tells about one of their instruments: http://www.teachingtools.com/SlinkyShindig/slinky.html
December 20th and 22nd - Even heavy snow doesn't slow our Christmas Caroling by our elementary youth and jr./sr. high schoolers. They used chimes (like handbells) as they caroled! http://www.agehr.org/
December 27th - Overnighter with Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Oakwood at their historic building (connected to the Patterson mansion). http://www.mvcc.net/Oakwood/
Late January - Our High Schoolers go to the synod youth gatherings at Deer Creek State Park (southwest of Columbus) and most recently at the Robert's Center in Wilmington. What a great event for our high schoolers. Here's the Robert's Center: http://www.robertscenter.com/
February 12 - Sock Hop organized by the fellowship committee with lots of help from the high school youth. http://www.sockhops.com/
Early March - The High School youth group listens to the Pool Boys at Epiphany Lutheran. They are so excited afterwards that they run into the pastor's car and break a large side window. http://members.tripod.com/~cityglass/customautoglass.html
March 26 - Our annual Lenten Fair is a great way to learn about our faith in an interactive way. Lots of great hands on activities and food! http://hometown.aol.com/ruthjoec/Lent.html
April 7 - Our high schoolers headed off to see the Circus at the University of Dayton arena. I'm sure they got a lot of new ideas from all those acts like http://hula-hoops.com/
April 8 - Please keep Christy Hardin in your prayers as she joins 60 other youth from around the synod as a part of "Faith Trek" with the bishop. It will be an exciting year of leadership development and activity. One of their big events will be a trip to Chicago and a visit to the national church offices. http://www.southernohiosynod.org/
April 15 - Our unicyclists and jugglers participated in the Bellbrook Sugar Maple parade. We had great weather and nearly 20 participants. http://cityofbellbrook.org/sugar_maple.htm
April 23 - Easter service will be proceeded by the annual Easter breakfast and an Easter Egg hunt. The eggs will be hid by the junior and high school youth for the younger children of the parish. Did you know the one who makes the eggs for egg rolling on the White House lawn is our friend Don Olney who has visited St. Jacob on several occasions: http://www.toycrafter.com/whitehouse.htm
May 20 - The big local Spring Fling parade and we are the defending "Grand Marshal Award" winners. It was great to see our parade unit in action on a route that went right by our church building! Does this mean we are ready for the Rose Parade? http://www.rosebowl.com/current/parade.htm
May-June-Lego mania hits our youth! People decided that it was time to play with legos. They made countless items and creative things with their little plastic blocks. Here's a website for true legomaniacs http://www.adequate.com/lego/
June 4 - The famous annual St. Jacob Talent Show gets better every year. Here's a site to encourage talent development: http://www.familyeducation.com/article/0,1120,1-11628,00.html
June 4 - Pastor Hout gets a pez container for his desk and within minutes the entire contents is consumed. Read more about pez at http://www.pez.com/
June, July and August - Our summer Sunday School is the best featuring Veggie Tales! http://www.veggietales.net/
June 17 - World Juggling Day on the lawn in front of the church was wonderful with dozens of jugglers and music by the Herb Greggerson Dixie Land band. http://www.best.com/~kquick/bands.html
July 5-9 - We sent a group of five to the National ELCA Youth Gathering in St. Louis. Check us out at in our Luther hats (compliments of the handiwork of Sidney Wagner) and in our nerd glasses at: http://web.mit.edu/vanessah/www/ Be sure to look in the photo section and click on #34 and #39 at the bottom of the page.
July 17-21 - Day Camp at our parish was great again with 80 youth from our church and the community! There were wonderful counselors from LOMO (Lutheran Outdoor Ministries in Ohio). http://www.lomocamps.org/
during Day Camp - Grace Myers gets Pastor Hout some candy called jelly belly. Like pez in his office, it is quickly consumed. Check out their website http://www.jellybelly.com/
August 26 - Whirled Top Championships on Market Square in downtown Miamisburg was a big hit. We saw the 1890's come alive with this fun morning of top throwing with our special guest Don Olney (the Toycrafter) www.toycrafter.com Most recently we had our fifth annual Top Festival and Dale Oliver was the guest: www.spintastics.com
September 10th - Our annual Rally Day activities to rally behind our Sunday School and get it off to a great start on another year. Here are some Rally Day ideas: http://www.elca.org/eteam/assessment/telling218.htm
