Friday, April 10, 2020

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, Friends!

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Spending time this past week Zooming with everyone was so wonderful. Sharing stories, being able to touch base and share special holidays helps to ease the necessity to stay apart. Celebrating Easter either secularly or religiously is a great way to spend the weekend. Enjoy hunting for Easter eggs and surprises. Starting Sunday you can wear white shoes! Enjoy this Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes story to kick off of the spring fashion season.

This weekend is one of the best weekends of the year for Christians! CLC and other churches are usually overflowing with people who come to worship. This year is different. Throughout the world Christians are being asked to stay home and stay away not to keep people from worshiping but to keep people from unwittingly infecting a large number of people. The story of Easter is one of life and hope. On the first Easter, the disciples of Jesus were in hiding and were fearful. Jesus rose from the dead and joined them by appearing in the room where they are hiding. Bible teaches that whenever two or more meet in Jesus' name, that He is there with them. We can have private, family worship (with a virtual, on-line service) and be sure that God is with us. When discussing whether this is sufficient for this holy day, one of our Bible Study members remarked: Jesus is with us. My home is a holy house filled with love, peace and God.

Wednesday, April 8-16, Jewish families celebrate Passover. Passover recognizes the time when Jewish families were ordered to stay home and shelter in place to avoid death by a plague in Exodus 12. By following these commands, the Jewish people were liberated from slavery. This year families celebrated in seclusion with the threat of disease and death much like that first Passover. The focus of hope and community and freedom and grace are strong messages.

Don't be fooled: There is a great deal of information in the news about health risks being greater or less for some races or ethnic communities. Another piece of advice is to wear a face covering when you are out (this helps keep you from spreading disease not you from getting disease). The net-net is that people who have particular underlying health risks or live in more population dense areas are at greater risk from serious effects or death from the Corona Virus (as well as other diseases). If multigenerational families are living in the same residence or if you have a service job that exposes you to more people, your family risk is greater. The best way to protect yourself and your family: wash your hands, stay home, wash your hands, stay a minimum of six feet apart from others when you are out, wash your hands, stay home when you are sick, and wash your hands.



Uber Eats Top Foods It’s fun to see what people are craving. I know there are so many foods I wish I had stashed away at our house. Foods I don't normally eat!

International Bible Study: Tuesdays, 9:30, Zoom over!
We read the story of Jesus' Transfiguration. In this story, Jesus took three of the disciples (Peter, James and John) up the mountain. There they meet with long past prophets Moses and Elijah. Peter offers to build shelters, but God envelopes them with a cloud and announces: "This is my son whom I love! Listen to him." We realize that Jesus as God bridges the past and the future. God's message of love and grace is constant now, always and forever.

April 14: Let's talk about Mark 9: 14-32, 33-37 and 38-41

International Friends: Tuesdays, 9:30, Zoom over!
We dyed Easter eggs! For the first time in my life I used food coloring with excellent results. I stained my fingers. We were so happy to see Friends that are working from home! Beautiful eggs were created using kits from the store.

April 14: Let's meet to fill out our Census. What are your questions? I am adding a second 40 minutes to our meeting.

Conversation: Wednesdays, 4:30, Zoom on over.
This Wednesday all of my tech went down. I drove over to CLC and waited in the parking lot where I could get WiFi and cell service. I had to keep my motor running since I didn't have access to electricity to charge my tech. Later that evening we had severe storms that knocked out the power to many homes.

April 15: Join our conversation or just pop in to say hello. We will chat for 40 minutes.

English Classes: Thursdays, Zoom on over!
Our classes continue. There are so many interesting topics being studied. Did your read the Easy English News? One of our friends is published! Her story is about visiting the dentist. She describes her misunderstanding between words close and close.

English for Children: Virtuallly!
Fairy Tales are so much fun. We all love the story of Cinderella. Here is a cartoon version for you to enjoy. Notice the British English accent! We don't have princes here in the United States, so this is the perfect accent for this story!


Just in case your are running out of ideas for your preschoolers, here are a whole bunch of activities.

National Geographic has a three month free trial for Family at Home. They ask for a credit card and will automatically bill you at the end of the free trial period. You can cancel at any time during the trial period and not be billed.

Another great read aloud story:
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, 32 pages
This classic picture book is for Kindergarten and up. Everyone can relate to a bad day.

ease: relieve, mitigate
necessity: not avoidable
overflowing: filled and more
in hiding: staying away from people, secluding; sheltering in place
fearful: afraid
sufficient: enough
remarked: comments
commands: tells
liberated: set free
seclusion: alone
don't be fooled: don't be tricked or misinformed
net-net: the result, in conclusion, to summarize
piece of advice: words to help
face covering: something to go over your face like a scarf or mask; they choose not to say mask because a mask has become a piece of medical equipment
underlying: something beneath; underlying health issues are other health concerns that effect overall recovery in a situation
multigenerational: more than one generation
residence: where people live
transfiguration: change in appearance
enveloped: surround; often used as a word of comfort, enveloped in a warm sweater, enveloped in a hug
kits: the raw materials or ingredients to complete a project or job
tech: technology, the infrastructure that supports our
tech: phones, computers, iPads, etc.

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