2007

Jail House ROCKS!

On Sunday 15 of our CMLC members visited the Bellaire Police Department. We were given an awesome tour by Officer Tim Quimby. It was really cool to see a real courthouse and live communications room. We even heard a 911 MISUSE call come in. For those of you that weren't there, that is when someone calls 911 when they don't really have an emergency. Placing a 911 misuse call is against the law and distracts our police and fire fighters.

Next it was down to the “sally port” cages. The cages are located in the basement and are where the officers unload prisoners. Finally off to the jail cells!

We met Officer Aristeo Corranza in the jail. He showed us the automated fingerprinting system and explained how it assisted them in identifying people who lie about their identities. Officer Corranza even took Kyle's picture and finger prints! Then we all had a chance to be locked up in the holding cell. Officer Corranza said when prisoners come in they are placed in the holding cell while they are processed and given one phone call.

The tour ended faster than we wished. There were many great questions by everyone. Before we left, Officer Quimby gave us a bag filled with goodies.

Thank you Bellaire Police Department!

Ride em Cowboy!

Well we didn't really ride like cowboys, but we did learn to rope and use the whip like the cowboys do! The trick roper was a lot of fun. He did many amazing stunts. He could step in and out of the rope and had different names for his various rope tricks. One of the interesting things we learned was about the whip. Apparently, when you flick the whip it breaks the sound barrier and that is what causes the loud snap you hear. It is not the actual hitting of the whip. Our brave kk took turns holding spaghetti and letting the cowboy snap it off with the whip! Everyone was amazed with this talented cowboy.

CMLC's First All Youth Sunday!

Ahh, the end of school and the official start of summer! We had a wonderful time and the weather was incredible. Special thanks to the Daytons for helping organize and doing all of the cooking. We had a great turnout on the front lawn. What an awesome water slide! Mrs. Brown out did herself with this brand new slide. It was nearly as tall as the fellowship hall. Mrs. Dickenson had us doing all sorts of fun games (well except that one that had us going in circles with a bat to our head and the other end of the bat to the ground). We did a 3 legged race, egg race and toss, water balloon toss and had fun just hanging out.

As we come to the conclusion to another school year, we will soon be saying goodbye to our 5th graders. In the fall they will bridge over to the junior high youth group. But they will not be forgotten. That is one thing about our KK friendships, they keep growing just like the KKs.

Although it wasn't celebrated (we will have to take care of that later!), the end of school party also marked the end of an era with KK. Mr. & Mrs. Brown are officially retiring from youth work for awhile. However, if you have known them for anytime at all, you also know they won't stay retired for too long! Mr. & Mrs. Brown, thank you for all the hard work you have done for our youth for the last 20 years and especially with getting KK up and running again!

Special thanks also goes to the many people that helped set up and clean up. Your efforts are most appreciated.

See you in June at the Astros Game.

Those boys of summer; they make your heart jump and fall all at the same time. But what a game! We saw Hunter Pence catch two incredible outs in center field and score a home run late in the game to send us in to extra innings.

The Astros had a table ready for the KK. We made a poster and then had cake and juice. After the game finally ended (with a heart wrenching loss), we actually got to run the bases-just like the Astros! That was probably the best part of all.

Tigers, Sharks, Stingrays, Oh My!

We had 17 KK and a few brave adults join us for the Tiger Sleepover at the Downtown Aquarium on August 11-12.

After saying our goodbyes to mom and dad, we took all of our gear in to a big room and met our hostess, Sarah and Tina (who were great, by the way). Then it was off for a scavenger hunt. Mr. Gabany and Mr Henke had 7 boys in their group, Mrs. Gabany had 5 in hers and Mrs. Eckardt had 5 in her group as well. The scavenger hunt was really cool. We had to look for clues and spell out a word at the bottom. Does anyone remember the word? It was RAINFOREST. Near the end of the scavenger hunt, we were able to pet some real stingrays and baby sharks. Then we met the great white tigers. They are some of God's awesome creations. We saw the room we were going to sleep in (right next to the tigers) and then hit the gift shop.

Once we all returned to the meeting room, we did a game about the Rainforest and how important even the lowest ant is the entire rainforest. We also painted Tiger bags, had snack and then headed off to bed. It took while to get everyone ready for bed, but finally it was lights out. For the longest time a big white tiger was sleeping at Mr. Gabany's head! He said it was pretty creppy! Don't forget about the crickets that kept the kids awake too!

The next thing we knew it was time for breakfast, pack up and then the finale, a bird show with beautiful parrot. She was very smart and could talk and wave to us.

I think we can count this trip up as a huge success!

Camp Carolina Creek was AWESOME!

Awesome was the word we kept hearing over and over during our retreat.

Friday night we unpacked (and moved as the girls cabins had no ac) and enjoyed playing a few games on the basketball court. Saturday morning we participated in some more games then split the group into two groups. We had great leaders and they taught us some wonderful team building through different activities. After each challenge we were reminded how that event related to God and His creation, followed by a prayer. Before we knew it, the morning was over.

After lunch we moved on to one of the two biggest events-ok, this was probably the biggest of the weekend, THE ZIPLINE! Again we divided up and half of us climbed the huge rock wall and the other half began zipping. The first group was up the many steps in no time at all. There were screams, but nearly all were shouts of joy! As the kids walked back and Mrs. Gabany asked how the ride was, they each said “totally awesome,” “AWESOME!” It seemed like each child said the exact same thing. The kids even ganged up on Mrs. Gabany and somehow talked her into zipping-hers were definitely screams!

After the zip line and rock wall, we headed back to our cabins to change to our swimsuits and then off to the BLOB at the river. The kids had fun swinging on a rope into the river, using a swing and most of all jumping from a very high platform onto the blob. The jumping was just a small part of the fun. After landing, the kids climbed to the end and waited on someone to “blob them” by jumping on the blob and sending the other person flying or flipping out into the river.

We finished the evening by the campfire with songs of praise and some yummy smores.

While the boys were fast asleep, the girls had some hysterical entertainment by the best storyteller in KK history, Rebecca Volkers! I wish I would have thought to videotape it.

Awesome, just awesome!

You asked for it and you got it, AEROS HOCKEY!

We had a smaller group than we expected, but it was well worth the trip. Our seats were only about 8 rows from the ice and we could see everything! It was an exciting game as we cheered our Houston Aeros on to an impressive win over the Lake Erie Monsters.

As we arrived, each person received a miniature hockey stick. Later in the evening, Mrs. Gabany surprised the kids with their very own hockey puck.

Everyone had a great time and can't wait to go back for another exciting game.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had a great group of kids for our annual birthday party for Jesus. Everyone brought gifts (just like the wise men) to share with other children in need. We listened to a story called �It's a Wonderful Life for Kids� and realized that God uses each of us and that we are not here by chance or mistake. Each life touches another and can make a difference for God.

After our story, we made some really cool Christmas ornaments. One was ours to keep and the other was taped to the each gift so the children will know that Jesus is the best gift of all. During our craft time, the kids enjoyed hot cocoa with marshmallows and peppermint sticks.

The gifts were delivered a few days later and were very much appreciated.