[amc] FW: Extending Extravagant Love MECN E-Alert--BA

From: Trinity Child Development Center <trinitycdc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: mennonite church <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2013 17:33:09 -0600
I thought this from the Mennonite Early Childhood Network was just too good not 
to pass on.  We spend so much time with Christmas prep, etc.  and sometimes 
forget how hard that is for not only young children, but for us as well.  

Fill your spirit! 

Gloria NeunaberDirector EmeritaTrinity Child Development Center 5801 
Westminster DriveAustin, TX  78723512-928-2212

Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2013 17:07:00 -0500
Subject: Extending Extravagant Love MECN E-Alert--BA
From: kathrynasch31@xxxxxxxxx
To: fmcdenver@xxxxxxx



Prayer for Faith and Learning

Scheduled for December 27, 2013


We are celebrating your overwhelming self-less love for us, your children, 
during this Christmas season. Fill our spirits so that we can extend your 
extravagant love to others, especially to little ones. May we draw them to you, 
the Source of Love.  Submitted by Tami Keim


*****   *****   *****  *****  *****  *****  *****

Dear Friends of Young Children,
If we are to convey the joy of the Christmas season to young children, we must 
fill our spirits.  We must guard against over-commitment by carefully selecting 
from many resources--daily devotions from various sources (printed, radio and 
television and other electronic programing), joyful contacts with friends and 
family far and near through various media, choosing from an array of community 
celebrations in schools and churches, in addition to family gatherings--all 
highlighting the reason for the season.  In the end, children will form 
identities based on lots of things.  Loving adults are the best source of the 
most powerful ones.


Extend extravagant love


A Quaker saying “Attitudes are caught, not taught” suggests that attitudes are 
contagious.  What we do in front of children can make them want to "catch" it 
from us.  When children sense that we love them, and they see us celebrate 
God's overwhelming self-less love, they catch a desire to love the Babe in 
Bethlehem, too.*  


Little Baby Jesus came on Christmas Day;

Little Baby Jesus slept upon the hay';Little Baby Jesus was God's only Son"

Jesus came because He loves us ev'ry one.Katherine Royer


Christmas decorations are ways to share the love for Baby Jesus.  Lighting the 
advent wreath, adding one new ornament for the tree each year which may have 
been selected from a Ten Thousand Villages outlet, moving figures from the 
manger scene closer to the creche each day adding the baby on Christmas Day are 
traditions in some families.  Young children can absorb the love and 
anticipation of the joyful season.


Christmas preparations can include young children.  Baking Christmas cookies is 
one possibility.  They taste best when they're shared and eaten with someone we 
love.  Teachers, the custodian, bus driver, neighbors, the letter 
carrier/newspaper deliverer may be grateful recipients.





Christmas giving can take many forms.  Attempting to buy love by lavishing 
children with many gifts may be less satisfying than spending time with them 
reading, singing, praying and encouraging participation in Christmas music and 
dramatizations whereby they offer their love and happiness, giving themselves, 
their gift to all.  Whenever they spontaneously share a hug with a family 
member, lonely person in a retirement center, teacher or friend, they are 
giving the greatest gift--their love.


Christmas gatherings can be over-stimulating and exhausting for children--and 
adults..  To prepare for the anticipated gathering, children might identify 
each guest and draw a picture of themselves to give to the guests--a gift of 
themselves.  Putting napkins on the table or other appropriate involvement for 
the celebration with those they love, can be calming.


* In contexts where there are various religious groups represented, the focus 
can be on Jesus' message of peace, a concept they all would support.





May your relationship with the Source of Love permeate your relationship with 
children and draw them to that Source,




Kathryn Aschliman, Coordinator Mennonite Early Childhood Network:  Birth 
through Kindergarten http://www.mennoniteeducation.org/MECN


The mission of the Mennonite Early Childhood Network is to assist in developing 
the whole child spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively 
with a framework that reflects an Anabaptist interpretation* of the Christian 
faith by providing information and resources for parents and early educators of 
all children, birth through kindergarten.  Revised 4-19-13


*"Jesus is the center of our faith, Christ-centered community is the center of 
our life, and reconciliation is the center of our work."  Palmer Becker 8-3-05




If your e-mail  address changes, or the designated recipient is replaced, 
please inform Kathryn Aschliman:  kathrynasch31@xxxxxxxxx



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[amc] FW: Extending Extravagant Love MECN E-Alert--BA

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