New Milford United Methodist Church68 Danbury Road, New Milford, Conn. 06776 • (860) 354-4596

www.NewMilfordUMC.org • Office@NewMilfordUMC.org

April 2016

Children of the Church enjoy their Easter Egg Hunt finds.

Pictorial Review of March

Pastor Alex moved into the Parsonage at the end of the month.

Church Members add their flowers to the Cross on Easter Morning

Choir members sing on Easter morning.

The 2016 Flowers for Jesus Cross on Easter Morning. The Cross in the Churchyard at night.

April is here! The week of April 11th is the Week of the Young Child! It is a week where we celebrate young chil-dren and the ways they learn and grow. At the Education Center we will celebrate with special themed days and activities: Music Monday; Taco Tuesday; Work Together Wednesday; Artsy Thursday; and Family Friday. If you would like to join us in celebrating, please speak to your child’s teachers.

Summer Fun registration has begun! We have some great activities and field trips planned for the summer! The Butter-fly room is currently looking for a gentle used double stroller to get more of the infants outside for walks. If you have one you would be willing to donate, please contact me at the center (860) 354-2941. Thank you! — Miss Kristin Butterflies (Infants) — With the flowers blossoming, so are the babies. They are getting bigger and stronger by the minute. We are gearing up for the Week of the Young Child where we will introduce our babies to culinary skills by making a special treat for moms and dads at pick up. Soon we will welcome a new addition, Amelia, to the classroom and we can’t wait! Then onto getting ready for the Art Show with all our artists, I can’t wait to see the final products! — Miss Lori & Miss Allie

Buzzing Bees (Toddlers) — This month, we learned even more about babies. We read fiction and nonfiction books such as, The New Baby at Your House and Everywhere Babies. We washed dolls in our sensory bin and a real baby bathtub. The children also tried baby food and mashed bananas with forks to make baby food. A favorite art activity was coloring outlines of the children’s bodies. You can check them out in the hallway outside to the classroom! We also welcomed Sophia from the Butterflies! We really have been Busy Bees! — Miss Ashley & Miss Kai

Hummingbirds (Toddler Twos) — In March we started our big theme Living Things and we focused on birds. At circle time we discussed that birds have feathers, beaks, or bills and that birds lay eggs. The children enjoyed exploring bird feathers for sensory as well as painting with them and creating a feathers collage. The Chicken Dance was a very exciting part of our music time and everyone enjoyed it! We listened to the birds sounds outside and tried to imitate some of them. We also watched a four-minute video on our kindle, called Birds from the Happy Learning TV website. We then talked about different kinds for birds during small group activities. Some books that the children enjoyed this month are: Penguins by Melvin Berger, The Penguin Who Wanted to Fly by Catherine Vase, and Six Little Chicks by Jez Alborough. — Miss Olga & Miss Barbara Ready Set for Kindergarten — The RSFK classroom has been very busy lately! We are trying out a new schedule where we have outdoor play earlier in the morning. This change has allowed us more time outside and has helped us to concentrate better at morning meeting and center time. The children have really enjoyed our short unit on books. The dramatic play area has been transformed into a library where the children have been able to learn more about how a library works and how to take better care of our books. The children really enjoyed reading and acting out the book Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. The children loved pretending to be the monkeys imitating the salesman! — Miss Liz, Miss Erin, and Miss Kristin

School Age — The School Age classroom has been enjoying spending more time outside! The longer days have allowed the school age classroom more time for outdoor play after homework is finished. The fresh air and gross motor activity has kept the children busy and happy! This month they will be working on different art activities to show off at the Art Show on April 28th. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

the Education Center

Church News

Mar. 6 100 $5,546Mar. 13 92 $4.047Mar. 20 166 $3,144Mar. 27 193 $4,990

Monthly Giving $17,727YTD Giving $47,014YTD Giving $45,500(Budgeted)*This chart does not include $1,603 received in Easter Giving.

Attendance & Offerings

On Sunday, May 1, following the 9:30 service, please join our coffee hour hosted by Michael and Larissa Dreyfus. We will take this opportunity to honor all those folks that helped to ready the par-sonage for Pastor Alex. Please plan to attend so we can honor the blessings of your time and talents! We give thanks for being blessed with such a giv-ing and willing community of friends! A cake will be shared along with other refreshments.

Parsonage Thank You Celebration

Congregational CareThe Congregational Care Committee is expanding home visits and the serving of communion to shut-ins from our church. We are looking for any church member who would like to help us with these visits. For more information, please contact the church of-fice at 860-354-4596 or Bonnie Knapp at 860-355-0559.

Wise and Wonderful LuncheonThe Wise and Wonderful Luncheon will be held Sunday, May 1 at 1 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Please let the office know if you are planning on attending by emailing office@newmifordumc.org or by call-ing 860-354-4596. If you would like to help set up or contribute food for this event, please contact Jen Burns at 860-354-1444. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Mother’s Day CardsMother’s Day cards will go on sale three weeks before Mother’s Day, starting April 24 and be sold each Sunday thereafter until May 10. Mothers are the heart of the family and many are its sole support. This year the money collected from the sale of the cards will provide gifts of hope and help to a family in need in our church community. We hope this gift will help empower Mothers to care for their families and themselves. The cost of the cards will be $5. For more information, contact Bonnie Knapp at 860-355-0559

Check out our Easter Blooper Video, as well as past sermon videos by going to www.youtube.com and searching Revalexation. Pastor Alex has been adding sermon videos to his Youtube Channel.

SAvE THE DATEALL STAR COnCERT

FridAy, MAy 27

Church NewsSunday SchoolIn March, the Sunday schoolers learned about “Jesus lives” and brought worship materials home to create home worship centers. On March 20, we celebrated in our own dedicated Sunday School room!

Jump In! Together we will Dive Deeper and Grow Stronger! We would love your help! We are fortunate to have a very talented and dedicated group of Sunday school teachers. If you are interested in helping, please contact Adrienne Kern at kern.adrienne@yahoo.com to see how you can support children’s ministry (teaching, helpers, adults to walk the children to fellowship hour and more).

Sunday school is starting UNIT 2: BELIEVE. Bible Verse: John 20:29—Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe. Anchor Point: I believe in Jesus.

Date Story Bible verseApril 3 The Road to Emmaus Luke 24:13-35April 10 Thomas Believes John 20:24-31April 17 The Great Commission Matthew 28:16-20April 24 Believers Share Acts 4:32-37

Sunday school classes are held during the Sunday worship service. Want to share in with the stories the children are learning? Check out the Sunday school bulletin board or the NMUMC Sunday school website

News from Our Daily BreadAnother busy month, though our number of clients have decreased somewhat, the preparation remains the same.

Thanks to Steve Kolitz and his baseball umpire’s meeting, we had food items donated.

Later this month, at the Business Scene meeting for the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber will be celebrating their 85th year. Those in attendance will be asked to bring a “birthday gift” of food for our pantry.

We will be participating in the Community Fest on May 3 at Home Depot. The purpose of this event is to give exposure to the various non-profit groups in our town. The date coincides with the Community Foundation’s Giving Day. We are not part of that because of church affiliation, but we can still have a “donation can” displayed, along with an information flyer. In preparation for this event, I was asked to figure the number of volunteer hours it takes to operate Our Daily Bread. For our once a week, on-going project, the calculation for 2015, was 1797 hours. For more information, and interest in helping for 2 hours that day, contact Jan Parsons at 860-354-8885.

Joys & Concerns

Joshua Duvall is home and doing well.

Baptism of Terri Hudak’s grandchildren

prayers:Sean Quigg, who has MS, is in the

hospital with pneumonia and is on a ventilator.

Tom and Ann Tibbatts youngest daugh-ter, Laura Williams, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgery is planned for April 8th.

Adrienne’s co-worker’s daughter who has diabetes and is autistic.

Chris, complete healing for suspicious finding on her liver.

Bob (Kairos minister) has entered hos-pice care. Prayers for his wife, Ruth, and family.

Bill C., whose son has kidney cancer.Gail, who is caring for her husband with

Alzheimer’s, and her granddaugh-ter for who she is also the primary caregiver.

Sue, who is recovering from a fall.Carolyn Dion’s mother, Lois, whose

health is declining.Jack Lucas, prayers for healing and

peace as he recovers in Danbury Hospital.

Lu Vivona, who is recovering from open heart surgery.

Mike Dreyfus’ mother, who is having hand surgery.

Louis Taranto’s hand surgery.Sue’s uncle, James T. who is in the

hospital.Irwin Armstrong, who is in the nursing

home.Giovanni, Chris Martriano’s grandson’s

adoptionUnity of America.Ellie’s sister who is recoveringBob DeBoy Jr., for a speedy uncompli-

cated recovery.

Anne Mario Fallico, Roxanne Martin’s sister-in-law, who is home and recov-ering.

Laurel Partrick’s cousin, Cynthia Bab-bott, who has had cancer for 5 years and side effects from chemo has resulted in a stroke.

Tony’s friend, Daniel Szast and his daughter, Aubrey. Aubrey was diag-nosed with a brain tumor.

Steven Davis, son of Marlene, to have strength through this round of che-motherapy.

prayers of comfort:For the family of Rich, Adrienne Kern’s

co-worker, who passed away after suf-fering a heart attack.

Church News

prayers of joy

“A heart at peace gives life to the body.” Proverbs 14:30

Rev. Wendy Vencuss spoke about “Caring for the Whole: Body, Mind, and Spirit” on March 19. She had wonderful insights into how to be effective in caring for others - we must be effec-tive in caring for ourselves. Contact Valorie at 203-417-0172 or valoriejk@sbcglobal.net for copies of the handouts.

We welcome you to join us for our next meeting on April 25 from 7 to 8 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend. Please call Valorie at 203-417-0172 if childcare is barrier to your attendance.

Church News

As chairperson of the Book of Remembrance I would like to share information with you about this important program of our church. When loved ones of church members have passed away, often times a memorial gift is given to the church by way of the Book of Remembrance. These monetary donations are used to purchase items which will enhance the worship experience in our church as a permanent memorial to our loved ones.

We have the opportunity to utilize some of the gifts that have been received over the past several years to be part of the “Choir Chair Project.” A portion of the current funds available will be used to purchase some of the chairs.

If there are other suggestions for use of the funds in the Book of Remembrance, please share them with me or with the other committee members: Ellie Middleton and Janice Mayette.

Please know that careful consideration is given to the use of these funds and all expenditures are ap-proved by the Church Council.

Patty Jacobson860-355-1666pattyjrn@gmail.com

Meet our 2016 confirmand class. Last week-end they traveled, with their mentors, and Pastor Alex for some fun and learning at the Bishop’s Confirmation Rally in White Plains, NY. This year’s Confirmation ceremony date has been set for Sunday, June 12. Please mark your calendar so you can join us!

ConfirmationBook of Remembrance

New Milford United Methodist Church Choir members are in need of new chairs for the Sanctuary. In addition to aesthetics and comfort, these chairs will provide much needed flexibility in the sanctuary for worship services, Adult Sunday School, meetings and special events. The purchase of chairs is providing a unique opportunity for you to not only honor and glorify God, but also formally memorialize or honor, in a special and meaningful way, a loved one. Each chair purchased for $290 can be inscribed with up to 3 lines in memory, or in honor of, a loved one. Undesignated and anonymous gifts, of any denomination, are also welcome. Questions can be directed to: Patty Jacobson at 860-355-1666 or pattyjm@gmail.com and/or Pat Tripp at 860-354-8720 or Pltripp3@gmail.com.

Choir Chair Campaign

Faith Community Nurses, previously known as Parish nurses, announce FREE Quarterly Educational seminars on various topics that were indicated as an interest to our church community in the ‘Congregant Health Sur-vey’ that was presented to the church last fall. The first will be on Understanding Dementia and Alzheimer’s, the date, time and place to be announced. It will be presented by Terri Hudak RN, and Marilyn Fuller, RN, MN. Watch for our flyers and further announcements.

If you have any questions or would like to suggest further topics of interest, do not hesitate to contact either Marilyn at 860-488-0000 or Terri at 203-775-0765.

SleepSleep! If you go to bed, close your eyes, and go to sleep, you have no idea how lucky you are. More than 3 million people a year seek help from their doctor for insomnia, which is defined as either having problems falling, or staying, asleep. Almost everyone has a problem now and again, but chronic insomnia can last for years. You are considered to have chronic insomnia if you have trouble sleeping 3 nights a week for a month or more.

There are many over the counter remedies that may have some value. Benadryl, (diphenhydramine HCL) a common drug used primarily for allergies is marketed by many different names as a sleep aid. As an anti-histamine, one if it’s side effects is drowsiness. Melatonin is a hormone that is used to reset your sleep cycle. An important factor in achieving sleep is your body responding to darkness, which is when you should start feeling less alert and more like sleeping. Valerian is a root that has been used to treat insomnia and anxiety since the second century. Valerian may decrease the time it takes to fall asleep and increase the quality of sleep.

Overwhelming data demonstrate that when you don’t get predictable and restorative sleep, you’re more likely to suffer from irritability, anxiety, depression, and a number of other health problems, including heart conditions.

The Mayo Clinic’s Edward T Creagan MD recommends:

•Havearelaxingbedtimeroutine.Youcan’tgofull-speedalldayandthenexpecttosimplyturnoffthelightand fall asleep. You need to set aside time, at least half an hour, to allow yourself to wind down from the events of the day.

•Maintainaconsistentbedtime.Withinreason,youshouldgotobedandwakeuponaconsistent schedule. If you don’t have some major sleep disorder, you can sometimes catch up by sleeping an extra

hour or two on a weekend, but don’t use that as an excuse to chronically short-change yourself on sleep.•Keepyoursleepingareadark,cool,andquiet.Ifyou’reinaplacewhereyoucan’tcontrolthelight,try this tip: Use padded eyeshades to block out light. If noise is an issue, consider noise-blocking earplugs or

headsets.•Preventinterruptions.Askfamilymembersandroommatestorespectyourneedforuninterruptedsleep. Remind them that sleep is not optional and explain that sleep deprivation can have serious consequences

— as witnessed by the number of single car accidents in the early morning hours.

If you have an idea for a column that you would like me to explore, please email me at gcarn@aol.com.Gail Abernethy RN

Church NewsFaith Community Nurses

Church News

Summer Camp - George Leary Scholarships now available for 2016Spring is almost here but before we realize it, it will be summer - a great time for swimming, boating, and walk-ing on nature trails in the woods in the fresh air.

One of the benefits from the sale of Christmas Trees in 2015 is a unique opportunity to attend a church camp in 2015. The George Leary Scholarship is available to eligible youth in the church from the United Methodist Men’s [UMMen] organization.

Applications for individual camps are available outside the church office and on the Church Website. Complete and return to the UMMen as soon as possible. Information and applications are also available on the websites listed below. Some campsites are already filled.

• U.M.ARMY-Opportunitiesareavailableforyouthtoparticipateinacoupleofcampsthisyearin New England. •MixedAgeProgram–Participantsmusthavecompleted7thgradeorolder.Thiscampwillbeheld July 10-16 in Wethersfield, CT. •YoungAdultProgram–Participantsmustbe1yearposthighschoolgraduation.Thiscampwillbe held May 29-June 4 in Amity, NY.

• CampMechuwanainWinthrop,MEislocatedon200acresofforestlandandoffersapeaceful,natural setting. The camp borders Lake Annabessacook and Lower Narrows Pond. Located on the property are nature trails, boating and a swimming area. It also has volleyball courts, basketball hoops, and a sports field. www.mechuwana.org

• CampAldersgateinNorthScituate,RIisbigenoughtofindyourselfin!Withover200acresofwoodsand trails, you can discover all the wonderful and amazing things which God created, things as tiny as a spider or as huge as a tall pine. You realize that you’re one of these wonderful things, too, that you fit into God’s plan and have a purpose here. Camp Aldersgate has a lake for fishing, swimming, boating, sailing, canoeing, baptizing, or just gazing upon. www.campaldersgate.com

• CampQuinipetonLongIsland,NYissituatedonthePeconicBayonscenicShelterIsland,100mileseastof New York City. Camps this year include sailing, equestrian, guitar, tennis, team sports, kayaking and discovery camping. www.quinipet.org

• CampKingswoodnearHancock,NYintheCatskills,766acresofwoodlandonHathawayPondonRoute 17,156milesnorthwestofNewMilford–HomeofWoodsmoke,Campfor5ththru12thgrade,thiscamp is cool. Family camping is also available at Kingswood. www.kingswoodcampsite.org

Questions can be directed to Dave Kullgren at 860-354-1102 or dkullgren1102@charter.net.