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Crandall

Volume 19, Number 8 CrandallCommunicator.com Holiday Edition 2017

Local student helps launch program of givingto help give shelter children more than just a safe refuge

Four local students sign on National Signing Day

The Communicator reaches over 3100 households in Crandall and Combine. Shouldn't you advertise here?

Crandall ISD is proud to have four members of their softball team sign letters of commitment to universities across the country on November 8, 2017, National Signing Day.

Congratulations to Sidney Sikes, daughter of Gin-ger and Jimmy Sikes of Scurry, who recently signed with Southern Illinois University.

Hope Hamilton, daughter of Marcie and Preston Hamilton of Combine, has signed with Missouri State University.

Anna Williams, daughter of Cass Williams and Jan Cherie of Crandall recently signed with Kansas Wesleyan University.

Rose Meshell, daughter of Brandie and Michael Meshell of Heartland, signed a commitment to play for Whitworth University.

CISD is very proud of the talent our ladies' softball team possesses and we wish these young women all the success in the world on their future endeavors. What an honor to play for any one of these schools.

Kaelyn Black is a junior at Crandall High School, where she is an honor student. She is a member of the Pirate Regiment Marching Band, serving as one of the Drum Majors this year.

Kaelyn is a loving individual with a servant’s heart of gold. Her journey with the Kaufman County Chil-dren's Shelter started while in middle school. Along with others, she visited the shelter as a service outing. The mission while there; “make a friend, be a friend,” demonstrates love and spiritual giving. Kaelyn and the other kids along with her, enjoyed going so they made a few more trips, but not on a regular basis. One day on the ride home from the Shelter, Kaelyn said, “Why don’t we do this more often”? Her words made an impact on the adult sponsor, so she set up a core group of teens and a several adults to visit the shelter monthly…with a one-year commitment from all volunteers. They went forward with the blessings, prayers and contributions from their local church. This group is now in their 4th year of serving the Shelter. Though their “core group”, members have changed a little, but Kaelyn has remained continually faithful.

The children who live at the home have been uprooted from their lives, through no fault of their own. Though the staff members do not divulge the circumstances, it is common knowledge that the kids are not there because they have chosen to be; it is an emergency shelter. The group has done various proj-ects: we bring Vacation Bible School to the shelter for 3 evenings in the summer; outdoor cleanup and sprucing up, donations of socks, bicycle helmets, pa-jamas, blankets, outdoor toys, backpacks filled with school supplies, toiletries and other necessities when

they have funds (donations through their church.)Their monthly visits consist of picnic lunches and playtime! They are there to provide a few hours of simply giving of themselves. And, Kaelyn does this so well; always with a smile and a hug for a child that needs both. Her leadership sets the bar high for those younger volunteers following in her footsteps!

For Kaelyn’s 16th birthday last year, she requested all gifts be cash donations which she would give to the shelter. She received several hundred dollars and happily gave it to the shelter.

This year for her 17th birthday, she wanted to do something more. For several years, she has wanted to give a fresh start to the kids when they leave the shelter and return to their homes or foster homes. Her heart’s mission was to gift new and/or gently used children’s suitcases and backpacks, filled with toiletries, socks, underwear, pajamas and maybe a blanket or a book. She requested the help of her congregation, her relatives and friends. It was shared

on social media. It was shared with the principal at Crandall High School. The word was put out and the suitcases, backpacks, supplies and dollars came pouring in. Kaelyn used the money received (to that point) and purchased what was needed. It was delivered on the 2nd Sunday in November. It was a beautiful way to celebrate Kaelyn’s 17th (yes, we had cake and ice cream at the shelter!). The job was not finished however, as her congregation continued to donate funds. As of a few days ago, $1134 had been received to purchase suitcases, backpacks and sup-plies. Since then, even more has been donated and it is clear, Kaelyn and her group will be able to help more children in more shelters.

The community would like to celebrate Kaelyn’s birthday all year long by continuing to collect, on an ongoing basis, suitcases, backpacks and the items to fill them! Work is being done to start a non-profit organization to carry on this worthy cause.

Kaelyn’s service at the shelter has been instru-mental in determining her career path. She is going to pursue a psychology or counseling degree so she can become a counselor for children and human traf-ficking victims. Kaelyn is a special person, who gives and gives, and then gives just a bit more. At 17, she is already making a difference in this world by her genuine kindness and passion for all those around her, especially those less fortunate. Though cliché, it can be said without hesitation, Kaelyn is beautiful inside and out!

More information on the shelter is available on the website, norvillecenter.com. The shelter is located at

(See Kaelyn continued on page 5)

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Chamber welcomesX-Treme Tanning and More

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The Greater Crandall Chamber of Commerce is proud to welcome its newest business member, X-Treme Tanning and More, owned by April Daniel.

The salon has recently changed ownership and is all sparkling clean and shiny. Not only can you achieve the tan you desire, you can select from an array of products including t-shirts, UV eye protection and a device for teeth whitening that can be used not only while you are tanning, but practically anywhere else you can think of. Just think, you could be whitening your teeth while driving to work! They also have sample packets of vari-ous lotions. Last, but not least, they offer spray tanning, which has become quite popular in the last few years.

X-Treme Tanning and More is open Monday through Friday, 9AM-8PM, Saturday, 10AM-6PM and Sunday, 1PM-5PM. Give them a call at 972-472-9777 for more info, to make an appointment, or get gift cards.

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Open Househeld by Crandall Chamber

On Thursday evening, December 8, the Greater Crandall Chamber Commerce held a holiday-themed open house for the community at the Crandall branch of the American National Bank of Texas. The event was attended by an array of community citizens, and public servants, both from the local and county-wide levels.

Even though the weather was cold and gusty, the atmosphere was warm and festive inside. The refresh-ments ranged from sandwiches to a delightful display of desserts.

The local Chamber continues to grow as new busi-nesses choose to locate in our area, which is enjoying a healthy and sustainable growth rate. Our businesses are now offering services which before, were only offered in other adjacent communities. Under current construction is the new senior living center, located near the intersection of Hwy. 175 and FM 741. This facility will serve the needs of many of our seniors.

Crandall Independent School District’s Compass Academy serves as CISD’s alternative school, but it is so much more than that. COMPASS stands for “Center for Opportunities in Mastery, Personal-growth, Achievement, and Student Success.”

Crandall Compass Academy hosts two programs, District Alternative Education Placement (DAEP), and the STARS program. These are two separate academic settings with distinct differences and expectations.

The STARS program is designed to promote a sense of pride to students who join. In the STARS program, students can complete their credits early and graduate as soon as credits are completed.. So far, the 2017-2018 school year has seen Crandall Compass Academy STARS program graduate/complete 14 students this semester. Compass Academy is under new direction this year with Jennifer Coward as the Director.

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CISD Winter Arts FestivalEven if you have superhuman willpower, the holiday season is challenging for

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Weigh yourself twice a week. That's often enough to make sure you stay on track, but not so often that you take all the fun out of holiday noshing. Step on the scale first thing in the morning when your stomach is empty.

Exercising in the morning can help ensure better behavior all day long. Using brain scans, researchers found that when women worked out in the a.m., they not only moved more the rest of the day, but they also responded less to pictures of tempting food compared with the days they didn't do a morning workout. Exer-cising in the morning can help ensure better behavior all day long.

Even though we may have mixed emotions when planing to attend a holiday function be-cause of the array of temping foods and snacks which may be available, exercise the suggested habit of drinking plenty of water and eating a light meal before heading out for the event.

Avoid banking calories. Cutting back all day so you can indulge that night only sets you up for a pig-out. Why? You're freaking starving! Eat wisely throughout the day and don't strive for perfection, just improvement!

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Crandall Independent School District hosted their annual Winter Arts Festival on December 7, 2017. This event is a huge crowd pleaser every year. This is a showcase of the many talents in both Crandall Middle School and Crandall High School’s many bands, art classes and dance teams. Fine Arts students at all grade levels put in a lot of practice time preparing for this annual event. The crowd is never disappointed by their performances.

A fan favorite is always the jazz band. Led by LifeChanger of the Year nominee, Director John Nutt. The jazz band is comprised of Crandall High School students and performs at many events inside and outside of the district.

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The holidays stir up excitement and anticipation for loads of activities, meals and decorations. But, if you’re a pet owner, you should also consider how festive plants, lighting and other changes around the household might impact the safety of your pets.

So, how exactly can a pet owner best prepare for the holidays? There are 11 easy steps to follow; common-sense tips you can incorporate into your holiday plans to ensure your pets stay safe:

1. Secure, hide or cover electrical cords and electronics.

Holiday lights and decorations usually lead to many new cords being scattered around the house. Be sure all cords are taped down or completely out of reach for your pets as they can trip on them, chew them up, or even experience an electric shock.

2. Keep holiday foods out of a pet’s reach. The holidays always inspire delicious food, drinks

and desserts. Remember, dogs can’t eat chocolate so make sure this is out of reach. Also, animals that ingest alcoholic beverages can experience nausea or upset stomach.

3. Keep your pet’s daily routine as consistent as possible.

The holidays are filled with tons of parties and activities that often change up our daily routines. Try to keep your pet on their regular daily routine because

they don’t adapt to change very well.4. Keep your pets out of rooms with a Christmas

tree.Although this may be difficult, the fact is that deco-

rated trees pose too many dangers. Cats and dogs enjoy playing with dangling decorations and could knock over a tree or a glass ornament. Dogs may use a tree the same way they would outside, as an area to relieve themselves. If a pet accidentally eats a hook, ornament or tinsel, they could experience intestinal problems. Animals may also drink out of the water bowl which the tree sits in, so avoid adding chemicals to make the tree last longer.

5. Avoid long strings, lights or décor in areas accessible to pets.

Pets always want to play and could easily mistake a string of lights as a toy. Unfortunately, this could lead to choking or other accidents.

6. Carefully watch candles.Lighting scented candles are a great way to get in

the holiday spirit. However, be sure to keep all flames and fires away from pets. They may get curious around a lit flame, which could lead to accidentally knocking the candle over.

7. Be careful with holiday plants. There are many holiday plants that are dangerous

for your pets. Common items such as mistletoe, holly,

poinsettias and lilies can be poisonous to your dog or cat. Certain plants affect different animals and breeds in unique ways. Be sure to research how your specific pet(s) is affected by different plant species.

8. Update vaccinations and ID tags. Make sure ID tags include your current address and

contact information. This should be done year-round, but is important during the holidays as we usually have many guests in our home. Guests aren’t always familiar with the day-to-day pet rules and could present opportunities where your pet could escape the house.

9. Create a safe haven for your pets.Many pets have an area or room where they feel

safe. This is especially important for your pet’s secu-rity during the holidays when there are many strangers around, as well as lots of loud noises (i.e. firecrackers on New Years). Pets need an area where they can retreat to if they are scared or overwhelmed.

10. Keep a list of emergency phone numbers for your pet.

11. Use caution to keep your pets from escaping as guests come and go when visiting.

Many pets are lost during the holiday season. You should always have a collar and tag on your pet with your name and telephone number. And have readily available, the contact information for your veterinar-ian, a 24-hour pet hospital and Animal Poison Control.

Kaelyn Black - continued from Page 14090 South Houston Street, Kaufman, Texas 75142. It is a non-profit organization. Mrs. LaReta Williams serves as contact at the shelter. Kaelyn’s email is [email protected] and her church sponsor's

is [email protected]. Kaelyn’s mother’s email is [email protected] and her phone number is 214-912-7388. Anita Bogan’s (her church sponsor) phone number is 214-886-3804.

Kaelyn and her cohorts are grateful for all sup-port shown for their efforts in donating to the county shelter and the children who pass through their doors. The givers and the receivers have been richly blessed!


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Tis the season to be jolly? - Not for many people. In fact, this time of year may trigger a bout of the blues or perhaps ignite a depression that brings back painful experiences or causes them to dwell on what's missing in their lives.

We live in an increasingly materialistic world, and this is probably never more obvious than at Christ-mas. Whether or not you have religious beliefs, it can feel like the original intent of this day has been lost. For those who have very little money, Christmas can feel totally excluding. Often we can be totally alone at Christmas--"Christmas Orphans." This can be by choice or by circumstance. But when it feels like the rest of the world is coming together, it can be a pretty awful feeling to not belong.

According to the National Institute of Health, Christmas is the time of year that many people

experience sustained “blues” and even depression. Hospitals and police forces report high incidences of suicide and attempted suicide. Psychiatrists, psychol-ogists and other mental health professionals report a significant increase in patients complaining about depression. One North American survey reported that 45% of respondents dreaded the festive season.

Why? Is the Grinch in full force during the sea-son? Is it because of the dark winter weather that increases the incidence of Seasonal Affective Dis-order (SAD)? Certainly those may be some reasons, and by no means should we be judgmental about the sad situations for many people who are poor or dis-advantaged in other ways beyond their control, but for many people it appears to have more to do with unrealistic expectations and excessive self-reflection.

Some people get depressed at Christmas and even

angry because of the excessive commercialization of Christmas, with the focus on gifts and the emphasis on "perfect" social activities. Others get depressed because Christmas appears to be a trigger to engage in excessive self-reflection and focusing on the inadequacies of life (and a "victim" mentality) in comparison with other people, who seem to have more and do more.

Still others become anxious at Christmas because of the pressure (both commercial and self-induced) to spend a lot of money on gifts and incur increasing debt. Other people report that they dread Christmas because of the expectations for social gatherings. They just may prefer to avoid certain people .And finally, many people feel very lonely at Christmas, because they have had the loss of a loved ones or their jobs. Remember these folks at this time of the year.

What's not to like about Christmas???


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Well, it’s Christmas time again. Have you noticed how busy things get around this time of the year? I saw a story the other day about a mother that was preparing for a large Christmas Eve family gathering and she had been giving out orders like a drill sergeant all day: “Pick up your things! Don’t get your clothes dirty! Put away those toys.” Well, her 4 year old daughter had been underfoot all day, so she sent her to the next room to play with their wooden Nativity set. As the mother scurried around setting the table she over heard her daughter talking to her toys in the same tone of voice the mother had used: “I don’t care who you are, get those camels out of my living room!”

It’s not hard to see how we can miss the blessings of Christmas and how distracted we can become. I began to think of just what blessings and gifts are available to us be-cause of that first Christmas. In Luke 2:8-20 we read about the shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks, when an angel appeared to announce the coming of the savior for all the world. That’s the first gift available to us: The gift of salvation or forgiveness. We live in a fallen world. Ever since the Garden of Eden mankind has continued to fall short of God’s expectation. The Bible puts it pretty plain by stating that we have all sinned. We have all missed the mark.

But God gave us a solution. He sent a savior into the world to take our punishment and forgive us of all our sin, even though we didn’t deserve it. God loves us so much that he made a provision for us to spend eternity with Him and it is not even something we can work to achieve because our salvation is a gift. We just need to freely accept His gift of salvation as it was freely given.

The second gift I thought of is the gift of prayer or con-versation. We have the ability to speak to God at any time. We can communicate with God in our thoughts or we can speak out loud to Him. When Jesus prayed, His disciples asked if He would teach them to pray. Obviously they had

heard Him which means He must have prayed aloud. There is nothing I enjoy more than talking to my sweet

wife, Terrie. I like to hear about her day. I want to know the ups and downs that she faced. I want to know how she is feeling and I enjoy just sharing in her day. I just like the sound of her voice and look forward to our conversations.

Have you ever considered that God loves to hear your voice? Why else would He have given us the ability to com-municate with Him in prayer at any time or at any place? We need to talk our day over with God. We need to share our problems and our victories. God already knows about them, but He loves us so much and wants to hear our voice. In today’s world, we have lots of ways to communicate from cell phones to the internet (if they work like they are supposed to). But nothing is faster, more direct or accurate than prayer.

Another gift from God is His Word in the form of the Bible. What a tremendous opportunity for us to know and understand the God that loves us so much. Scripture gives us a positive direction to walk as well as peace for today and hope for tomorrow. I often hear folks say they want to know the will of God. Well then, they need to take advantage of His Word, and everything else will tend to fall into place. When we read the Bible we learn what God likes and what He doesn’t like. That is important so that we can learn to please Him. Not please Him so He will give us the gift of salvation, if we have trusted Him as our savior, we already have received that gift. But we want to please Him because He has already given us so much.

I towed a twenty-six foot travel trailer behind a 1983 Chevrolet Caprice. I had installed all the extra equipment from the anti-sway bar to the transmission cooler to give this car the ability to tow a trailer. However, I began to notice that my transmission was slipping really badly. At that point I consulted the owner’s manual. In big bold type under the

section that dealt with towing it said, “CAUTION: When towing with this vehicle, use Drive 2 to avoid damage to the transmission”. I could have saved myself lots of time and money if I had just read the manual first. My point is we need to read God’s Word and know His counsel before the problems in life occur. He has given us the gift of His Word and we need to read it.

Finally, God gave us the gift of the church, His people. I am not talking about a building but the people. In this first Christmas as Luke describes it, the shepherds worshiped in a stable with Jesus lying in a manger (or food trough). It was not the surroundings, it was the people. When the wise men came later they worshiped Jesus in a house. We for convenience gather at a specific building to worship God, but it is not the building that is important. It is the people.

I watched a documentary on “Las Vegas Show Girls: Nearly Famous”. One of the things that they mentioned on that program is that these dance lines work together for six months at a time. During that six months the members of the line say they feel just like family and enjoy being together. They share each others problems, needs, hurts, and victories. I thought, that is what a church is supposed to be like. We should enjoy being together. We should share our problems. We should feel like family. After all, we are the family of God.

God has been so gracious in giving us so very much. He gives us salvation so we can spend eternity with Him. He gives us prayer so we can talk to Him at any time and at any place. He has given us His Word so we can know Him more completely, and He has given us the church, His people, to encourage us and hold us accountable.

This Christmas as we open the gifts we receive from others, let’s not forget to open and enjoy the wonderful gifts God has given us. After all, without those gifts, there wouldn’t be this day we call Christmas.

Merry Christmas!


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1007 E. US Hwy 175Crandall, TX 75114

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