This past Friday were the opening ceremonies to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. These games were delayed due to the world pause but now we are taking the time to celebrate the power of sport.

I listened to the speeches during the ceremonies and one line made me stop. It was about updated the Olympic motto. It used to be "Faster, Higher, Stronger." It came from a ceremony before the modern olympiad in the 1880s and it was also in latin. During the speeches, the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, spoke about the power of sport that

So this week, I just wanted to do something that makes me happy. I found some Disney colour by numbers. Feel free to use whatever colours you want to create your own unique cartoons. What name would you give them? What stories would you imagine for them?

You are only limited by your own creativity. Do something that makes you smile.

Peace and love,

Michelle

I was thinking about stress and being confused or angry or frustrated when things don't go the way we want. Rarely does life go the way we want and more often, we are faced with something unexpected.

It is important to learn methods and activities to deal with that stress so we don't become overwhelmed and hurt ourselves or someone else.

I was looking for some simple activities for kids to do to help them relax and focus their energy on something else. I stumbled on Big Life Journal and a few ideas that they had.

First off is called

I love talking about food and it was fun learning about different food in church today.

The act of breaking bread is something that we enjoy as humans. We come together over a meal to celebrate, to remember, or just to eat food. I wanted to find something that kids could make with their parents.

I live with just my cat and these cookies reminded me of his "toe beans" (the soft pads under their feet). And so I thought this could be something fun to celebrate my roommate, Mason the kitty. But you can make it for your own

Another week of reflecting on relationships with our Indigeneous neighbours and another week of learning.

In church today, Tricia talked about the two apologies made by the United Church of Canada. It can be hard to reconcile the past with our current beliefs. But this happened and now we can, and must, do better to heal on the road to reconcilliation.

I was thinking about camping today, and being removed from our regular, comfortable life. It is not the same but it gives us something to think about. One part that I remember enjoying as a child on camping trips

I know this is late but life happened and I only just have a moment right now to finish this now.

June 21 is National Indigenous Day. This year seems more poignant that others. There have been many news stories regarding our Indigenous neighbours and how we must do better in our relationships with them.

I wanted to highlight something that I use when thinking about things, it's the medicine wheel. A wheel is a circle with no beginning and no end, which means we can start anywhere on the wheel and move in any direction we wish. It also

We celebrate Pride this month and it is very special for us as a church because we are an affirming ministry. It is not just wearing the colours, it goes beyond into actions and words.

It can be hard to remember but there were times when people had to hide who they loved and even who they were. It is still not perfect and there is much to do but we are celebrating how far we have come.

I found some pages to colour that make me happy. I love this one because it is for everyone, we should all

It's the end of May now and the sun has started to come out with more frequency; I hope you are getting the chance to go outside after being indoors for so long.

In May, we honour Asian Heritage and today's activity comes from a Korean tradition. The word "apology" in Korean is sa-gwa but sa-gwa has another meaning, "apple". In Korea, schools celebrate Apple Day. On this day, you think of friends you have not been getting along with. Then you visit them (from a safe distance) to say sorry and fix your broken friendships.

It is not an

It's the long weekend! It might not be the warmest weekend we have had in May but it is traditionally when people first get the chance to go out camping.

Because it is also Pentecost, I thought of something that might combine the bothm and something that would be useful while camping: a lantern!

This might be a bit more involved, but you can decorate it as much or as little as you want! You need to buy a container (I suggest one that had a good handle, like in the photo) which you could get from the dollar store,

Happy Sunday!

This weekend it has really felt like spring and even summer! (It even rained a wee bit.)

Today, I wanted to briefly chat about something that we all deal with, but can be hard to really understand and see: mental health. I am participating in a fundraiser for Kids Help Phone. This is an amazing resource to help out our youth and even adults when they are struggling and they don't quite know who to talk to. Mental health is as important as physical health because it impacts us in ways that we might not see or

Happy Christian Family Sunday everyone!

This week, I wanted to find a family activity, or at least something that most would enjoy. I stumbled across something I had saved for a possible Easter treat and I think it could work for today.

This day is about celebrating all those who are part of your family. And right now, that might just mean those in your household "bubble". It can be hard to find new and exciting things to do with people with whom it seems like you have been stuck forever!!!

Hopefully, this will be something fun to do: colourful

Good morning/afternoon/evening!

I am trying to stay on top of things this week!

Here is an activity that I thought might be fun to do. It might be a wee bit messy but hopefully now, we can go outside more and enjoy the warm weather (at last).

We talked about Jesus as the true vine today in church and this kinda ties into it but it is also about seeing beyond what we can see.

It can sometimes be hard to really understand what Jesus meant with all of his teachings and lessons. But a lot of them deal with

Hello all!

Please forgive me but I forgot to post this on Sunday! And with our missing service, I wanted to bring some camping fun to your homes!

I like to do different things with kids in Sunday School, especially because we have kids from age 3 to 10 (usually). These look delicious and fun!

A lot of camping is with the different food that we have because, often, the fire is the only way to cook and prepare food. Now these marshmallows won't have that smokey flavour but I hope the extra fun of cookie cups makes up for

Happy Earth Day everyone!

We are called to be the Church.....to live with respect in Creation (from A New Creed).

Are you being a stewart of the Earth? Now is the time to start! I found a mini booklet that you can fill out with 1, 5, 10, or even more things that you can do to help the Earth. We all live here and we want to live on a healthy, beautiful Earth. Check it out here.

There is a second part to this activity with books you can read to find more ideas to help the Earth.

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

I hope you had a chance to look at my previous post about burying the alleluias. I also included links for colouring pages of alleluias. If not, no worries.

During the season of Lent, we usually don't say alleluia and we think about all the hard things we do. It can be quite a somber time for many people. We talk about 40 days of Lent.

Well those days end today! We can celebrate again because Christ is risen and the alleluias can ring once again!

Take some time to read the raising the

Today I am talking about the symbol that you see here: the Sankofa or Adinkra. In the Akan Twi language, "SAN" means to go back, "KO" means to go, and "FA" means to look and take. So together the word "SANKOFA" means to go back and take what you need to move forward. The Akan people of Ghana represent that with this image of a bird reaching back to take an egg from its back.

Sometimes we need to go back and remember what we've already been given before we ask for something new. We might find that we already

This is the first Sunday of Lent. I did part of this activity last year and wanted to bring it back.

In many churches, Lent becomes a period of austerity, even when you look around the space. Images are covered and even alleluias are silenced.

I thought we could do something similar to that: burying alleluias. Now I don't mean that you should try to dig a hole in the frozen ground, just look at the idea of hiding away these alleluias for the rest of Lent. So when we get though the difficult moments, we can open up that

I know, I'm late. Just wanted to post the info and my version of the image. Click here to colour your own.

I am sorry to be late this week but at least I made it before the end of Sunday!

I hope that you have been able to stay warm this weekend. I have been spending my days with my cat, inside.

This week's image brings up some interesting ideas: unsearchable. When we live in a world where we all use that handy search bar nearly every day. But to have something that is unsearchable. It won't just pop up with a thousand hits. And that is difficult to put into words. How can we explain what we do not know?

This is the last week of January, wow it has gone by quickly. Some good news, some not-so good news but we are still moving along.

I am looking at the image for this week and the words that pop out right away are "teaching" and "astounded". I am astounded with all who are teaching right now. They have had to find a new way to do something that was already difficult at the best of times.

I am taking a couple classes right now and it is hard for me to get motivated and they are each only once