News from the Children, Youth, & Families Advisory Council

Hello friends, I know it’s been a hot minute since you’ve had an update from your Children, Youth and Families team. My fault after I moved into rapid response work in the neighborhood in December and three months later I’m finding executive functioning difficult. I’ll realize I’ve been staring into space with large chunks of time gone by, stuck in my head, disconnected from my body and ignoring signals to eat, to rest, to be in community. It was easy to say “this is how we show up” to my own children early on, school patrol vest and whistle, showing up when needed. I’m still showing up along with a reliably consistent cohort of parents and neighbors but now we look at each other as more children return to school and families slowly start leaving their homes for the first time in months, we look at each other and wonder how we move this energy, if we make the shift, how soon will we need to quickly shift back? It’s a wild reality we live in these days.

All of us showed up in many ways in these last few months. Something I heard often was “I don’t feel like I’m doing enough.” I would like all caregivers to write this down or hang it up somewhere you can see it frequently to remind yourself of the real work we’re doing on a daily, grinding basis:

First U remains a place you can bring your kids to reregulate and surround yourself with friends who believe love and togetherness is the way to move through the new levels of depravity and fascism we are experiencing. To talk openly and honestly about what’s going on. To hold hard things and be together while we do it.

Now for the updates: What feels like a thousand years ago now, the Christmas pageant was a rousing success and went incredibly smooth by all accounts. Congratulations to all participants! Getting up in front of all those eyes is such a feat and you should feel proud of yourself for even attempting to do it, let alone doing it!

Just this past Sunday 1^st/2^nd grade OWL began their Spring session and while the 9 am session is full, the 11 am session still has a few open spots. The 8^th grade pilot program of OWL continues (my notes say tractors were involved- my notes are from January so I cannot tell you more so please interrogate your youth if they are getting tractor rides at church, because I am not, and I would like to get in on this please). If you are interested in OWL programming for your 1^st/2^nd grader, email Claire to grab one of those remaining spots at 11 am at claire [at] firstuniv.org.

Upcoming next Friday, March 20^th is the Family Overnight for our families K-5. Check-in is 5:30 pm on Friday, ending 9:30 am Saturday. I’m not gonna lie, while the sleeping accommodations may leave a bit to be desired (basic floor and sleeping bag situation—feel free to upgrade with air mattresses) but what an opportunity for ghost stories! Games, snacks, labyrinth walks and a talent show included!

For those who feel or have felt like they’re not doing enough, we still have a need for adult volunteers to volunteer with our religious education programming in our nursery and K-5 classrooms. Just showing up weekly to spend a few hours of your morning with children is a solid way to care for the youngest among us, the ones who don’t necessarily need your words or advice or guidance but do need your calming, steady presence for coregulation and helping remind them we are safe here. We have openings at both 9 am or 11 am. Please email Hirut at hirut [at] firstuniv.org if you can commit to a few months of storytime, discussion, games, and art.

Finally, last month our team held listening sessions for parents who had questions regarding curriculum changes to Coming of Age. A recording of the zoom session is available for those parents who were unable to attend and still have questions. But as always you can reach out to any member of your Children Youth and Family Advisory Team with questions or concerns, especially while Allison is away for just a short time longer until she returns part time later this month. Co-chairs Samatha White and Kirk Cozine, Sarah Heuser, Troi Ferguson and I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for building grounded, loving spaces for our children, youth and families. You can find our contact information in the church directory.

Looking forward to seeing you in church,

Annie Holtzclaw