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Cedar Chips, COVID-19, July 2020 Chips, News, Noah's Ark

Noah’s Ark July Update

JULY 2020

Welcome Hannah!

Welcome to Hannah Pelling, our newest staff member at Noah’s Ark!

Hannah comes to us with her BA in Elementary Education from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago IL. She recently did her student teaching at Isaac Newton Christian Academy in Cedar Rapids. She will help us with July summer school and lead our four-year-old class this fall. We love her positivity and can’t wait to share her with our students and families.

Noah’s Ark is now in search of an assistant to work with Hannah in our four-year-olds’ classroom this fall on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Send inquiries to www.noahsarkcr.org.

We have many COVID-19 requirements to complete in order to open school in July.  Many of the cleaning guidelines are in use at Noah’s Ark already, but we are having a difficult time purchasing a specific cleaner recommended by DHS for use in preschools. If you are out shopping and discover any spray bottles of Clorox (Anywhere Hard Surface Spray) please purchase them and Noah’s Ark will reimburse you!  It must be only this cleaner.

Kris Crowther
Director of Noah’s Ark Preschool

 

 

 

 

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    Cedar Chips, Connection, July 2020 Chips, News

    Authenticity Killer

    JULY 2020

    AUTHENTICITY  KILLER

    I started crying in my car as I drove past the NewBo area of town. I saw dozens of people enjoying each other’s company in the sunshine and it made my heart hurt. Gathering with friends is exactly what my heart needs to be healthy. Several of my friends are on the cautious side of getting together; which means they are not ready to make many social plans yet. As a fun-loving extrovert, this has been soul-crushing. Hospitality and authenticity are key elements to relationship-building and it turns out that Zoom (a platform to hold meetings online) makes these elements hard to access.

    I’ve recently come to the realization that Zoom is an authenticity killer. In fact, in all the busyness of trying to move everything over to Zoom, learning how to use the platform, and then helping others do the same, I’m only now realizing that authenticity takes far more energy when using Zoom. Most of our communication with others is non-verbal. All the body language, tone of voice, direction of eye gaze, guttural sounds, hand motions, posture, and movement away from or towards the speaker offers us far more information about what the person is saying than their actual words. Part of me thought that Zoom would work because of the camera focused on the face, allowing for some of the non-verbal clues to be captured by the listener. However, so much is still missing or left to interpretation. This lack of clues about the speaker(s) makes it hard to share authentically.

    The Marco Polo app (a platform that lets you leave video messages) allows for different results than Zoom. I think one of the main differences is that people can share when they are ready, any time of day they choose. That means if I’m thinking things over in the grocery store I might be ready to leave a thoughtful or heartfelt response from my car in the parking lot. Zoom demands that you produce thoughtful responses at the moment everyone else is in the meeting. Marco Polo has allowed my small group the ability to share what is on our hearts, from a distance. Admittedly Marco Polo and Zoom are different platforms with different functions, but one has allowed deep connections to continue and the other allows for business as usual (as usual as it can be in a pandemic).

    The moral of the story for me is that connection is essential and complex. We all need time with our friends and family in order to stay healthy. Doing life together with hospitality, authenticity, forgiveness, and restoration is the answer to my heartache.

    Lindsey Ungs
    Connection & Communication Architect

     

     

     

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      Funeral

      Gage Underwood Funeral

      Gage Underwood

      The funeral service for Gage Underwood is Tuesday, June 30 at 11am here at Cedar Hills.  Visitation is Monday night 4-8pm at Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home (4200 1st Ave N.E.), and Tuesday, 9:30-11am at the church just prior to the funeral.  Please continue to pray for this family as they grieve the loss of their son, brother, and friend.

      Obituary (from cedarmemorial.com)

      Gage Bryant Underwood, 18 of Palo, Iowa passed away on Friday, March 27, 2020 at his home.  Visitation will be held on Monday, June 29th from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home.  A limited number of people will be allowed in the funeral home at one time. Please plan to wait your turn outside and be respectful of social distancing guidelines.

      Funeral Services will be 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 30th   at Cedar Hills Community Church: 6455 E Avenue NW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405.  The family will greet friends from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the church. A mask is encouraged due to social distancing guidelines. Burial will follow at Linwood Cemetery in Cedar Rapids.

      Gage was born October 15, 2001 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa the beloved son of Jason Underwood and Heather Underwood.  Gage was a senior at Kennedy High School.  He was active on the football and basketball teams.  Gage worked at Safelite Auto Glass in Cedar Rapids. He enjoyed playing videos games, computers (he always wore his earbuds) and spending time with his favorite pet companion his dog, Louie.  But Gage’s true passion was all the great times spent with his friends and family.  He was compassionate, friendly, giving, a jokester, hard worker and had a heart of gold.  He will forever be remembered as a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew, and friend who will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.

      Those left to honor Gage include his father, Jason Underwood (fiancé Kelly) of Palo, IA; mother, Heather Underwood of Cedar Rapids, IA; two sisters, Kayla and Alexis Underwood; step-siblings, Lexi, Logan and Luke Levendusky of Palo, IA; grandparents, Galen (Marlene) Underwood of Cedar Rapids, IA; grandfather, Joe Seng of Cedar Rapids, IA; special companion his dog, Louie; numerous loving aunts, uncles, cousins, extended family members, friends, classmates, and neighbors.

      He was preceded in death by his grandmother, Carol Seng and two aunts, Marlaine Underwood and Nicole Seng.

      Gage was taken from us much too soon, but his spirit, quest for adventure, and love for life will be with us always.

      Memorials may be directed to the family.

      Missions Team, News

      Blueberry Blitz Fundraiser

      We have a unique opportunity to support one of our missions – Lake View Camp – with a blueberry fundraiser! Print ORDER FORM now. (Make checks out to Lake View Camp)

      Lake View will be selling FRESH Michigan blueberries! A friend of Lake View Camp has offered to provide us with as many fresh Michigan blueberries as we can sell, delivered straight from his family’s 4th generation farm. Over the past decade, blueberries have been called the miracle fruit for their outstanding source of vitamin C, dietary fiber, manganese, and antioxidant properties—the things that fight against the development of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s.

      We here at Lake View Camp know a thing or two about miracles (though of a different sort of course!) and see this partnership between the miracle fruit and a camp where God’s miracles happen every day as a special opportunity to raise some much needed funds. So, join in our BLUEBERRY BLITZ! and help our ministry stay as healthy for our campers as these miracle berries will keep your body and mind.

      *Berries will be delivered to Cedar Rapids on Saturday, July 18 and be available to pickup at Steve and Cathy Poole’s house.  Make checks out to Lake View Camp.

      ORDER FORM
      Payment due upon ordering. Return order form and payment to the church office by July 13.

      Uncategorized

      Love, True Love

      Miss Sunday’s sermon? You can watch the sermon on Vimeo.  Podcast also available on iTunes, Stitcher, Buzzsprout and most of your top podcast players. Just search for “Cedar Hills Community Church” and look for our blue circle logo.

      “Love, True Love” may seem like just a sermon on marriage, but what we learn from Ephesians can be applied to many relationships in our lives as we learn to love and walk with those around us.