I am a planner. I have a hard time waiting for answers. I want to know everything now so I can plan. This past year enrollment was very slow. Our numbers were low for a long time. We decided to adjust staff, cut hours, and changed some classes around. So all summer long we prayed hard, did some advertising on social media and our enrollment shot up! So again, we adjusted staff, added hours for some, and remembered to keep praying. How many times are we so focused on the planning that we forget to pray? This year reminded me that all the planning in the world wasn’t going to help if I wasn’t willing to pray to God as well. I’m more focused on what God wants as opposed to what I want done. I love that God still teaches us lessons and doesn’t give up until He’s ready for us. His time is not fast or slow, it’s perfect.
The preschool’s board works hard to keep a tight budget. Basically what comes in covers our budget and our gift back to the church. This year we are again giving a 10% discount to active church members. We gave back $10,000 directly to the church at the end of 2016. Our board for the 2017-2018 school year consists of: Jana Houghkirk as acting chair, Allison Johnson, Kaci Maire, Melissa Oberembt, Jennifer Miller, Carrie Campbell, Katie Curtis, Jan Fick, and myself. I absolutely love my staff! Jan Fick, 24 years, Assistant Director/Lead Teacher; Marcia Bruggink, 15 years as Assistant Teacher; Lori Larson, 11 years as Lead Teacher; Kris Crowther, 4 years as Lead Teacher, and Lorri Anderson, 3 years as Assistant Teacher. Bridgit Humphreys and Rachel Freeman join us as substitute teachers. We are grateful for all 62 families, who have stayed with Noah’s Ark and value a quality Christian education.
I believe in free preschool for those who can’t afford to pay. I don’t believe that our taxes should pay for all those who can pay. As a Preschool Director, it hurts my heart knowing that we have a quality preschool and loving Christian teachers who can offer way more than ‘free’ and we could reach twice as many families as we do. Please join with me and pray for the future of Noah’s Ark Preschool.
In Christ,
Leslie Clauson
Director of Noah’s Ark Preschool
It has been an exciting year for our Discipleship Vision Team. Our ‘on’ and ‘off’ campus cells continue to provide a growing number of families with the opportunity to connect with one another. There is still much work to be done in our groups owning the cell values. Some of our groups this past year merged with others and new groups continue to develop. Our focus on training and forming new cell groups will continue to be a way that we hope to reach out beyond the walls of the church to become a church that does life with one another in community.
The Adult Discipleship Cross Training has experienced a blessed year and is off to a good start this fall. This year we increased our Sunday morning classes to four instead of three. An additional Cross Training class is now offered on Tuesday mornings. Adult Discipleship opportunities continue to expand with a primary focus on the Bible, family dynamics, and other biblical electives presented to help resource our spiritual development.
J.R. Henderson
Kent Landhuis
Join Cedar Hills for a FREE live stream of Dave Ramsey’s Smart Money event. Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 7pm. 
Our daughter Sara has Type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes. She was diagnosed at age 18 and has struggled with this disease as a brittle diabetic ever since. After 21 years of testing, shots, insulin pump failures, and hospitalizations, she has been losing her sensation of feeling her high and low blood sugar levels. To assist her in monitoring her highs and lows, she wants to get a service dog trained to sense her condition before it become life-threatening.
On Sunday morning, February 19th the Missions Team is packaging meals for “Take Away Hunger” in the church Gathering Space. The meals are made of a specialized rice based mixture to feed hungry and starving people both locally and globally. Volunteers are needed to fill 60 minute slots throughout the morning at 9am, 10am or 11am for our meal packing party!
Welcome to 2017!! In this new year the Journey student ministry has decided to take big steps in living out their faith. Come check out the student ministry hallway and room and see the different ways we are connecting with the community. In the hallway we have a map of the corridor with markers where we live, work, go to school, and just do life. These are our impact zones each and every week. Inside the Journey room we have a pathway wall that will have footprints on it. Each footprint represents a conversation we have had with someone about Jesus.
~ Jeremy Van Genderen
Sometimes if my microwave at home gets wiggled, jostled, or moved by too many slams of the door, it will power off. You have to reach behind to wiggle the power cord on the back to get it to turn back on. After it powers off, the screen always displays “0” instead of a clock. This drives me nutty. My husband will usually leave it on “0,” but my eyes are so accustomed to looking at the microwave for the time, that I am always compelled to reset the clock.
Leah Carolan