Uphill idealist

Image from Free Historical Stock Photos. This year for Halloween, I'm happy to be dressing as "Rosie the riveter". I've alway' loved her look as well as her determined "We can do it!" frame of mind. It's also wonderful that there were and are many real life 'Rosie's" out there in the world. Thank you for all the it you have done and continue to do! Thursday evening, I'll be heading to a nursing home with youth group members to visit and share some happy Halloween cheer with the residents. Do you think there will be any "Rosie's" there? For now I have to wait and see. But for you, here's a peek at your's truly - in Rosie fashion.

This weekend is filled to the brim with fun and fulfilling things to do. First, this Saturday morning offers a time for students interested and already serving as Impact leaders to get some training, make some new friends, and have some pizza for lunch. Don't miss this training on Saturday at Lakewood Baptist from 10-12:30! Second, First Lutheran church is hosting a community Easter party complete with an egg hunt, crafts, story time, refreshments and photos with the Easter bunny! Third, our youth band will be partnering with Sacred Fire to help lead worship at the 9am service and sunday school and the 11am service will follow including a Palm procession. Fourth, and finally - First Lutheran youth and Families are invited to talk part in an afternoon of bowling at Jamestown Bowling Co. Shoe rental and two games is only $5.00 per person. Hope to see you there!

Moving furniture, setting up the stereo, putting on make-up and spraying glitter in our hair, opening the glo-stick packages, dimming the lights, inserting the mix CD, turning on the strobe light, kicking off our shoes, and turning the volume up to 10. This is our dance party, with silly string, Doritos, and our silly dorky selves having the time of our lives. This is our dance party. Will you come and join us? T.L. Eastman 2010

Last night at youth group we tie dyed some t-shirts to wind down to the end of summer vacation and to start off the new school year right. Tie dyes are always fun to make, but it's always good to know what kind of design you'd like to create before you start pouring the dye willy nilly. Depending on your choice of pattern( the spiral, the bulls-eye, the crinkle and many more) you need to rubber band the shirt in a particular way and apply the dye carefully so that you saturate the t-shirt enough to create a distinctive pattern. Last evening as we began tie dyeing, Heather decided to go for the spiral pattern (which you can see here) while I made a bulls-eye pattern. All in all I think we both got the balance of pattern and dye saturation down rater well. There have been many times that I've made tie dyes that I either don't think about the pattern or over-saturate the shirt in dye and end up with a muddy brown ugly blend of a mess. Our discussion at youth was about Jesu...

Yes we had a fun time! Thank you for being a part of all the good memories.

"Do not worry, you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:31 This is our FLY group banner that we made to bring with us to New Orleans for the ELCA Youth Gathering . Thank you to everyone who helped with the planning and creation of this project. Nice work!

My husband Ian wrote a lovely post on some happenings at our church on Sunday. Here is a re post of his note here... I was greatly encouraged by my son, Nigel, yesterday. We were selling sno-cones and cookies outside of our church, raising money for camp scholarships. A man who was obviously mentally ill approached our booth, asking if we were giving away food. I told him that we had enough to share and wrapped him up a plate of cookies. My son then invited him to the fellowship breakfast that our church holds every month between services. Now I don't know if the man will remember to come back in three weeks, but it was amazing to hear Nigel respond so readily to someone's need. I know that I never reacted with such confidence and grace around the mentally ill when I was his age (12). A half-hour earlier, the worship team at our church led us in the song "All Are Welcome" during communion: All are welcome, friend and stranger at the banquet of the Savior All are wel...

The tail gate party was a go even in the misty rain and we had a great time hanging out with the students and neighbors that pass our Church building every day. Here are some photos from the day... Chris Bell singing and performing. Senior High students taking in the music. Sno-cones were slurped. Brain freeze afflicted many. The hot dogs were happily eaten. Favor cups were given to over 100 students. We had a chance to talk with everyone... and I think we made some new friends too! Thank you to all the volunteers who set up, served food and tore down. Thanks to Cable 8 News for coming and doing a story on the event. Most of all, thanks to G-d for help in bringing all the details together! Take a minute and stop by First Lutheran Church of Jamestown's website to learn what else we have to offer!

What is FLY? It's a youth group for students in grades 5 - 12. It meets Wednesdays at 6 pm at First Lutheran Church, 120 Chandler St. in Jamestown. Call, me Tara Eastman, 664-4601, for more information. My husband, Ian and our friend Sue help with the group gatherings and we have a great time together. You should come and have dinner with us this Wednesday! PS> Isn't the graphic for this great! What a clever guy Ian is for making this.

Last evening at youth group we talked about the obstacles and benefits of friendship. We looked at the text from John 15 to our springboard for discussion because of its emphasis on love and Jesus expression of choosing us to be his friend. Image from Blog Hendersonville John 15: 1-17" 1-3 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. 4"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. 5-8"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from...

All eight students that are going to New Orleans for the ELCA Youth Gathering in July. Libby and I served lots of smiles today. Hannah was our greeter and money collector. Phil, Libby and Heather were happy to serve. Really. Nate and Scott are fearful that tossed salad will take over the world. Devious vegetables. Lexi wants to go on the trip to New Orleans. We start them out fundraiser young in this youth group. Heather and her coffee cart. Becca helping to clean up - she still is smiling! More food? It was a long day. But we had fun... and we chipped away at the cost for the trip with our efforts.:) Thanks for your help and support Jamestown - F.L.Y Youth loves you!

Cartoon from Toothpaste for Dinner. No complaints here. I'm pressing onto the reality that I had had some serious help today in preparing for the fundraiser breakfast and luncheon for Sunday. I keep looking around and on my to do list and I see that most everything I was worrying about is done, assigned, or good to go. One, two, three, four, five, six of the eight student that the fundraiser is for came to help and one, two, three, four who are not attending the trip came to chip in just because. Tables are set, eggs are cracked, and the rigatoni is ready to bake. Thanks to the two moms who assisted as well. Usually the night before such events I full of nervous energy, tonight I'm relaxed. In fact the most relaxed I've felt in a long while. This fact is one I'd like to happen more often in my reality. If you think of us on Sunday - stop by and have some good eats. If you can't make it here - say a prayer that it all goes well. Breakfast is 9am-10:30am with scramble...

First Lutheran Youth (FLY) is holding a rigatoni dinner on Sunday, May 3rd from noon to 1:30 pm. Pat Post, nationally known pianist, will provide musical entertainment during the luncheon. Take outs are available, too. Tickets are $5.00 for Adults, $3.00 for children 10 and under, or $15.00 per family. All proceeds will benefit the youth's trip to the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans this summer. Come out and have a good time and support a good cause! First Lutheran Church is located at 120 Chandler St. in Jamestown.

YS will be hosting a one day Bible training in Hamburg NY on Saturday May 9th. I'm hoping to go to this event and was wondering if there was anyone out there that would like to tag along as well? For the more information go to: http://ysoneday.com/ for all the details on a One day training near you!

There are some times that busyness wears me out and other kinds that seem to fuel the fires of creativity and life for me. This week was a mix of both kinds of "busy". Work: This last week was the second week of spring break for the school age kiddos in my community. So it marked the second week straight of working with my kids home with the break from school, having some more of my students back in town after trips away for Easter, and working on preparation for some additional art classes/workshops in the coming weeks. One day last week, our youth group spent the day spring cleaning and reorganizing the youth room and kitchen. The cupboards are filled with sparking dishes and glasses thanks to a donation of kitchen wares from my co-worker Cathy. (Thank you!) Overall it was a productive day of clearing out three construction garbage bags full of trash, fostering team building and spending some quality time with the student. Nicest of all, both my kids (16 and 12) are in the ...