Friday, December 19, 2014

Happy holidays. See you in 2015

"This Is My Wish" - Jordin Sparks

This is my wish
My wish for the world
That peace would find its way
To every boy and girl
This is the time
The time for harmony
Let love be the song
That everybody sings
...
I hear the sweetest sound
The sound of hope to come
Together we can bring
Good will to everyone."

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Embrace Grace YAC ALUMNI HOLIDAY PROJECT

Today was a success and it would not have been possible without you all! 

We are forever grateful for your generous acts and contributions. Young lives were forever changed today and I believe that this is just the beginning of a great work. 

Thank you all again for joining the love through action movement!


We look forward to working more with you in the future to make a difference in the world around us! 
With Love,
Johnesha Hawkins'11
(Embrace Grace)




Hanukkah begins today 12,16, 2014. YAC Agenda and minutes of meeting

YAC Meeting Agenda
DATE: 12/16/2014, 12:30  Seniors E-board @ Britton Elementary delivering Xmas Stockings.  Freshmen called after chapel for meeting.  Spanish III on field trip and Swim team away

There was a chapel announcement asking YAC members to bring a snack to share.  Thank you Miranda for bringing snacks for the meeting.

a. Reflection of YAC service hours earned through YAC meetings and projects:  Mrs. Clay

Seniors:  We took the initiative to volunteer and get others to join us.  We will go to college and continue to volunteer!  We can encourage ALL the members to join the meetings.  Jessika, Sindi, Cathy D.

Juniors:  None present

Sophomores:  We reflected and helped with the canned food drive.  We need to have more discussions about the particular project we are working on.  We need more school-wide involved project.

Freshmen:  What worked?  When we are organized and people come to the meetings.  When we are unorganized and uninformed, we loose interest and people stop coming.  To improve YAC we need to volunteer at more events, mentor little kids, have a mentorship program with another school and worked with the little kids in the Lower Division.

b. Bennett's poster:  We finished Bennett poster and took it to Mrs. France for LD teachers to sign it.

c. Xmas thank you Panetone for Teachers , Coaches and Staff:   Finished decorating cards.  Mrs. Clay will deliver them today.

January 19th is MLK Day.  Sign-up in sign-up genius if planning to attend.  We will have two shifts. Dress up in Disney attire.  Our goal is 80 volunteers in the morning and 80 volunteers in the afternoon

Morning Shift
Kat R
Natalie H

Lunch at near by "all you can eat' Chinese Food place.  Bring money for lunch if staying all day.  Mrs. Clay will provide transportation to the restaurant to up to 8 freshmen

Afternoon Shift
Kat R
Natalie H
Kira S.
Mariam S.
Safra S.

There will also be a 3-hour  Strategic Planning Fedex Time in January led by Casady's Development Director,  Evan Walter.  Date and Time TBA in January



Day 17: Hanukkah

By Professor Carol on Dec 16, 2014 03:00 am
Dnalor 01 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Dnalor 01 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Growing up in Roanoke, Virginia the 1950s, I never saw a menorah, at least not in my neighborhood. I also didn’t know I was Jewish.
My mother fled Brooklyn and her impoverished immigrant household in 1938 when she married a handsome, guitar-playing Gentile whose family had been dug into the West Virginia mountains for generations. She’d met him during the Depression when his family, like so many others, was thrown into New York City looking for work. I would be raised a Protestant, fully unaware of my own Jewish heritage or the existence of Hanukkah.
Hanukkah begins today. Its most important symbol appears frequently in popular culture these days. Do you remember when menorahs began to be placed routinely next to crèches in school programs or on public squares at “holiday” time? It almost seems that some people critical of Christian practice (or intent on religion-neutral civic life) welcome the Menorah a more acceptable symbol.
Anyone who thinks that doesn’t understand the Menorah.
The Menorah is a power-packed symbol of a significant event in Jewish history when the Temple in Jerusalem was restored for Jewish worship in 165 BC after a period of pagan desecration. Rebuilt after its awful initial destruction in 586 BC, the Temple had become the site of sacrifices to Zeus. Finally, the Jews, led by Judas Maccabeus, launched a rebellion and kicked out the last of the pagans. Shortly thereafter, the process of rededication (חֲנֻכָּה, Hanukkah) was undertaken.
A complex ceremony was necessary to purify the site and restore it to holiness. This ceremony commenced during Jerusalem’s winter season with what seemed an imprudent decision: sacred lamps would need to burn continuously, yet there was enough consecrated oil for only one day’s flame. Still, the first lamp was lit and, marvelously, the oil lasted through the entire eight-day period. That, at least, is the story that is told and retold through lighting the menorah.
Hanukkah became an annual Feast, although a relatively minor one by Jewish standards. Yet it was important enough that Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to take part in it, as we learn in John 10: 22-23:
Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.
A couple of years ago, I was fortunate that my work with the Smithsonian took me for the first time to Jerusalem. People always had said to me that visiting Jerusalem was a life-changing experience. They in no way exaggerated. Walking the streets of that ancient city changed my perception of so many things. Places described in the Bible went from mere names to concrete reality. I can imagine Jesus walking in Solomon’s Colonnade more easily, knowing that it happened within a few feet of where I stood discussing Jewish history with the archeologist who helped us shoot footage for our Early Sacred Music course.
Judaism and Christianity share much of the same history, but that doesn’t mean that menorahs and crèches belong side by side in Christmas displays. Hanukkah makes no sense as the Jewish version of an increasingly secularized Christmas. Quite the opposite, the Maccabees fought to preserve the integrity of Judaism against those who were trying to water it down into something more accommodating of modern trends. For Jews who remember the steadfastness of their Fathers, Hanukkah is a sacred time of quiet rededication. It, like so many Jewish holidays, has much to teach us.
Precisely for this reason, many Christians are reexamining the cornerstones of Jewish tradition. Families who never before lit a menorah are taking up the practice, or finding ways to introduce their children to the meaning of Hanukkah.
You’ll find plenty of scholarship on this issue too. Just get on line and search. You’ll also locate sources for songs, stories, recipes, and traditions of interaction during Hanukkah that can enrich every Christian’s life.
All of this would have gratified my mother, who so long ago made a rash, youthful choice that shut her completely out of her Orthodox Jewish family. Ultimately those breeches would be healed, but it took four decades before I got to know my grandmother or most of the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Perhaps that’s why I particularly rejoice in the momentum leading many Christians to understand the rituals that Jesus himself valued and practiced.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Embracing Grace Project receives Service-Learning YAC $100 Grant


If God gives you a vision I promise he'll put it in your hands..Christmas is coming to F.D. Moon Academy!! 

Embrace Grace would like to Thank EVERYONE who has contributed in any way to making this possible! Special thanks to our Athletes First family, Our Casady Family,and everyone who supported or participated in our Holiday Blowout event!! We Love you all!  Johnesha H.

Advisory makes holiday cards for Wounded Warriors

Mrs. Jew and Mrs. Clay advisory shared heritage snacks and made holiday cards for Wounded Warriors during 12/15/2014 advisory time.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!









Day 16: Nativity Scenes

By Professor Carol on Dec 15, 2014 03:00 am
My mother called it a crèche. I wondered what kind of a word crèche was, but didn’t ask.
Ours had a rickety wooden stable and an even more rickety pressboard manger. The figures of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, two sheep, a camel, two shepherds, and a token wise man were made of soft ceramic. Best of all was a kindly angel who could be hooked and unhooked from the top of the stable. Crouched beneath our Christmas tree, I played with them endlessly. I still have the drastically chipped remnants of those figures.
Nativity Scene
Germany: Baroque Nativity Scene – Andreas Praefcke (CC BY 3.0)
Embracing Grace Project recives Service-Learning YAC Grant
Nativity Scenes are such precious items. Whether yours is an elaborate heirloom, or something made by a child in first grade, they are irreplaceable treasures. And they have a noble history. Let’s take a closer look.
First the name: the French term crèche, comes fromcripia, a low Latin word for cradle. The Germans call it aKrippe, but the Italians use a different root: presepe,from the verb praesepire, which means to “enclose or fence in,” referring to the place where animals were kept.
Nativity Scenes can be tracked to the 7th century, while frescoes of the manger scene date back centuries earlier. But it was a live reenactment of Christ’s birth staged by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 that really put the Nativity Scene on the map. In the Italian town of Greccio, St. Francis used local shepherds, real animals, and a manger to teach the townspeople the sacred story. So if your church or community happens to stage a “live Nativity Scene,” be proud of the fact that you’re continuing a nearly 800-year-old tradition.
Eventually Nativity Scenes became a kind of status symbol for the wealthy. And not surprisingly, the materials varied from wood, cloth, and straw to porcelain, bronze, and silver. You may want to consult the Friends of the Creche.
There are many colorful traditions surrounding the Nativity Scene. The Italians set up presepi on December 8, the Feast day of the Immaculate Conception, although some churches and families wait until Christmas Eve. In an old German tradition, figures are added in each week until Epiphany (January 6), when the Three Kings appear. The Spanish have colorful traditions and one town, Alicante, has a Nativity Scene Movement and boasts a Nativity Scene Museum.
Nativity Scenes are an important form of folk art . . . and not just European folk art. People from every corner of the globe make Nativity Scenes using local material, be it bark, nuts, cloth, or clay. One of my favorites comes from Arizona and depicts Joseph and Mary as Native Americans, surrounded by feathered warriors.
My own revelation of the importance of Nativity Scenes came well into adulthood when I wandered into theDresdener Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst (The Dresden Museum for Saxon Folk Art). I blinked in astonishment to find an entire floor filled with Nativity Scenes. Intricate and complex, some were bejeweled. One had scores of figures winding down a two-foot tall “mountainside.” Several replicated the flora of the Middle East in fine detail.
Advent is a fine time to explore Nativity Scenes around the world. As we do, we will treasure the crèchebeneath our own Christmas tree all the more

December, Saturday of Service: Debate Tournament and Urban Mission Santa's Store


 

























Saturday, December 13, 2014

YAC Volunteers at Urban Mission

Urban Mission:  Santa's Store

Preparing for the Santa Store Day

The YAC Executive Board chose this organization for their holiday volunteering

8:30-11:30 am  Saturday, December 13  3737 North Portland
Sidney Jones  Happy Birthday Sidney!  She will be 18 years old!!!
Jessica Greene
Chase Kuehl
Taylor Burrow
Abby Robinson
Mrs. Carmen Clay
Jessika Russell

11:00-2:00 pm Saturday, December 13  3737 North Portland
Kat Reynolds
Mallory Woodruff
Natalie Hugos
Mariam Shakir
Safra Shakir
Mrs. Carmen Clay

The Urban Mission, Inc.
3737 N. Portland Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK  73112

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Casady's Blood Drive: Thank you Volunteers


Thank you to the blood donors.  35 people got screened, 25 were able to donate
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