1310 Alford Ave. Ste. 202
Birmingham, AL 35226
Dates to Remember
PRST STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
BOISE, ID
PERMIT 411
COVENANT PRIDE PRESS
w w w . c c s l i o n . c o m
LOVE AND RESPECT BOOK STUDY:
• Huntsville at Research Park
February 12th & March 12th
• Pelham/Valleydale at Pelham
February 19th & March 19th
• Homewood/Trace
Crossings at Homewood
February 24th & March 26th
IN THIS
ISSUE
Love is in the Air
page 1
The Most Precious
Gift
page 2-3
PARENT’S NIGHT OUT
• Valleydale & Trace Crossings
February 6th
• Pelham
February 13th
• Huntsville
February 13th
A CHRISTIAN,
FAMILY
Valentine’s
Day
So many of us associate Valentine’s Day with candies, chocolates, glittery
red hearts, roses, teddy bears, and many other symbols of love. These
symbols seem to appear everywhere in the days leading up to the 14th,
often obscuring our view on what really matters. Our attention becomes
so wrapped up in these gifted expressions of love, that our real love for
one another, and our love for God, becomes lost in the mix.
Love IS IN THE AIR
February 2015
Book Review:
Meaning of
Marriage
page 2
for. It’s a day to celebrate those relationships and share our love and
compassion with one another.
How can you share your love with your family? It can be as simple as
spending time with them and reminding them how much they mean
to you. Leave notes of encouragement around the house for loved ones
to find. Sit down to a home-cooked meal. Plan time to talk and share.
Dinner can transition into a time to share our love with one another and
the Lord. Go around the table and express what each person means to
you, and what the Lord means to you.
It’s a time to explore love and what it means to you and your family.
Read Bible passages that explore love and compassion—especially
God’s love. And remember, when the day ends, our love and God’s love
doesn’t end. We can carry this same thoughtfulness throughout the year,
and really throughout our lives.
And it is easy to lose focus when we are inundated with these images.
Sometimes we need to recalibrate what Valentine’s Day really means to
us and how we can use this day to express our love. It’s not really about
those little cards with superheroes and princesses or those little heartshaped candies. It’s about the people who you genuinely love and care
Miss Laura’s Twice
Baked Potatoes
page 3
Chaplain’s Corner
page 3
Events
A Christian Family
Valentine’s Day
page 4
As
Valentine’s Day approaches, stores everywhere
are filled with pink and red hearts and sentimental
chocolates. The word “love” is emblazoned across nearly every
surface, and red roses grace nearly every window display.
Around this time each year, I, like many of you, start thinking
about what it really means to love; after all, it’s one thing to
say “I love you,” but quite another to actually do it. That being
said, Christianity is the only religion in which its followers are
commanded to love. Deuteronomy 6 instructs us to “Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your strength,” and John 13 imposes upon us a new
commandment, to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another.”
Valentine’s Day has become focused more on romantic love (we
can thank Chaucer for that), but it is, at its core, a celebration
of sacrificial love. St. Valentine was imprisoned for conducting
marriage ceremonies for the young Roman soldiers who had
been forbidden by Emperor Claudius II to ever marry. And
he demonstrated love to the local Christians by helping them
escape the harsh Roman prisons. Or what about the love he
showed to the jailor’s daughter—who visited him during his
confinement in one such prison and served as the recipient
for the first valentine ever. Regardless of what version of
St. Valentine’s history you read, one element remains the
same: love.
Without love, everything else is meaningless. Without
love, none of the other holidays make sense. Take
Thanksgiving for example; how can a person be
thankful for anything if they haven’t first felt
love? How can we, as Christians, be moved
about a baby being born in a manger if we
don’t understand that God loved the world
and sent his only son to redeem us? As
parents we strive to show the immense
love we have for our children; this
stems from the love that Christ
first showed to us.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it
does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor
others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight
in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 • www.ccslion.com
The proof is all around us, whether or not we are aware of it.
As a culture, we go out of our way to help the weak and to
show empathy for the helpless. We do this because we are
commanded to love, as God loved us. We do this because
we know that love is the core of life.
And that’s what we desire to teach the children at
CCS. Because we’re passionate about nurturing the
children we serve, we want to build and invest in
their character as well. Our model for love comes
from Christ who demonstrated the ultimate love.
- John LaBreche
CEO of Covenant Classical
Schools & Daycare
Covenant Classical Schools & Daycare • 1
Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com
Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com
Chaplain’s Corner
The Most Precious Gift
LOVE: 1 JOHN 4
“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh
One of the best ways we feel valued as human beings is when we truly
feel like we are heard by others. That doesn’t mean someone just hears
what we say and agrees until it’s their turn to talk; it’s when someone
really listens and understands what we have to say. How often do you
find yourself doing that with your loved ones—especially your children?
Do you make an effort, each day, to sit down, look in their eyes, and
have an actual conversation with them? Try these cool new ideas to help
you actually get to know your child as a person—who they are, not what
they do—so you can continue to appreciate their incredible depth and
intelligence..
listen. If you interrupt or fidget, your child will gather that you’re not
really interested in what they have to say. Make eye contact, nod your
head, and say encouraging things to show that you’re paying attention
(like “mmm,” “uh huh,” and, “go on”). When there’s a break in their
speaking, try to sum up what they’ve said in your own words—this is
the reflective part… and it’s very important! You will keep them opening
up to you if you show them that you understand what they’re saying.
Don’t push for information; just give them space to confide in you. Make
sure you don’t criticize, which will show that you’re judging rather than
listening or understanding.
REFLECTIVE LISTENING. Practice reflective listening. The main
IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS. Reflective listening goes a long
idea is to try to understand what your child is trying to communicate to
you, then “reflect” the idea back to them to make sure it’s understood.
This is great for children because you can make them feel heard (and
help them figure out what they are really trying to say) instead of trying
to form their ideas into what you think they should be.
way in satisfying your child’s need to be listened to and understood. It
will help you build a stronger bond with them and it will teach them how
to listen to others, including you! There’s nothing more important on
any parent’s to-do list than building a connection with their little genius.
Even if you set aside 15 minutes a day to look into your child’s eyes and
reflectively listen to them, it can make the difference between knowing
what they do and who they are!
ACTIVELY LISTENING TO YOUR CHILD. Sit still and actively
The Meaning of Marriage
BY TIMOTHY KELLER WITH KATHY KELLER
When over the years
someone has seen you at
your worst, and knows
you with all your strengths
and flaws, yet commits
him or herself to you
wholly, it is a consummate
experience. To be loved but
not known is comforting
but superficial. To be
known and not loved is
our greatest fear. But to
be fully known and truly
loved is, well, a lot like
being loved by God. It is
what we need more than
anything.
2 • www.ccslion.com
In the story of Scripture, marriage acts
as bookends. There is a wedding in the
beginning of the story and a wedding at
the very end. One marriage represents
our fall into sin and our need for rescue
while the final wedding is culmination
of our hope for salvation in Christ.
Pastor Timothy Keller looks at this
overarching picture and draws out the
implications for our marriages today.
Pastor Keller offers both an overhead,
big picture view of marriage and its
purpose as determined by God as well
as practical advice for everyday life.
When a child is learning language, exposure is key. When you teach your child
language and how to use language, you don’t sit them down with a stack of
grammar workbooks and vocabulary lists for them to work through and
memorize. Instead, you talk to them. You sit them in your lap and read them
stories. You have little conversations with them as you respond to their “coos”
and “goos.” Your child is learning language by observing the way you use
language. Before long, he or she will start to mimic the words you say and the
sentence structure that you use. Your language will be imprinted into them. Your
child will only use the language that he or she is exposed to, no more and no less.
Love works in a very similar way. The Apostle John wrote, “We love because
he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God, as our Father, has taught us how to love by
showing us. He has imprinted love on our hearts by his own expression of love
towards us. John described the love of God this way: “In this is love, not that we
loved God but he that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins” (1 John 4:10). We see from Scripture to truly know how to love we must
know God and his saving work in Jesus Christ. God is the beginning and end of
love. We do not know love without experiencing his love and we fulfill his love
when we love others as he has loved us (John 15:12; 1 John 4:17).
Call to Action: Our children will ultimately learn to love from their relationship
with God in Christ Jesus. But you are the first means God will use to instruct your
children on how to love. God has taught us to love in a particular way. What
sort of love is expressed through your actions toward your family? Is your love
self-serving, seeking to promote yourself? Or is it self-sacrificing, seeking to serve
and glorify God?
Miss Laura’s
Twice Baked
Potato
Casserole
- Chaplain Drew Phillips
INGREDIENTS
• 3 lg. potatoes, baked
CHARACTER TRAITS
• ½ lb. bacon bits
• ¾ cup shredded
cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 ¼ tsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. butter, melted
• 1/3 cup sour cream
OF THE MONTH
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup chopped
green onions
• Save some bacon bits,
cheese, and green onions to
sprinkle on top.
INSTRUCTIONS
Bake oil-rubbed potatoes at 350-400 degrees F for 1 hour; allow to
cool enough to handle. (BIG TIME SAVER: Bake the day before,
cool, and refrigerate; peel the next day.) Peel off the skins and in
a large bowl, mash potatoes, salt, pepper, butter, sour cream, and
milk, until creamy. Fold in bacon bits, cheese, and green onions.
Put in a greased baking dish; sprinkle with reserved cheese, bacon
bits, and green onions and bake at 300 degrees F for 45 minutes
to 1 hour.
2/2: Obedience
2/9: Love
2/16: Kindness
2/23: Dependability
Covenant Classical Schools & Daycare • 3