Dear St. Columba’s Friends,

I am so excited to step into this role to be a coordinator for our children, youth and family programs! I feel humbled and full of tremendous gratitude for all of the incredible work Elaine has done for our community and all that I have learned from her.  I am excited to serve moving forward. She laid the groundwork that we are able to continue and build upon. Thank you, so much, Elaine. 

It feels to me that this is a time of rebuilding our community and programs together. I can sense that we are eager to move forward, yet that we want to be sure we are doing so with thought, care, and great kindness, patience and listening. Me too. We have been through a lot the past 2 ½ years. We are changed. There is a lot that we want to recover and restore, and also, a lot that we want to change and do differently. Yes, it’s a lot to sort through. But we can do it, slowly, thoughtfully, with gentleness and simplicity. I will be looking a lot to our children and youth and listening to them as to what they feel works best for them, as we decide what to restart, and what to wait patiently and add in later, as it is not yet the right time.

 Some personal areas of focus that I bring to the table that I hope will help, are that I place a high value on simplicity, a “back to basics” or “always we begin again” attitude (with grace and laughter if we can), nourishment with love- and snacks!- and finding joy, magic, and the sacred in the everyday. I also feel that the Godly Play questions that we ask after our stories are a good guide at this time, including the following, in an effort to keep things approachable and simple: “I wonder, if there is any part of this program, activity, or supplies, that we could leave out, and still have everything we truly need right now?” 

Some things you can expect to see moving forward are that some things will be restored as they were before, and some things, with listening and flexibility, will be thoughtfully different or delayed until the right time. We will be rearranging and redecorating parts of the family room to refresh it and more closely suit our current group of little ones.  We will work on adding back in elements of the Godly Play program as we have the participants to do so and wonder with our youth what they would like to experience during their time with us.  As well as trying out different projects to incorporate new valued wisdom from recent experiences. And snacks! I’m a Nutritionist, breaking bread and feasting together and listening to or bodies’ needs, is important to me.  You can expect nibbles (and hopefully giggles) in our programs, whether it be crackers and fruit in the family room, or donuts with the youth, pizza with families, and you are always invited to join.

I’ll leave you with a modified version of our Godly Play questions to ponder, and share with me your thoughts if you like. I am a coordinator, my role here (with the wisdom of Alissa and Meghan guiding) is to help arrange and try to put the pieces in place that you, as a valued member of our community, would like us to have. So please, share your wonderings with us. There are no wrong answers, no answers too big or small.

• I wonder, which part of our children, youth and family programs do you like best, or would you like best to see?
• I wonder, what do you think is the most important part of programs for children, youth and families?
• I wonder, where you would like to belong (for a few minutes, or more) in these programs, or which part of these programs might be about you or what you would like to share?   
• I wonder, if there is any part of these programs that we could leave out for now, and still have everything we need for our kids and families, at this moment?

God be with you! And thank you, for the opportunity to serve. 

With love and hope, 

Val.