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Treasure Box Tuesday Subscriber exclusive — if you want to hop on the Laura Alary webinar today even without registering, you’re welcome to! It’s going to be great and we’d love your presence!

JOIN US

Recording will be posted on YouTube and sent through email :)

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Oftentimes on these busy weeks I will do Treasure Box Tuesday on Wednesday, but this week I’m so behind I know Wednesday is not going to be any better!

Instead of foregoing TBT altogether this week, I wanted to give you two really important links because they’re coming up so soon.

The first is a webinar I’m hosting featuring THE Laura Alary, PhD.

Here’s the official info: Planning Advent with children? Make room for wonder, play, and the feelings that don’t always fit the season’s expectations.

In Getting to Know the Dark: Spiritual Practices for Children in Advent, Laura Alary will share picture books and practices for exploring darkness in nature and scripture, welcoming hard feelings, and engaging children in activities with light and shadow.

Bring fresh ideas to your Advent planning—and explore what darkness itself might have to teach us.

Laura Alary is a children’s book author, storyteller, and educator whose books invite children to wonder about the world and ask big questions. She is the author of Who Needs the Dark? The Many Ways Living Things Depend on Darkness, a picture book that encourages children to discover the gifts of darkness in the natural world. Laura holds a PhD in New Testament from the University of St. Michael’s College and brings curiosity, imagination, and theological depth to nurturing children’s spiritual lives.

I hope you’ll JOIN US.

Second, it’s your last chance to get in on the October Faithful Families™ Training. Learn more at TraciSmith.com/Faithful-Families-Training

Catch you next week when (fingers crossed!) life isn’t so full!

TS

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A word about “All-Age” Ministry (see video below!)

Ukelele Recommendation — My daughter wants to learn to play the guitar, and was open to the idea of giving a four week trial run on the ukelele first. This lead me to learn and research good beginner ukeleles that are not toys but also aren’t at the very top end of the budget. Enter the MAHALO RAINBOW. I think churches around the country might be in a great position to offer Ukelele lessons and even start a ukelele choir!

Book I’m Looking Forward to Reading — WHEN CHLDREN IMAGINE GOD by J. Bradley Wigger.

Alert: There’s Still Room — September and October FAITHFUL FAMILIES™ TRAININGS

Positive Encouragement for the Journey — I’m working on a few projects right now that feel challenging and for which I feel very unequipped. Two sayings that I love to think about. One is a saying that my friend Arianne and I pass back and forth a lot: EVERYTHING IS FIGUREOUTABLE and second DO IT SCARED.

Aguapanela — Yesterday was our annual picnic with other Latinx churches in the Presbytery. The church my husband pastors always brings at least ten gallons of AGUAPANELA which is a traditional Colombian drink. It’s so, so good. Panela HERE (but you can find it in the Latin American section of most grocery stores. Just put that whole brick in large pitcher and let it dissolve. Keep adding water until it’s the sweetness you like — better to add not enough water at first and dilute it than to make it too diluted to begin with. Add a bunch of lime juice to cut the sweetness and voila. ) Yum.

Enjoy the Treasures,

TS

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Hello, Premium Subscribers! Earlier today I sent out the free version of this email. I sent it to y’all too, because I wasn’t sure I was going to have time to get your premium things together today. Mercifully, the day opened up and I was able to get these goodies to you, yay!

This week I have two things for you. First is a Backpack blessing KIT. This i…

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Faithful Families™ Training — The next round of Faithful Families™ Trainings are now live. I would love to see some of you in Chicago next month. If you’re local, I hope you’ll strongly consider it and if you’d like to take a little trip to my neck of the woods, even better! Learn more and apply HERE.

Having an Experimentation Mindset — I wrote a little piece on what it means to have a mindset that includes experimentation as a part of my “Behind the Scenes of Church Together. You can read it HERE.

Currently Drinking I’m not afraid to age myself by saying that I was a huge fan of the now-retired MOCHA VALENCIA I’m going to give their orange cold foam a try soon, but the orange + coffee concoction I’m *most* excited about these days is THIS SPARKLING ESPRESSO ORANGE TONIC from Trader Joes. Sounds crazy, but it’s so delicious!

Back to School Blessing of Backpacks — I know many of you are preparing for the beginning of the school year including the blessing of the backpacks. I’d love for you to teach and reach this sweet prayer from LITTLE PRAYERS FOR EVERYDAY LIFE. Maybe even tuck a copy in the littlest backpacks, too!

Enjoy the treasures,

Traci

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Church Together Webinar, August 26 from 10am - 11am CST, with Dave Csinos Register for a Zoom Conversation with Traci Smith and Dave Csinos about Church Together:. Note: please do not register for the conversation unless you’re planning to attend live. If you are interested in the recording only, we will post it online publicly within a couple days, so just wait for that. If you do want to attend live, HERE is the registration link!

World Cup THIS gift article from the NYT about Messi’s strategy is fascinating to me. Messi isn’t walking around without purpose. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

Feedback form on Church Together and Faithful Families: Have you used Faithful Families practices with your family? Have members of your congregation? I’d love to see your feedback on what practices worked, how you modified them and any other information you’d love to share. HERE is a feedback form. Thanks for helping me make resources that help families! I also made a form for CHURCH TOGETHER, but I know that not many people have started doing the practices yet. (When you do, please report back!)

The Best Shampoo In the World: Look, I know most of us are here for the faith at home and ministry content which is great, but everyone needs good shampoo. I know I’ve shared it before, but it came up in a ministry forum recently and everyone needs to know about THIS costco shampoo. It’s the best at the best price. Fancy without the fancy price tag. Speaking of fancy

My Favorite Mocktail Recently is: THIS tart cherry one. I haven’t tried it with VANILLA but that’s next on my list.

Last Chance to Apply for Faithful Families Training: There are still a few spots available for next Saturday’s training, but applications will close on Tuesday. If you’re interested, HERE is the link.

Enjoy the Treasures,

TS

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