In Our Prayers: This year we will be praying for our school families. These are the families we will be praying for this upcoming week: Michael, Debbie, Lindsey & Parker Ludlum, Steven, Kim & Roman Mallory and Barry, Liat and Spencer Marlow.

Devotion of the Week: Do you happen to have any songs from your childhood days that you still remember or that you recognize immediately when you hear them? Maybe you have a specific memory with a song or the words give you a little motivation.

This week in chapel, I was able to sit by our 2nd and 3rd graders. During the Old Testament Canticle, the refrain was sung loudly by these students (and the rest of our student body) with confidence, with joy, and with passion! I even noticed several of our youngest students, our 3 year old preschoolers, who were also singing along to this song. The words of the refrain are as follows, "The Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation." What wonderful words for our students to have memorized and to carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. Over the course of the last few weeks, or last couple of days, or maybe even just today, you may have found yourself in need of strength. There is the stress of busy schedules, sickness and disease, unstable economy, and maybe you have even experienced the death of a loved one recently. How often we find ourselves in need of strength throughout our lives and the only true strength, comfort, joy, and peace can come from God's Word which points us to our Lord and Savior Jesus.

During this season of Advent, we again prepare our hearts for our Savior's birth and anxiously anticipate His return. God's promise that He made to Adam and Eve was fulfilled when His Son took on human flesh to live a perfect life and take our punishment of sin by dying on the cross and rising victoriously from the grave. Because of God's great love for us, He is our strength and song because through Christ our Lord, we have salvation forever with Him in heaven. May God continue to give you strength during this Advent season and may these words remain with our children throughout their lives, "The Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation."

Serving in Worship: Preschool, Kindergarten and First Grade will be singing at the 6:30pm Advent service Wednesday, December 15. Students should sit with their parents until called up front to sing. The Seraphim Choir (Grades 5-8) will be singing Sunday, December 19 at 9:30am. The choir members should meet in multipurpose room at 9:10am.

Advent Service Thank You: On Wednesday evening our 2nd-8th grade students and adult choirs did an outstanding job for our choral Advent service. Comments made were: "That was an excellent service...That was amazing...What a great service...Beautiful." Thank you to Mr. Heinlein for all of his work preparing all of our musicians and directing all of the choirs. Our students did a wonderful job to share the message of our salvation through the gift of Jesus on that first Christmas. As LSB hymn 343 stated, "Hosanna to the Lord, For He fulfills God's Word!"

Descriptive Writing: Fourth graders had a descriptive writing assignment to describe how to wrap a gift. The 7th-8th graders came in and did exactly as the writer explained and it turned out pretty well (except the one that forgot to mention tape)!

Living Generously: On December 3, the 5th -8th graders spent the morning shopping for a special family. They had $806 dollars to spend and spent every bit of it!. Later, in the afternoon they were rewarded with a great afternoon of ice-skating! Thank you to all of our parent helpers and drivers. We also thank Thrivent for providing us with an extra $250 to spend. To quote one of the 5th graders, "It was the best trip ever!"

Spirit Day Fun: Thank you to our first graders for choosing our spirit day today and selecting our lunch menu. Students had a delicious lunch and enjoyed wearing their Christmas pajamas.

Thank You: Thank you to Mrs. Julie Ryan for organizing our Christmas Bazaar again this year. We appreciate all of her work. Thank you also to those who helped: Samantha McKenzie was a HUGE help this year – coming on Friday afternoon to help finishing set up and vendor check in; the 5^th-8^th graders for helping in the gym and helping the Sunshine Seniors; the Roberson family for helping the Sunshine Seniors; Gabe Faubert and James Ryan for taping the gym floors and getting the signs up; and the Robersons, the Josh McQueen family and Dan Sherry for clean up on Saturday afternoon as well as helping some of the vendors out to their vehicles. They really went above and beyond!

Vision Screening: On Wednesday, December 15, the Saginaw County Health Department will be at St. Peter to conduct vision tests for Preschoolers, Y5's, Kdg., 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 grade students. If your preschooler does not attend on Wednesdays, you may bring your child in to be tested that day. Vision tests and hearing tests are required by the State of Michigan for students entering Kindergarten. The testing will start at 8:30am. The testing did not take place last year because of the pandemic.

SCRIP Christmas Gifts: You may purchase SCRIP certificates through the school if you are looking for a gift idea for your child's teacher. You can purchase a certificate which would allow the teacher to choose the gift card of their choice.

No School or Child Care: During our Christmas break there will be no school or child care December 23-December 31. Child Care will be available on Monday and Tuesday, January 3rd and 4th. School will resume on Wednesday, January 5.

Sunday Morning at 9:30am and

Saturday Evenings at 5:00pm

Bible Study on Sundays after Worship