dre@uucorvallis.org

RE Newsletter for May

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“May, queen of blossoms, and fulfilling flowers! What pretty music shall we charm the hours?” – Lord Edward Thurlow

    Greetings, Families!

    Please grab your calendars and read carefully all that is below. This month’s newsletter is ripe with date changes, summer event previews, and more!

    UPCOMING EVENTS:

    5/3 Family Breakfast @ 8:45 (register HERE and bring a dish if you are able)

    5/14 Parent Connection Dinner @ 6:30 (register HERE one time, to get reminders) BRING YOUR OWN DISHES!

    5/17 Annual Meeting (childcare is provided!) @ noon

    5/24 Parent Q&A with Skyla on Playground deck @ 11:45

    PLAN AHEAD

    6/7 River of Life RE Service

    More information about our events can be found below, and info for all events can be found at uucorvallis.org by clicking “News” in the menu bar and then selecting “RE Council” from the drop-down menu.

    If you love Family Breakfast — and we know you do — take special note: May’s breakfast is happening one week early so we don’t overlap with Mother’s Day.

    If the mother in your household dreams of nothing more than sleeping in on her special day but simply cannot bear the thought of missing monthly breakfast, please consider this our humble gift to you.

    May Family Breakfast will be Sunday, May 4. We hope to see you there!

    Summer Sundays are made for lingering. A post-service hike, a splash in the river, a snack shared with friends while the kids run ahead.

    While Parent Connection Dinner and Family Breakfast take their annual break from June through September, we’ll be leaning into a few casual, low-prep ways to stay connected this summer:

    June 28 – Fitton Green Hike & Snack
    July 26 – Marys River Natural Area Splash & Chat
    August 29 – Family BBQ & RE Orientation (this one is a Saturday!)

    Each month’s RE newsletter will include registration details and gathering information. If we need to cancel due to extreme heat or low registration, I’ll contact registered families by text.

    I’m especially excited for the August BBQ, because it will serve as our joyful on-ramp into the new church year. We are planning to lean hard into family fun, stronger connections, and fuller attendance in the year ahead, and this gathering will be our first step.

    We’ll eat together, play lawn games, and welcome both new and returning families. Children who register early will receive their RE t-shirts as we unveil this year’s theme. Then, as the kids head off with their guides and advisors to play games and create their group covenants, parents and I will spend some time talking about our shared hopes for Religious Exploration, and about how we can partner with you to make Fellowship Sundays a place your child is genuinely excited to be.

    Please get these dates on your calendar now, and let me know if any of them land squarely on family vacation plans. If a large portion of families are excluded and there’s a better option available, I am more than willing to shuffle things around. The earlier we compare calendars, the easier it is to make summer work for everyone.

    Speaking of communicating your needs with me, I’m delighted to invite you to our annual Parents’ Chat with the DRE.

    This is a casual chance to share your questions, your calendar conflicts, your hopes, your frustrations, and your wildest ideas for how we can get you and your children genuinely engaged in UU faith formation. If there’s something you’ve been wanting me to know, this is a great space for it.

    Join me on May 24 at 11:45 a.m. on the RE deck. I’ll have pitchers of lemonade, the kids can play on the playground, and we can chat in the sunshine.

    What you share in this conversation really does shape the plans we make over the summer as we prepare for fall, so I hope you’ll come help me dream a little.

    Thank you to everyone who came out for the JETPIG Easter Egg Hunt last month! The feedback was fabulous. Our big kids were wonderfully caring with the littles, and our volunteers kept their cool under some very real crowd pressure at the slime and candy tables.

    I especially want to share one story that came out of our volunteer debrief.

    When I asked one volunteer how the event had gone, they told me they had spent part of the night before studying the value assigned to their station so they would be ready to talk about it from every angle and ready to help children think a little more deeply instead of simply grabbing the prize and sprinting off to the next table.

    They were positively beaming as they said, “I learned so much just preparing for this, and then it really paid off. I had the best conversations with some of the kids.”

    As they shared a few of those exchanges with me, I realized I could hardly track the details because I was too busy feeling so stinking proud to serve alongside adults who take the faith formation of our children this seriously.

    Y’all, we are beyond lucky to have the volunteer team we do. Your children are in excellent hands with these remarkable leaders who prepare on their own time so they can engage more meaningfully, and who genuinely delight in watching children light up with excitement about what they are learning. Gah! What could be better than that?

    Thank you, as always, for entrusting your children to the care of the Religious Exploration team. It is such a joy and an honor to watch them grow, to see their personalities branch out in all directions, becoming more fully themselves year by year. What a gift it is to be humans in community together.

    I’m wishing you blossoming love, deeper connection, and a few good pockets of springtime ease this month. And as always, if you need to chat, I am only an email or phone call away.

    There’s Time to Become a Member!

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    If you’ve been thinking about becoming a member, now is the time.

    Our Annual Meeting is coming up soon on May 17th, and signing the membership book allows you to vote on important decisions that shape the life of this congregation. There’s still time to complete the required Inquirers Series sessions:

    • April 19 – Transitions Q&A (formerly Care & Support; that session is now May 10)
    • April 26 – Membership 101
    • May 3 – Our Shared Values
      📍 All sessions meet in Room 7 at 11:45 AM

    We would love to welcome you into membership before the meeting. If that’s been on your heart, this is your moment.

    Please contact Skyla King-Christison (dre@uucorvallis.org) for questions about the Inquirer Series and Joyce Standing (membership@uucorvallis.org) for questions about signing the Membership Book.

    The Path to Membership

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    Is membership right for you?

    We highly encourage all newcomers who are interested in membership to attend all sessions of the Inquirers Series, a series of classes offered every Sunday after worship in a 9-week rotation. The sessions are not just for newcomers and do not need to be completed in a specific order. Sessions begin at 11:45 AM on Sundays in Room 7. 

    Attending Our Shared Values, Transitions Q&A, and Membership 101 (or UU Roots) are required before requesting to become a member of the Fellowship. 

    1. Our Shared Values
    2. Transitions Q&A
    3. Building & Grounds Tour
    4. Lifespan Faith Formation
    5. Chalice Circles
    6. Care and Support
    7. Justice and Community Action
    8. Membership 101
    9. Our UU Roots and Q&A

    We introduce and welcome new members to the Fellowship during a Sunday morning service. New members will be offered the opportunity to participate but are not required to do so. A short biography to introduce each new member along with a headshot photo for the directory may be requested. More information will be shared during the Membership 101 class.

    Final steps to membership

    After attending the Inquirers Series, you become a member by signing the Membership Book. This signifies that you choose to align yourself with our mission and values, undertaking the rights and responsibilities of membership.

    The Membership Welcome ceremony is offered each quarter; new members are invited to sign the Membership Book and be introduced to the congregation. You may also
    arrange to sign the Membership Book in private with the Minister.

    New members are invited and encouraged to make a pledge of financial and volunteer support to the Fellowship. This is what stewardship means. Detailed stewardship information is available on the UUFC website under the Donate button.

    Seeking highly committed members

    Generations of highly committed members have worked to create what you experience at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis today: a dynamic, liberal community of faith devoted to religious learning and growth and to justice, compassion, and peace.

    Carefully consider the responsibilities of membership before you make the commitment. Members readily and generously give their time, talents, and financial resources to support the life and mission of the Fellowship. This spirit of generosity and commitment develops over time and is the result of active participation in our programs.

    Membership represents a deeper connection to your faith community. Are you prepared to make this kind of commitment by becoming a member?

    Why does membership matter?

    Membership means taking your religious life seriously, participating in the life of the Fellowship, and supporting the Fellowship with time, talent, and resources according to your means.

    Membership means being present and participating in this vital, dynamic congregation, joining hundreds of others as we work for justice, nurture freedom of thought and religious expression, advocate for the worth and dignity of every person, and dedicate ourselves to environmental stewardship.

    Membership is required to participate in the governance of the Fellowship: electing and serving on the Board of Directors, who oversee policies and finances. Membership is also required to be eligible to vote at official congregational meetings. In addition, you’ll receive UUWorld, which is the journal of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

    Our Mission

    Explore. Love. Act.

    We gather as an inclusive religious community to search for meaning, build deep connections, and inspire action toward a better world for all.

    Cooperative Egg Hunt

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    We know many egg hunts are all about gathering as many eggs as you can, as fast as you can. Ours is a little different, and that difference really matters for your child’s experience. Please take a moment to look over the plan so you can help them understand what to expect: a cooperative, shared activity where every child gets one of each color and leaves with a full set of meaningful treasures. When children know ahead of time that this isn’t about collecting as many eggs as possible, they are much more likely to relax, enjoy the process, and feel proud of what they’ve gathered. Your guidance helps make the experience joyful and fair for everyone.

    🌈 The Plan

    This is a cooperative hunt, not a race.
    Everyone helps make sure all children can collect one egg of each of the 7 colors.
    Each color corresponds with a value, and each value has a station at one of the tables.

    🥚 How It Works

    1. Find one egg of a new color
      • Only take an egg if you haven’t already had that color.
      • If you accidentally get one twice. It’s okay. Just put it back in the grass.
    2. Trade it in right away
      • Bring the one egg to the table that matches its color/value.
      • Trade the egg for a prize that helps you remember that value.
    3. Leave the egg behind
      • Eggs stay at the tables. Only prizes go home.
    4. Repeat
      • Go find a different color and trade it in, until you have visited all 7 value stations.
      • If you’ve found all you need, look around and see who needs help!

    🎯 Important Guidelines

    • ✔️ One egg per color per child
    • ✔️ Trade each egg before finding another
    • ✔️ Collect one prize from each station (7 total)
    • ✔️ Most tables have two values, one has one value
    • ✔️ Things run more smoothly if everyone doesn’t go to the same table at the same time, so no need to go in order.

    🚧 Safety & Boundaries

    • Stay inside the cones at all times
    • Parents, Guardians, and Grown-ups who brought participants are responsible for supervising their children
    • Volunteers are here to staff tables and answer questions, but their focus is not on monitoring safety boundaries

    💛 Remember

    We are sharing, helping, and making sure everyone gets what they need.

    Take your time. Help each other. Have lots of fun!

    College Exploration

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    This newly forming group aims to serve college students from around Linn and Benton counties with food, fellowship, and spiritual community rooted in UU values. If you’re keen to join, you can weigh in HERE. 

    Whether you are new or old to Corvallis and the UU, just graduated from highschool, currently in or out of college courses, coming back to school, or starting school later in life; we want to offer you community. This is a space to find connections, form friendships, have discussions, and of course have a good time. 

    We plan activities ranging from group dinners, game nights, weekend outings, and river floats. See our event schedule below.


    You are welcome to contribute as much or as little as you like and new ideas are always welcome. If you have an activity you want to see, contact the College Exploration coordinators at college.exploration@uucorvallis.org.

    Coordinator: Marcy Brooks

    Oregon State University Student Org: Bi-weekly on-campus meetings
    President: Lauren
    Vice president: Haven

    LBCC Student Org:
    Reach out if you are a current student at Linn Benton and want to organize a student group, we are here to help!

    Inquirers Series New Offering: Interim and Search!

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    Beginning this Sunday, March 8th, the 3rd session of the Inquirers Series, formerly the Liturgical Year session, will be a session focused on interim ministry and our upcoming search for a settled minister. Sheryl Stuart and Robin Lancaster, members of our transitions team, will be on hand to share some of the basics and answer your questions about this unique time congregational life. If you have already taken session three, you are still most welcome to come and have your questions answered. These sessions are open to all interested participants!

    How to Check Out a Library Book (the fun way!)

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    All Fellowship friends and members are invited to request a library card and start using our digital checkout system. Of course, you can still use the notebook, located on the shelf to the left of the window, but by using your very own digital library card, you help reduce the administrative overhead involved in keeping the library up and running.

    It’s easy! Let me show you how!

    Apply for a card at THIS LINK. Your card will arrive via email within 3 business days.

    Search the catalog HERE or use the QR code on the bulletin board just inside the library door. Or, you can just browse the old-fashioned way. The resources have now been sorted into general categories. If you find something in the electronic catalog that you want to check out, you can find it on the shelf in the section indicated by the red tag. The example below is a book that can be found in the Unitarian Universalism and Congregational Life section! Please note that tags may only show up in the desktop version of the libib catalog on some devices.

    Once you’ve found the book you want to take home, you could sign it out in the check out binder OR you could use your handy dandy new library card at the kiosk! If the iPad has gone to sleep (it probably has), simply press the button at the bottom to wake it up. Then you’ll find the libib kiosk app and tap it to open.

    You’ll immediately be at the checkout screen. There are directions on the screen. Let’s walk through them together!

    The first thing you’ll do is tap the blue SCAN button. This will open the camera on the back of the iPad to scan the QR code on the back of your book.

    Simply lower your book (or movie or card deck) behind the iPad so that the QR code shows up on the screen.

    As soon as it scans the code, it will say Success! and then your item will appear listed on the screen. You can scan until your heart is content. I mean, let’s be reasonable, but yeah. Take all the things you plan to read in the next little while.

    When you’re all done, you’re ready click the CHECKOUT button in the bottom corner. Sometimes it’s green. Sometimes it’s blue. Life is a mystery!

    Finally! The moment you’ve waited for! The chance to use your super cool Fellowship Library Card! You could enter your patron ID in manually, but that’s so boring when you could tap the QR code and then just scan your card like you did the book.

    As soon as it has registered your patron QR code, you’ll be greeted with another friendly Success! message and you’re ready to go tell your friends how easy and fun that was.

    When you’re done with your items, please return them to the “returns” basket located on the shelf to the left of the window. One of your friendly neighborhood library volunteers will check it back in and reshelve it for you!

    If you happen to run into snags, come find or email me. Skyla! I’m happy to help you until we find a new librarian. Or, you know, you could use the binder and move on with your day. That said, I’d really appreciate knowing your experience, what’s working and what’s not, as we learn this new system.

    In the earliest stages of our rollout, there may still be books that have fallen through the cracks and haven’t been stickered, or they have an old sticker, and the kiosk doesn’t recognize it. All of these details are things we want to know about! Please, if you have the time, don’t just stick the books back on the shelf if you find an anomaly that isn’t in the system correctly. Let me know so I can fix it!

    Thanks for being a Fellowship library patron! You rock!

    RE Newsletter for February

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    “Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.” ― Henry David

    Thoreau Greetings, Families! The shortest month with the longest shadows has arrived, and our hearts are tender from all we’ve been holding. Let us re-center love this month, not in the glittery, greeting-card way, but in the steady, courageous way that shows up when the world needs us most. And because everything is easier as a village, I invite you to pull out your calendars and make note of these opportunities to gather in love and learning!

    UPCOMING EVENTS:
    2/8 Family Breakfast @ 8:45 (register HERE and bring a dish if you are able)
    2/8 Eliot Family Camp Q&A session after RE pickup in the sanctuary
    2/12 Parent Connection Dinner @ 6:30 (register HERE, one time only, to get reminders) 

    PLAN AHEAD4/17-19 Youth Coast Retreat (register HERE!) 

    More information about our events can be found below, and info for all events can be found at uucorvallis.org by clicking “News” in the menu bar and then selecting “RE Council” from the drop-down menu.  

    Big news! Our Endowment team has money to give as scholarships to get families to Eliot Institute’s Family Camp! We’re excited to use these funds in service of getting more families to this formative and inspiring gathering, so please don’t hesitate to apply! To help you decide if Eliot would be right for you (spoiler, it would be!), Linda Hardison will be showing an informational video and answering all your burning Eliot questions after you pickup your children from RE on February 8th. Please consider attending if you’re at all curious about family camping opportunities in a UUI context!

    The annual Youth Coast Retreat is around the corner, and you don’t want to miss the fun! Your early registration will give us time get a rental van reservation if we need one again this year, so please check your calendars and register promptly if you are able. Youth will be staying at our usual place in Waldport, with a back door that opens right onto the beach. This is a relaxed, 2-night bonding weekend, where the youth will play collaborative games, cook together, spend time in nature, and co-create their own worship experience before coming home. I have it on Edna’s good authority that it’s the best thing they do all year. More details are in the registration link!

    These are tricky times for everyone, but perhaps especially for parents who are navigating how much to shield and/or engage with our children about the things that are going on in the world. For that reason, I’ve added a page to our Family Faith Formation Toolkit with resources for parents during these challenging times. I hope you find some useful ideas there. If you have found resources useful that you’d like me to add to the list, please let me know! We’re all in this together!

    In January, we spent time exploring ways we feel safe and loved, and ways to help others feel cared for. Our Spirit Play kiddos each got their own box to sit inside of, with a light and a welcome mat, and they decorated the insides with things that make them feel safe and loved, and were invited to take them home as a place to hang out whenever they want to be surrounded by things that give them the warm-fuzzies. Both our Spirit Play and Seeker Space groups built a “community of care” using our giant tinker toys. They had to come up with things that help people feel seen and cared for, and label each of the supports with one of those attributes to build a home for their community of care. If they needed more support, they had to come up with more attributes of a caring community. I read things like love, time, money, and family, among many other things that go into creating a community of care. The Seeker Space structure is still intact on the mezzanine, so pop upstairs, climb inside, and see what kind of things our kids decided are necessary for a welcoming community. It’s sure to give you a case of the heart-swells!

    Occasionally, I become aware that there is a young person who really wants to attend a thing and it got scheduled for a date that they already have an obligation, or a weekend that they’re at their other parent’s house, and it really stinks! Some parents have offered me copies of their kids’ sports schedules, performance dates, and custody rhythms, and I refer to them every single time I plan an event like a service project or a retreat. It’s also great to have because we want to show up for our kids and cheer them on when they have a special event! So consider this an invitation to share, only to the extent that feels right for your family, any blackout dates on your child’s calendar (We’ve already paid for camp that week!) or events that they’d enjoy some extra support for (They would love some more fans at the basketball tournament!) and I’ll share them with the adults who directly support them in their RE spaces and refer to them before selecting dates for major events. I can’t always accommodate everyone’s schedule, but I use what I’m given to choose dates that work for as many kids as possible. 

    The family that serves together… builds beloved community! The Curry-Grant household is loaded with cheerful volunteers! Both Kevin and Molly serve on separate weeks in our Seeker Space. They bring calm, kind, and steadying energy to a group that can be more than a little boisterous! And Edna? She’s quick to volunteer in formal roles, when asked, but what stands out to me is the way I can always count on her to make new kids feel like they really belong. On more than one occasion, I’ve said, “Hey, Edna! We’re going to have a new kid today,” and she’s on it! I’ll see her giving a building tour, showing new kids where the snacks are, and introducing them to the other youth. Edna has the spiritual gift of hospitality! Big thanks to this family that oozes with volunteerism! We are so grateful for all you bring to our community!

    There’s been so much goodness in RE in the last month, it’s hard to capture it all in pictures! One thing I want to make sure you notice, though, is that second picture. This is Pheobe, and she’s our newest childcare staff member, filling in primarily in Spirit Play when Niana is away at volleyball tournaments, but she’ll also be in the Rainbow Room from time to time when we need a sub. Phoebe has completed the child development class at the high school and is first aid and CPR certified. Most importantly, she’s got a heart for working with children!  We’re lucky to have her on the team! While we’re talking about our amazing childcare providers, I want to remind all parents that we can often provide free childcare for UUFC events, given enough notice. Parents can fill out THIS FORM any time you need to request childcare for a Fellowship gathering, and I’ll do my best to assemble a care team from our fabulous pool of background-checked volunteers and youth childcare staff! I’m wishing you hope and love this month! And as always, if you need to chat, I’m just an email or a phone call away.

    Parenting Resources for Challenging Times

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    With all that is escalating in the world around us, I want to provide a few resources that families have found helpful as they navigate the highly personal decisions about how to talk to their children and youth about the terrible things happening in the world. If you have others to add that you feel would be useful to our Fellowship families, please send them to dre@uucorvallis.org

    A primary skill we can all develop and use as our children’s first and primary spiritual leaders is developing our capacity for self-regulation. Whatever it is we need to talk to our children about, whether it’s the news or their chores, the potential for positive outcomes is higher when we enter into it with awareness of our own emotions and how they’re participating in the way we are showing up with our children. Without realizing it, the stress we carry in our own bodies can easily spill into our interactions, word choices, patience levels, and more. Dr. Amber Thornton has loads of resources on self-regulation for parents. Below is just one of her many offerings on the topic.

    The Fred Rogers Institute has offered a great PDF about talking with children about difficult things in the news. You can access the full 2-page guide by clicking HERE.

    “When children bring up
    something frightening, it’s
    helpful right away to ask them
    what they know about it. We
    often find that their fantasies
    are very different from the
    actual truth. What children
    probably need to hear most
    from us adults, is that they can
    talk with us about anything
    and that we will do all we
    can to keep them safe
    in any scary time.

    For an at-a-glance list of things to keep in mind for developmentally appropriate conversations at every age and stage, check out this one-sheet from the Children’s Network and Early Risers.

    And finally, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has offered a guide to Talking to Children About the Shooting, which can be accessed HERE.

    My door is always open if you find yourself in need of additional resources or thought partnership through this moment in history. I also encourage all of our parents to take advantage of the Parent Connection Dinner on the second Thursday of each month. Strengthening your connections to the village and having a designated place to talk about what’s hard with people who are fielding similar questions and facing similar challenges can make a world of difference!

    Adult Coming of Age Is FULL!

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    This workshop has reached its max enrollment. If you’d like to be placed on the waitlist, please email Skyla at dre@uucorvallis.org.

    WHEN: Thursdays from 3-4:30 from February 19th through March 26th

    WHERE: Room 7

    WHAT: Adult Coming of Age is a program designed to help each participant examine who they are at this unique moment in time, look back at the people and events that have shaped them in meaningful ways, and clarify the values, priorities, sacrifices, and gifts that will shape this season of life.

    As spiritual beings evolving in a physical world, we are never done becoming who we mean to be, and the Coming of Age program for adults honors that at every age, we are crossing thresholds, seeking clarity, and held by circles of support.

    This year’s round of Adult Coming of Age is offered earlier in the day to accommodate those who cannot drive at night. Because this is a challenging time for many with full-time jobs, we will offer the next round in the evening.

    Registration is required for this gathering.