Shrove Tuesday Dinner & Cake Auction February 21

Salem's Confirmation Shrove Tuesday Dinner & Cake Auction

Tuesday, February 21

Dinner - 6pm

(Pulled pork sandwiches, chips, veggies, and drink - suggested donation $6 per person)

Cake voting period ends 6:45pm

Cake auction begins 7pm

Funds raised will be split between Love INC, Opportunity House, and Avancer House.

Bring a cake to auction! Vote for your favorite! Bid on a cake to take home! The "Best of Show" is the cake that the crowd in attendance that night picks out of all of the cakes in all of the categories. George Holland will once again be our auctioneer.

Cake theme categories are: Living Christ's Love, Sports/Games, Salem's Favorites, Food for Thought, TV & Tech, God's Creatures, and Miscellaneous. For cakes created by kids age 10 and under, all entries in this category will win a prize.

Salem G.E.M.S. Noon Potluck February 20

Salem G.E.M.S. (Growing Every Member Spiritually) for those 60 years or "better" and their spouses will hold their monthly potluck on Monday, February 20.

Beverages and chicken will be provided. Please bring a vegetable, salad, or dessert (and an item for Salem's Food Pantry). Don't forget your recipes for the G.E.M.S. cookbook. Pastor Kinnear will be our guest speaker - "Pastor Kinnear's Journey to Salem in Sycamore."

Call Carol Saidat at 815-899-8383 to make a reservation now. Spouses are always welcome!

Celebration for Ron & Carla Vanatta February 19

Open House for Ron & Carla Vanatta celebrating 35 years of service to Salem

Salem Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall

We invite you to join us as we celebrate this milestone with an Open House on Sunday, February 19, from 2-4pm, with a program at 2:30pm. Your presence is your gift for Ron and Carla. If you would like, please write a memory of how Ron and Carla have touched your life. Bring it to the Open House or, if you are unable to attend, drop it off in the office.

Musical Instruments Wanted

Kevin Loitz with BSA Troop 2810 continues working on his Eagle Scout Project, "Instruments for Children." He is collecting musical instruments, repairing and cleaning them as needed, and donating them to the Sycamore School Music Department to be loaned to music students that cannot afford to rent an instrument.

Kevin is still currently collecting all types of band and orchestra instruments. A Community Instrument Drop-Off Day has been scheduled for Saturday, February 18 at Salem from 10am to noon. Just drive into the semi-circular front driveway and drop off an instrument! Arrangements for instruments to be picked up at a different time may also be arranged by contacting Kevin Loitz.

Anyone interested in donating an instrument, making a contribution, volunteering your time or talent on this project, or needing more information may contact Kevin Loitz at 815-991-1101 or via email at instrumentsforchildren@gmail.com.

Wise Women Midwinter Retreat February 18

Salem Lutheran Church is offering a wonderful opportunity for women of all ages to take a midwinter break from the routines of life and winter blahs to join others for "Wise Women: A Midwinter Retreat" at Grace Place (formerly Lutheran Campus Ministry) on the NIU campus. If this interests you, please check your calendars for the date of Saturday, February 18, 2012.

Connie Seraphine, a member of Salem, will facilitate the gathering. She has been trained in leading retreat groups with a focus on experiencing God's presence in our lives. Women will gather at Salem to carpool to Grace Place on Saturday at 8:30am on February 18. The retreat will finish by 5pm. In our time together we will explore how we are indeed wise women, and what that means for our families, friendships, faith, work, church community, and even the broader connections we have beyond our local contexts. We will enjoy walking, resting, eating, praying, and laughing. To understand what wisdom means, we will use music, biblical stories, our own stories, prayer, artwork, and poetry. There will be time for writing, for sharing, and appreciating silence. Our goal for the retreat is to learn how to be attentive to God's gentle guiding, as God's Spirit helps us be clear about our gifts, wisdom, and insights and what to do with them.

Please contact Judy Bergeson at Salem (815-895-9171 or 815-754-9564).

Auditions February 15 for Spring Children's Musical

All children and youth are invited to participate in Salem's spring musical, Spend Awhile on the Nile, to be presented for Saturday/Sunday, April 21-22 worship services as well as the DeKalb County Rehab Center.

Auditions for speaking parts and solos will be held from 6-7pm in the choir room on February 15. Youth and adults are also invited to help with set construction, staging, choreography, sound, props, and costumes. Sponsors are always welcome to help pay for books, CDs, the accompaniment track, t-shirts, and props as a gift to Salem's Singing Memorial program.

Eight Saturday rehearsals begin February 18 from 10am to noon and continue through April 14 (none Easter weekend). Books and rehearsal CDs are available now!

Carla Vanatta

Carla@salemlutheransycamore.org

church: 815-895-9171, cell: 815-895-8521

Blood Drive February 11

Salem Blood Drive

Saturday, February 11

10am - 2pm

Please call the church office (815-895-9171) to register or sign up after worship in the Welcome Center. Walk-ins welcome! Photo ID required. The drive is being held in honor of those students who lost their lives on the NIU campus four years ago. Donate blood at Salem and receive an exclusive T-shirt as a way of saying "thank you" for your donation.

Volunteers Still Needed for Meals on Wheels

February is Salem's month to furnish volunteers to deliver "Meals on Wheels" to Sycamore shut-ins for the Voluntary Action Center.

Urgent! Salem still needs to furnish two volunteers for the Sycamore West Route on 2/9, 2/15, & 2/16 and the Sycamore East Route on 2/27, 2/28, & 2/29.

It doesn't take long to complete a route (usually 11am-12:30pm) and your help is appreciated!

Please call Salem's office (815-895-9171) to volunteer.

Salem Lenten Devotional

"From Bethlehem to Jerusalem - A Lenten Journey"

A devotional will soon be in the making as we prepare to journey through Lent. Look for the sign-up sheets in the Welcome Center.

We are once again asking the people of Salem to select a scripture to read, then write a brief devotion (350 words or less). Forty scriptures with a descriptive heading have been preselected for this journey through Lent.

Devotions should be written by January 31 and may be dropped off in the Welcome Center or emailed to lenten.devotions@salemlutheransycamore.org.

New Member Dinner January 29

Are you a visitor to Salem who is interested in finding out what Salem has to offer you as a member? If you are, you are invited to attend a "New Member Dinner" to be held on Sunday, January 29, from 5-7pm. Dinner and childcare will be provided. Please let us know of your interest by calling the office and speaking with Pastor Kinnear or Sue McMillan (815-895-9171).

Chili Dinner January 29

Sunday, January 29, 11:30am - 1:30pm

First Lutheran Church, 324 N 3rd St, DeKalb

First Lutheran's Social Justice Team is planning a chili dinner to help with Pastor Seth Sululu's expenses at NIU. There will be a variety of chili from vegetarian to some without beans and from mild to spicy. There will also be cornbread and vegetables. They are selling advance tickets (815-758-0643, $5 children/$8 adults/$20 family). Salem was blessed to have Pastor Sululu preside over two services at Salem in November 2011. Please help support his last semester at NIU before returning to serve in Tanzania.