Liberty Christian School Blog

       I sat parked in my car near the lake, watching the water while trying to shut down thoughts about the “problem of the day.” I didn’t want anything or any power to distract me from missing what God had for me in the present moment. And then I saw him. At first there were two and I had been watching them play without REALLY noticing them, without REALLY seeing them. He was just a little squirrel, plump and playful, in the leaves. Squirrels love to find treasures. They will work very hard to reach their treasure only to bury it and forget it. Yet God cares for that forgetful little creature.

       How squirrel- like I can be at times? I run in five different directions trying to store up all that I think my children will need... only to bury it. We buy that game, but we bury it because we don’t have time to play it. 

We see our child’s talent, but we bury it because we don’t know how to support it. We give our children all the right tools, but they too end up buried. Simply because we don’t know how to teach our kids how to build the Godly character they will need to use those tools, without the support of a community. We work hard to get all the right material items and sign up for all the right activities. Still we aren’t perfect parents and we don’t always feel like we have the time or support needed to do all of the things we think our children need, and we bury it. I thought about how God cared for that little squirrel and Matthew 6 came to me:

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” 

Suddenly I could hear the birds chirping and I felt embraced by God’s promises.  Why then do I worry about storing up riches? Why do I squirm around like a squirrel burying treasures for my children that we will soon forget?  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my children’s inheritance in my squirrel-like hands. No much better that they, like their inheritance, are in God’s hands. Of course I want to give my children good gifts, but I don’t need to worry about what they will lack or who they will lean on. I don’t have to worry about them having the best clothes or a trust fund to draw from. The Lord goes with them. He will provide for them. I’m grateful that God sees my squirrel-like hands and looks on them with love. He takes them in His powerful hands and whispers “You can trust me to take care of your children, for I made them and loved them before they were born.”

      Through faith in the hands of God, I can give my children the gift of learning to trust Him. Learning To Lean on Him.  So, I can loosen my squirrel-like grip on the buried treasures of  the top ten summer camp sign ups, posh playdates, and world class vacations. 

 I can shift my gaze to the One who made my children and thank Him for teaching them His word through their Christian  education. I can store up the treasures of hearing my children speak about the Lord’s plan for their life with confidence. I can store up the treasures of hearing my children pray through their problems and love others like Jesus. These treasures are stored in the eternal home of my children’s hearts. And that heavenly treasure won’t be lost among the squirrel treasures here on earth. Every moment of time I invest in pointing my children toward Jesus is stored up, and I am so glad I don’t have to do it on my own. The Lord works through his people in the Christian community and Christian education to help me when my squirrely hands need a helping hand. 

As the nurse here at Liberty Christian School, I've shared a lot about the biology of Covid-19. However, I think one of the things that needs our attention as this pandemic drags on is the emotional and mental toll this is taking on all of us, including our children.

Many of you may not know this but I volunteer as the Parish Nurse at my church in Reisterstown. I’ve been a volunteer Parish Nurse since 1990, which spans my entire career as a medical professional. I worked in the ICU full time for most of my career and saw so much suffering, therefore I was drawn to what Parish Nursing is: treating the whole person: Body, Mind, and Spirit. The premise is that when one of these is out of balance, so are the other two. I’ve found this to be very true personally as well as for those entrusted to my care.

Included are some tips below that will be helpful for at least one of these three entities and in turn they will positively affect the other two.

Mrs. Antoine and I had the privilege of meeting with Dr. La Keita Carter via zoom only a few short weeks ago. Dr. Carter founded The Institute of Healing AKA “iHeal” located in Owings Mills and was recommended to us by a parent who recently participated in a post doctoral internship with Dr. Carter and iHeal. The institute offers community outreach and can do group education about various topics. They also have several mental health counselors (as well as evening and weekend hours) and most importantly they see ages 4 and up! iHeal takes many forms of insurance while also having resources for pro bono work! Mrs. Antoine and I are in the process of exploring how we may partner with them in the coming months, so stay tuned!

If you’d like to read more about iHeal this is their website:

https://www.myiheal.com/

Though it is a goal for LCS, at present we do not have a mental health counselor on campus. I had been looking for a way to care for our community from the perspective of mental health. When the recommendation to iHeal came from one of our parents, I decided that God was urging me to look into this as a potential option for our community. Both Mrs. Antoine and I were very impressed with not only iHeal’s capacity to care for mental health, but also their education and outreach for groups. 

Now, below are some things you can do for your Body, Mind, and Spirit. 

**It is always a good idea for you to check with your doctor when adding any vitamins to your daily regimen. These are suggestions based on what most adults can tolerate, however every person is different.

*Drink -  Masks are a hindrance to this health goal. I believe it's the reason why more people tend to have sore throats. Further, stay hydrated at home so you don't become dehydrated. I’ve spoken about this idea before, but check out: liquidiv.com - they now have some new flavors like orange and pina colada. It’s loaded with vitamins, non GMO, gluten free, soy free. Putting one of these in your drinks is the same as drinking 2-3 bottles of water. Note the sodium content and match that with your health history to be sure you stay at the proper amount of sodium per day.

 *Vitamin C - I use Airborne for the Vitamin C** and the other good things in it to boost my immune system. High dose Vitamin C has also been linked to good results early in COVID-19 illnesses. As always, discuss your personal health with your physician, but even normal doses of Vitamin C will help give your immune system more "muscle" right now.

 *Vitamin D - this is exciting. LOTS of new research has linked Vitamin D** as a key, consistent factor in those with COVID-19 illness. Those with more severe illness *started* with low Vitamin D levels. Your doctor can send you for a quick blood draw to see where you stand and you can go from there with regard to dosing. In the past when something "tries to chase me" I always increase my daily dose of Vitamin D to 15,000 IU (milliunits) from my typical 2,000 IU. It helps knock out whatever it is and keeps it from taking hold of me. Now it makes even more sense with the new studies surrounding vitamin D and coronavirus.

 *Try to keep some sort of a schedule - This has been a tough one for me. We are all home more and maybe even working from home - so perhaps now our home space and work space have blended together? Try to find a work space that’s separate from your living space if you can. This goes for the kids “school time,” too. Then, close the door (I.e. close down the work/school) at a certain time. Pick up a good book to read or play a game with the kids/family. Redirection toward positive things helps our spirits.

*Sleep - Please get rest. Your body heals itself from the daily insults when you sleep. If you need some help, use Melatonin** if your health history allows it. I take 10 mg but there are 5mg doses as well. You may notice your body needs to absorb it several hours before your actual bedtime. Play around with timing and dosages on the weekend first in order to see how your body responds.

*Manage stress - in appropriate ways. Only you know how to best "fill your cup." I'm just saying now, more than ever, we ALL have to be doing that. This is a hard school year for all of us. Try to use your weekends to have time to reset. Do what fills your soul.

*Be in prayer - Look, we can't do what we are doing alone, friends. This is taking supernatural guidance - I've seen God at work throughout the process on numerous occasions dating back to February 2020 when things really started ramping up. So, this tells me that we need to remember and accept that we *must* rely on Him in all things right now. We are only human. Once we have done all the "humanly things" - God will come alongside us!

*Go easy on yourself and others - We simply cannot raise expectations so high of ourselves or others that it creates even more stress. It’s ok not to be perfect (I’m talking to myself here, too!) This can be a big source of stress if we expect things to be “normal” in an “abnormal” situation.

*Remember we are all on the same "team." Our frustrations with masks or other mitigation measures, processes, or technology are symptoms of a frustration with a virus/a pandemic - not with one another. If we keep that in mind, we will stay cohesive as a community during this time.

*Speak positive and thankful words - We have so much we can complain about, so take a minute to speak out loud about a few things (or people) you are thankful for. It's impossible to stay unhappy when you are in an attitude of gratitude and counting your blessings. A counselor once told me, “If you only have ONE thing to be grateful for, keep speaking *that* thing. Pretty soon as you start to feel better and circumstances improve, you will see that you have many things to be thankful for, they were just “covered up” by the heavy stuff. I’ve found this to be true time and again since they spoke those words to me.

*Know when you need a time out - Refrain from answering a phone call, email or text (as I say to myself “Tracy, back away from the keyboard!”) until your spirit needs to be in a better spot. A delay in reacting almost always works out well if we are in a tough spot emotionally. 

*Limit news and social media - This is a BIG one for me. I’m a “scroller” when I’m idle. I find it helpful to put my phone out of reach so that I can’t just pick it up and start scrolling. I’m finding it soul filling to be “less connected.” There is plenty of angst in our country about many things and for me? Well, I’ve found that the more I consume, the less settled my spirit is, so perhaps less consumption of news and social media will help your spirit, too?

*Stay in the word - Do an online Bible Study with friends and/or family. Grab a daily devotional. What I find uncanny about devotionals is that often the passage I’m reading for that particular day is *exactly* what I needed to hear. I also get a daily scripture text from 95.1 Shine FM and it starts my day off on the right foot 9 times out of 10. 

*Always remember, God sees around corners and works upstream. Let Him lead you. Some of the best journeys I have been on were when I fully surrendered to where He wanted to use me and my talents.

LCS Family, this is tough stuff. It’s hard. It’s not pleasant all the time. There is stress. However, God created us to be in community and just know you are not alone in how you feel. There is always someone to reach out to here. I’m here - and you know where to find me.

May God’s blessing sustain and protect you.

In His Service,

Mrs. Tracy Tambaoan, BSN, RN

LCS Nurse

Greetings from Liberty Christian School in the year 2017.  In 2017, there was no robotics program and nobody knew if one even existed.   There were Legos, computers, Knex, and Erector sets.

Then one day, a parent began to explore the options for students to learn more about STEM.  In the late summer of 2017 robotics became a reality for five students, four boys and one girl.  That’s me, Hannah. 

I was the only girl on the team. This  had its advantages and disadvantages. The boys mostly asked me to get things for them or to clean up stuff.  The boys really didn’t think much about me being there and often did their own thing until one day the coach asked the boys to do some documentation in the engineering notebook.

One of the boys responded with the comment,  “Can’t Hannah do that?”. Well... let me just say that never happened again.  My coach quickly stepped up to my defense and told the boys that I was not their secretary.  The whole dynamic of our team changed that day. I became one of the main coders last year and therefore did not do much building or driving.  We ended up having a very successful year with a great STEM project and went to the VEXIQ World Tournament.

That was such an amazing experience.  I listened to so many motivational speakers who wanted to encourage the next generation of young kids to reach for the stars.  One person in particular that stands out in my mind is Ayah Bdeir. We have chosen her as our STEM role model because she was brave and found a way to make her dreams come true.

She is a female that had a dream and didn’t let anyone stop her.  I am sure that her girl power found it necessary to include men in the making of her Little Bits along the way but she did not let them take over her project.   She had a desire for electronics to reach the hands of all children, male and female. She did so with the invention of Little Bits. They are like an electronic version of Legos.  They are so cool! She had done it, she stepped into a world where men mainly dominated and made herself known.

At the VEX IQ World Tournament she stood before me receiving the 2018 STEM
HERO award and was inducted into the REC Foundation Hall of Fame for her personal and professional contributions to young people.  Ayah said that the power of “electronics should be in everyone’s hands so that anyone can build, pro-type, and invent”. In 2014, Popular Mechanics recognized her as one of 25 makers who are reinventing the American dream for her creation of Little Bits.  Little Bits were created so that at the simplest level children and adults can play with lights, sounds, and sensors without any previous experience. How cool is that? I was so inspired by her that I couldn’t wait to get back to school to tell all my friends about it!   From that day forward everyone wanted to join the robotics team.

 Hi, my name is Elizabeth.  

Let’s jump forward to the summer of 2018.  I am one of the girls that was touched by Hannah’s enthusiasm of robotics and her trip to the World Tournament.  

This summer LCS began enrollment for its next robotics team. Three of their original teams members were not going to return in the fall.  After having the first year behind them the LCS robotics team was ready to recruit for year two. This year we have grown from one team to three teams.  Guess what the boy to girl ratio is this year?

I will give you a hint…. It is not 4:1.   It is 7:7! We are equal in number. When we use the term GIRL POWER we do not stress that we are better than the boys.  We just want to encourage other girls to take the step into the STEM environment and see the many fun opportunities that are there for them to try.

This picture shows the great support of our families.  Without them, none of this would be possible. They support us and our coaches.  They come to all of our tournaments and encourage us even when we don’t get a trophy.

We have as many girls interested as we do boys.  That is a great feeling to be in a group of equally diverse students.  Our coaches make sure that each of the students are equally challenged in all aspects of the program.  We all participate in brainstorming, building, coding, driving, and working in the engineering notebook.

We all take turns at doing everything so that we know all about our robot and how it was designed and built.  Some of us are stronger in certain areas than others, but we continue to encourage each other to learn and grow.  Our coaches make sure that there is never a job that is labeled as a boy/girl job and therefore we are all treated with equal challenges.  Our coaches really do rock ( by the way, we have two female coaches and one male coach)!

Now let’s travel to the state tournament and beyond… hopefully, the summer of 2019 will bring us even more excited participants and our teams will grow even more as more girls are empowered to step out and feel welcomed to join this crazy, fun, mind challenging, afterschool world known as robotics.  We are beginning to understand that it is about the journey and the things we learn and take with us along the way.

You may have been hearing about robotic teams lately, and wondering if it’s a good fit for your child. There are several robotics teams in the area, and they are worth looking into!  

First, though, consider the cost and the demand on your schedule.  Teams may meet 2-3 times per week, and fees of $100-$300 may be due up front.  If there is not room in your schedule during the school year, look into a summer robotics camp.

A robotics team can start as early as age 6-10, with a lego-based league that is a more gentle introduction to robotics principles. By high school, the teams are still fun, plus hard work, and more oriented toward coding and technology. FIRST calls their Robotics Competition “the ultimate Sport for the Mind,” and quotes its high-school student participants as saying it is “the hardest fun you’ll ever have.” In addition to FIRST leagues and competition, there is also VEX Robotics with its own teams and competition schedule.

At any age, kids who participate in a robotics program can gain a variety of skills from the experience: in addition to analytical thinking, math, and coding, they will inevitably experience trial and error; problem solving, managing time, resolving conflict, working with a team. These are the kind of life skills that kids can only learn by doing.