By Mimi Keel The academy-award winning movie, “Inside Out,” follows the inner emotions in the mind of a young girl, who is navigating all the feelings that come with moving to a new city. Five personified emotions- Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness and Disgust are the main characters who administer Riley’s thoughts and actions. Director and screenplay writer Pete Docter is brilliant in how he animates these five core emotions, giving them voice and showing how they impact Riley’s life. Humans experience 100 different emotions as they move through life. And often with the rapid pace of life, challengin ..read more

By Kurt Rietema A greater portion of January was spent bundling up and covering every exposed appendage from the extremes of the polar vortex. But on Wednesday afternoons, the kids in Youthfront Neighborhood’s Adventure Academy afterschool program in Argentine donned swimming suits as they splashed around the pool during swimming lessons at the YMCA. Peals of laughter and delight ricocheted across the surface of the water from every corner. A handful of the kids demonstrated a comfortable ease twisting and turning about on the surface like river otters. A greater portion of the kids sported bi ..read more

By Jamie Roach “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou Children, in their developmental exploration, often encounter rising temperatures of anger, disappointment and fear—leaving parents in a pivotal position to guide them back to more comfortable temperatures. The significance of parental emotional regulation in these moments cannot be overstressed, both from a Christian perspective and through the lens of affective neuroscience, or how the brain processes emotions. Much like a th ..read more

By Natasha Nikkel Christmas brought cheery lights and excitement. New Year’s came with confetti and toasts. And now as the calendar turns to February and Lent draws near, we can look forward to… sacrifice. Oof. If we’re honest, we might wonder if we should just pass on this one. Numb ourselves through the remaining days of winter’s darkness, and wait for spring to arrive with something fun again! After all, it seems a lot more enjoyable to stick with holiday traditions that bring warm fuzzies. But, what if our capacity for grief in the darkness is tied to our capacity for joy in the light? The ..read more

Tommy Thompson, Youthfront director of arts and crafts Any beautiful summer day at Youthfront Camp West, one of the busiest places is NOT the waterslide, pool or lake. It’s Tommy Thompson’s craft table in the Snack Shop. YF Family asked Thompson, who serves as Youthfront director of arts and crafts, to share why he thinks boys and girls alike are drawn to making bracelets and trinkets…and what that means for parents seeking deeper connections with their kids. Your arts and crafts tend to be one of the most popular places to spend time while at Camp. Why do you think it’s so crowded with kids e ..read more

By Kurt Rietema Let’s not bury the lede here: we’ve just received the biggest donation in our history! For the past 10 years, YF Neighborhood has run a nimble operation using borrowed space from neighborhood partners or rented space as in the case of Snack Shack KC, our after school hangout for middle and high school students. While the approach might be considered virtuous in its frugality, it has also meant that we’ve endured using spaces without air conditioning in the summer, or been confined to basements or used spaces that are unfriendly to always messy (and sometimes destructive) adoles ..read more

By Kara K. Root After Christmas, right about when we’re pining for a fresh start, sweeping dead pine needles and New Year’s confetti from under the couch, the American holiday season of “Resolution” arrives. Lucky for us, beginning January 1, every diet pill, nicotine patch, organizing gizmo, life coach app, health club membership, lean meal plan, self-help book and storage container is on sale. It’s as though Baby Jesus came to earth to give us one more go-round at changing all the rotten things about ourselves! (At least until we pitter out sometime mid-February). But the truth is quite the ..read more

By Emily Rietema “Keeping up with the Gomezes” is a phrase that has found its way into ordinary speech in our home. Rather than the pursuit of manicured lawns, new cars, or competition for “the best,” our neighbors the Gomezes have instead spurred us on toward generosity and hospitality. We can only try to keep up! The Gomezes, like many of our neighbors in KCK, are immigrants from Mexico. They came to the US decades ago in search of work to support their family. They have had to live separately from other family members in Mexico which has been extremely difficult. Although they have other re ..read more

By Matt Saunders Minutes after she was born and as the nurses were performing their post-delivery tasks, I reached out to touch our newborn daughter’s hand with my finger. She wrapped her tiny hand around my finger, and I was struck by the sight of her slender, spidery fingers and the strength I felt in her grip. I whispered to her, “Look at those volleyball hands.” Though my first love in sports was basketball, I had trouble making my high school’s team because the coaches said I couldn’t jump high enough. Basketball was quickly replaced by volleyball, a sport that didn’t require quite the am ..read more

RSVP for our upcoming Missional Journeys Info Meeting Join us on November 13th for an information meeting about our Croc, Mexico Missional Journeys trip in March 2024. Get all your questions answered including how to fundraise for the trip and what to expect. Please fill out the form below to RSVP. This meeting is in person but is also being offered on Zoom. Zoom instructions are included with registration. Name(Required) First Last Phone(Required) Email(Required) Will you be able to attend?(Required) Yes No If you can't attend, would you like trip information? Yes No The post Mi ..read more