The Lynden LINK Cornerstone Christian School

Inside this issue

Chairman Report...................... 1

Treasurer Report ..................... 3

Ed Comm Report ...................... 4

Principal Report ....................... 4

Ladies Aid Report ..................... 6

Calendar .................................. 7

Directory………………………………..7

Upcoming Dates

April 26, 2020 Volume 19, Issue 5

~ Chairman Report ~

I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break and had a blessed Easter. Praise God for the few weeks of beautiful weather we’ve had! There’s nothing better than to spend time in creation to lift one’s mood and to ap-preciate our Creator who continues to sustain all things, especially through difficult times. We will likely not soon forget the year 2020… We are living in extraordinary times! Our neighbor-hoods, work places, church services, school life and home life have changed significantly. However, while times have changed our commitment to teaching our covenant children has not. Albeit by different methods… It’s hard to believe it’s already been six weeks since we’ve been told to stay at home by our governor and to shut the doors of our school to students for the rest of the school year. It’s been a whirlwind of activity that has taken place since that notice. Our teachers and staff have been working above and beyond their normal hours to ensure that our students continue to receive essential academic instruc-tion. The board would like to recog-nize the extraordinary efforts by our staff members. Thank you for all the good effort and energy that you have put in to switch to remote learning! Also to our principal who has had to throw out the regular “playbook” and come up with an entirely new set of plays… on the fly! Darryn, we are grateful for your tenacity and leader-ship during these interesting times. Thank you! We are grateful that as a small school we were already familiar with and us-ing Google Classroom. This made the switch a little less painful. I guess you could say we were a bit ahead of the curve… no pun intended. I would like to extend a big thank you to the relentless work of the IT committee over the last 6-7 weeks… from ensur-

ing the systems at the school could handle all of the additional traffic, to ensuring students and staff are all taken care of, but also helping out parents with technical issues... Many thanks guys! All of this extended learning would not have been possi-ble without your efforts. Well done! I would be remiss if I didn’t save the biggest thank you to all of you, the parents, perhaps more so for the moms… for the flexibility, resilience and embracing of this shift in learn-ing / teaching at home. We realize that this has been an incredible ad-justment to our families as we deal with the impacts resulting from this stay at home order. I would like to encourage one and all to stay the course! Yes, these are difficult times, but we must look to the well-known, encouraging words of our God and Father through his servant Paul found in Philippians 4:6-13. I will highlight the first and last verse, I encourage you to take a few minutes to read all verses for yourselves… “6. Be anx-ious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks-giving let your requests be made known to God… 13. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Students…for many we may be expe-riencing a sense of loss and building anxiety as our routines of life have been disrupted… You may be miss-ing your teachers and hanging out with your friends. We hope that you are enjoying the video clips and ben-efiting from a new type of interaction with them. We encourage you to stay on top of your lessons and to do your best and use your time wisely. Per-

haps some of you older students can help younger siblings with their les-sons to give your mom a break.

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Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life”.

Proverbs 4:23

Use the time at home to build better relationships

with your parents and siblings… We have a calling

by God to not only do our best, but to complete our

tasks with joy and enthusiasm. We can consider

this social distancing to be a spiritual discipline and

use this time to grow closer to our Lord in this time

of need.

The board is able to continue its work… we are

thankful for Zoom and other electronic means to be

able to conduct business and stay in tune with the

ongoing operations. You should all have received

our email this past weekend cancelling the Spring

membership meeting. We have postponed most of

the agenda items, except the approval of the budg-

et via proxy vote. We have already received many

responses, however, I would like to remind those

who have not yet, to please provide your respons-

es. If you have questions or concerns please feel

free to reach out to a board member. We are still

required to meet quorum, and 50% approval votes,

in order to pass the budget. We are hoping to have

this number by our Board meeting on May 4th.

Thank you for your support!

We have heard from the Inspire Group. They are

planning to use our facility once again this summer,

and since we are not able to have students in our

school, they have asked to move in earlier this

year… We are attempting to shuffle things around

to accommodate this, as it also comes with addi-

tional rental income, which would be beneficial dur-

ing these uncertain times. The Inspire program is

considered to be an essential service.

The Board has not made any decisions yet with

regards to graduation festivities. We do look for-

ward to celebrating this occasion in some way with

our grads, however, we are not clear as yet what

that may look like.

We may not know what the future holds in the weeks to come, but we do know who holds the fu-ture and what a glorious hope that is. A hope that allows us to look forward in faith and that these present circumstances will not change that. We can be reminded of our school theme, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” May we use the extra time we have to fill our minds and shape our hearts with His Word and to look forward in faith. God’s Word can never be quarantined! What an opportunity as Christians to also bring that hope to others during this time and to allow Christ’s love to shine through us. May you be encouraged by the words of Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” We are thank-ful for the overwhelming support from the commu-nity. We are confident that our entire school com-munity will learn and grow through these trying times, and that together, we will come out stronger on the other side. On behalf of the board, I would like to wish all good health, patience and perseverance during these difficult times.

Tim Faber

~ Treasurer Report ~

The world is in a much different place compared to two months ago when I wrote this report. Who could have imagined! It is a sure reminder of how small we are compared to our Maker. And our plans can quickly be overturned. So we make plans and aim to be financially stewardly, but at the same time re-alize that our best plans can quickly change if the Lord so decides. Although the school is currently in a good financial position without any debts, and has decent cash balances including a rainy day savings account fund, we acknowledge that an extended downturn could cause challenges. Unemployment or under-employment within membership could result in tui-tion payment challenges. An economic downturn might impact our fundraising income - there are some early indications that this could be the case this year. However, we know that we need not wor-ry. Let’s continue to trust the Lord that He will pro-vide us with what we need. Just a reminder to pay as soon as possible any out-standing pledged 2019/2020 operating donations. We are getting towards the end of the year, and we don’t see each other much these days. Perhaps you can take care of writing that outstanding check right now before it slips your mind? You should have received the 2020/2021 Proposed Budget sent to all members via email this past weekend. We hope you find this budget to be ac-ceptable and are willing to approve. Of course, if not, we trust you will let us know. If you have feed-back for the Board to consider, please send to us following the communication directions provided in the email from the chairman. Assuming the budget will be approved, the Board will start to contact membership for an operating budget pledge. As you likely know, the government

is sending most taxpayers an economic recovery payment (stimulus check). Would you consider do-nating part or all of the stimulus check to Corner-stone for the operating budget pledge drive for this upcoming year, especially if this is ‘extra income’ since the downturn hasn’t impacted you personally? Gavin Willis has been found willing to serve on the Finance Committee. Thank you, Gavin! We look forward to your energy and contributions! The Homestead Run was set to take place this coming Saturday. It’s been cancelled, for obvious reasons. The committee will plan for an upcoming Run in the near future. Here is an update from the golf committee: Our first golf committee meeting for the year was held April 14. Over the next few weeks members will be con-tacting sponsors for the upcoming tournament (Lord willing) on September 12. We are upbeat and hope-ful that there is a lot of interest in the tournament, but may require some brainstorming and refocusing on our part. What better way to come out of "shelter-in-place" with some fellowship on the course? As the calls go out to sponsors over the next few weeks and months, please remember in prayer that God bless the efforts of the committee, as we also continue to put our trust and confidence in the One who provides for all our needs. Keystone continues to build houses, but progress has slowed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Thank you to the students, teachers, administration and the MANY volunteers for working together in these uncertain times. May the Lord continue to bless all the efforts finishing out the school year. Kyle Lodder

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~ Principal Report ~

Who would have predicted or even contemplated,

back when our last issue of the LINK was pub-

lished, that school would be closed down complete-

ly for the month of April? And then to think about a

state-wide school closure to the end of the school

year… just the idea would have sounded crazy!

Nevertheless, in God’s good timing, that’s exactly

the situation we find ourselves in. In fact, by the

time you’ve received this latest edition of the LINK

in your inbox, our teachers, students and parents

have just completed week four of our distance

learning program.

Tremendous Teachers

For those that are not aware, our teachers learnt that school would be closing down on Friday, March 13. Over the weekend, they all worked tirelessly to prepare a program of work that could be introduced to the students at school the following Monday and carried on at home on the Tuesday. Our teachers have done an amazing job to give our students eve-ry opportunity to succeed with the continuation of their learning program. Virtually overnight, packets were pulled together for the younger grades and assignments were posted on Google Classroom for the older students.

~ Education Committee Report ~

It would be an understatement to say that life at Cornerstone has changed since the last Link. Who would've thought that Monday, March 16 would be the last physical school day for the 2019/2020 school year? That our students would now be taught by teachers and parents in their own homes?! We can find comfort in the sure knowledge that God knew... He knew and His Sovereign plan reigns! In His infinite kindness and mercy He decid-ed this would be good for us. We profess that with-out the will of our Heavenly Father not a hair can fall from our heads.. this is a very real time to believe this in theory and in practice. We can lean in and trust His Sovereign plan. Our teachers can be applauded for a incredible job of putting together curriculum packets for students to take home in record breaking time!! I don't know of a school in the state that responded so quickly. As a mom of four CCS students, I have a renewed appreciation for our teachers during this combined schooling effort. I knew they were awesome – but they are really awesome! It's a hard job requiring much patience, grace and persistence and they do it very well. Our teachers have continued to support us in our homes through google classroom – students are taught lessons via video or sound recordings and we love to hear their voices in our homes. It feels like we are still connected and we are grateful for their leadership and direction. This hasn't been an easy transition for teachers and they've faced this challenge with grace and tenacity. As an Ed Comm we'd encourage all to press on during these strange and challenging times. Christ challenges us to an

active, self sacrificial love. This is certainly a time to lay down our own desires and serve our people. When I first heard of the stay home order, a quote attributed to Mother Teresa came to mind - “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” What an opportunity we've been given! It's our prayer that you will that be given loads of wis-dom, grace and strength as you work together with teachers to educate your covenant children. And that you will make wonderful memories with your people... that you'll be able to look back on spring 2020 and praise your Heavenly Father for this ex-traordinary time. Our last Ed Comm meeting had to be rescheduled for later this month. Looks like it will be a meeting via Zoom. There we'll be able to formally welcome Sharon Veldman to our committee. Sharon, we are excited to have you on board and look forward to your input and contributions! Currently the Ed Comm continues to take a look at the Bible and Church History curriculum. Lots of material to read through and consider. Senior project presentations have been resched-uled. We are waiting to hear whether we can get together to see the presentations in May. If not, they might be done over zoom – we are learning to be creative in our new normal :). The parent info evening has been canceled. You can look forward to an info meeting in the fall. What a blessing it will be to be together again! On behalf of the Ed Comm, Lisa Pelleboer

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Our teachers have certainly lived by the motto, “never allow a crisis go to waste”. They have stretched themselves with online meetings, video/audio lessons, and sharing feedback in unique ways. I tip my hat and thank them for the love they have demonstrated in diligently serving their stu-dents.

Patient Parents

As the distance learning program was rolled out, it

became evident very quickly that if ever there was

a time for teachers and parents to link arms, now

was that time. It’s one thing to roll out the work, its

another thing to setup a learning environment at

home with three days’ notice. Our moms have

done a tremendous job in laying the ground work. I

want to thank all the parents for your patience in

kindly communicating when the workload was too

much, for taking your time to adjust to the new real-

ity of distance learning and for sharing ideas on

how we could do things better. It certainly hasn’t

been an easy start for most but it seems that we’re

at a point where most have settled in and found

their stride. One day is going to be different to the

next… but that’s ok. Any experienced homeschool

parent will tell you the same thing… take each day

as it comes and with the right routine the children

will find their groove.

Stellar Students

How many students have discovered that learning

without the face-to-face contact and interactions

with their teachers and peers, is tough? When

something so normal as going to school and sitting

in a desk is taken away, well… give it a few weeks

and now things don’t feel so good. I miss it! I wish

I could have it back! I need the structure, the bells,

my friend’s encouragement, the lunchtime banter,

the volleyball outlet… Students: we know this

whole ordeal has not been easy for you. And yet,

many of you have stepped up and taken charge by

turning in quality work, on-time, and in the right

place. You allowed your parents to come alongside

you, you reached out to your teachers if you had

questions and you worked out ways to solve your

‘problems’. How many of you are going to graduate

from Cornerstone with a heightened sense of a

need to take ownership of learning, responsibility,

and life? I think, all of you! That’s one of the silver

linings of this crisis. There is no time to wait and be

spoon fed in distance learning. You need to ‘get

after it’, be diligent and work hard! So, congratula-

tions to the stellar CCS students who have taken it

all in their stride, and have found a way to enjoy

learning in an unusual set of circumstances.

Proper Perspective

So, why bother with all this extra work? Why not

just pack it all in and start again next year? Why

would we, as parents, sacrifice our daily routines,

comforts and down time to help our children in this

new reality? Why put ourselves through the extra

meltdowns, pushbacks, and challenges?

When we consider this from a Christian worldview

perspective, a more overarching question could be

asked…. why be a parent at all? We know it well,

but its good to be reminded. In His wisdom, God

has ordained marriage, between one man and one

woman, to be his instruments in bringing the next

generation of His children into the world for his

greater glory. He uses parents to teach his cove-

nant children to know their sin and weakness, to

help them realize that they have no worth in and of

themselves and to help them understand that for-

giveness and salvation is not to be found in anyone

else, but through their Savior Jesus Christ. It’s our

privilege to train them to love the Christian faith.

Maybe this time of isolation has provided us an op-

portunity to reflect on our role as parents. We’ve

needed to step up to provide more of the education

for our children then we are used to. Ultimately,

school teachers, pastors and elders are partners

with us in teaching our children. The Bible is clear

that parents need to take the lead role in the educa-

tion of their children (Duet 6).

So, why carry on with the work? I think its clear

that our role as parents of instructing and training

and the children’s task of learning doesn’t change

during the covid-19 crisis. Our God-given responsi-

bilities, at this time, may take on a different form.

But the fact remains that parents need to be the

primary influencers in their children’s lives. And

maybe the health crisis of 2020 will be the reminder

and the spur we needed to reassess and make

some changes to our family practices so that our

children are hearing and seeing what is most im-

portant for a life of Christ-centered service and

stewardship in the Kingdom and Church of God.

May the Lord continue to bless each of us as we travel through this unusual reality!

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Hello from your Ladies Aid Committee! As with al-most everything in life in the last two months, the COVID-19 has also affected our fundraising efforts. While this will reduce the overall funds raised this year, we are thankful for the events that could still go ahead. The first event affected was our Spring Members meeting which was scheduled the day after the first group ban came into effect. While this meeting would have been an update on the upcoming fund-raisers, we will do our best to do that in this space here! The coupon book fundraiser came to an abrupt halt after two weeks of selling and the number of books sold were noticeably lower than previous years. Our profit from this fundraiser came to $1684.68 with 327 books sold. The Davis family sold the most books and were awarded an Edaleen gift card for their efforts! In addition, we still have seven books available, so please contact either Karla or Fiona if you’d still like one, or two! What would have been our newest fundraiser, with Cornerstone Cafe catering for the Wild and Wonder-ful Spring Market, this too was cancelled. Thanks to Lydia and Helena for all the work they had already put in to this. Hopefully next year, we will get anoth-er opportunity. After many unknowns due to COVID-19, the plant sale committee were able to make and publish a website. We are so thankful for the many sales that have come in via the website (www.ccsplantsale.com). The plants are looking great and the sales are going well. Online orders are scheduled for pick-up this Friday and Saturday, April 24 and April 25. The website will not be taking any more online orders, effective Tuesday, April 28, as we are now able to open our plant sale as we

have always done in the past. We are so happy about this development and praise God for the abil-ity to welcome you all to the sale at the greenhouse. We will be open on Friday, May 1; Saturday, May 2; Friday, May 8; and Saturday, May 9. Our Friday hours will be 8:30am – 3:30pm, and Saturday hours will be 8:30am-1:30pm. There are still hundreds of plants left for you to enjoy and purchase. Our open-air shopping environment will provide plenty of space for social distancing measures. Volunteers will be asked to help man these shifts. Thank you for your support and a BIG thank you to the plant committee for the many hours invested into this venture! The Cornerstone Cafe Fair committee have had their first meeting however whether the Northwest fair will go ahead, is still unsure. So this one will be a ‘wait and see’ event. Due to the current circumstances, the pumpkin patch committee has decided to forgo this fundrais-er. It was felt that this year was not the time to start a new fundraiser and felt it would be best to look into it for next year. The poster blitz will be up and running shortly so keep a look-out for a notice on the CCS Ladies Aid page on Facebook! Non-Facebook users will also be notified. It is our prayer that in due time, the school may re-open their doors, we can hold our fall membership meeting and our fundraising efforts can continue without hindrance. May we put our trust and de-pendance in our Heavenly Father, who has the whole world in His hands. “Be still, and know that I am God’. Ps 46:10. For the Ladies Aid, Fiona Houweling

~ Ladies Aid Report ~

Board Chairman: Tim Faber Vice-Chairman: Marty Vreugdenhil Secretary: Raymond Faber Treasurer: Kyle Lodder Ed Comm Liaison: Jon Dykstra Staff & Membership Admin Clarence Kobes Building Liaison: Marty Vreugdenhil

Building/Maintenance Committee Jeremy Bouwman Nathan Burger Dave Hofford Mark Veldman Marty Vreugdenhil

Education Committee Stephanie Bareman Jeanette Bouwman Jon Dykstra Darryn Kleyn Lisa Pelleboer Sharon Veldman

IT Committee Eric Brown Stephen Chase Reece Lodder Aaron VanDriel Marty Vreugdenhil

Finance Committee Brian Hendricks Steve Hofford Katrina Lodder Jon Kruyswijk Leanne Veldman Gavin Willis

Library Committee Shona Doornbos Debbie Johnson Bernice Vreugdenhil

Ladies Aid Committee Janice Dykstra Fiona Houweling Katrina Lodder Krissy Lodder

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August 25 - First Day of School

September 7 - Labor Day

October 9 - In Service Day 12 - Columbus Day 23 - HS First Quarter Reports 26, 27 - HS P/T Conferences

November 11 - Veteran’s Day 12, 13 - Prof Dev Days 20 - Elem Term Reports 23 - Early Release (11:55am) 23, 24 - Elem P/T Conferences 26 - Thanksgiving Day 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 11 - Christmas Program 18 - Last Day 2020 21 - Jan 1 - Christmas Break

January 4 - First day of 2021 15 - HS 2nd Qtr Reports 18 - Martin Luther King Day 19,20 - HS P/T Conferences

February 12 - Prof Learning Day 15 - President’s Day 24 - Elem Term 2 Reports 25, 26 - Mid-Winter Break

March 1 - Early Release (11:55am) 1,3 - Elem P/T Conferences 12 - Professional Learning Day 19 - HS 3rd Qtr Reports

April 2 - Good Friday 5-9 - Spring Break

May 5 - Public Speaking Contest 13 - Ascension Day 14 - Professional Learning Day 28 - Sports Day 31 - Memorial Day

June 1 - Quad School Track Meet 4 - Eighth Grade Graduation 10 - Last day of School for Students 11 - Senior Graduation

Administration Staff Darryn Kleyn Principal Karla Leyenhorst Bookkeeper Kari VanDiest Secretary Teaching Staff Grade 1/2: Shari Kruyswijk Bible, Math, History, Art Janet Faber LA, Music, Science Darryn Kleyn PE Grade 3/4: Debbie Johnson Bible, Math 3, LA3, Science

Antina Chase L.A. 4 Jenny Tiemeyer History/Geography

Stephen Houweling Math 4

Darryn Kleyn PE

Karen DeMooy Art

Grade 5/6: Lynette Van Hofwegen Janita Willis PE Melanie Kottelenberg Music

Grade 7/8: Stephen Houweling Janita Willis History, PE

Debbie Faber Art Jeanette Janssen Science High School:

Wayne Chase Bible/History/Math Debbie Faber Art Darryn Kleyn PE, Web Design, Bus. Math

Janita Willis English, Yearbook Jeanette Janssen Science, Math

Darlene VanStaalduinen Spanish

Heather Johnson Horticulture

2020/2021 School Calendar