Christmas Gift-Giving Guide

Lora Parsons

The Ashland Beacon

In the midst of the bright lights and hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we sometimes find ourselves lost over what to give to those we care about.  Morning news broadcasts offer ideas for every budget; online ads pop up with direct links to last-minute finds; wives drop not-so-subtle hints in order to try to help their husbands.  But, most of us would agree that one-size-fits-all gifts aren’t the kind we most like to receive.

While we’d all say time with our family or the presence (not presents) of friends matters most, if we’re completely honest, most of us do also love to receive gifts.  Meaningful ones.  But, therein lies the problem.  Gift-giving can be flat out difficult.  How does one go about giving a gift that’s truly appreciated and valued, not tossed to the donate pile?  Perhaps some targeted thinking might help.

Are there inside jokes or mutual experiences you share with the person you’re trying to buy for?  If so, those might be a good source for a gift idea.  A beach-themed ornament with the location and date of a trip you shared together…a picture of you and the recipient with the longitude and latitude of the place you shared your starter home...a Chinese take-out box containing a gift card to their favorite restaurant along with a meet-me-there-anytime note…a new pair of sunglasses to replace the ones your sister always whines about you losing back when you were sixteen.  The important thing to note is what emotions do you want to bring up--a sense of gratitude for the time you’ve spent together, comfort that comes from sharing moments with someone, a reminder of how important this person is to you?  Personalized gifts based on experiences you’ve shared can range from practical to sentimental but always result in an emotional reaction--a reminder of some connection you shared.

Another consideration could be their physical features or identifying tendencies.  Does the person you need a gift for have any sort of identifying features like blue eyes, wildly curly hair, constantly cold hands, or an old injury that causes them pain?  Is there a gift embedded in those characteristics?  Maybe a make-up palette they’d never buy themselves that highlights blue eyes or a hair care kit made for curly locks that includes a Wet Brush and bedazzled headband.  How about a trendy belt bag that doubles as a hand warmer for their upcoming trip to New York City.  You might give a self-care kit that includes a salon massage certificate, a set of lotions for home, and a heat-activated wrap for when old injuries flare up?  Closely examining a person’s physical features could provide the inspiration for a perfect gift.

Photo gifts are also a crowd favorite.  Gifting pictures to someone can provide them a way to relive memories they’ve shared already.  Busy mom of two, Amy Tackett, suggests making gifts a keepsake.  “The last three years, I made photo books for my kids…to highlight all their special moments for that year.  The kids really appreciate them, and I think they’re the best gifts ever.”  One of my own all-time favorite gifts is a picture gift from my husband and kids.  They know I love to create so ordered a custom paint-by-number canvas of my favorite picture of Olivia and Ethan at the beach.  Not only did I enjoy painting it, but it’s been hanging on the wall ever since, providing us all the pleasure of recalling that trip.  Another favorite photo gift we’ve received over the years has been in the form of family photo sessions.  Many photographers offer gift certificates that can be creatively presented in a picture frame to fill once the photos have been taken.  The end result of picture gifts is always something to treasure!

If photo gifts don’t quite work, but a keepsake gift is up your alley, perhaps consider linking the gift to an experience or event.  If your recipient attended a memorable concert or performance, a shirt, print, or piece of memorabilia might be appreciated.  If the experience you’d like to memorialize was a trip, bring a piece of that experience into their daily life.  An afghan, pillow, or piece of art could highlight the place they love.  Gifting future experiences is another way to provide loved ones with new memories.  You could purchase tickets to a show you know they’d enjoy or pay for a night away at a not-too-distant cabin.  Melissa Prater, busy mom of two and lover of all things social, says:  “I love the gift of time with people.  An experience with the ones you love” is a great way to provide new memories for everyone to cherish.

Though some claim that gift cards are an impersonal gift, even those can be presented in a personal manner.  Get a small item to go with a gift card that illustrates your connection; for example, an ornament shaped like a microwave for the co-worker down the hall who uses yours everyday.  Add a pack of your friend’s favorite pens or lunch cakes to the gift card for their favorite restaurant.  Put your sister’s favorite candy bars in a cute zipper pouch along with the gift card to her favorite store.  Get gift cards to Broadway Books and The Mill and invite a friend you’ve not seen in too long to an afternoon outing.  There are lots of ways that even “just” a gift card can feel personal and meaningful.

The key to any gift is something we’ve been taught from the time we were little:  it’s the thought that counts.  Choosing just the right gift says you know the person you’re giving to; it says you see them; you appreciate them; you value their presence in your life.  Whatever giving you do this holiday season--whether big or small--see it as an opportunity to send a message, not just a present.  Start your shopping with the question:  What do I want my gift to say?  Saying the right thing is much more important than buying the right thing.

The Dancer’s Bag Gets Bigger as Acro Classes Take the Stage

Gwen Akers

The Ashland Beacon

Dance is perhaps one of the most beautiful forms of expression, a universal language. Ashland’s home for dance, the Ashland Regional Dance Theater, is bringing this expression to a whole new level with its newest addition: Acro Dance Classes.

Acro Dance is a cross between gymnastics and dance, where aspects of dance are added to tumbling. It first emerged in North America in the early 1900s where it was utilized in various theatrical performances. While it is often considered a modern dance style, it has a long history tracing back to traditional Chinese dance.

This gives a more flowing element to the usually rigid art form of tumbling. Stephens described this as a more “fluent” and thus “neat” performance compared to that of tumbling, where classical dance techniques are combined with precise acrobatic movements. This style of dance also gives students more creative freedom in the dance, as aspects of ballet, jazz, and even tap are sometimes added to give the performance both personality and flair.

“What we do is during the tumbling class, we take aspects of dance and add it to tumbling,” expressed Stacy Stephens, head of the Acro Dance Program. “It takes your acro skill and makes it more fluent.”

During her certification process, Stephens was part of a two-day intensive course taught by Canadian Acrobatic Arts. This certification coupled with her extensive experience in gymnastics and cheerleading through the Junior Olympics, her time as a cheerleading coach at Ashland Middle School, and her experience at Tumble World. Stephens has since been working for ARDT for nine years and is now head of the Acro Dance program.

Stephens capitalized on the importance of safety in her classes, as well as her teaching style of teaching with progression.

“I've always taught with progression. You know, you have to have this skill before I will teach you this skill, and this program kind of reiterates that,” commented Stephens.

Besides being a style of dance all on its own, Acro Dance is also a great stepping stone and enrichment class that helps students become better dancers overall. Stephens explained that yoga-type moves, focused on building and retaining flexibility, are fundamental in the class.

“A lot of the benefit from the class is to take an acro class before you take a dance class, so your body's already stretched and ready to go,” explained Stephens.

Stephens is also a pediatric nurse and expressed her excitement in getting to teach the class and being able to share her love of dance with her students. Being a dance instructor is all about the connection you make with students, and helping these students be successful in both dance and their lives. Dance, just like everything else is built on collaboration, and the connection you have with both your teacher and your students makes all the difference.

“I've always felt that my job is not to teach that cartwheel exactly or to teach that backbend or back handspring, my job is to make that impression on that child’s life,” expressed Stephens.

Students interested should check out the ARDT website or call for more information.

New Bilingual Service at CornerStone Methodist Church

Lora Parsons

The Ashland Beacon

The top line of the screen reads: “Levanto un aleluya, mÍ arma melodia es” while the bottom line contains the words: “I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody.” And, there are folks in the congregation fluent in both Spanish and English, worshipping simultaneously in their own native tongue. CornerStone Methodist Church on 29th Street in Ashland provides a space where this bilingual experience occurs every Sunday. On the surface, it looks like church in two languages. On a deeper level, there is an intentional design to not merely provide a place where native-Spanish speakers can understand the service, but rather, to provide a place where a unique community is established that seeks to worship, grow closer to God, share life together with other believers … and where all of that just happens to be done in two languages at once. The goal in its earliest stages was to meet a need in the community, but the heart behind it all is much more than linguistic.

It doesn’t take long in speaking with Lead Pastor Keith Katterheinrich to learn that there’s much more to this service than just two languages. His goal, when planning began more than a year ago, was not to merely translate words; he wanted a bilingual community to emerge. Visiting this service — whether in person or through Facebook Live — means hearing and seeing both English and Spanish speakers actively participating in all aspects of a worship service. While the church’s other two services (English-only traditional service at 9:30 a.m. and English-only contemporary 11:00 a.m.) may be preferable to congregants, many show up early to the bilingual service to completely embrace the community that this service is designed to accommodate. Katterheinrich stressed the idea that: “We are all part of the same family. This isn’t about us being landlords for another community meeting in our space. This is about us all being the church together.”

The idea for the service came about during a conversation that Katterheinrich had with a Servpro representative about a year and a half before the first service was launched. During this encounter, the native Spanish speaker told Katterheinrich that there was no Protestant bilingual service in the area, but there was definitely a population of believers who would benefit from one. The thinking, dreaming, praying, and planning began. Katterheinrich was most focused in those early stages on making sure that it was a ministry that their congregation was being called to fulfill. He had no doubts that someone should jump in, but he was most concerned about whether God was calling CornerStone to be the place for that community to be established. Of secondary concern was what he perceived as his own limitation: not being as fluent in Spanish as he would need to be. As a result of a message given by the church’s Associate Pastor, John Carwell, Katterheinrich was stirred to action.

In reality, though, the preparation for this endeavor had begun years before. Katterheinrich had studied Spanish in both high school and college. He had a foundation on which to build. Eight trips post-college to Costa Rica for mission-type work further strengthened his Spanish and proved that God had been paving the way for this service for years. Katterheinrich additionally enrolled in a Spanish immersion school in Antigua, Guatemala. The first two weeks of September were spent speaking and hearing only Spanish for the biggest part of his day, increasing not only his fluency but also his confidence in being prepared for the service that lay ahead. That occurred for the first time on Sept. 24 of this past year. “It was important to me to be able to PREACH in Spanish, not just have the message translated.” And, that took a little bit of work.

That work paid off, though, as preaching in Spanish is exactly what Katterheinrich has been able to do. A sentence of his message is delivered in Spanish first and then is translated into English by his son, Benjamin, taking turns back and forth to translate both languages for their bilingual audience. During the worship time, screens display song lyrics first in Spanish and then below in English to make the meaning accessible to speakers of both languages. And, the songs themselves are sung in a mixture of languages, sometimes with the worship leader, Stacia Carwell, singing a chorus once in Spanish and then a second time in English — a beautiful mixture of both languages, blended seamlessly into one unified message of praise. Prayer requests are taken from the congregation first in the native language of whoever is making the request, and then translated by Katterheinrich into the other. Every element of a traditional service is thoughtfully delivered so that the service feels fully bilingual — not simply a Spanish translation of an English service. The immersion experience feels authentic and organic in an intentional effort to ensure that everyone knows this is a place they belong, equally.

Only a few months old, it’s difficult to pinpoint just what kind of impact the service is having on the Spanish-speaking community in our area, but it hasn’t been difficult to see the impact on the church itself. A fellow bilingual pastor shared with Katterheinrich that “The gospel is a welcoming message; we have to learn to welcome people.” And, that’s exactly what the CornerStone congregation has done. When Katterheinrich brushed up on his Spanish, the church followed suit. Benjamin Katterheinrich began teaching a Spanish Phrases class where churchgoers learned common sayings, like “Bienvenidos (Welcome!)” and “Nos alegramos de que esté aquí (We’re glad you’re here!)” In addition to the growth in their own Spanish, the congregation has also benefited from a sense of unity. Some church members attend one of the English services as well as the bilingual service to show their support, but a lot of other area churches have participants in this service as well. The cross-cultural service has proven to be a cross-denominational service, also. Breaking down language barriers has led to an unexpected benefit of breaking down cultural, age, worship-style, and denominational barriers as well. A community of believers, arms open, now awaits anyone hoping to find a bilingual Protestant service in the Ashland area.

Epilepsy May Strike Her Down But It Won’t Strike Her Out

Lisa Patrick

Ashland Beacon

        November is Epilepsy Awareness Month and a perfect time to spotlight a local youth who is determined to beat it back and continue living her life on her terms. Hayden Grace Meeks, a fifth grader at Charles Russell Elementary, has been through a lot in her life, including being diagnosed with epilepsy on Jan. 4, 2020. Although this is just something else she has had to learn to live with, she has just kept focusing on the positive things in her life and keeps on playing like her brain is not misfiring.

        At the age of 10, Hayden Grace has lived through a traumatic physically abusive event by her mother’s boyfriend, her younger brother being born with a rare disease that almost took his life (but didn’t), a hormone imbalance that caused her to get regular injections to keep it under control, and the unfortunate death of her mother. While living with epilepsy is a huge deal for most children (and adults), Hayden Grace just shrugs it off as one more part of her life.      

        Hayden was diagnosed with Benign Childhood Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes (BECTS). Most people with epilepsy have misfires on one side of their brain, so their brain reroutes messages around the misfires. Hayden Grace’s brain misfires on both sides, so her brain has difficulty rerouting information.

Like most epileptics, Hayden Grace has severe ADHD and anxiety. This can cause problems in her relationships with other children her age which can sometimes make both of these conditions worse. Some of her peers call her names, and some of them even curse at her because she’s different from them. Hayden Grace wants everyone to know that she is “not weird or stupid,” she just needs more time and assistance to process her work.        

Hayden Grace is “not that different from her peers after all,” stated her “Gammy,” Lory Scarberry, whom Hayden lives with. She loves YouTube, Harry Potter, cooking, softball, wrestling, volleyball, Legos, camping, music, helping others, and, “most of all,” her brother, Cameron.

Hayden Grace usually plays first base for her softball team, and she is always holding her hand out to high-five every runner who gets on base for both her regular team and her travel team. “Sometimes, I’ll look over and she is hugging the runner from the other team like we aren’t in a competition here,” said her “Poppy,” Butch Scarberry, who coaches her softball team. She is always rooting for everyone to do well.

Her past experiences have made her uniquely empathic. If a child is distressed, Hayden Grace is the first one there to try to offer comfort. During a visit to Bob Evans Farm Fest, she was in the hay maze when she heard a young girl crying. She went through the entire maze until she found the toddler crying because she had gotten separated from her brother and was lost. While the parents had sent the brother back in to look for her and were frantically searching through the ropes trying to figure out where their child was, Hayden Grace exited the maze holding the little girl’s hand and assuring her that it was going to be alright because she would find her brother and her parents for her. She always wants to help find a solution for anyone who is hurt or in need of a little help.

On the wrestling mat, “Hayden is a better coach than she is a wrestler,” said Lory Scarberry. She has learned all of the fundamentals growing up with Butch Scarberry, the head coach for Ashland High School’s Wrestling Team. But, she has problems with executing those moves when she is on the mat herself. However, she is always at mat-side to help support her teammates and even the high school wrestlers. Her Poppy doesn’t dare go to a practice or meet without Hayden Grace unless she’s sick. It would upset her too much to miss out on the action.

Hayden’s epilepsy is mostly controlled by medication but every now and then, she still suffers from nighttime seizures. It usually starts with a headache the day before and either the inability to focus or focusing entirely too hard on a certain item, such as staring at her softball bat for minutes at a time when she doesn’t usually pay much attention to the bat itself at all. She just swings it around like the rest of the softball players. Because her seizures happen at night, Scarberry has a nanny cam set up in her bedroom so that she will always have access to help if she needs it.

As Hayden grows, her family is hopeful that she may outgrow her epilepsy entirely, research will produce a cure, or, at the very least, it will continue to be mostly controlled by medication. In the meantime, she will still be playing softball, improving her volleyball game, wrestling with her friends, camping and playing with her little brother, helping cook dinner, waving her wand around like she’s Hermione, and doing everything she can to live her best life possible.