Below is an amazing poem written by Gabby Carriere, <\/strong>age 18. It is probably the best poem ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Shepherd and His Sheep<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Luke 15:4-7; Matthew 18:12-14)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n High on a hill near the mountain’s peak,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Grazed a humble Shepherd’s flock of sheep.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Shepherd guarded them from all harm,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being sure they were safe and that they were warm.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Blissfully, happy, his hundred sheep roamed,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Though never traveling too far from home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But a curious sheep strayed from the herd,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking a path that twisted and curved.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Reaching the valley, he let out a yelp,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere is my Shepherd? Where is my help?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Never too far, the Shepherd drew near,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He instructed the sheep to have no fear.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI left the ninety-nine to find the one,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now let’s return, the search is done!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally nearing the plateau where they lay,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Shepherd called out in great victory:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCome, rejoice! Our companion is home;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once lost but now found, no longer alone!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So the sheep told his journey from start to the end,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How the Shepherd saved him and called him a friend.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The ninety-nine listened with intentful ears,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To the one’s stories eyes filled with tears.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Shepherd had saved them, named them His own,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n No longer afraid and never alone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Editor’s Review:<\/em> \ud83e\ude77\ud83e\ude77\ud83e\ude77\ud83e\ude77\ud83e\ude77<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a very pretty poem! Merrilee hopes everyone in Shabbat group likes it as much as she does. A1<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n AD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Gabby Carriere<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have an accent that you’d like to use but aren’t sure if it’s up to par? Look no further! At “ItsNotThatHard-TheAccenteers.com” our professional accenteer(s) will assess your “accents” and report back with valuable feedback! Our motto, “If you’ve got one, we wanna hear it!” Get your free consultation with Gabby Carriere today! (Ms. Carriere claims she is not responsible for the following: slurred speech or temporary impediment, mental breakdown, tourettes, discombobulation, and\/or emotional damage. If you are experiencing and of these symptoms or unusual occurrences after the practice and application of your accent, you are advised to stop and pray.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n AD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n AN AD FOR ADS!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add an ad to the SGT newspaper for a cookie apiece! You will definitely come to see how DELICIOUS ads can be! (I didn’t mean to rhyme that. Please don’t hit me with a bat) Thank you for sending in your ads (no, not you, all you dads)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n yet another AD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Draw and write your own comics and send them to shabbatgrouptimes@gmail.com<\/a>! Comics are worth lots of cookies (usually). Please try to make your handwriting easy to read. We will be sure to include the title and the name of the person who wrote it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n ANOTHER AD?!?!?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Get a nose\/ear-piercing today for only 20 sunflower seeds! All piercings performed by Jelly Bean. Warning: Jelly Bean’s piercings may not be entirely sanitary and\/or painless.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n BREAKING NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n article by Asa Warren<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A dinosaur killed the dinosaurs in a tree, and California did that. Um, then John got caught on fire. Um, John got throwed by a poppin hole. Then someone pinched the tree and it fell down on them. Then, um, Jelly Bean bit John, bit David, and bit Sunny, and then sugar fell on John’s head. Then Li-li and Little Guy killing a goat. Um, and then a tree killed a tree. Then a branch fell down on a person and it had a happy ending. And that’s all. Then John got in the pool and John was jumping on a jumping board and fell on a tree. And then Sunny got caught on a tree and fell on a pool. And then a tree got killed by nobody. Um, pepper on John. And that’s all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SHABBAT GROUP BIRTHDAY SECTION <\/strong>(send in your birthday!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabby Carriere: <\/strong>Turned 18 on January 29, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asa Warren: <\/strong>Turned 4 on February 3, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taliyah Speck: <\/strong>Turned 17 on February 6, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew Garrett: <\/strong>Turned ??? on February 12, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n BREAKING NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ELIJAH SANSING RUNS HIS FIRST HALF MARATHON<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article by Elijah Sansing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Elijah spent months training for this half marathon. His training consisted of about 4 or 5 runs per week. The distances he ran in his training were 2,4,7 and even 10 mile runs He wanted to do a half marathon (13.1 miles) and he found one on Mobile, AL, so they took a road trip to Mobile and the start of the race was at 7:30 am so……..they had to get a hotel every mile, and he finished with a really fast time of 2 hours and 8 minutes. He is trying to run a sub-2 hour half marathon before the end of the year. Other details: <\/strong>Elijah used a watch to track the distance and this time. Also, on the course there were water stations every 2.5 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Below and overleaf: Elijah at his marathon<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Editor’s note: This is actually very fast. It would have taken Elijah an average of about 9 minutes and 46 seconds per mile. I looked it up and the average person usually runs about 9 minutes 53 seconds per mile. The race was on Sunday, January 11, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n ASA QUOTE OF THE WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou’re one hundred dollars.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Asa, to Merrilee, as he ‘scanned’ her with the stud finder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: No studs detected. Re-scan may be required.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n BIBLE VERSE OF THE WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014Luke 15:6<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were inspired by the poem by Gabby Carriere (see page A1), so we chose this Verse of the Week because it is one of the ones her poem is based on.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n PEPPERMINT HOT CHOCOLATE COOKIES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Try this delicious recipe for peppermint hot chocolate cookies created by Merrilee Warren!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yield: <\/strong>15-25 cookies (depending on how big you make them) A5<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n BREAKING NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ELIJAH SANSING NOT ‘TALL MAN’<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elijah Sansing, <\/strong>age 14, wishes everyone to know that he does not like being called ‘Tall Man’. That is not his name. Ember Speck, <\/strong>age 10, also does not like it when people call her ‘EmBomb’. It is not her name either. It is not nice to call someone something they don’t want to be called. How would YOU like it if someone called you ‘Muffinella Sprinklesworth’? Or ‘Professor Puddingflop’? What if someone called you ‘CINNAMON BEAUREGARD TOASTLY’? You would NOT like that, WOULD you? Elijah does not like it either when people call him ‘Tall Man’. So please stop calling him that, or Merrilee will begin calling all the ‘Tall Man’-ers (and EmBomb-ers) the names above! No more ‘Tall Man’! Seriously! ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’! STOP CALLING PEOPLE NAMES!<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAD JOKES OF THE WEEK \ud83d\ude16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Provided by Dad (George) Carriere<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q:<\/strong> What do you call a blind chicken?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A: <\/strong>A hicken… because they can’t ‘C’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n and Dad (Brian) Speck<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A dog walks into a saloon and says to the bartender, \u201cI’m lookin’ for the man who shot my paw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Send in your own dad joke (dads only)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n EXCLUSIVE!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n STORY BY JOHN WARREN<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week we shared a preview of a story by John Warren. Below is the full story (edited by Merrilee, because Ember’s name is not ‘EmBomb’).<\/p>\n\n\n\n SHABBAT GROUP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFREE JACK!\u201d <\/strong>I say as I kick the ball into the pool. \u201cHey!\u201d yells Elliott. \u201cThat’s cheating!\u201d Sam, Logan, David, and Ember<\/strong> race to the pool to get the ball. Logan pretends to jump in the pool to get the ball and David tries to push Logan in. Finally Elliott gets the net and fishes the ball out. But instead of playing Jackpot, Sam discovers our reusable water balloons. He starts a huge water balloon fight. The way the fight works is everybody gets one balloon, and we play \u201cnot it\u201d to decide who’s it. Then the person who is it gets ten seconds to run, and once the time is over the people who aren’t it try to find the person who is it and try to make them freeze. By freezing you have to drop your water balloon, put your hands in the air, and shake your butt<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Editor’s Note: BEHIND)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once we were done playing the water balloon fight, we went inside and played air hockey. The first time Sam and Logan played. Logan won and played Ember. Then Logan played me. At first I was winning two to zero, but somehow, Logan ended up winning ten to eight. Then someone called down, \u201cLunch is ready!\u201d Then, a stampede of kids raced up the stairs and personally all I can say about lunch is that the cookies were by far the best. After lunch, we all went downstairs and played P-I-G* on the putting green. After six missed shots up the ramp and a ‘P’ for me, we had to go up for Bible study. I tried to follow along, but when I got to the right reference we moved on. I had a good day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Editor’s Note: P-I-G is a bit like H-O-R-S-E, except you only have three tries and it is for putt-putt golf. You have to hit it into the right hole.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n ???<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Merrilee Warren, <\/strong>age 12, could not find anything to write about in the newspaper, so she looked up things that newspapers have for ideas. Apparently they do book and movie reviews, so we think that this section is about book and movie reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Review:<\/strong> <\/em>This book is notoriously unhelpful. Experts suspect this may be because it does not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Review:<\/strong> Merrilee is writing this book; therefore it is terrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Review: <\/strong>The Warren children are not fans of this book because their mother uses big words around them on purpose, asks them the definition, and when they can’t answer, tells them to go look it up in the dictionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Review:<\/strong> <\/em>The superheroes should really have better powers. B1<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n LOCAL HEROES SECTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Merrilee has also been informed that newspapers have ‘local heroes sections’, so she has decided to do that. (You can nominate a local hero at shabbatgrouptimes@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Can anyone really argue that he clearly belongs in this section?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Is friends with the boys even though they are known to be mean to her and is 97% more awesome than the average person (see issue #3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Wrote a bunch of awesome articles for SGT (plus the AWESOME POEM (see page A1<\/em>))<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Come up with dad jokes that are both terrible and funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>So… so cute…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Being incredibly chompy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n …on second thought, maybe we ought to put her in the ‘local villains’ section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Writing a lot of Issue 5 of SGT. (Warning: May say six-seven)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Can totally BEAT all the boys in pretty much every game ever invented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Is a baby deer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Letting everyone come have Shabbat Group at their house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known Heroism: <\/em>Ran very fast<\/p>\n\n\n\n Congratulations to this issue’s local heroes! Do something heroic to get mentioned in the next issue! <\/p>\n\n\n\n SGT WORD OF THE WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: Experts suspect that this word was invented exclusively so that moms can win arguments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n INTERVIEW\u2014WITH YOU!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Below are some interview questions! You can fill in the blanks and\/or send your interview to <\/em>shabbatgrouptimes@gmail.com<\/a><\/em> <\/em>to have it published in the next issue!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Q: <\/strong><\/em>
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(and they did find one), so they took a road trip down to Mobile and they got to their hotel and road in the van through the course just to go over it. It took about 30 minutes. Then they went to bed and tried to get a good night’s sleep for the race. (Race day began at 6:30 am.) Elijah Sansing woke up and he immediately started drinking a protein shake. Then he went down to the gym to do some stretches. When he was done with that, he went to the parking lot and did a 1\/2 a mile jog to warm up and just to wake up his legs. Then they got in the car and drove to the race. And he did some stretches before the start. Then before he knew it, the race gun started and the goal for this race was to run a 2 hour and 20 minute half marathon. He had done a 1\/2 marathon in training and did it in 2 hours and 28 minutes. To shave off 8 minutes from his time is a LOT OF WORK. That’s about doing it 30 seconds faster, every mile, and that’s very difficult. He started off the race really slow, but he got faster A3<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/fonts.gstatic.com\/s\/e\/notoemoji\/16.0\/1f973\/72.png\")
His family came to see him at mile marker 5, and then they walked back to the start line, to see him cross it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![](\"https:\/\/fonts.gstatic.com\/s\/e\/notoemoji\/16.0\/1f601\/72.png\")
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Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: <\/strong><\/em>a word your mother tells you to look up when you ask her what actually happens when you breathe in the campfire smoke (look it up).<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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