New Members Welcomed!

On May 22, 2016 we welcomed five new members to our congregation during our Sunday service. They have all completed the New Member Orientation class and decided they wanted to make a commitment to the mission of our congregation.

Linda Kress20160522_112124

Linda is still a resident of Clinton, AR until she sells her house, then she will be permanent at her condo in Fox Lake, where she lives 6 months of the year for now.  Her best canine companion friend is Mollypolly, a three year old white terrier-mix rescue. Her daughter and two grandchildren live in Wauconda.

Linda started coming to the Unitarian church in 2005 but it was in the basement with Blue Lotus. She has been Buddhist for 10 years but has also gone to Countryside church with her daughter sometimes and liked it.

Linda then decided she wanted to try to come to Tree of Life last fall. When she is in Arkansas she doesn’t have any church, so she goes to Peace Lutheran and also belongs to their Women’s mission group, making quilts and lap robes for families in need, retirement centers and to send overseas.

Linda is a nurse, a Master Gardener, and enjoys Ballroom and line dancing, bird watching, clogging, Zumba, movies, hiking, and cooking. Linda has traveled a lot including to Sri Lanka in 2005.

 

Helen Lindquist 20160522_112151

Helen lives in Crystal Lake. Her immediate family includes her daughter and 4 year old granddaughter who she spent 6 weeks with over the winter (instead of going to Transylvania with the choir).

Helen has been attending Tree of Life for about 2 years and joined the choir right away.

She quit her first church in 7th grade, a bible based church, because they didn’t allow dancing or going to movies, which, along with all of the bible stories that didn’t make sense to her.  Linda then went to several others that didn’t make sense either. The closest to her heart was the Unitarian Church in Bannockburn and now the Tree of Life in McHenry which makes sense to her.

Linda sings and plays guitar at various venues including senior communities and nursing homes and is known as the Singing~Realtor, selling real estate with Coldwell Banker Honig-Bell in Crystal Lake.

 

Lori Kyriak

Lori just moved to Algonquin from Crystal Lake. Her immediate family includes her husband Steve, two sons age 20 and 18. She also has one three-year-old grandson.20160522_112306

Lori has been coming to Tree of Life since September of 2015. She was raised Jewish, and became a counselor through the head of the Jewish Council.

Lori was a family service counselor for memory Gardens Cemetery, until she went into private practice specializing in grief and loss, substance abuse, crisis intervention, and compassionate release. She is also a licensed interior designer and still enjoys working on residential and commercial projects. She was an alternate for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games in gymnastics and has traveled all over the world competing. Lori trained with the infamous Bella Caroli. Her hobbies include fashion, art, and photography.

 

 

 

 

Julie Petscher 20160522_112215

Julie currently lives in McHenry with her husband Yehudah and three spunky kids, Jacob 9, Lilah 5 and Gwen 4. Julie was born and raised in a very small town in Vermont.  She have three amazingly kind, smart and strong sisters that constantly inspire her. She moved from Tampa, FL two years ago when her husband’s job promoted him to a position located in Chicago. They chose McHenry as it felt most like home/New England to them. Yehudah was born and raised in New Hampshire.

Julie has been going to churches on and off again for ten years or so and has felt very welcome here at Tree of Life. Before this they had mostly attended Christian based churches.

Julie loves having the opportunity to be a stay at home mom for now and spending time with her family. Before this she met my husband while working together at Raymond James Financial in Florida. After having her first child she ran a small at home daycare. She is now so blessed to be able to spend time at home to guide and watch her kids grow and learn while they are still young.

They love making the best of the seasons they are so blessed to now experience. She loves cooking. Julie is going on 22 years as a vegetarian. They watch movies, spend time with friends and are discovering their new home here in McHenry and here at Tree of Life.

 

Makki Linda Turner 20160522_112247

Makki resides in Lake Geneva and is a native Wisconsinite, having grown up in Wauwatosa, WI. Makki Linda is a mother to Alma Maria and new grandmother to Benicio, now 5 months.

She was raised a Presbyterian and became a Ba’hai at age 15 yrs. Makki lived and worked in Mexico and Southern CA, as a young adult, where she became fluent in Spanish, 35 years ago. She recently became a UU member – 3 years ago – of UU Church West, near Wauwatosa, where she joined after 45 years of being Bahai.  Linda now describes her spiritual affinities as “Sufi & Buddihist, Ba’hai, and shaman”. The latter referring to pagan affinities. These were always her affinities and so the UU church was really where she has felt most at home! This is especially true because Makki has a passion for social and environmental justice and engaged “spiritual activism”.

 

Please join us in welcoming them to Tree of Life!

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