Vacation Bible School 2010

I survived Vacation Bible School!

Yes, it is true! I really did survive! ... Oh, and the kids survived too... :) After the usual Monday craziness I was starting to wonder about the rest of the week but by the grace of God, schedule flexability, and gummy bears, by Wednesday, Vacation Bible School had settled down to some sort of routine. I never would have made it without Clay! He's the one who primarily helped brain storm curriculum ideas, teach verses, was a team leader, lead games at the end of week fair, and in general, kept everything (mainly me) from going crazy! I don't know what I would have done without him! Favorite memory... Throughout the week, we had skits about Jeff and Ruby, a brother and sister who were attempting to grow the biggest and best pumpkin for the county fair that fall. As they were pulling the rocks and weeds from their garden they found a box! An old box, with a lock! (OK, so it was a cardboard box with masking tape...) What could be inside? Just as they were about to try to open it... Oh, my, we are out of time! I guess we'll have to find out tomorrow! (The kids were so disappointed!) The next day Jeff and Ruby's next door neighbor, Wayne, (the kind of neighbor that always causes trouble) stole the box! Clayton, the ever popular story teller, asked the kids what they thought was going to happen. A five year old shouted out 'Adriel (the boy who played Wayne) is going to repent!' As you could imagine, the room quickly erupted into a fit of giggles! How often do you hear a five year old use the word 'repent?' I owe a huge thank you to everyone who volunteered their time during VBS week! You all are amazing! Between crafts, snacks, playing with kiddos, acting in skits, filling water balloons, and dealing with my repeatedly changing mind, you managed to survive as well! I'm not going to attempt to name everyone, because I know I'll inadvertently leave some one out, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are my favorite shots of some of the guys interacting with the kids ;) I'm not sure who had more fun, the guys or the kids!

Clay is somewhere in the dog pile...

Some highlights from the week...

Vacation Bible School would not be complete without catchy songs and verses with amazing hand motions! The boomerang song made a surprising (or not so surprising) come back this year, though I think the favorite song was '12 Men went to spy in Canaan.' (which had absolutely nothing to do with anything we learned that week, but who cares, its fun to sing!) The kids did a great job learning the verses! (and Clay did a great job teaching them) They even said some of their verses in front of every one at church on Sunday! I feel sorry for other churches, we have all the best kids at our VBS!!!

The boomerang song

Learning verses, but I'm not sure what is so funny...

More verses The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...

12 Men went to spy in Canaan (the big and strong part)

Of course you can't forget the lessons and skits. Its not called Vacation Bible School for nothing :)

Here, we are learning about weeds, not just the kind that grow in your garden, but also those that grow in your heart.

Jeff and Ruby with their pumpkin

This short guy showed up one day to hear us say our verses

Pictures of smiling kids are so reassuring!

Game Time! Need I say more?

We finished the week with a 'county fair!' Though the pumpkins we planted on Monday were not ready, we had fun with balloon sculpting, face painting, tug of war, three legged races, marshmallow eating contest, and a make shift dunk tank!

Levi did a great job on the picture board!

The marshmallow eating contest

Tug of war!

The Dunk Tank! Here is how it worked. Some one would stand on the top of the play structure with a bucket of ice cold water from the hose.

Under them, sitting on a chair, was the person (or people in this case) who were to be 'dunked.'

There was a target to hit with a ball that others would try to knock over. When the target was hit... Bombs away!

Oh, did I mention the extra credit verses? The older kids were given a challenge of eight extra verses to memorize during the week. If all eight were said, they got to put a pie in the face of the leader of their choice! The incentive worked, as you can see...

That unrecognizable face is Clay

Yeah, thats me with the white stuff all over my face... notice the look of sheer glee on Katrina's face ;)

These are a few if my absolute favorite pictures from the whole week :)

Special thanks to John Poma Jr. for the great pictures!

Joy Is a Fruit That Will Not Grow

I must say the title of this hymn caught my attention as I was browsing through cyberhymnal for VBS song ideas. I couldn't help taking a peek at the rest of the lyrics. The words are challenging. Truly, all we have until Christ is our life, is vanity and toil.

Words by John Newton

Joy is a fruit that will not grow In nature’s barren soil; All we can boast, till Christ we know, Is vanity and toil.

But where the Lord has planted grace; And made His glories known; There fruits of heavenly joy and peace Are found, and there alone.

A bleeding Savior seen by faith, A sense of pard’ning love; A hope that triumphs over death, Give joys like those above.

To take a glimpse within the veil, To know that God is mine; Are springs of joy that never fail, Unspeakably divine!

These are the joys which satisfy, And sanctify the mind; Which make the spirit mount on high, And leave the world behind.

No more, believers, mourn your lot, But if you are the Lord’s; Resign to them that know Him not, Such joys as earth affords.

Take me out to the ball game!

I haven't been to a ball game since Comerica Park was Tiger Stadium. A long time! That's probably why I had so much fun last night, though it would have been a bit more enjoyable if we had won... We almost squeezed in a tie for extra innings at the top of the ninth, but an unfortunate fly ball to left field squelched our best efforts.

The view from our seats (no nose bleeds were reported)

Emily and I Angelique and I These three had way to much fun! The guys The Girls

We made lots of fun memories, such as our futile efforts to start the wave, the 'tiger roar,' (a 'cheer,' and I use that term loosely, that one of the guys made up... I spared you the video) and trying to pick out a family from our church who was sitting on the other side of the stadium. I've got to go to baseball games more often!