Vacation Bible School

What a week we're having! Quite a whirlwind of activity around here. The kids & I have been going to vacation bible school at our church.

I had initially thought of dropping them off so they could go to "school" & I could have a few mornings off. I'd heard great things about the team of kids that had come from Michigan last year to put on the VBS. Then I heard they weren't coming this year & they needed volunteers to work. I volunteered to lead the kinder/prekinder group. I was partnered with Sarah, a wonderful teenager from the church who volunteers in the toddler room & already knew my kids quite well so I was pretty happy about that.

Our group ended up being the largest and the first day was a little tricky, mostly because of MY OWN kids! There was another little girl there that got upset & wanted her mom so I held her for awhile and as soon as the girls spotted me with someone else, they jumped on the bandwagon, whining and asking to be picked up too etc. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't really helping lead the group at all, just looking after my own 3 & abandoning Sarah with the other 9 to fend for herself. I wondered if they'd made a mistake making me a leader! The next day was better, they recognized the challenges of so many young kids & assigned us a couple helpers which helped with bathroom breaks, getting them all from on station to another etc. My own girls seemed to be more comfortable the 2nd & 3rd day too. The first day I had to leave Sweetie in the middle of a fit on the floor so I could get the rest of the group their snack. I couldn't make out what she was saying & I'd already spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what she wanted or didn't want & wasn't getting anywhere so I let her sort it out herself!

I'm not sure how much they're learning but they have been memorizing a new scripture each day. So far they've mastered:

"You are my mighty rock" Psalms 18:2
"For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord" Jeremiah 29:11

First thing in the morning, the entire VBS gathers for welcome & singing etc & if they get up and say their scripture at the front of the room, they get to pick a prize out of the box. The first day I got our whole group to recite it together. Today's was a little longer & not everyone knew it but Honey & Sweetie wanted to go do theirs. Honey got up there & with the microphone in her face, she started having 2nd thoughts so Nicolle put it away & told her to just say it in her ear. Honey looked up at her from under her lashes and managed to mumble it out and got her coveted "What Would Jesus Do?" bouncy ball! Lovey didn't want the prize bad enough but Sweetie followed Nicolle around, sticking her face right in there & even grabbed her arm so she could do hers! all that for a lollipop!

Yesterday, after the group recited their piece, they decided to just give everyone the same thing, a scratch and sniff sticker. Honey was really upset since it was supposed to be their choice & she wanted a yoyo! "Mumma, its supposed to pick from the box! YOU SAID." Holy ol guilt! I did tell them & had hyped up the prize box to get them to practice their scripture over and over. I got permission to switch the prize so then they were all happy.

I'm really enjoying the whole thing. It was great this morning when the little girl who was so upset on the 1st day, came running in with a huge smile & threw herself into my arms! It's also awesome to see the youth in our church be involved, to see the parents bringing their kids to attend & to see the teens volunteer their time to make the VBS run so much more smoothly. I think that's pretty impressive when there are so many other things that they could be doing. One guy did admit that his mother had "voluntold" him though, but he's still there & doesn't really seem to mind it. I feel pretty lucky to be able to do this sort of thing, even if it wasn't what I orginally had in mind. If I was was working, I wouldn't be able to take part & see all the great work our church is doing with the youth.