Big Apple Adventure

Last night wrapped up an amazing week of Vacation Bible School.  We did things a little differently this year by starting VBS Sunday night and ending Thursday morning.  It really worked out well and I'm hoping it sticks!  This year's theme was Big Apple Adventure which was so much fun.  My two chicks and I were quite fond of the shirts...

But after wearing it for five days straight (washing it regularly, of course!), I'm more than happy to hand it over to Bethany who's already claimed it anyway. 

The girls start looking forward to VBS once school is out.  I can't blame them.  I say this every year, but it's definitely not what I grew up knowing VBS to be.  It's not standing in the pew quietly singing Onward Christian Soldier.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  It's loud, crazy, church shaking fun!  I love seeing adults and kids alike jumping up and down, dancing in the aisles, and getting excited about what we're there for.  This week there were 23 professions of faith.  Amazing!!  All the chaos and exhaustion makes it well worth it for that reason alone.  Speaking of exhaustion...I taught one of the four classes of kids who had completed kindergarten.  Every day when I got home I felt like they'd zapped every ounce of energy I had.  Wednesday afternoon I couldn't make it past the front porch swing!  I sat there for a good 45 minutes before the children all but threatened to call DHR if I didn't get up and fix them lunch.  Despite them wearing three grown women and a youth helper completely out, it was a fabulous week of learning and growing.  I always come out of it claiming that those sweet boys and girls have done more for me than I ever could for them.  Through the Bible stories we shared each day, the activities we did that went along with it, and all the super fun songs, they came away knowing about God's love as well as the ABC's of becoming a Christian. 

This was our group (minus a few)...

The cutie on the top right is Kooper.  That precious boy gave Towns his offering one morning so she could put it in the girls' bucket instead of him putting it in the boys' bucket for the competition they had.  How sweet is that?!  Every year the girls and boys compete to see who can bring in the most money for the mission project of the week.  This year our mission project hit close to home.  Literally.  The Phil Campbell community was destroyed in the April 27th tornadoes, and in a round about way we found out about Mountain View Baptist Church who had lost everything but carried on in the only thing they had left - their church parking lot.  They're still having VBS even though there's technically no building to have it in.  They say that their building might be gone, but their church is still there.  So this week we set a goal to raise $1,500 for them to be able to carry on their childrens ministry.  The kids knocked that out of the park early on, so the church staff agreed to all get a pie in the face if the kids could raise a total of $4,000.  By Thursday afternoon they'd brought in just shy of $7,000!!  Therefore, the church staff reluctantly took the stage last night at the big finale to receive a face full of whipped cream...

They were such good sports!  

I always love family night during VBS.  It's one big party!  Cate's class stayed in the preschool during VBS and didn't get to participate in any of the worship rallies, but when she got the chance to be in the sanctuary a time or two she absolutely had a blast (I couldn't not sneak her out of her class to participate!).  The songs were her favorite part.  So last night during family night she didn't want to sit down for fear of missing something...

When it was singing time, the girls were in the middle of it soaking it up...

Since I was teaching Towns' class and with her most of the time, I tried to get by and see Cate as much as I could.  One morning I found them on the playground painting the outside of the church with colored water...

Sally, Cate loved having "Oscar" in her class...also known as your sweet little boy, Carter!

Talk about a great way to keep 3 year olds busy!

Towns and Cate were so excited their daddy and Bebby got to come to family night.  J ended up on the phone for business most of the time, but Bebs hung in there with us...

We're tired and spent, but nothing compares to a great week of Vacation Bible School NYC style...

We just can't help ourselves...we're already signed up for next year!