I'm warning you now...this will be a long one!
Where to begin?
Last summer was the first time I volunteered to help with Vacation Bible School at our church. Every year before that we'd been out of town during VBS week. But after the experience I had last year, I knew that we'd plan our out of town trips around it. This year was no different, and it was extra special because it was the first year Towns could officially be part of it. I can't really explain how I feel about our church. It's one big family, and I'm so thankful for what it's meant to our own little family. The fun part is that it's not what I remembered VBS being, even thought I have fond memories from VBS as a kid. But it's not standing still singing "Onward Christian Soldier" like what I was used to! :)
Towns with her class (one of 3 entering Kindergarten classes!)...
I know I've mentioned this before, but music is my absolute favorite part of any type of service. This week was no different! It was down right fun!! The theme for the week was Saddle Ridge Ranch which meant there was lots of toe, heel, dosido'in going on. That made me one happy cowgirl! And the fact that the message is incredible makes it that much better. Towns and I had a personal favorite - Tumbleweed - and we practiced at home at night so we'd have it down pat. I can't find the best video of it (wish I had one of our kids at church), but you can get the idea here. Excuse the ad at the beginning. Disclaimer: The people in the video get into it about 1/100th of what we did. Watch it and tell me that you don't see how you can go crazy with that?! (Or maybe it's just the dancer in me!) There's not an ounce of exaggeration when I tell you that you could feel the church floor shaking!
Towns' class sat on the front row during the worship rally and I tried my best to get a picture of her getting into all the singing, but I don't think she's anywhere in it...
But it'll show you how much fun was had!
Every year we take up a VBS offering to help certain missions projects. It's always boys vs. girls which makes for some fun competition. This year our new childrens minister had a plan for the offering. She's been a missionary in Africa and her team translates Bible stories onto cassettes in each village's language. The money given during VBS will buy cassettes so that more people can hear about Jesus, and by the end of the week the children had raised enough money for thousands of Africans to hear the cassettes. It truly was amazing.
Tuesday on the way home from church I asked Towns how she thought she could help, other than me just giving her money from my wallet to give in the offering. She remembered that she had her birthday money in her piggy bank. That was the first thing she went for when we got home...
I helped her pull her money out, and she said that she'd be willing to give up $5. I wanted her to understand to the best of her ability what she was giving her money for. I explained to her that we have a wonderful church where we can go to learn about God, we have Bibles that we can read, and we have lots of other ways to share Jesus with others. But that there are other people in the world who don't have the many opportunities that we do. Those cassette tapes could be the only way they'll ever hear about God. She looked at me and thought for a second. I could tell her wheels were turning. She piled her money up, all $37 of it, and pushed it over to me. She said "all of it - I'll just give all of it". And she did. Cheerfully.
We sat in the floor and counted it one last time...
Wednesday during our closing worship rally, she was surprised to hear Mrs. Kristy call her name to go up on stage...she was one of the Buckaroos of the Day for having a giving heart!
They put a cool blue cowgirl hat on her head and she stood up there grinning from ear to ear...
I'm pretty sure she didn't remove the hat from her head for the remainder of the week!
There were so many other kids who did even greater things. Lemonade stands, toy sales, doing chores for money, etc. It's so neat to see kids working together like that! Together they raised over $1,500!!
All of the Buckaroos from the week got a special treat on Friday. Mrs. Keri's father was on the USA Bobsled team in the 1980 Olympics. Keri still has Mr. Al's Olympic gear, some of which was western wear, and she offered to bring it to let the Buckaroos have their picture made with it...
And she was sweet enough to let them try it on themselves...
I couldn't resist this one...
That label was in the lining of the coat and cowboy hat. Pretty cool! The Olympics were in Lake Placid that year, hence the heavy coat. Towns could barely hold herself up in it!
While we were waiting for her turn to try the gear on, she wanted her picture made in front of the campfire because being on stage is cool (Miss Elle - you're the reason behind that!)...
Ever heard of the Christian Cowboy?
If not, you're missing out! He's a neat guy who uses his rodeo talents to share his faith. He came to our church to get us pumped up for VBS back in April, and he was there at family night Thursday night as well. He was gearing up to break a record in the Guinness Book of World Records, and chose to give it a shot at our church. The record he wanted to break? Balancing a near 60 ft. pole on his chin for 10+ seconds. After the big round up in the sanctuary, we migrated to the ROC to watch some record-breaking history...
It took a while for the Christian Cowboy to get prepared, so the girls entertained themselves while we waited...
Emma and Buggy...
I think the bandana and bow constitute one thing - the child marches to the beat of her own drum!
And finally...
I didn't realize how big of a deal this really was until they announced that we had a state senator there to officiate, a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records, news media, engineers, etc. And he did it! Broke the record...right there at FBC before our very eyes! :)
Afterwards, the girls played hide-and-seek on the church lawn with Emma and her sister Olivia until almost 9:00, because in Alabama in the summer time the sun doesn't go down until then! It took forever for us to convince them that we really did need to head home because Friday morning would come early...
But I just couldn't get these two to stop hamming it up long enough to make our way to the car! We met J at the Mexican restaurant where we were seated right next to the entire ministerial staff...where my children put on the show of all shows! Mercy...
J had to be somewhere Thursday night and couldn't go with us to family night which sent Towns into hysterics. So he promised her he'd come Friday morning to watch her sing her songs in the morning rally...
Two hearts were broken that morning.
Mine and his.
Because she was too embarrassed to hold his hand going down the hall to the sanctuary.
And too embarrassed to sit with us. She wanted to sit with her friends.
We still haven't recovered!!
I kept Cate with me during worship so that she could see what it was all about. And boy did she have a good time!
She tried so hard to keep up with the big kids who were doing motions to all the songs. And when she finally caught on to how to pretend to ride a horse and lasso at the same time for the Saddle Ridge Ranch song, Mrs. Ginger couldn't help but go at it with her...
Cate things Ginger is the coolest person ever - they're both interested in nothing but crazy fun!
Cate found Brock and Ella and they sat in awe of what was going on around them...
So cute!
And she actually stopped long enough for a picture with her mama...
At least she's not too embarrassed to be seen with her parents...yet!
What a great end to an even greater week...I think it'll take me 'til next year's VBS to recover! But it was worth every last minute of it!
Last summer was the first time I volunteered to help with Vacation Bible School at our church. Every year before that we'd been out of town during VBS week. But after the experience I had last year, I knew that we'd plan our out of town trips around it. This year was no different, and it was extra special because it was the first year Towns could officially be part of it. I can't really explain how I feel about our church. It's one big family, and I'm so thankful for what it's meant to our own little family. The fun part is that it's not what I remembered VBS being, even thought I have fond memories from VBS as a kid. But it's not standing still singing "Onward Christian Soldier" like what I was used to! :)
Towns with her class (one of 3 entering Kindergarten classes!)...
I know I've mentioned this before, but music is my absolute favorite part of any type of service. This week was no different! It was down right fun!! The theme for the week was Saddle Ridge Ranch which meant there was lots of toe, heel, dosido'in going on. That made me one happy cowgirl! And the fact that the message is incredible makes it that much better. Towns and I had a personal favorite - Tumbleweed - and we practiced at home at night so we'd have it down pat. I can't find the best video of it (wish I had one of our kids at church), but you can get the idea here. Excuse the ad at the beginning. Disclaimer: The people in the video get into it about 1/100th of what we did. Watch it and tell me that you don't see how you can go crazy with that?! (Or maybe it's just the dancer in me!) There's not an ounce of exaggeration when I tell you that you could feel the church floor shaking!
Towns' class sat on the front row during the worship rally and I tried my best to get a picture of her getting into all the singing, but I don't think she's anywhere in it...
But it'll show you how much fun was had!
Every year we take up a VBS offering to help certain missions projects. It's always boys vs. girls which makes for some fun competition. This year our new childrens minister had a plan for the offering. She's been a missionary in Africa and her team translates Bible stories onto cassettes in each village's language. The money given during VBS will buy cassettes so that more people can hear about Jesus, and by the end of the week the children had raised enough money for thousands of Africans to hear the cassettes. It truly was amazing.
Tuesday on the way home from church I asked Towns how she thought she could help, other than me just giving her money from my wallet to give in the offering. She remembered that she had her birthday money in her piggy bank. That was the first thing she went for when we got home...
I helped her pull her money out, and she said that she'd be willing to give up $5. I wanted her to understand to the best of her ability what she was giving her money for. I explained to her that we have a wonderful church where we can go to learn about God, we have Bibles that we can read, and we have lots of other ways to share Jesus with others. But that there are other people in the world who don't have the many opportunities that we do. Those cassette tapes could be the only way they'll ever hear about God. She looked at me and thought for a second. I could tell her wheels were turning. She piled her money up, all $37 of it, and pushed it over to me. She said "all of it - I'll just give all of it". And she did. Cheerfully.
We sat in the floor and counted it one last time...
Wednesday during our closing worship rally, she was surprised to hear Mrs. Kristy call her name to go up on stage...she was one of the Buckaroos of the Day for having a giving heart!
They put a cool blue cowgirl hat on her head and she stood up there grinning from ear to ear...
I'm pretty sure she didn't remove the hat from her head for the remainder of the week!
There were so many other kids who did even greater things. Lemonade stands, toy sales, doing chores for money, etc. It's so neat to see kids working together like that! Together they raised over $1,500!!
All of the Buckaroos from the week got a special treat on Friday. Mrs. Keri's father was on the USA Bobsled team in the 1980 Olympics. Keri still has Mr. Al's Olympic gear, some of which was western wear, and she offered to bring it to let the Buckaroos have their picture made with it...
And she was sweet enough to let them try it on themselves...
I couldn't resist this one...
That label was in the lining of the coat and cowboy hat. Pretty cool! The Olympics were in Lake Placid that year, hence the heavy coat. Towns could barely hold herself up in it!
While we were waiting for her turn to try the gear on, she wanted her picture made in front of the campfire because being on stage is cool (Miss Elle - you're the reason behind that!)...
Ever heard of the Christian Cowboy?
If not, you're missing out! He's a neat guy who uses his rodeo talents to share his faith. He came to our church to get us pumped up for VBS back in April, and he was there at family night Thursday night as well. He was gearing up to break a record in the Guinness Book of World Records, and chose to give it a shot at our church. The record he wanted to break? Balancing a near 60 ft. pole on his chin for 10+ seconds. After the big round up in the sanctuary, we migrated to the ROC to watch some record-breaking history...
It took a while for the Christian Cowboy to get prepared, so the girls entertained themselves while we waited...
Emma and Buggy...
I think the bandana and bow constitute one thing - the child marches to the beat of her own drum!
And finally...
I didn't realize how big of a deal this really was until they announced that we had a state senator there to officiate, a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records, news media, engineers, etc. And he did it! Broke the record...right there at FBC before our very eyes! :)
Afterwards, the girls played hide-and-seek on the church lawn with Emma and her sister Olivia until almost 9:00, because in Alabama in the summer time the sun doesn't go down until then! It took forever for us to convince them that we really did need to head home because Friday morning would come early...
But I just couldn't get these two to stop hamming it up long enough to make our way to the car! We met J at the Mexican restaurant where we were seated right next to the entire ministerial staff...where my children put on the show of all shows! Mercy...
J had to be somewhere Thursday night and couldn't go with us to family night which sent Towns into hysterics. So he promised her he'd come Friday morning to watch her sing her songs in the morning rally...
Two hearts were broken that morning.
Mine and his.
Because she was too embarrassed to hold his hand going down the hall to the sanctuary.
And too embarrassed to sit with us. She wanted to sit with her friends.
We still haven't recovered!!
I kept Cate with me during worship so that she could see what it was all about. And boy did she have a good time!
She tried so hard to keep up with the big kids who were doing motions to all the songs. And when she finally caught on to how to pretend to ride a horse and lasso at the same time for the Saddle Ridge Ranch song, Mrs. Ginger couldn't help but go at it with her...
Cate things Ginger is the coolest person ever - they're both interested in nothing but crazy fun!
Cate found Brock and Ella and they sat in awe of what was going on around them...
So cute!
And she actually stopped long enough for a picture with her mama...
At least she's not too embarrassed to be seen with her parents...yet!
What a great end to an even greater week...I think it'll take me 'til next year's VBS to recover! But it was worth every last minute of it!
3 comments:
The title of this post is dead-on! I had not worked in VBS until 3 years ago, and was AMAZED at how much different it was! Now, I'm the director, and we start SRR tonight. Nervous, b/c we still have some last minute things to do today to be ready, AND we welcome a new pastor today. We're really breaking him in, but he was definite about that he wanted to be here for VBS!
Fun! Fun!! my kids had a blast last week at VBS too!! :)
Looks like it was a lot of fun. Cute pics! I know you were proud of Wownsy!! So sweet!
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