Kingdom Rock Bible School

Last week was Vacation Bible School. I had the honor of serving as director for the third year. The organizing gets easier as you know how it will play out, and this year I wasn't rushing off to China midweek!

The kids enjoyed child-friendly worship all week. I loved seeing the little bodies hopping in the pews, singing their hearts out along with the music videos projected on the walls.  Somehow I have gone from being a youth grouper terrified of playing a tiny role in a Youth Sunday skit back in the 1990s to someone who can act ridiculous on the stage in front of two churches, wearing a red cape no less.

What I found when I read the God sightings wall one night

Our volunteers bring great expertise to their roles, so things ran pretty smoothly.  We minister to 65 different kids during the week, and I'm especially thrilled about the fact that VBS builds a community of kids within the church, giving them a sense of tradition each summer that helps to define their identity as Christians. 

We finally found the perfect role for Jasper.  He liked being a crew leader. He likes any role, but as a crew leader he could just show up and be himself, no preparations.




I remember thinking last year, as I was emotional about missing three days of VBS, that in twelve months we'd have another daughter bopping around, enjoying it. Ruby did just fine. She was a little nervous the first day, but once I got her to her first station she went with her crew and even learned to do some of the hand motions to songs.





On Saturday I took Pearl and Sapphire to the 4-H fair. It was our first time there. It was smaller than we expected, but had everything the girls needed for a great afternoon. We tried to figure out the steer judging, but the bouncy house and face painting part made a lot more sense to us. We enjoyed a dance group from the New Hope Charter School and simple 'carnival' games that, as Sapphire quickly realized, always resulted in a lollypop. At one point I looked over and she had two in her mouth at once.


Pearl fell in love with the snakes the Critter Guy brought. On Saturday she made having a snake seem like a dire need, but I suspect if we don't mention snakes again, we can escape reptile-free.

That evening her daddy took Pearl out for a star gazing event at a local park. They saw a binary star system and several of Saturn's moons.

We're trying to make the most of last few weeks of summer. Today the girls got to flag down the snow cone man for a fleeting, but beloved treat.