I Heart VBS

Okay, so I mentioned several months ago how we were beginning to prepare for VBS and how much I love it.  Some of my earliest church memories are from VBS.  I vividly remember the red kool-aid and the ring shaped cookies that came with it.  At our church there was always "hot dog Friday" and bring a friend day.  It was a highlight of my summer from grade school up.  Not only did I enjoy attending VBS, but I got some of my earliest ministry opportunities serving in VBS.  Ryan and I have joked that we'll go anywhere if we can teach VBS!  I was recollecting this spring and this is the list of the places that I could think of where I have taught VBS:  Kentucky, Idaho, Alaska, Georgia, North Carolina, and Puerto Rico.  I have taught as many as 3 consecutive weeks and I have loved every minute of it.  I love sharing the story of Jesus with children.  I love seeing the church body come together for a common goal, and I love seeing families realize how much we care about their children.  

I also love the music. This year Ryan bought a CD of the last decade of theme songs from Lifeway's VBS themes.  We have had the best time listening to that thing.  All of the kids have asked how old they were when we did different ones or who their teachers were that year.   I've had fun remembering which decorations I made that year or who my teaching buddies were.  There is one song that runs through my head in Spanish as the CD plays in English because I have such vivid memories of teaching that particular one in Puerto Rico.  Lots of fun memories!

The last 2 years, our church has elected not to do VBS.  The first year we were in the middle of building a children's building, so it was impossible.  Last year, there were a variety of budget and time issues that prevented it.  But, this year, we were back at it and everybody jumped on board as we traveled on the Boomerang Express for a journey through Australia.  We were overwhelmed with 600+ children and over 3oo volunteers.  It was so encouraging to see folks from virtually every ministry of our church contributing  to the Kidztown ministry.  It was a great success as children heard the gospel and even today we saw a number of visiting families as a result of the week.  We are already looking forward to next year!  To be honest, the week flew by, but I did manage to get a few photos along the way.  Enjoy!

Here is the giant paper mache tree Ryan and some gals built in the registration area.  Can you find the kangaroo conductor?

This is Lizzy and her good friend Alexa on "Dress like your favorite Worship Rally character" night.  They both chose to be VegaMite, the hollywood diva character.

Here's Ryan acting goofy one night in train conductor garb.

Here are our senior pastor and his wife dressed as their favorite characters, VegaMite and General Specific.

All week long, we had live sheep in our lobby...needless to say our facilities team loved Ryan for that!  But, did you know that there are more sheep than people in Australia?  How could we not have sheep?

Here is Isaac on the stage during Family Night.

Lizzy singing at Family Night.

Lily with her teachers, Ms. Ashley and Ms. Gladys.  She wasn't really interested in attending VBS, but after lots of prayer, one very dramatic meltdown, and some caring teachers, she fell in love with it too!