VBS

We have just finished our week of Vacation Bible School. Well, almost. VBS is officially over, but the kids are leading worship at church tomorrow night and sharing the songs and stories they've learned. It has been fun, and Hannah has enjoyed it. But, she's also had about all the excitement she can take. All the 3 year olds have. Our Bible school goes from 3 years old through 5th grade, with a slighly modified schedule for the 3 year olds. They spend less time rotating in stations and more time completing activities in their own room to avoid being too overwhelmed. It works pretty well and the kids have fun and learn a lot. But by the end of the week, they are just all tired and in need of a break. Here's a picture of her cute class. Not great quality, because I had to scan in it though. But they were a precious group of kids.

I completely enjoyed my job with VBS this year. I worked with our week's mission project and it was so fun. We collected new shoes for a program called "Shoes for Orphan Souls". If you need a good mission project for your church, check them out. http://www.shoesfororphansouls.org

We collected new shoes and socks that are then sent to orphanages all over the world (over 50 countries). What I loved about it was how easy it was to get the kids "on board" with the project. After all, what kid can't relate to what it feels like to get a brand new pair of shoes. Then, when we tell them (and showed video and pictures) about kids all over the world that have never had their own pair of new shoes...well, the kids got moving. I was so proud of them. Of course, it didn't hurt that we had a little contest between grades going to see who could throw a pie in the face of our pastor and children's minister by collecting the most shoes and donating the most money to cover shipping costs. (For the record, kindergarten collected the most shoes and 1st grade donated the most money). By the end of the week, the kids raised over $350 and donated 171 pairs of shoes! And that's with only 110 kids participating in VBS. They are an awesome group! I hope they had fun with the contest and watching the pies being thrown. But way more than that, I hope they feel good about the fact that there are 171 children in orphanages all over the world that will now have a new pair of shoes to wear because of their efforts. And I got so many sweet stories from parents - things like kids picking out shoes so carefully to make sure they would be liked by the recipients. And the little girl who absolutely insisted she had to get two pairs of identical shoes in different sizes so that if there were sisters in an orphanage they could have matching shoes! too sweet!

All in all, it has been a great week with 110 great kids and like 70 volunteers, but I must admit, I'm looking forward to Saturday night and just hanging out at home with my one sweet girl!

Doctors and Parties

What a crazy week it's been. Tuesday, we visited Hannah's pediatrician for her yearly check-up. No shots required at this visit, so it was a happy visit! (next summer though...) She is doing great, and my has she grown. She has grown 4 inches in the past year! Anyway, he was pleased with her development and everything looked great. He told us that he'd see us in a year.

BUT, he got to see us quicker than he thought. We were back in his office 2 days later. Hannah fell playing on the swingset behind our church. It didn't look like a particularly hard fall, but she hit her chin on the ground, and oh - it was a mess. My church is just down the road from Hannah's doctor, so I called and they said come on by. He sent us on to Children's where she got a few stitches under her chin. They numbed it very well so it didn't hurt, but she was scared and mad! Very mad! One of the doctor's said "we got a fighter here!". Yeah, I told him she was going to one day channel that fighting spirit into fighting for world peace or some other noble goal. She was being so uncooperative (which is not like her...for most medical stuff she may cry, but she cooperates), that I stopped them fearing that maybe the numbing cream had not worked. I asked her "does it hurt or are you just mad". She yelled "I JUST MAD!". When it was over and she was calm and quiet, I asked her if she was better. She said "no, I still mad". I figured she had that right. The funny part is that in an attempt to distract her, one doctor asked her how old she was. Without missing a beat and with clenched teeth, she answered "I 28 years old!" She is fine now. The cut is healing well and the stitches should be dissolved in a couple more days. (Whoever invented dissolvable stitches has my deep grattitude!!!) But, her chin still looks pretty banged up and bruised.

On a much better note, Saturday we went to a party at Pump it Up held by the International Adoption Clinic at UAB. They are a wonderful (and not just because they throw fun parties)! Seriously though, they provide great services to adopting families and are wonderful people. Hannah hit the door running and never stopped! She loved every minute, well until it was time to leave anyway. One of the highlights for me was that I got to *finally* meet Lily Grace Green. I met her parents, Connie and Jerry, and her brother Austin a couple times before either of us traveled to China. They adopted Lily Grace just a couple months after I adopted Hannah. I've followed their blog, but this was the first time I had met Lily Grace or that Connie had met Hannah. And Lily Grace is absolutely as precious in person as she was in all the pictures I'd seen!. We didn't get to spend a lot of time together, because, well, this was Pump it Up. The girls had running and jumping and climbing and sliding to do. In 10 different directions. But, it was still great to see them. (And yes, Connie and Jerry, I got the photo from your blog since I was being a bad blogger mom and forgot my camera.)

Hannah is in the front row in the blue. Lily Grace is also in the front row in pink with the pink bow.

Just for Fun

We are so far enjoying our summer vacation very much. Hannah is going to speech one day a week and gymnastics one day a week (which she LOVES). We've had several little outings, and one day last week we visited the zoo. Hannah found a pair of swim goggles the day before and had played with them a while. When I announced the next day that we were going to the zoo, she said she wanted to play in the water (Birmingham Zoo has a kids' water fountain area). I said yes, get your swimsuit. She went upstairs and got her swimsuit AND the goggles. She informed me that she needed the goggles for the water! So, she wore them. She wore them before we left the house.

She wore them all the way to the zoo and even slept in them a while.

She wore them in the water.

And she wore them while drying off! She finally took them off to ride the train. What a hoot!

Today, we had a little adventure of a different sort. Hannah was getting a little whiney and I decided to spice things up a bit and do something new. (you know, summer is my "creative play" time!). So, we played in shaving cream. That's not new - we've done that at the table before. But this time, I filled up the little wading pool with it outside. She had a blast! It started tame enough...

But ended quite wild!!

If you want to try this at your house, then never fear - clean up is SO easy. Turn water house on and spray child all over for 1 minute. Great fun!