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!