Vacation Bible School

We have such an amazing church! This week is our Vacation Bible School, the theme being "Shareword Forest." Volunteers have turned nearly the entire building into a forest with camping scenes and cardboard rangers, old Christmas trees turned into old pines - there's even an outhouse in the foyer! This is my 4th VBS here, and I continue to be amazed at how many teens and adults volunteer willingly and cheerfully during this week. (At our former church, it was like pulling teeth and/or having to hit someone over the head with a hammer to get even a handful of people to commit.) Between volunteering time and talents and donations of food and money, the support this VBS gets, again, just amazes me!

What is even more impressive is that this VBS went from 65+ kids Sunday night to 85+ kids last night! Our church is in a transition phase with an interim senior pastor, and "Pastor Paul," the worship pastor, who usually leads the opening and closing portions, is out of town due to his brother being very, very seriously injured in an accident last week. Yet "Mr. Andy," who runs our Sunday morning children's program, has stepped right up to cover all the MC duties, and "Miss Susie," the layperson in charge, has done a fantastic job keeping things running smoothly.

It warms your heart to see these kids singing and dancing and truly paying attention. They are bringing in supplies for Operation Christmas Shoebox and offerings and literally bounce in their seats because they are so excited to give! And it's not just little ones whose lives are changed -- DD was so excited to learn that she could help with the preschoolers again (teens weren't able to last year). It was 2 summers ago that she first helped with her little "munchkins," as she calls them, and while she knew she wanted to adopt when she grew up, these weeks helping with VBS has only solidifed that desire to adopt children in that age range.

We still have 2 nights to go, and, as usual, tomorrow (the last day), the forecast is for storms in the afternoon. It's almost a tradition that we have at least one day with storms and power loss, but it adds to the fun for the kids, and besides, if you were really in the forest, you wouldn't have electricity, right? haha Anyhow, our church is just really blessed to be able to continue to grow and provide these types of activities during this time of transition. It is truly a testamony to the love for the Savior that permeates this body of believers!