VBS 2013-Armor of God

Last week was VBS for our church.  This year's theme was the Armor of God.  It turned out to be a pretty cool theme, because we put a medival spin on it complete with knights and castles, swords and shields.  This year, I did not teach the 2 and 3 year old class.  Turns out, there was a sign up list for teaching that I missed.  I thought I would be asked, but they found some willing victims, I mean, volunteers, for the class. I volunteered to help in the kitchen.  Let me tell you, it was so easy!  And, it's a good thing I helped in the kitchen with snacks, because that left me free to take care of Kinley when she needed me-which apparently was all the time.  The first night, she scared off one the nursery workers with her inability to calm down.  Mommy came to the rescue.  Andy was there for the rest of the nights of VBS to help handle Kinley, too, as needed. 

We were a little late the last night due to meet the teacher night at the kids' schools.  Luckily, we made it just in time for Liam to run up to the stage to sing with his class.  His teacher was nice enough to drag the singing out long enough so he could do a couple songs.  That made his day.  (What made some other peoples' day was Liam yelling "Hey guys, I'm here!" as he went running up to the stage to be with his class.)

The kids loved it.  Even Kella went to her class every night, no problem.  One of her class helpers mentioned that Kella was always so happy.  During snack time, Kella was sitting, bopping her head and singing the VBS theme song.  "castle" and "heart" were the words that could be made out.  How cute!

So, here are some pictures from the last night of VBS.  One of the high school-ers was kind enough to walk around with my camera and take pictures of my kids.


Liam, in time to be with his class.  Yes, he does have his beloved blankie with him.

 

Ewan's class.  You can see Ewan's head in the back, second over.

Cale's class.  with their swords.

Marcus's class marched in and did a chant and then had a sword fight.  I tried to get a picture, but I was trying to hold Kinley and calm Kella at the same time.  

A picture from the VBS slide show.  Kinley with "Grandma" Kathy.

Some of the royal actors.

Marcus with his sword.

 

more sword play

Liam with some of his friends-Erin and Kayleigh

and one more of Kella

Ephesians 6:10-18

New International Version (NIV)

The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

VBS link-up

Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church.  Our theme was Mysterious Journey and we managed to mash-up Scooby Doo and Noah.  The kids learned about obeying, trusting and praising God and got to learn about different missions the church supports.  Once again, I led the 2's and 3's class.  Once again, I had one of my own (Liam) in the class.  This year, I think I had the biggest class, with 18 (!) coming on Tuesday and Wednesday night.  Wow.  Even with that many little ones, it wasn't ever too bad.  I had some awesome help and I arranged the class so that we did center activities in smaller groups.  It wore me out and I'm glad it's over for another year.  Also, Liam managed to act like he had never heard of rules or listening and just kind of hung out and did his own thing.  Thank goodness he is well known at church.  There were many hands that kept an eye on him so I could keep an eye on the class.  Anyway, here is a link to a slideshow our youth/family minister put together for the last night.  You might catch a peek at one of the kids in there. 
http://rustymaynard.blogspot.com/2012/08/celebrating-fantastic-vbs.html

we survived VBS!

The first thing that August brought us was 4 days of vacation bible school. We started on Sunday night and ended on Wednesday evening. I think the kids all had fun, including baby Kella, who got held by many willing ladies. Our theme was "God makes me incredible" and the skits everynight starred some well-known cartoon movie stars. From a Bible story standpoint, we learned about Saul's transformation to Paul and how incredible God made him. For the 4th year, I taught (?)/babysat (?) the 2 and 3 year old class. I always hope they can remember something about the Bible story, but really, they are 2 and 3 years old. My standards are pretty low. My class had anywhere from 6-10 kids that were pretty well-behaved for 2 & 3's. This year, Liam was in my class, too. He did okay-he's a very young 2 who is also very familiar with the church building. He liked to try to wander off and do his own thing. Luckily, everyone knew who he belonged to and he always made his way back.
It was a lot of work getting everyone to church early to eat dinner and do what prep needed done. I was definitely tired when I got home each evening. It's worth it, though when I see how excited they get to go (except for Marcus the last night when he had to go up on stage, but he survived, and really, he was smiling with his classmates before they went up there, so I guess he wasn't too "scared").

Here's Liam, post Wednesday night performance. The younger kids all got capes. They were all excited and Liam wore his the rest of the night. He also was way excited about his "incredibles" shirt. He didn't want to take it off, so he wore it to bed.

I bet you can barely see this, but it is thedoor to my classroom. Every year, several teachers take great pride in decorating their doors. Every year, I stress over what to do with mine. This year, my door was an island volcano. I contracted the work to 2 high school kids. They did a great job!

My boys-post Wed night. We made it through late bedtimes and daily drives to church. Our schedules got a little altered, but we had fun. Check another thing off our to-do list for the summer.

a night of VBS

The last night in Decatur, we took the boys to the first night of Sunnyside's VBS. It was an Australian theme and the boys got to keep their hats they are wearing in these photos. I think the boys had fun. I also think they just liked being with their cousins. I spent most of my time in the nursery with Kella and then with Liam who wasn't having any of that sitting for arts and crafts and singing!

Cale and Marcus

Ewan

Liam on a step ladder. He did not want to sit with everyone else.-typical

Liam and Ewan on stage participating the the skit of people being healed at the pool. Chris led the skit and I thought it was a bold move to pick Liam to participate. Liam didn't have a clue what was going on and just wanted to wander around on stage. He got up after this picture and took himself off, stage right.