I survived VBS!

Looking at our apartment right now it is pretty obvious that mom (me) has had a busy week. There is stuff EVERYWHERE!!! So, today we will clean...probably all day! Oh well, the week was totally worth it. I'd rather be teaching a bunch of 1st graders about God's love than home cleaning anyway!

This year I thought I'd be brave (a.k.a. trust God) and volunteer to help wherever I was needed. I did say that I'd prefer the younger ages, and might have mentioned that I loved teaching missions, but other than that I was open. I honestly did not expect Heather (our awesome childrens minister) to say that she still needed a 1st grade teacher! I'd already had a talk with the Lord...Him telling me that I would do whatever I was asked to do...so I knew that I'd say yes, but with some fear and trembling on my part.

After a restless Sunday night I woke up early to go over my lesson again and get myself and then the boys ready to go. We left a few minutes after 8 am and arrived at the church around 8:30 am. And, "SURPRISE," there were already a handful of kids in the classroom! Here I'd thought I was early and would have a few minutes to get everything together. :>) It was a little crazy at first, but by 9 am (our start time) we were right on schedule with 16 first graders. By 9:45 we were on our way to rotations (Music, Crafts, Recreation, Missions) and by 11:35 we were in the home stretch at the W0rship Rally. At 12:30 pm I was heading home. I don't remember anything else from Monday! I think that was true by the time I got home everyday after VBS. I wasn't so much physically exhausted as I was mentally. Phew!

On Tuesday (and the days following) I was ready for my early birds with activities like a word search or coloring thing. Tuesday we had 19 kids and all of them were there for the whole rest of the week. Wednesday evening we had family night. The kids brought their parents by to meet the teachers (and get a ticket for a sno-cone) and then went outside to enjoy the bounce houses and dunk tank. I had some really good conversations and feel like I connected with a few of the families and I'm hoping will come back to visit on Sunday. "J's" family attends a catholic church near their home. His dad brought up that they were from the Philippines and I mentioned that I had spent a summer there (way back). He is from the same area I was in and we talked about that for awhile. It was "J's" first experience at a non-catholic church and they seemed very excited about everything that was going on at VBS. Another family attends one of the much larger churches in the area. They had three boys in VBS, 1st, 2nd and 6th grade. Their 1st grader "S" was great to have in class, but their 2nd grader "T" became Ethan's new bff during the week. On Tuesday Ethan introduced me to "T" and then I noticed that they were always together during the rotations (1st and 2nd combined for the rotations). So, on family night "T" came bouncing through the door to my classroom and said, "Mom, mom, this is Ethan's mom." Apparently "T" had been talking about Ethan as much as Ethan had been talking to me about him.

By Friday the kids were tired, and some a little emotional, but we still had a great day. I was telling the kids how much I'd enjoyed VBS and that we were at our last day when one little boy stood up and walked up to me and hugged me and told me how much he was going to miss me. It was SO sweet. Another girl wrote on her picture frame that we made in class "I love VBS and I love Miss Cathy." It was such a blessing to be their teacher. Sign me up for next year! Oh, and I would like to add that I had some wonderful helpers too! Thank you Jacqueline, Jayne, Katie and Lisa!

So, while we were at VBS all week, Casey finished a paper, had class, a mid-term and then worked. He was able to go to VBS with us on Wednesday and enjoyed a few minutes in the dunk tank at family night. He even forgave me for forgetting his "dunk tank" clothes and went in with jeans and polo on and then had to stay in them for the night! It was only 100 degrees out, so I think that helped too!

Alright...time to clean!