Boomerang Express

This last week our church held Vacation Bible School.

Rob and I have volunteered in a variety of areas, but this was our first time to work in the snack bar. Rob was very honored to have such a vital job as making the VBS kool-aid. He compared it to roasting a Thanksgiving turkey.

Annalise spent most of the time playing kitchen in the nursery and charming the workers by helping clean up (rubbing things with a wipe, which is right up her alley.)

Caleb during his class's snack time. Sitting next to him in this picture is Mrs. Sugg (or Suggs, I have never been sure). She is probably the oldest member of our church at this point. She is a charter member and grew up in Key West. I'm sure Key West was very different back then! She loves the little children and volunteers in the church office every day during the week. She also loves butterflies and usually has a butterfly barrette in her hair.

Caleb heading into the chapel for the group worship time.

The theme was Boomerang Express, so it was an Australian theme. I think LifeWay has done a better job of merging theme and purpose with past VBS material. I didn't sit in on any of the classes, but the videos shown during the large group meeting were very disjointed. They showed two kids in Australia doing a bunch a silly things and then switched suddenly to a serious girl in Israel giving the lead in for the Bible story. The Australian theme didn't seem to fit in at all with the lessons.

Also I remember VBS being focused on scripture memory, whereas the last few years it seems to be about song learning. I felt like it was set up so that it was easy and fun for the kids to learn the songs, but almost impossible and incredibly dull to learn the key verse. I know it is hard to get kids excited about memorizing verses, but I think with a little creative thinking they might find a way to make it a little more attractive.

They had a competition between boys and girls to bring money for the children's home. There was no prize and they never said who won, but Annalise saw me giving change to Caleb and she really wanted some too, so I gave her a couple of pennies for her pocket dress (that's what we call the dress she's wearing here) and she was soooo pleased to participate :)

"I really really pledge allegiance..."

Last night as a finale, the kids performed their songs on stage for the parents.

Why is this so much cuter than I ever expected!?!?