Lots of Commotion!

Today was all about promoting our upcoming VBS (Vacation Bible School) so that we can share the gospel with our friends and community members.

Our church gets very excited about VBS and meeting new families.

This year we have a very cool theme:  Ocean Commotion!

I can only give you a small hint to my role in VBS:

I know you want to know more.....  :)

When planning ahead, I thought it would be cute to do something with our 'ocean theme' to get the kids interested.   

I ordered 144 plastic fish with the vision of creating little aquarium bags with beautiful tropical fish swimming under the tag:  

Ocean Commotion V.B.S. (dates/ times).

This is what I actually ended up with- 

Really?  What child would want to come to VBS with a bag full of dead fish (even if plastic)?

I was a bit desperate to find a different solution.  I researched soap, blue slime, magnets, and I even dyed rice with blue food coloring to create a better fishy environment   

Everything was either too time consuming or too expensive.

At the last minute, God revealed water beads to me in the corner at the Dollar General (I love ME some Dollar General)-

For 1.00 a packet, the results were really cool.

  You just place them in water and they expand-

 It made the fish look like they were swimming in the baggies.  :)

We even had a  TON of water beads left over.

My own sensory children really loved them, they are so squishy. 

hot tub fun

It inspired us to have some bath time fun!

 This was not the best idea.  The water beads clogged up the drain and made a terrible mess (but we had fun while it lasted).

"Come Follow Me"  Jesus said, "And I will make you fishers of men."

-Matthew 4:19

 In our groups, we dived into Genesis and talked a bit about Noah.

The children made oyster and pearl necklaces (right out of the deep blue sea).

Did you know that in order to protect itself from irritation, the oyster will quickly begin covering the uninvited visitor with layers of nacre?  Layer upon layer of nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, coat the grain of sand until the iridescent gem is formed.

 I tell you that God can take your discomfort and turn it into something beautiful.

This morning before church, this picture came up on my Facebook memory page:

Remember Cagney and Lacey?

Look at them now-

Is it funny Carlee is wearing pink (and to the left) and A. is wearing red (and to the right) just like in their baby picture above.  

(I think I see a cute photo bomb in the back too.)

Sometimes it is just as hard for me to watch the children from church grow up as it is for my own children.  

The time is fast. Time is precious.

These 'babies' have one more year before they move to the youth and I am not ready-

K. my The Helper

I feel like I've really bonded with E. this year.

My Connor  

In our second group, we had 100% BOY ONLY  attendance.

whooooo hoo, party time!

This is the group where we lost a few fish.
RIP
(as in the bag went rippppp all over the floor.)

Being the professional educator that I am, I thought hmmmmm..... let's move this party OUTSIDE (quickly).

I knew the pearl necklaces were going to be met with great enthusiasm (sarcasm), so after the lesson I gave the option and then we took the balls and parachute down the hill.

Believe it or not, three boys did want to make an oyster pearl!  :)

Don't worry, I kept our games very educational.  

We played a game called 'Catch Noah's Animals'.  That game lasted for 2 minutes before we moved onto this game:

I call it 'Spiritual Fellowship'.  

:)

What a Blessed Day!

Day 4:  In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. -1 Thessalonians 5:18 1 Thessalonians 5:18