VBS Week!

Wow. It's intense that this week flew by.
I was talking to Sylvia the day after I got back from seeing Zach, and was telling her about how I was going through withdrawal, and how I knew the weeks would fly by once I let them. And somewhere between spending several hours reading and writing out verses on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, somehow this week has reached an end, and we are halfway done with this program!

We had Vacation Bible School take over the morning section of the program, and I took Monday and Tuesday mornings to myself to attempt to recover to being back in Flushing, in a city, and feeling like I didn't want to be there. But my God time, as most God time is, was fulfilling, and I felt like I could indeed function for the rest of the week, and the rest of the time.

The rest of the week, from Wednesday through Friday, I worked at the VBS in the morning with the first and second grade group. The other leaders for the group were Vanessa, Tito, and Kevin, and then the sixteen little munchkins that came with us. It was glorious, and fun, and stressful, but we all had peace that once 12:00 came around, those little glorious, stressful, and fun munchkins would go be all those things with their parents.

There also was a lot of peace in the fact that we didn't have to plan and run the program ourselves. I personally felt a lot better about the entire thing because I wasn't in charge, and only had to be a piece of the puzzle, not the designer. I don't really think that God ever intended only one person to be a designer of anything. We are the church, and because God has sneakily given us all the different gifts that we need, there is no need to attempt to do things on our own. That being said, if someone is trying to do that, they should ask for help, and others should donate their advice and their time.

In the afternoons on Wednesday through Friday, everything was so much easier. There wasn't a peak of stress like there has been in the past with the kids at our program, when we are trying to get them to listen to us. Everyone listened, everyone did their work. We communicated with the kids, and with parents. We ate good food made by Christa's mom, and had kids do their academic work so that they could bake food with Hannah later! They made cookies and brownies this week.

Bethany and her friend Nicki were at the program this week--Mark and Annabelle went for a vacation away and the two of them were with Hannah this week as "mommy". They weren't required to do all the work the kids in the afternoon program were, but if we let them to theirselves, they could go pretty crazy, so I took it upon myself to play Monopoly and Risk with them. (I know, such a hard task.) We played for several hours each time. And I dominated each time. They can win next time. I'll teach them strategy.

On Thursday evening, I also got a chance to eat dinner with Weslea and we got to talk about life. That was awesome. She said there might be an option for her to go to Guinea Bissau this January (of all the connections. . . :)) and so I really wanted her to be able to meet Zach, but maybe some other time. (He's going to be chock full of business until I get to sweep him away.

Now, we have the next three weeks of the program to go. We are halfway done. I'm leaving the Thursday of the last program, and then I'm on my way to Harrisburg, for a day of debriefing, then a night bus ride home to Toledo. That's the next three weeks in a nutshell. Are we ready? We hope so.

Prayers/Praises
-Yaya VBS!!!
-I sent in my housing form request with all the letters of support yesterday. Next Thursday, it goes before a housing committee and they decide if I can stay with my sister or if I have to stay in the dorm. I'm willing for both, but I need to know so that I can prepare for that.
-Three more weeks of program. Fill in if it's a prayer or a praise. It is both for sure.
-Pray for rest for all the staff, so there is need for less coffee.