VBS in the insane Central Valley heat

This week, Andrew and I participated in the annual Vacation Bible School, hosted by Nancy, the head of the children's department for Hanford Church of the Nazarene. Our theme was "Custom Garage", so last Sunday, Nancy and I got together at her house and previewed some of the videos and music that were part of the daily lessons for the week ahead, conjurred up some crafting and food ideas (piggy banks out of recycled plastic bottles, doodling a la Ed Emberly style, hot dogs, smores, etc.) and going over things in general, although we couldn't really figure out what to do with our theme. Sadly, I wasn't able to help much besides that Sunday, Monday and Friday as someone short and chubby cannot miss his nappy time, but Andrew had a blast being with other people his age and size and energy level (ha ha!).

All week long, the kids worked hard at memorizing songs such as "Custom Built Heart" and versese such as Luke 4:1-3 and Mark 12:28-34. Initally, Andrew was a little bit of a wallflower, but he eventually blossomed with the other girls and boys, trully singing and following along with all the motions on the video. That was all good and fun, but the real fun was to be had at the end of each day when all 10 of the kids (count 'em!) got to cool off in Nancy's pool; a veritable chlorine stew arms and legs cooking in the dry 100 degree heat. I was pleasantly surprised at how much Andrew seemed to enjoy doing the activities, thriving on the interaction with the other kids. When all was said and done, everybody left VBS with awesome tans and God in their hearts.

This Sunday rolled around and although I was in charge of the nursery for the day, Jimmy came to see our son perform with his contemporaries. I'm sure it was a heart felt performance that brought the house down, a fun, new dimension to add to our already lively Sunday service. Don't have any pictures, but will have some to upload soon, so keep checkin' us out!