Do you see what I see?

On Wednesday night at VBS, I noticed some of the teenage girls that were helping Quinn's group all looking up at the sky and pointing. I looked up too and saw this.

Do you see the heart?  Reminds me of these verses:

Jeremiah 31:3  "And the Lord appeared to us from afar saying I have loved you with an everlasting love..."

Psalm 19:1 "The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hand."

VBS 2011: Night 2 and 3

Here is a recap of Nights 2 and 3 from VBS.

All day on Monday, Quinn asked if we were going to see the "Bible Show"?  I think he's getting Bible School and Puppet Show confused, but basically, that's what we are doing. The little children are getting God's Word through puppets.  When I asked Quinn what we do at Bible School, here is what he told me:

"See da cowboy with da orange Bible": One of the puppets wears a cowboy hat, and when we do the pledges, he holds an orange Bible.

"Put my corns (coins) in da blue bucket": The boys put their pennies for the Penny War offering in a blue bucket.

This is the puppet that starts the program each night and is also the one who has the orange Bible.

Each night the children have to help Mr. Sizemore "wake up" Kodiak the Bear. Then they read the night's verse to help Kodiak learn his verse.  Kodiak seems to have some memory issues, as he always begins to quote the verse from the night before, but quickly quotes the correct verse for some candy!  Quinn calls Kodiak "my bear". 

After teaching Kodiak his verse, the 3 year olds go to craft time. Monday night's craft was making bandannas. Each child got a plain white one and decorated them using paint and rubber stamps with various western images, like a cowboy hat, cactus, wagon, wolf, etc.  Quinn enjoyed painting the stamps. His new buddy, Jonathan, is helping him. Jonathan is one of the teens helping with Quinn's group.

I caught this picture of Quinn on Tuesday night (VBS #3). He is watching for Kodiak and other puppets to pop their heads up from behind the back drop. Quinn and many of the other little kids thinks this is hilarious. When any of them catch a glimpse, they all begin to squeal with excitement.

Because Quinn is in the youngest VBS class, his group is always called up first to drop pennies in the buckets for the penny war.  The girls dominated the first two nights, but finally on Tuesday night, the boys won!  Both buckets are overflowing with pennies! I've heard that VBS typically raises upwards of $1000 in pennies in one week!

Tuesday night's craft was cow print sheriff vests. We tied the vests together with yarn and then created a sheriff's badge to attach to the vest.

Somehow the 3 year olds always get done with their craft before the schedule allows. And we can't go back to the sanctuary because the older students are still having their Bible Time.  So the teens have been taking the 3s on a walk to go see the school buses! Sounds kind of funny, but the kids love it! They even open the door and the kids climb in the bus and sit in the seats. Quinn pretended to drive it! Hey, if he can "drive" a fire truck, he can "drive" a bus!

During the Bible time on Tuesday night, the puppets had 2 special guests...Amazon monkeys!  I think these guys may have been used in a previous VBS unit, and are also going with the group to New Zealand.  Mr. Hartman asked the kids if they had any questions for the monkeys. Quinn saw all the children raising their hands to ask questions and he raised his too and said "My Turn!" Mr. Hartman handed him the microphone and I thought to myself...oh my, what in the world is he going to say?

Quinn's question was "Can dey sing?"  And so the Monkeys sang Jesus Loves Me! So I took a picture while they were singing in response to Quinn's question.

Quinn is remembering and understanding more than I thought he would about Bible School. He hasn't quoted any verses and he doesn't always sit still, but he does seem to be enjoying all the aspects of VBS. I am so glad I get to experience this with him each night.  2 more nights to go....can't wait to see what is in store!

The Pledge may be different.....but Jesus is still the same.

Since my previous post, I have had several people ask me about the Christian flag pledge I said at the church I grew up in.

It went like this:

"I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag, and to the Saviour for whose Kingdom it stands. One brotherhood, uniting all Christians in service and love."

I am learning the version used at our church, because this is the one Quinn will use when he starts going to school there, and it goes like this:

"I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag, and to the Saviour for whose Kingdom it stands. One Saviour, crucified, risen and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe."

It was a little surprising for me on the first night of VBS when I began to say what I thought was "The Pledge" and realized there was more than one version.  So I do what I do anytime I have a question...I "googled" it.  And this is what I found.

I may have said one pledge, you may have said a different version, but Jesus is still the same. And Praise the Lord that He never changes!

VBS 2011: Gold Rush...Searching for the "Rock of Ages"

Quinn is finally old enough to go to Vacation Bible School at our church!  Tonight (Sunday) was the first night of VBS. Our theme this year is "Gold Rush....Searching for the Rock of Ages."

The Bible verse for tonight was John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me."

The stage of the sanctuary was set up to look like an Old West town.

The fence area was where the puppets would come up and interact with the children. One of the puppets, shown here, kind of scared Quinn a little bit, but thankfully I got him settled down and we were able to enjoy the rest of the time. 

One thing I found comforting was that first part of Bible School was saying the pledges to the American Flag, Christian Flag and the Bible.   The only thing was that the pledge to the Christian Flag that I grew up saying was NOT the same pledge that was said last night!  I'm not sure what that's about.  I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, and this church is an Independent Baptist....but the flag is the same.

(Perhaps some of my church friends who read the blog can chime in here!!)

The buckets at the front of the stage were for the kids to place their offering in each night. Apparently the church is famous for having a "Penny War" between the boys and the girls. Each year the money is designated to go towards a certain missions group or need within the church. This year, the money will be given to our College/Career class for the upcoming missions trip to New Zealand.

The church was smart to have plenty of pennies on hand for kids to swap their dollars, quarters, etc. They had set up a booth called the "Gold Exchange" and had boxes and boxes of rolled up pennies. Quinn was so excited to put his "corns" (coins) in the "blue bucket"!  Because Quinn is in the youngest age group, he got to go first!  Unfortunately the girls won the first penny war.   

The first activity was Craft Time. Two of the ladies in charge of Crafts are sisters and friends of mine, and having read both of their blogs, I know how creative they can be!  Tonight's craft was a horse. Take a white tube sock, paint the toe area brown for the nose, attach a couple of googly eyes, and add some brown yarn for a mane. Attach it to a paint stick and voila...a horse!  Quinn was really proud of his horse!

After craft time we went back to the sanctuary for singing, story time, and more puppets. When we got back to our seats, he said "Mommy, I not scared now. We watch da movie again?"  He meant...more puppets please? He really watched during the puppets, and I wonder if it reminded him of when we went to see Veggie Tales?

The song tonight was Jesus Loves Me, and Quinn sang along to every word! He enjoyed Mrs. Pam's story and was super excited when more puppets came out to tell the story of Jonah! That's one of his favorite stories, again, thanks to Veggie Tales!

After this was snack time (grilled cheese, chips, and a cupcake.) Then it was down to the gym for game time. The game workers tried to adapt some of their games so the little ones could play but that proved to be a little difficult. Quinn is pushing 3 and a half, but a couple of the little girls in his group won't be 3 until the fall, so getting them to understand "rules" for a game was pretty hard. So in the end, the kids just ran around the gym, which was perfectly fine with Quinn!

We had a great time and can't wait to see what tonight holds for us at VBS!

And you know what happens when Quinn finds a big box.....

You know how much Quinn loves big boxes.

So imagine the smile we got when he saw how big the box was that our new stove came in.  It took up the whole living room!  And boy did Quinn have fun with it. 

And these pictures speak for themselves.  (But I will apologize for the quality. We have a window in our front door, and there is a sun glare coming through the window in some of these...)

We will do anything to make this boy smile....even if it means buying a new stove just so Quinn has a box to play in!  And yes, I'm the mean ole mommy who has already taken the box apart....but seriously, it was too big to keep in the house any longer.  Trust me though, Quinn got plenty of fun out of it!

My 200th post = A New Stove

A week or so ago, I realized that some of the eyes on my stove were not working properly. I would turn on the eye and it would heat up and all, only to begin to shut off in the middle of me cooking. This just seemed like a fire hazard waiting to happen.  I mean, it just wouldn't be right for the fire department to come to our house....the station that would be first on the scene is the station we volunteer at!

So Buddy decided that I should have a new stove / oven as my late Mother's Day/early Birthday present.  I checked all the local department stores that sell appliances and found the one I liked; then compared stores to see where I could get the best price for what I wanted.  We ended up at Home Depot on Friday afternoon with the perfect stove in mind, only to be told "We don't keep these in stock...it will be 3-5 business days." Ugh. But the saleslady was nice enough to check in the back "just in case" and low and behold found ONE stove on the top of a big shelf in the back room....and it had a sales flyer attached to the box advertising it for $50 less than the sign on the sales floor said!  Woo Hoo!!

By Friday night, I was cooking supper on my new stove. 

It is so nice, with the smooth top! I no longer have to worry about pulling the eyes out and cleaning/changing those little catch pans anymore!  The only catch is I have to use a special cleanser on the stove top. 

The oven is much bigger than the one I had before and I love that the door has a window into the oven. I didn't have that before.

And the best part is that we didn't have to wait for any delivery people so show up or install it. Buddy was able to do all that himself.  Thanks sweetie for a gift I will use for many many years to come!

Quinn's Artwork

Although Quinn turned 3 back in January, he did not get to move up to the 3-year-old class at daycare until April.  One reason was that the class was full and he had to wait until some kids turned 4 and moved out. The main reason was that he wasn't potty-trained yet.  That is all behind us now though.  Well, let me just say he is a champ at #1, but can't seem to get the rest in the toilet. Here's hoping we can get a handle on that part before he starts preschool.

I just realized...you were expecting a post about Quinn's art work, not his potty abilities. Sorry I got a little side tracked. Anyway, in his 3 year old class, he has been doing more arts and crafts than he did in the 2s.  I took a picture of his latest projects to share.

The first one is a cute little bird that he made.  Quinn put the feathers on himself!

The next one is the card he made me for Mother's Day.  Mrs.Tina, his new teacher, told me he did the stem, leaves, and the flower decorating himself. He showed her where he wanted everything to go.

I am so looking forward to when he starts school this fall and all the little projects he will bring home!