Be Strong! And Courageous!

First of all, this is what I saw when I went into the family room Thursday afternoon. I asked, "Who put cars in the microwave?!" Suspecting who would answer (and rightfully so), Austin called out, "Meeee!! I did that!" I asked him why, and he said because he wanted to. I suppose that is as good of a reason as any..... Notice the microwave door is gone. Lauren did that. She's also broken off the fridge door!


Friday night was the Vacation Bible School program and carnival. The kids sang three songs for their parents. I was kneeling on the floor, helping with the motions, so Brian took these pictures. I couldn't even see Julia, but Brian got a couple shots of her through the other kids. The theme for the week was becoming "special agents" for God. The kids learned about "special agents" from the Bible, Moses, Daniel and his friends, Joshua and the other spies "going into the land with the giant grapes" (as Julia put it), Jeremiah, and Queen Esther, how they did what God wanted them to do. Here they are singing the song of the week, "Strong and Courageous", doing the motion for courageous. A smaller group of kids sang that song for church this morning. The words went, "Be strong! And courageous!" for the first phrase. They had to flex their muscles for "strong", then cross their arms in front of them and go up for "courageous". I know that probably makes very little sense just in writing! ;) Austin liked that sequence, though, showing strong muscles and all! Everyone involved with VBS got one of these black shirts. Lauren even got one, since they had extras. She loved that--being included with Julia and Austin!

Here he is sitting next to his friend, Carter, to the right of Austin, looking at the picture.


After the program, there was a carnival in the courtyard. One of the booths had face painting. It was Austin's own idea to be painted like a cow! I didn't see any other cows there that night!

And Julia requested a cat (no surprise there!) The girl who painted her face said she didn't know how to make a cat, but Julia told me, "I think she did a really good job!" Here she is enjoying her cotton candy. She did share with Austin and Lauren.

Many people had donated cakes for a cake auction to help with the costs of VBS. Any extra money went to the missionaries for the week. Brian bid on a few cakes, and we ended up winning this one. The paper on the tray says, "Out of This World Cake". It has been a very delicious cake! The kids were so excited about getting to take a cake home!