Whew! What a long week! This week was VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church. Originally, Susan wasn't going to be able to help because she was scheduled to go to the Web Science Research Week at RPI in Troy, NY. Susan was looking forward to connecting with more people interested in similar research, comparing ideas, learning from each other, and just overall being encouraged in our research pursuits. However, that plan ended up not being feasible, so Susan was at home this week instead. She volunteered to work with VBS and was assigned to work with a group of children. By the third day her group included four kindergartners, two first graders, and a fourth grader. Rather than divide the groups up by age, our church mixes different ages together so the older kids can help and be a good example to the younger kids. Unfortunately, Susan's group didn't exactly have any "older" kids - although her 4th grader was a great helper. By the end of the week, Susan was worn out by those four little people and she was reminded once again why she didn't go into Elementary Ed! Kudos to you primary school educators who manage to put up with kids who can't read, don't follow directions, and only listen to you if you tell them to "put on their listening ears" (I don't know about you, but I was born with my listening ears firmly attached to my head!) Who comes up with these things?!

She was thankful that other people were in charge of the snacks (thanks, Janet!), teaching time (great job, Won!), crafts (you rock, Susann!), and games (hurrah, Caleb!) [and, of course, honorable mentions to Skeeter and Miss Skeeter - yes, if you say it fast enough it sounds like "mosquito" with a southern drawl]. We learned some great Bible verses and heard all about the miracles God performed in freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We also learned about passover and how it anticipated the Messiah's death, burial, and resurrection. We are so thankful for Jesus, our Messiah, who lived a perfect life and died the death we deserve for our sins and then rose again demonstrating His victory over death. It's always good to be reminded of that and so, instead of focusing on the exhausting time with a bunch of rug rats, we need to look back on this week of VBS and praise the Lord that many children heard the Good News of Jesus Christ and pray that He would use this week to draw some of them to Himself.

Labels: NY