Break Out the Glitter and the Popsicle Sticks

It's that time of year again! I'm talking about VBS, baby!

The Quest for Truth kicked off last night. Dakota Joe and Digger(not a dermatophyte) have the Grace Lutheran kids digging in the Bible, playing shepherd dress-up games, listening to stories told with a cool outback accent, and crafting their little hearts out.
I am taking a break at the moment from making up name tags for the rest of the week. I've been coloring in glyphs and the Sharpie fumes were getting to me. What is a glyph, you ask? A glyph, according to Dakota Joe, is a sort of picture word, a symbol. Each day has a specific glyph, and I have assigned glyphs to separate our three groups. They are also separated by color, hence the Sharpie overload I am currently experiencing. I needed a glyph-coloring break.

This year I branched out and took on the role of Bible Challenge leader. Several years ago, after a couple of years of strongly negative experiences, I promised the Vansome I would never volunteer for VBS again. I liked being able to blame it on him when I said no. Because I really wanted to say no all along, but I have those guilt issues, you know? Anyway, even after I changed churches, I still steered clear of VBS.
Last year, my beloved sister was co-director. She's amazingly good at that kind of thing. It would be my worstest nightmare. She talked me into helping out with registration. She promised me I would not have to be in charge of kids. It really was the least amount of kid-contact you could get. I could watch them having fun, but from a distance if I wanted. I convinced the Vansome it was safe, I would not get burned out and he would not get dragged in to help.
I gathered registration forms, divided kids into groups, and designed and printed name tags, all in the comfort of my own home. I shared registering duties with a member I hadn't met before, and I was reminded of what I liked about VBS in the first place. I am so painfully shy and socially awkward, that I don't get to know people in the church very easily. VBS puts you in a common boat with lots of different people for a whole week, so you get to know them better.
It made me feel more like an actual member of the church.
This year I had signed on for registration duties without hesitation. While we were at Disney, (in line for the Great Movie Ride, as a matter of fact,) Ame told me that her Bible Challenge person had just called and cancelled on her. I said, "I'll do it!" After we got back, she called and asked if I really meant it, or if I was just caught up in the excitement of Disney World. She knows me so well. But I'd had time to think about it, and I really thought it was something I could handle. The older I get, the better I am at recognizing my weaknesses and knowing how to keep myself from getting overwhelmed. I knew from last year that this job required very little actual responsibility for the kids' behavior. I have a job to do, and if someone's being disruptive, it's their group leaders who remove them or whatever. I can mostly just go about my business. I can't really handle wrangling unruly kids. I will never ever agree to be a group leader. Ever.

I made my debut last night with the green group (the trinity glyph's.) I totally forgot every bit of my "script," which I knew I would do. I was nervous and it showed. The kids were more forgiving than I thought they would be. I had stopped off in my downstairs Sunday School classroom earlier that evening while gathering Bibles. I got on my knees in a dark, out-of-sight corner and talked to God for a bit, asking him to remind me that this was all about his glory and to use me for his purposes. It didn't make everything "work" like magic, but it kept me from being bothered by it. God kept my focus where it should be. I know the kids were learning the truth, no matter what I did "wrong."

I had been most nervous about the pre-schoolers, because I didn't have instructions for them. I'm all about instructions. They really give me a sense of security, even if I don't follow them exactally. The pre-schoolers turned out to be my favorite group of the night. The time really just flew with them, and I had thought it would drag. Group leader Heather was amazing! She has such a gift for working with young children. She made it look so easy.

Getting ready for tonight, I realized that I had made last night's rhythm exercise way harder than it was supposed to be. Just my style, to make things unduly hard for myself. The rhythms are a series of knee-slaps and hand-claps to help memorize the day's Bible verse. I misunderstood the chart in my instruction book, and I added in hand-claps were there were none. It was supposed to be:

"grace" (knee-slap) "and truth" (knee-slap) "come through Je-" (knee-slap) "sus Christ" (knee-slap) "John" (knee-slap) "one sev-" (knee-slap) "en-teen" (knee-slap) (clap clap).

I added claps in between the knee-slaps, including an odd double clap for "came through" and a double time knee-slap/clap/knee-slap for "sev-en-teen."
I was really having a hard time with it earlier that day, and granted, I am not the most coordinated person, but I thought, "How are these young kids going to get this in ten minutes when I've been practicing all day and I keep messing up?" Duh, it's not supposed to be that complicated.
Yesterday, I thought my instructions were a little bit difficult, and I practiced and practiced, but still kept forgetting stuff. Today, my lesson was so much easier. I can do the whole thing without prompts. I know I'll still leave something out, but it won't cause the whole thing to come crashing down. I'm not nervous at all. I'm looking forward to it.

My Sharpie high is fading, so I must get back to the name tags. Then I've got some knee-slaps to practice.