light’s rain

Thank you to everyone who commented about our decorations for VBS (Black Coffee & Mary) and to Amy for the suggestion on the leader packs.

VBS went fantastically. We had between 40-50 kids every day (we’re a small church) and ended the week with 1 being saved. This young man is about.. I think 8… and is a wonderful kid. It was fantastic to see him come to the front of the church, and then be baptized. God is awesome!

Following VBS week, a group from our church, led by my hubby, headed to Eastern KY for a mission trip where they did a lot of work, including doing VBS there. They really followed the VBS motto: “Saddle Up! Tell Others!”

In other news, my cousin is getting married this weekend, so I’m getting to see family tomorrow (WHOOHOO!!)

And the week after next (this would be July 7-12th) I’m taking the youth to church camp so please pray for us. God always has a lot to say during camp, and I really feel like this week is going to be absolutely amazing.

My four other chaperons who are going with me have never been before, and I’m a bit nervous for them (I remember my first time going to camp). We will be pushed to our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual limits during the week, but I know that is when things really open up so God can do His thing.

Anyway, I’ll try to catch up more soon with pictures when I return.

I’m praying for everyone who is taking part in VBS right now, and in the future. Our Cactus Canyon was a blast, and I hope to maybe hear about others’ experiences!!

Another great night at VBS! We had a sno-cone machine there, so that was a huge hit. Not sure if it messed up craft/recreation time, but the kids certainly loved it! I even had one.. but found out I’m not a big sno-cone person. Flavored ice just isn’t my thing I guess.

Bro. Brad was our topping guy. He did a pretty good job! :)

Hope & Shelby enjoying their cones.

Lex digging into his.

Like I said, quite popular!

Caleb was telling a story while trying to eat his.

I didn’t realize what they were doing until I posted this picture, or I would have made them stop. I have a feeling somebody probably went home with a red-dotted shirt. oops!

Dalton. Yeah, he’s always like that. :)

Morgan: “Why do you keep taking pictures?”

“Quit taking my picture!”

It was about 90 degrees outside, but she was cold. And that was before the snow cone.

She’s got her painting smock on, enjoying the free ride and the bottle. Life doesn’t get much better, does it?

Nothing to end a sweaty day like a rousing game of kick-ball! Surprisingly, we only had one injury.

Two more days to go!

I can’t believe we’re about to start Day 3! Yesterday was a blast. I found out the first night we had a total of 69 people, I think 42 of that were kids. (Pardners). I’m not sure about last night yet. We’ll find out tonight. The kids have been soooo hyped up. One class had 13 kids in it so Stretch ended up helping that teacher.

I have some more pics. My camera just doesn’t take great pictures in dark areas. I’m not sure if it’s my setting, or what, but I’ll keep trying. :)

This is Micah, my little Star Wars buddy. He’s about to turn 5 and soooo adorable! I’m his best friend :)

This is my niece, Shelby, eating her corndog. The ketchup is my fault. I was trying to squirt it out and shook it by accidentally. Luckily, it only ended up on her plate.

Cheapest hotel you’ll ever find :)

Bank of Trust.. in a church.. how appropriate!

Ah, the youth again. There were more this time. Matt actually was supposed to teach the youth class, which was good cause it left Stretch free to help with the big class.

Um… not sure what happened. That’s our little storage shed. See the wheat behind them? Gorgeous!

Ah! The hand puppets! These were a fun craft. Remember the blue one on my previous post? Here are the others. See all the red-heads? Apparently I’m more popular than I realized. Yikes!

1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, we’re going to have a potato-sack race! The kids didn’t quite understand the way they were divided into teams.

This is Lane “Preacher Boy.” He’s a character. He visits sometimes and I have him in Sunday School. He keeps me on my toes. But you gotta love this kid!

Ah! More puppets! See the orange-haired one? Apparently, that’s me also.

A gorgeous ending to a great night!

Yup! It’s that time of year again, when our countless hours of preparation finally pay off! It’s Vacation Bible School time! Now that LifeWay has their ClubVBS line out (I think this is the 2nd or 3rd year for it) we’ve been going with that. Two years ago was Arctic Edge. Last year was Jungle Jaunt. This year, it’s CACTUS CANYON!!

Usually I teach 2 & 3-year-olds, but I’ve hung up that hat, and put on my cowboy hat and my boots. Now, I’m the music leader. Whoohoo! Which means I get to dance and look silly up in front of all the kids, but for those of you who know me, that’s where I feel really comfortable. I’m also taking pictures during VBS so I can put together a slideshow/DVD later. I’ll try to post some highlights through the week.

Saturday afternoon, we had a kick-off party complete with hot dogs (I hate them.. but I ate one.. I was hungry), inflatable jumping castle thing, bubbles, and games. Last night, Sunday, was our first night, and we’ll go through Thursday.

Without further delay.. I present to you.. pictures! I have some videos to.. I’ll try to get them up as well. :)

William is demonstrating one of our two photo ops for kids and their parents. He really had to squat down to get in there.

This is our stage, or as some kids call it, where we have our “upstairs show.” We show the drama video, I lead the singing/dancing and Bro Brad leads the rest of the service. They did a great job decorating!

We have some really creative volunteer decorators who come up with great ideas, although some of the ideas come from the supplied books.

Blazing Trails with the Good News! I helped hang that sign on the wall up high. It was fun!

I love the cat on the saddle! I was told it was a Fur-Real.

Awww!! What a hottie!! My own cowboy!

This is one of the crafts the kids will be making. Guess who that is?!?! Micah, my pastor’s son, made that. I have orange eyes (Stretch’s & Micah’s favorite color). Aren’t I cute?

Ah, yes, me. The cowgirl. The roper. Booyah! Mom & Dad, this pic was taken especially for you.

Last night, Stretch didn’t have a lot of youth show up. Nor did they have a room for them, so they went to the bridge over the creek (the bridge leads to the cemetary) and had their Bible study lesson. After the lesson, the youth all help out with the little kids in crafts, snacks, games, lessons, etc.

And last but not least.. my fav lil’ baby eating her cupcake in an ice cream cone, a favorite of our cooks. I know the pic is blurry, sorry. :)

And now you have it! Day 1, COMPLETE!

We’re home! We got home last night (Mon) at about 7:30pm. Not bad! We did some more shopping (I finally found my boots!) and some eatin! It POURED on us on the way home around Cookeville, TN, but we made it home safely. And like I promised, here are some pics for your enjoyment! :)

This is the gigantic cross we saw driving on our way to Pigeon Forge. It was SOOO huge, but hard to get a picture of. The closer you got, the more it was hidden by the trees. We loved it.

Saturday and Sunday mornings, we had a visitor! Our room faced the pool (we could walk out our door and take two steps and be at the guardrail). This guy apparently only likes morning swims. We never saw him any other time. Stretch saw him taking a few dips in the water. :)

This view never gets old. It was hard to get a decent pic. This was taken Saturday morning, right after it had finished raining, but was still overcast. It was pretty cool (chilly) that morning.

We always stop at the Nike outlet stores for some good deals. Stretch got two pairs of shoes and a jacket, and I got some workout clothes. We did NOT buy these shoes, but we definitely had to take a pic! They look like high-top bowling shoes!

This is part of the drive in Pigeon Forge. Just gorgeous. I absolutely love the views and the mountains!

We saw this shield in two different stores, and I immediately recognized it. It’s Link’s shield from the Legend of Zelda series, more specifically, the Hylian Shield he gains in “Twilight Princess.” VERY COOL.

In this particular store (and I WISH I had gotten a picture of them), we saw Kuroksaki Ichigo’s Zanpaktou sword (released sword, non-Bankai) from “BLEACH,” Squall Lionheart’s Gunblade sword from “Final Fantasy VIII,” and a few others I can’t remember off hand.

Yeah, I was in love. (Roswalyn, I’m so sorry for not getting a pic of Ichigo’s Zanpaktou!!!! I could kick myself!!)

Ah, yes, more ducks. Ducks were EVERYWHERE in the waters.

I told Stretch I wished I had a Superman shirt on.

It was already a small horse, but looks that much smaller next to Stretch.

This was for Roswalyn. She should recognize almost immediately the guy in the blue shirt on the right. We saw him crossing the street and just had to get behind him so I could take some pics. I took three, praying the entire time he wouldn’t notice, since he was literally right in front of me.

For those non-anime junkies, especially Bleachheads, this guy reminds me of Renji from BLEACH. Just needs red-hair.

I think I nearly screamed when I saw him.

Ah, yes, this is the murder mystery show we went to see. This is the stage where the contestants (which included four audience members) competed by singinging. I had a few other pics but they didn’t turn out well, since it was pretty dark.

ME! :) (Wow! Good hair day for once!)

This is Paula Fazoul who gave the most hilarious reviews of the contestants. During the breaks when we were being served food, Paula and Simon (forgot his parody last name), and Niles Jackson (Randy) would walk around and talk to the guests, and we got to ask questions to figure out “whodunnit.”

I took more pics but these are the highlights. I didn’t get to take as many as I had hoped, since we were obviously distracted by so many different things going on.

I hope you enjoy :)