It's Backyard Bible Week!

Our church does not do a traditional VBS program. The church's "motto" (for lack of a better word) is "Neighborhoods, Nations, Next Generation". So, we have Backyard Bible Clubs where people open up their backyards to kids in the neighborhood. So instead of one VBS, we have over 20 all over the county. Since we don't live in a neighborhood, and my backyard resembles a jungle on a bad day, I volunteered to be a Bible teacher. The church has written their own curriculum based on The Lamb which is a kid's version of Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. Can you tell that my church does not do things the ordinary way, and we are blessed with some incredibly talented and creative people? BTW, they write their own curriculum for the kids on Sundays as well complete with activities and Power Point (www.biblelessons4kidz.com ). Anyway, I took my prop box today to a home in Snellville that was actually very close to where I work. Our lesson today was the attributes of God and creation. The club I was at started at 10 am, and at 10, we didn't have any kids. The host said she had gotten some "Oh, that sounds like fun" but no firm RSVP's. Shortly after 10, though, a mom came down with a group of five kids. It looks like some of them were hers and others were cousins or friends. She was Hispanic and spoke very little English. The kids didn't speak a lot of English, but they understood a lot more than they spoke. It took them a little bit of time to warm up, but after about 10 minutes of playing parachute games, they were into it! I scaled the lesson back a little bit for them since there was ALOT to process through in this lesson. We talked about all of the different days of creation, and I had props for each one. Then, they used modeling clay to make their own creation. We talked a little bit about how we need something to make a creation, but God created the world out of nothing! (I don't know if they really caught on.) Then, we played some more games, which they really got into. All in all, it was a lot of fun. It was also really tiring for only an hour and a half.

After Bible Club, I headed back home to take the boys to the pool. I had promised them earlier that I would take them to the pool, so that's where we went this afternoon. Thankfully, it was not very crowded today, and there were no daycares there. (YAY!) Matthew got to play with one of the boys who had been on his baseball team. Not that he told me. The other boy's mom came over and introduced herself (I'm awful with faces!).

When we got home from the pool, I fed a very angry baby, then made supper. We had to hurry through supper, because I was taking the boys to a Bible Club near our house. Why didn't I take them with me, you ask? Well, Nathan especially has a tendency to cling to me when I'm helping out at church in his class, so I thought it would be easier if I went on my own, and they went on their own. Plus, having an hour or so in the evening with just Andrew is a beautiful thing. This evening, we went to the library, and I actually had time to browse the shelves!! Of course, now I have more books than I could ever read, but it was still fun. Plus, the older two got to hang out without me around. Matthew is definitely the more social one, not that that is always a good thing, but it's good for Nathan to get out as well. I've really been spending the summer working with him about kindergarten behavior and what's expected when he goes to kindergarten. Hopefully, it will work. (However, if you do have ideas for stopping screeching! I'd be very appreciative.)

All together, it was a long and tiring day, but they all fell asleep quickly! :)