Field Notes #28: Planet, Planet, STAR!

I know I should be in bed, but here's my brief update on day 2 of VBS. We gained a few more kids, so today was a little crazy at times--thank goodness for our awesome volunteers! The Bible story for the day was the woman at the well (John 4:1-42). I got to sit in on one of the storytelling sessions, and it was pretty cool.

I had planned to use 2 of the games outlined for the day, but since the weather was sort of touch-and-go, I tabled the one that had to be outside and modified the other to make life simpler. We also played a modification of "Duck, Duck, Goose"--we played "Planet, Planet, Star." That was hysterical with the littlest ones, most of which either didn't get it or didn't want to play or just wanted to go to the playground (which we did, eventually). But it was fun. The kids are really sweet, and hopefully they're learning something.

The other fun part for me was that my boyfriend, Gary, is in town visiting. He's great with teenagers, but little kids make him nervous, so I was concerned he wouldn't enjoy helping out with VBS (though he agreed to be there, of course). But when he got asked to be the puppeteer and voice for the mad scientist, he not only went along with it, he supplied a voice that left me (also crouched behind the altar rail, playing the part of the gorilla Galileo) struggling not to laugh out loud. A few of the kids are starting to figure out the puppet trick, though one of my favorite quotes from yesterday was in reference to Galileo: "And he's REAL!!!" I love kids.

A few images from today:

Commander Val setting the stage for the day's Bible story.

Looks like Alix tagged Faith in "Planet, Planet, Star."