What happened at VBS-Day 5

Thank you for your patience. We will now resume “What happened at VBS-Day 5: The Final Frontier”

Papa Lions has the best thinking face

Day 5 was filled with enthusiasm as we heard about Daniel’s miraculous salvation from the lion’s den. We heard about how we went from a hero sandwich to a plain old hero. Our theme of the day was that God is with you when you’re thankful. We can pray to God at all times, whether we’re happy or sad; whether we need something or we want to thank God for what we already have!

Babs and Papa Lions were there again to show us what magnificent gifts we have been given by God. Even though we don’t get to hang out with them every morning, well, I do, but that’s beside the point, we can be thankful that we were able to learn from each other. Thank you Babs and Papa Lions for showing us this week that God is with us always, and especially for showing us today that God gives us plenty to be thankful for!

Right before we started the hoop on fire

After meeting up with Babs and Papa Lions we made our way to the royal palace one last time to hear the finale of Daniel’s story. And it was a doozy! After being trapped in a pit with a pride of angry, hungry, sharp-toothed lions, Daniel made it out unscathed! Not even a lion scratch on his luxurious mane, I mean, face! God was with Daniel when he was in need of protection, and when Daniel rejoiced with the king, God was with them then as well!

In games the kids were able to experience for themselves what it is like to be a lion…in a manner of speaking. Have you ever been to the circus? Have you seen the craziness of the lion jumping through a hoop? And then they set the hoop on fire? Ya. We didn’t do that. But there was some pretty intense hula hoop people weaving. Basically the same!

What a gleeful expression on his face

Speaking of lions, of which we spoke a great deal, we made the most darling little lions in crafts today! Now answer me honestly what was your favourite commercial from the 90s? That’s right! The chia pet! We made our very own versions and they were just adorable. And by that I obviously mean ferocious! And about that whole idea of God being with us when we’re thankful…I’m thankful that all that soil and grass seed was confined to the craft area!

Already learning the hip jut

Music served as yet another reminder that God has given us a lot for which we should be thankful. Not only that, he has given us so many different ways to show him how much we are thankful! We can sing, we can dance, we can sign, we can play, we can craft, all of this is using what God has given to us and thanking him for his great mercy towards all of us!

At the end of this somewhat shortened day we had the chance to show our parents all that we had done this week! The kids were amazing as they sang out with all their might did the actions with amazing gusto and even performed “We bow down,” using American Sign Language. It was truly an amazing sight to see.

Best smile ever

As any good Lutheran knows, one simply cannot have a social gathering without a ton of food…and this was no exception! Thank you to everyone who came out and partook of this amazing adventure! We enjoyed spending time with the kids as we learned about Daniel and thoroughly explored his story but we were also really thankful that we had the opportunity to share what we had learned with our family and friends!

Papa Lions, reminding you that God is WITH YOU!

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this week such a huge success! Thank you also to everyone who came out and participated. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone again next year and remember:

God is with who?

WITH YOU!!

What happened at VBS- Day 4

Well friends, today is going to be pretty short because we have been left hanging about what has been happening with our friend Daniel.

We learned that “When you are lonely, God is with you,” and Daniel was a very lonely fella today, and it appears that he wasn’t the only one.

The morning started off with Babs and Papa Lions and poor Babs was just so lonely, you know she doesn’t know many people here in Babylon! Papa Lions was pretty sure that Daniel had some similar issues when he was here too, but couldn’t quite remember all the details so we went to talk to Ash to find out more about this!

Turns out that Daniel was alone in a much scarier way than Babs was. Daniel was all alone in his worship of God…while everyone else was worshiping King Darius, Daniel was worshiping God, even though doing so was punishable by death! Ash told us that Daniel was punished for worshiping God by being thrown into the lions’ den to be eaten alive…and that was where the story ended! I sure hope that God can help poor Daniel!

In music the final touches were put on the song that we will be performing tomorrow. There are 4 songs that our groups have been working really hard to perfect. I gotta tell you, it sounds, and looks, pretty perfect to me!

Now what kind of VBS would we be running if we didn’t include a water games day? We broke out (and broke!) the old slip and slide and everybody had a grand old time getting soaked to the bone! I think that there may have been some damp children’s body prints on the back seats of their parent’s cars!

In crafts we were missing our regular craft lady extraordinaire and instead had to make do with a DPS who has more enthusiasm than crafting ability. In spite of this the children made some Babylawesome necklaces. We can wear these necklaces and be reminded that God is with us, even when we feel all alone!

So that was day 4! Tomorrow is sure to bring an awesome end to our exciting adventure! 

What Happened at VBS- Day 3

And now the hump day presents: What happened at VBS- Day 3!!

That’s right friends, we’re halfway there. Woah-oh, we’re living on a prayer.

Day 3 was awesome. We veered slightly away from Daniel to learn about his friends Shoe-rack, Meat-shack and A-bed-I-go, or as you may know them: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Let me tell you, they have quite the sizzling story. Get it? Cuz they were in the fiery furnace? It’s a good thing there’s an r in furnace, there’s nothing fun about burning.

Our theme for today was “When you’re afraid, God is with you.” Sometimes we have big fears, sometimes we have small fears, but either way, God is with us.

Babs has a fear of bees. Oh boy, if you could have seen her running around like a fool when she thought she saw a bee. She was so afraid! Papa Lions told her that even though she does get scared sometimes, God is always with her, God can use her times of fear to make her stronger, and He promises to do that for everyone!

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had a fear of being burned in the furnace. They were afraid to stand up for their beliefs, but they did and God protected them. He even send an angel to be with them so that they would be safe. It’s quite an amazing tale!

Ashpenaz keeps getting confused about this, “only one God,” thing. Luckily these kids are very good at letting him know that we only believe in one God.

Speaking of being afraid, I had a big time fear walking into crafts today. There was sand everywhere! It’s amazing how one little grain of sand seems like no big deal, but when they all gather together it’s all of a sudden a huge mess! This can happen with our fears too. When we are afraid or nervous about one thing, it doesn’t really seem like a big deal, but when there are a lot of fears, it’s more than we can handle! Putting the sand on the box reminded us that God takes our fears and turns them into something good.

The music continues to be sooooo awesome! These kids are pretty much music pros. Admittedly, I didn’t get to spend as much time actually IN the music station, but I could hear them all the way from my office and it was really something. However, there are no teasers here…you’ll have to come on Friday to actually hear them sing!

And FINALLY we broke out the parachute! It was possibly the windiest day ever, so the parachute was a little crazy, but boy oh boy did those kids make it work! While the leaders couldn’t only produce a lame looking mushroom, the kids created one of the most elaborate games of cat and mouse…talk about your being afraid!

If the first half is any indication, this week is going to end off being amazing! We have had so much fun and everyone here is just amazing! It’s great to know that God is with YOU!!!!

What Happened at VBS- Day 2

And now for our second installment of, “What happened at VBS?”

So after working out the kinks of yesterday we moved on to even more excitement today! Today’s theme was “When you need help, God is with you.” We met up again with Babs and Papa Lions and you gotta feel bad for poor Babs. She’s a gardener who is having a lot of trouble telling poison ivy from a dandelion. Luckily, there was a dandy lion there to remind her that God helps us with all of our problems, big or small, he helps us all!

Ash didn’t feed us any delicious treats today, but he did feed our spiritual needs. He shared with us the story of Daniel and how he was able to do amazing things with God’s help. When King Nebuchadnezzar demanded the impossible, Daniel prayed to God and God helped him to both know and understand Nebuchadnezzar’s dream…ultimately saving Daniel’s life!

Daniel wasn’t the only one who was courageous today…our craft helpers showed a lot of bravery as they broke out the paints, both watercolor and finger, and helped us to make some amazing dream journals. Hopefully the dreams we record aren’t as upsetting as Nebuchadnezzar’s!

Today we were very thankful to have Judy and Norm come in and teach us sign language too! Music time is more than just singing with our voices, it is using our whole selves to give praise to God!

Here in Babylon we don’t like to do things the way people expect. Games today turned into an impromptu spelling test. See if you can tell what our youngest crew is spelling out!

As always, we leave VBS reminded that God is there for us, no matter what! Thank you God for an amazing day and we’re all looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

What Happened at VBS-Day 1

Here’s a new segment in our blog called, “What happened at VBS?”

For those of you who were unfortunate enough to not be involved with the transformation to Babylon you can keep up with all of the shenanigans that we have seen.

Before you start viewing I need to warn you that the activities that you are about to view are incredibly adorable and you may not be awesome enough to handle it. If you are, please feel free to continue!

Our theme for the day was “When things change, God is with you.” No matter how big or small the change, God is always there! There were a lot of people and activities that helped us understand what that really means!

We met Babs A Lawn and Papa Lions, two incredibly awesome characters who are here to guide us through our Babylonian adventure. Babs is a confused gardener and Papa Lions is a reformed man eater and totally tubular surfer bro who is here to tell the story of Belteshezzar, or as you Westerners might call him Daniel.

Ashpenaz helped us to learn more about what it would have been like to be Daniel as he was taken away from his family, friends and the only life that he had ever known. The kids were not very impressed when their names were changed and they had to go through the rest of the day as Nabo or Hehasaseat. The haddaz with the kazzap were pretty delicious though, poor Daniel and his bag of carrots!

We also created a sc-roller that helped us change a boring piece of paper into a brand new message. It reminded us of the changes that Daniel went through in his life and also the awesome change that we go through when we are brought into God’s family.

Speaking of awesome, how good was that music? I know that I sure saw a whole lot of dancing, some enthusiastic singing and even learned a little sign language! The actions and signs are really helpful for a tone-deaf gardener!

And a day of VBS wouldn’t be complete without some crazy running around time at games! Our young Babylonians recreated the hanging gardens beautifully with their chalk interpretations, and there were many smiles and giggles all around! Our older Babylonians had a little too much fun with a rolled up newspaper and a whole menagerie of animals. Bet you wish you were there to see that!

 All in all it was a pretty eventful day here in the Lion Den, I can only imagine the shenanigans that will unfold tomorrow!