VBS 2013

It's been several years since our kids have done a Vacation Bible School, but this year one near us worked out with our schedule and so we went for it!  And the kids really enjoyed it!  The theme was Faith Expedition and we loved the lessons, crafts, singing and play time.  Lukas was in the oldest class, Natalie and Konrad were in the middle class and Dominik was in the youngest class.  It only really worked because Dominik had a place to go, since I needed to be Natalie's aide.  But all four kids did great and really grew, each in different ways, last week.

Here are some pictures from the Friday night performance.  I didn't get many pictures during the week...too busy chasing Natalie everywhere!  It did get easier as the week progressed and Natalie became accustomed to the new routine (and felt better after her eye surgery the previous week).

Dominik definitely grew up this week.  He just turned 3 in May and has never been in day care or a nursery at church, so this was a new experience for me to leave him with people he didn't know at a new location (he's usually fine when we leave him with a sitter at home).  After a very short cry period the first day, he did great!  Each day he didn't really want to go back, but as soon as he was there, he warmed up and did fine.  And he even learned his memory verse for the week!

Here is Dominik with his class, singing and reciting.

Here are Natalie and Konrad performing with their class.  I'm sad we don't have video of this performance, because Konrad really did a stellar job of helping Natalie stay on stage and keep in her place.  I know this is hard for a five-year-old to keep his sister still, without making a scene himself, and he really did great!  I'm so glad Konrad was there, and Konrad really showed us that he is mature enough to help out with Natalie in this way.  Natalie did soooo well...she did the arm motions that some of the other kids were "too cool" to do!  Hey, if it's sign language, Natalie is all over it.

Here is Lukas with his class.  They had such a fun performance, and I was so proud of how Lukas has conquered his former stage fright to participate in a great performance.

This is a video of the last performance, with all three classes on stage.  You see a little of Konrad helping Natalie at the beginning, but then she got into the song and knew what to do.

What a fun week and a fun VBS.  Now it's time to rest...except there is only one month of summer vacation left, so we have to squeeze every bit of play out of it!