VBS Day 3

VBS continues to go well. We had 46 tonight! I forgot to mention last night our theme is "The Mystery of Christ". It's from Little Acorn Kids. It just so happens that Shawn and I went to OC with one of the founders and writers. Anyway the nightly themes have been Jesus' birth, feeding the 5000, Jesus death and resurrection, and tomorrow will be about the great commission. Each night we explore why Jesus would do the things he did, like humble himself, have compassion on others, and put others first. Tomorrow night we'll solve the mystery and discover that it's so we'll tell our friends about Jesus and the great things he's done.
Here are some pictures from our third evening.

For tonight's snack the kids put 1/2 a marshmallow between two biscuits and baked it. When they were done the biscuit was empty just like the tomb where Jesus was laid.

Sealing their marshmallows inside the biscuits

Slader is a complete teenager. He has to "stay connected" even during VBS! What a silly kid.

Rollin' their gospel chariots all the way to heaven. AMEN!

Rolling away the stone that covered the tomb. They had a blast with this game.

Then they used this crawling tube and smaller "stones". Most of the kids liked this. Justus wasn't too sure about it though.

building a strong house for God

making a paper plate tomb

Isaac has his own class to attend during VBS. It's a small group because it's just for the babies of our church members. He's been having a great time, and his teachers say he's just so happy in class. But if he sees me he starts crying, so I took this picture through the classroom window from outside. He was having a great time knocking around the animals that were getting on Noah's ark.

Our sweet Miss Bea returned home to Juneau yesterday. It's been just over a week since she'd had her hands on Isaac and it was too long for this church grandma.

VBS Day 1 and 2

This week we're having Vacation Bible School with our church family, and yours truly is the coordinator. (So that's one reason why I haven't blogged much lately. The other is that Shawn's brother has been with us for the past week and a half and has been staying in our computer room.)
Anyway, VBS is going great. We've got an army of fantastic volunteers who are doing a great job of making things fun while keeping everything under control. We had a good start on Monday night with 32 kids. Tonight our numbers increased to 48! That is great because we were expecting around 40 at the most. And we're having lots of visitors. The kids (and even the adults) all seem to be having fun and learning about Jesus--which is the whole point of VBS. So I'd say it's a success thus far.
Here are some pictures I've taken from the past two nights.

Raisin' the roof? Nah, we're just rising and shining and giving God the glory! Which I guess is sort of raisin' the roof for Jesus.

DAY 2

Everybody loves the puppet shows, and the girls are doing a great job.

Practicing the memory verse. No cheating!

All eyes on Miss Jody

"Now stand right here and throw the bean bag, Carly."

Or just walk right up to it--whatever works.

A Mighty Catch

Sorry to keep some of you anxiously awaiting the mighty fisherman report. I assumed Shawn would jump on to post about his trip, but before we knew it, he was back to work. And things have just been a little busy here lately.
So here's the scoop. Shawn's brother, Lee, is here with us and this past weekend they went fishing in Tenakee Hot Springs with two other police officers. They were quite successful. Shawn caught a few 45-50 lbs halibut, the other two guys caught a few halibut similar to Shawn, but Lee took home the trophy for most ridiculously large halibut. His monster weighed in at 300 lbs.!!!!
So after dividing up the meat between 3 households, it still took the three of us just over 2 hours to wrap all the meat--including children distractions. We have a lot of halibut meat, people! So if you've got any good recipes to pass along, we'd love to try them. And you can be sure that if you come visit us in the next year, that we'll cook some up for you.

Heaven's New Resident

Today we said goodbye to a wonderful Christian lady, Angie Long. Miss Angie as most everyone called her, was such an example to me. Even though I was only able to know her for about four years, it felt like so much longer. That's probably due to growing up with her sister-in-law, Carley Long, as my church grandma. Those two ladies are so much a like that I instantly felt a connection to Angie like I had always known her.

Today was really a glorious day for Angie. Her pain stopped and I truly believe that her faithful life was rewarded. But still I was really sad to hear that Angie had passed today, mostly because I wish my children could have known her better. I know they won't have much of a memory of her, but I will have some memories of her with them.

I don't think I will soon forget the way Angie's face lit up a few weeks ago when she saw Carly on a Sunday morning. A few days earlier, Carly had the idea to write a letter to Miss Angie. She drew a picture, I dictated some words and addressed the envelope, and Carly put the stamp on it and stuck in the box. By Sunday Angie had already received the letter and she was so happy to see Carly. She told her how happy she was when she read it and how nice it was of Carly. Carly definitely felt good about that. She told me later with a smile on her face, that Angie liked her letter. In fact, on Saturday she wrote Miss Angie another letter and said, "I miss you. I hope you can come home to Juneau soon." Angie is definitely home, unfortunately it's not with us right now.

I will also remember the image that I posted above. That's Angie holding Isaac on his first Sunday at church. Her face was so bright when she saw our new baby boy. And without her saying a word, I knew she was full of happiness for us.

And almost every time Carly pulls up a chair next to me to help me cook in the kitchen, I think of Angie. One time, I told her that Carly likes to help me cook in the kitchen, and she encouraged me to be as positive as I can whenever she wants to help. To give her tasks to do when we're cooking and encourage her to enjoy cooking and helping. Until Angie told me that, I had never thought of it like that. I'm so glad she shared that with me.

Angie will be missed here by many people. Please pray for her family and friends as they grieve. She was an amazing woman with such a strong faith and a warm heart. And she's the type of woman that I hope to become one day.

Under the Table

Tonight I caught Isaac in a pose that sparked my memory. I remembered Carly doing something similar, so I grabbed the camera (the wimpy one--Shawn has our good one on his fishing trip--so sorry the brightness and color aren't the best) and took a few quick shots of him playing under the table. He just learned last week how to pull himself up to a standing position, and the gimp crawl is still the popular mode of transportation--other than being carried where ever he wants in Mom's arms.

This was Carly under the table, but she was a bit older than I remembered. She was 14 months old and Isaac is just under 10 months. Notice she's standing much more confidently. She was already walking by this point.
So for a little more perspective, this was Carly at 9 months. She was smaller and had more hair. And it just so happens that Isaac was wearing this OC tee shirt yesterday. (It was Carly's baby gift from Uncle Eric H.)
Carly again at 9 months--boy we sure didn't have very many toys with just one kid. Now we're drowning in things to entertain our children. But the ring stack toy is a favorite of both of our kids at this age. I just love those good ol' fashion toys that are often fun for just about everyone.
Check back tomorrow for a mighty fisherman post. (Hint, I think my freezer's gonna get fuller.)