Today is the halfway point for VBS. Overall, it's been really great. Wesley and Ryan seem to do really well with their groups. I see them doing the motions for the songs at opening and closing, sitting nicely and participating during Bible stories and they are bringing crafts home completed, so I know they are doing that too. I think Duane's enjoying it well enough and I love that we doing VBS as a family experience.
I'm having a great time with my preschool kids, but let me tell you, I don't think I'm going to volunteer to do the elementary school age Bible story again next year. It's the incoming fourth graders that are getting to me - and really it's only about 5 kids in that group of 40, but they are driving me up a wall! I really don't need 9 and 10 year old hecklers at Bible school.
Today was the worst with that group. From the moment they walked in, I had one kid who would not stay off the furniture in the part of the room I did not want them on.And I had the kids that would NOT stop talking to his friends and when he did finally stop talking to them, it was only to repeat every word that I said. I finally told him that if he would like to listen to the Bible story from out in the hallway instead of with his group, I could arrange that. Then I had the kid to mimicked every gesture I made during my Bible story time until I tapped him on the head with my script to let him know I was on to him.
And apparently my props were way too tempting. I had the remains of the wall of Jerusalem built out of boxes and paper bricks. During the story, the kids helped me rebuild the wall and I made sure everyone got a chance to help. But do you think that stopped some of the kids from reaching out and trying to touch or knock over the wall, even after I asked them not to? Of course not. I had one kid push me almost to the edge and I finally said, "Look, I've asked you nicely not to do that. It's starting to make me angry and you are starting to hurt my feelings." That worked and I didn't have to speak with him again.
Unfortunately, I did have one kid that pushed me a bit too far a few minutes later. As the groups were lining up to leave the Bible story area, he came up to the wall and kept pretending to punch it. Finally, he looked me in the eye, got an ornery grin on his face and did actually hit it. "Really?" I said. The kid had the nerve to answer, "What? I didn't do it." That was the last straw for me. I asked the boy, "How do you think God feels about you lying to me in His church?" At least the kid had the sense to look embarrassed and uncomfortable and actually apologized to me. I just don't have these kinds of problems with the preschoolers.
After VBS the Webihara family headed to Zoombezi Bay to cool off. Three and a half hours in the water was wonderful. The kids were really good (except when trying to choose their dinner) and I know we all had a great time. I do have one funny story to share though and it even ties into VBS.
There were two large water slides at Zoombezi Bay. Kei wanted to go on this one big slide, so he and Duane got in line for that. Ryan, Sho and I wanted to go on a family water slide that would seat up to five people and we told Wesley he was coming with us. Wesley did not like that idea one little bit. The very thought of going on the water slide really scared him, but Ryan couldn't ride without an adult, so I really needed Wesley to go on it with us. Sho and I tried to put Wesley at ease, but he was having none of that. Finally, it hit me!
"Wesley, all week at Bible school we have been talking about standing strong even when you're afraid. Remember yesterday when we learned that family and friends help us stand strong? Well, you've got your family right here doing this with you. And today we learned that prayer helps us stand strong, so if you are really nervous, you could say a prayer."
Wesley clasped his hands in prayer right there in line and prayed for courage, but when we reached the top and he was still scared, Ryan clapped him on the back and said, "Stand strong, Wesley!"
Wesley got in the raft and took off. He screamed the entire way to the bottom, but as the raft drifted to its landing point, a big smile crept across Wesley's face and he yelled, "I have got to do that again!" So we did.
We closed the park down and headed home wet, tired and thirsty. Not a bad way to end a summers day.
No comments:
Post a Comment