VBS Wrap!

It was a LONG but AWESOME week of VBS at church! So thankful for everyone who came out and helped make it possible - so many adults and so many of our youth! 

Here's Parker with the crew of folks he worked with in Bible Discovery having a little fun in between sessions. Parker is on the far right. 

Davis with his small group leader Mr. Mike. 

Me with my elementary small group. 

Ms Faye and Ms Sandi doing experiments on stage. 

Wesley with the praise team up front. 

Thanking Ms Faye for her amazing leadership! The kids also raised over $700 to help kids in Peru get clean drinking water! 

With Miss Kat from youth. She's been helping us out a lot this summer as a babysitter with Wesley and Davis and has been just awesome! 

Davis and his friend Shya! 

Me with one of our littlest VBS kids - love getting to hang out with all of these babies that we've gotten to baptize! 

VBS Fun!

We've been having a lot of fun this week so far at Vacation Bible School!! The whole family is involved in some way. Davis and Wesley are part of the elementary classes (and Wesley is on the praise team during opening and closing). Daryl and I have been serving as elementary crew leaders, leading our own respective small groups of kids around through all the stations. And Parker has been an assistant upstairs with the Bible Discovery group. It's been great to see so many kids from the church and community participate and we are thrilled to serve alongside so many great lay volunteers from the church! 

Family Celebrations

Sunday we went home to Seffner after worship to celebrate Davis' birthday, plus my birthday, Uncle David's birthday and also Father's Day. Davis was thrilled and super excited to get presents before his birthday this year (his actual birthday is July 2). Grandmommy made him an awesome train cake. And all of the grownups lamented the fact that the stack of presents for a 7 year old is much more exciting than the stack of cards a grownup gets for a birthday! 

See the joy on this face?! He was SO thrilled! 

He got lots of great presents including kinetic sand, a plastic bow and arrow set, several sets of legos, a new scooter, a shark blanket, dress up clothes and a new nightlight! 

And then of course Uncle David and I got to celebrate our birthdays - we both asked for banana pudding instead of cake! 

We were thankful to celebrate this guy here too for Father's Day and his dad. Couldn't get a good picture of Grandaddy. But this picture below is the one that Daryl showed up him and his dad during worship in the morning when he preached about him for Father's Day. 

Camp Pickup

We had a great time doing camp pickup this morning. We got to spend it with family and good good friends! Parker had a blast and lost his voice (mostly) again. The cousins were at camp this week too and he and Bethany managed to have all of the same outdoor skills: canoeing, sailing, ultimate frisbee and flag football. 

And I got to spend some time with my bestie! Her oldest Will was Parker's cabin and bunkmate. It was Will's first year of middle school camp and Parker's last. Hard to believe next year he'll qualify for high school camp! 

Parker with the Holdens!

Hanging out Around the Church

Lots has been happening around the church this week. We've had a funeral and attended another one in a nearby town. VBS decorations are going up all over the place in preparation for next week's Vacation Bible School. It's looking super cool and science everywhere. We've got an upstairs hallway of special laboratory doors for doctors....including the Dr. and Beaker from the Muppets and The Doctor (from Dr. Who). 

And yesterday I got to play outside with the youth group for Messy Games 2017. Lots of mess and  lots of crazy silly fun! 

Adventures in Summer

Monday we dropped Parker off at camp for a week of fun! He's sharing a cabin with one of his best friends from Clergy Kids - Will. This is Parker's 5th year of Warren Willis summer camp and his last year of Middle School Camp. 

The dog is seriously lamenting the fact that Parker is gone. Bella keeps staring at us and whining like she can't understand how we lost a human. And it's the human she sleeps with at night. The first night she refused to sleep in Parker's room without him. Last night she decided to take over the whole bed. 

Fun with Friends

In the last two weeks, we've seen friends from all of the churches we've ever served in our ministries. It's been wonderful to reconnect with some folks. This past Sunday the Baughers from Druid Hills joined us for worship and lunch. Debby and her daughters Lindsi and Jami were instrumental in helping us with the process of bringing Davis home and making him feel welcome. It was fun to catch up with them again!