VBS 2016 - Cave Quest

Since I am pressed for time and have a lot going on, I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet and hopefully do mostly pictures.  So here we go...

Vacation Bible School was last week at our usual place, Markham Woods Church.  Last year was a bit of a challenge with Brady who basically said every day that he didn't want to go back and finally on the last day, he didn't.  Well, a year makes a big difference.  This time he was willing, had a good time, and even said the singing was his favorite part.  Go figure!  I remember trying to bribe him to go onstage to sing with his group at the Friday night program last year.  No enticing needed this year.  What a relief all around!  The girls totally loved it as usual and when asked what their favorite part is, they always say "All of it!"  I really felt bad walking the halls at the end of it because they have such a good time.  Colby, of course, was my buddy and we spent the three or so hours each morning doing various errands including eating out at Keke's one morning, going to a couple of Goodwills, and a consignment store.  He seemed to enjoy his one on one time (not a surprise!).  Unfortunately for the little bugger, he has an August birthday and will still be too young next year to attend since you have to be four.

We have to leave every morning by 8:15 at the latest to make it with a little extra time on the other end (it starts at 9:00).  Sometimes you run in to your neighbors on the way (they took this picture of us behind them).

Calleigh in her group with Braelyn and Marley (who wasn't originally in it but got switched). 

Aubree was with Evan, Kaleb, two other boys and her new best friend, Eva.  We already knew her but being in the same VBS group turned it into best friend status. 

They both stated that they already had "best, best" friends (Aubree's being Camden and Eva's being Ethan) so they could only be "best" friends.  They even planned to wear their hair the same.

Brady with his leader Amelia.  He had the triplets (Will, Price, and Molley) and another boy, Levi, in his group.

More games.  Brady is in the brown shirt.

The whole group Friday night.  Brady is in the front row.  They are all wearing t-shirts they painted.

Calleigh on the front row as the 3rd and 4th graders performed their song.  

Brady performing in the front with the four and five year olds.

Aubree's leader, Nada. 

Calleigh's leader, Janie Thompson (a fellow Patriots fan!)

The mascot, Bert.  Colby was a little scared of him up close.

One of the "errands" that Colby and I had to run was that we went to the dentist on Tuesday.  You may recall that I posted a few weeks ago about Colby falling and smashing his teeth at the playground.  I thought we had dodged a bullet.  Well...that was premature.  No teeth are about to fall out but his top front left tooth is starting to become discolored. Devastating news for me.  The dentist looked at it and basically said yup, tooth discoloring that occurs two to four weeks after the incident is due to bruising.  The tooth could become even darker or it could lighten.  There is also a 20% chance it could deaden and fall out.  Basically, you just act like nothing happened and periodically check for signs of infection.  So yay, I get to sit here and watch my son's tooth possibly turn black.  It isn't THAT bad yet (I'll have to get a picture) but obviously it could get much worse.  And to think that he won't be losing it for another four years perhaps...

His first dentist appointment.  It wasn't supposed to be until September but life happens.  At least he has no cavities.

Although I'm quite perturbed by all this, I had to keep it in perspective.  It has been a really, really difficult past week in Orlando.  The day before this dentist appointment, the little 2-year old boy got snatched by an alligator at Disney and drowned.  When you have your own 2-year old boy, it is especially difficult to hear.  I just randomly would cry over the few following days of that story.  My heart just aches and aches for them and I can't even really dwell on it.  A black tooth doesn't seem so bad as I hug my little Colby tightly.

Both Sabbath and Sunday mornings I woke up to news alerts on my phone about shootings in clubs in Orlando.  Friday night it was the singer, shot by a crazed fan (we think).  Saturday night, of course, was the deaths of 49 persons shot in a night club.  I never thought I'd be seeing "Orlando Strong" and "Pray for Orlando" but there it is.  When you have little kids, you struggle with what to tell them, if anything.  So far, with these major news events, I've not purposely brought them up, instead waiting to see if they see or hear anything.  Calleigh had a birthday party to attend on Sunday afternoon and as she I drove there, we were listening to the Christian music radio station.  I should have guessed they'd say something and sure enough, they said "Our hearts are broken over last night's tragedy."  Calleigh doesn't miss anything so she quickly asked "What tragedy?"  I explained it as succinetly as I could (leaving out the type of night club).  She took it pretty much in stride which is probably typical for a 9-year old.  It really isn't something they can relate to and it doesn't affect them.  Her only comment was "Well, that's why it isn't good to drink alcohol."  Apparently that was her takeaway from my explanation of the event (I had explained that a club was where people go late at night to dance and drink alcohol.)  When we got to the party, the birthday girl's mother had also been explaining it to the birthday girl and she says to her mom, "Why is murder so popular?"  I can see how it would seem that way.

Incidentally, I wasn't planning on mentioning the boy with the alligator (I don't need them freaking out or something) but Calleigh came home from VBS and says "Marley told me that an alligator ate a baby at Disney."  So that was that.

Danica's ninth birthday.  It has an astronaut theme and they got to decorate their own "helmets."

Complete with space suits!

Pool break 

Danica's mom, Jackie, created this room for the girls to eat their lunch.  Honestly, it was SUPER awesome.  She did such a great job.  The room was almost completely dark but had all this glow in the dark stuff including the plates.

On Thursday after VBS, Calleigh and Braelyn were invited to Marley's house for the afternoon to go swimming.  That gave the opportunity to take the other three to Lucky Monkey which Brady has wanted to do again for a long time.

Potty break.

They spent probably 80% of their time riding these Plasma cars which they didn't have the first time we came to Lucky Monkey.  They cried when they had to leave.  They loved these so much...

Meanwhile, the girls had a great time swimming and looking for bugs.

Allen picked the girls up and they went out for supper on their way home.

A few more pictures.

Box day!  Our new My Father's World curriculum for next school year, came.   

Calleigh teaching Colby how to make a quesadilla.

Jennifer made 550 cookies for the church to pass out for Father's Day.  I went over one evening to help paint the "DAD."  Please note that it was already written and I had to just go over it with a paintbrush.  It was dummy proof!

The girls went over Friday afternoon to bag them and Jennifer was really impressed at how hard they worked and how fast they were.  They did so great.

Bringing Daddy breakfast in bed for Father's Day.  Just some mangos cut up with whipped cream. 

We had brunch at Ron and Elaine's and gave the dads their cards.

The video for Father's Day that we were involved with recording a few weeks ago was shown on Sabbath and there were some snippets of Duncan and the kids.  The whole thing  was really well done.  When I went to look up the link in the church archives, this is the cover picture which was neat!  You can watch the video by clicking HERE and going to about the four minute mark.

This Sabbath's picture.

One little cute thing from the kids this week.

As I was driving back to the church to pick up the kids from VBS, I was switching lanes to get on to I-4.  The car let me in and I put up my hand to wave thanks.

Colby: "Why are you doing that with your hand?"
Me: "Because that car let me switch into their lane."
Colby: "Oh, that was sweet."

No, you're sweet.  Hug them tight!

This world may not seem so great right now....people have lost their lives and others have had their hearts broken.  But remember, we have such a great hope for the future!  I can't wait to go home.  Even so, come Lord Jesus.