Taking Some Time to Relax

Whew! This summer is going by WAY TOO FAST.  I can’t believe that I will be moving back to school in just a few weeks.  I’ve been making my lists of what I need to accomplish before returning to school, while also looking back on the summer to see what all I have done.

This summer has been one in which my to-do list seems to never end. I have always been the kind of person who can’t just sit by and relax when I know that I have things that need done.  (It is the main reason why my homework is always done pretty far in advance.)  Well this summer I have had plenty to do with Vacation Bible School.  Usually I would accomplish a lot of these tasks on the weekend or a little throughout each week night, but this summer my schedule has been a little different.  When you are student teaching you are not supposed to have a job, and knowing this, I decided that this summer I needed to focus on putting some extra money away to have during that time.  So, this summer I decided to baby-sit during the days and work concessions during the weeknights and weekends.  Not only did I get to work concessions throughout the entire season, but when it ended I was offered a job working concessions for another league in town.  I have been very blessed with opportunities to bring in some extra money this summer, but have also had to put off some personal projects until I had more time.   

Today, my preparation and planning finally came in handy.  I was at the point where I had done about everything I could for VBS…so I decided to take a BREAK.  I got a mani/pedi,  shopped for some back to school items, played Wii with my brother, and did a lot of crafting.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish this summer was to learn how to cut vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo.  After working concessions one night this week, I decided it was time to stop putting it off and to just give it a try.  I had a project I wanted to do for VBS that required vinyl so I gave it a whirl.  I spent way too long trying to figure it out…but when I finally did I was so happy with how the project turned out.  So happy, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture. Oops.

Well when I found myself with some free time this evening I decided it was time to do some more projects with vinyl.  My first project was making a t-shirt for Vacation Bible School (okay, so maybe I didn’t completely take a break from VBS today).  I can't wait to wear this shirt to VBS this week!

After making the shirt, I decorated a clipboard with some chevron inspiration.  Of course, I had to include my teacher name on it. :)

After completing a couple of projects with vinyl I decided to monogram some of my thirty-one bags.  I wasn’t sure how well it would work…but I couldn’t be happier with the turnout!

It was a wonderful day to just catch up on some projects I had been putting off.  I hope to have some time to complete a few more later on this summer...but somehow I have a feeling that these next few weeks are going to be gone before I know it.  So for now, I am just going to savor the time I have left. After all, when summer ends it just means I will be starting the next adventure in my life....student teaching!!!

Custom Garage VBS

Summer always begins with big plans and goals.  The summer bucket lists are made and anticipation is always at a high.  Though my intentions are always the best, somehow summer always goes by so quickly.  Some of my plans work out, others definitely do not.  But one of my favorite parts of the summer is leading Vacation Bible School….and this is something that always works out. 

Now, I am a planner…we’ve established this a million times.  As soon as school ends I am ready to begin the planning.  I like to accomplish things as soon and as quickly as possible, so you better believe that any task that I can complete early on is done right away in the summer.  This usually means that we pick out a theme and go on to complete some of the early tasks (finding leaders, thinking through our general plan, etc.). Then we get to a point where we have to wait a little bit longer because we can’t make any more preparations until closer to time.  We wait until the Fourth of July rolls around and we go into planning overload once again to prepare for the parade.  We come up with a design, make shopping trips (always a favorite part), and of course build the float.  We work hard to ensure that the parade is a success and breathe a sigh of relief when we have accomplished another year of building a float.  BUT, then comes the really fun part.  Once the parade is over we have this moment where we realize that we are less than four weeks away from VBS.  This is probably my favorite part of the planning.  We can finally put all of our ideas and planning into action.  Details are set, meetings come and go, and I make more lists than the average person probably should.

As you remember from my post about the parade, our theme this year is Custom Garage.  I was a little hesitant about this theme at first…I mean it is all about cars which is definitely more of a boy’s theme…but I am absolutely in love with the theme and the many opportunities it opens up to spread God’s love.  We have some amazing workers who have prepared interactive Bible stories, memory verse games, delicious snacks (with a car theme of course!), water games, and some cool dance moves.  Do mechanics dance?!?!  Well…now they do.  We have a couple of cool guests lined up for the week and are planning to give out some prizes each night (if we find some prizes...).  I can’t tell you how excited I am about this year’s VBS! I feel very blessed that my church allows me the opportunity to be a leader for Vacation Bible School, and I feel even more blessed that God gives me a talent and then allows me opportunities to use that talent to serve Him.  Are you excited about VBS yet??? Well just to make sure you are…here are some pictures to preview some of what will go on during this year’s Vacation Bible School.  

We will be giving the children nametags to wear each night.  We designed them to be a Driver's License to fit the theme for this year. I'm hoping the kids will like them...I mean what kid doesn't want to be able to drive, right?!  And of course they are color coded for the different age groups.

I also made some signs that will be used throughout the week.  The one of the left is to help the different groups know where to sit during the opening program.  The picture on the right is an example of the signs that will be used to tell where the various activities will take place.

  There are a couple other projects I’ve been working on and some others I’m hoping to get in before it starts...in just a little over a week.  But before I go…let me give away one more secret (that is probably not such a secret after this many years). This is a picture of what one of our guests will entail...

Any guesses? ;)

Serving the Least of These

Lately I have been working on Vacation Bible School projects and spending time with the little cuties, which has been time consuming, but doesn’t necessarily entail a lot of stories to share.  Which, works out perfectly since there has been something on my mind lately that I thought would be beneficial to share. 

I’ve posted about my time at Shepherd Community Center before, and how I was able to learn more about poverty while on the mission trip.  We spent a couple of hours each day learning about the lifestyle, the reasons behind it, the thought process, and so much more that I hadn’t really considered before taking the class.  While it was extremely informational, it was one of those things where once I was home it was hard to feel like I was making much of a difference.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was more aware.  I no longer felt like it was acceptable to say, “I can’t afford to buy a new purse because I’m broke.”...because after learning more about poverty, I was reminded that I am definitely not broke.  I’m a college student who obviously has loans to pay off, but that is just it, I am a college student who has the opportunity to receive a degree in order to pursue my passion.  So, while I was thinking more about the words I said and trying to be more thankful for the many gifts that I was given, I also didn’t really feel like I was able to make as much of a difference at home.

Then, a couple of weeks ago I was watching an episode of What Would You Do? With my family.  You can find the clip here.  It is kind of long, but if you have the time I urge you to take a second and watch it.  (By the way, I do not approve of some of the language used, but I think that the overall message is great enough to still share the video.)  They did a segment on a homeless man who was given money to eat in a restaurant.  The show then taped the actions of the customers in the restaurant.  As I watched this show I found that once again all of these facts about poverty were swirling around in my head.  I found myself confronted once again with this deep sorrow for those who find themselves in poverty.  Not to mention, the sorrow I felt after watching some of the ways the homeless man was treated on the show.  I could never imagine human beings who were so rude and self-centered, and yet it made me look at my own actions. 

Now, the Lord definitely knows what He is doing when it comes to the timing of things, because just a couple of days later I was driving around town doing some shopping with a friend when I saw a man who was homeless.  Now, typically when this happens it seems that someone in the car will say “Oh I feel so bad for him.”  and we keep on going.  Or maybe we sometimes even look away because it is just too hard to see a person just like us who is struggling to survive.  Then there are other times when I have been with people and we have stopped to pick up a meal for them.  I am so lucky to have had this example in my life, as I instantly knew what I should do when I was the one driving in this situation.  All of the training I received in Indy, the television show, and most importantly God’s call to serve others and to serve Him, as in Matthew 25:34-40, were ever present on my mind.  So without even stopping to think about it, my friend and I pulled over at the nearest Wendy’s, bought the man a meal and watched his face light up as we handed him his food.

Then a few more days later I saw another man as I was on my way to the Cub’s game.  Once again I was given an opportunity to help the man out and was overcome with sadness as the man started crying and thanking us profusely. 

You see, I am not sharing this story because after these events I want others to know of the help I was able to give.  In fact, that is the farthest from the truth.  I probably would not be even sharing this story if it weren’t something that was placed on my heart. I am not filled with pride over the actions of giving.  Instead, I am overflowing with joy at how blessed I have been.  The Lord gave me opportunities to serve Him, and out of that came a joy that can only come from Christ.  He allowed me to see that small changes can help, and that even in my own backyard (or my own town) I can make a difference.  I am blessed to have opportunities to share His love and kindness with others.  Quite frankly, I do not deserve anything I have been given in this life. How blessed we all are to have a Father who loves us and gives us more than we could have ever deserved.

The Summer of Movies

I rarely go to the movies.  Too often it is just too much money, or there is never a movie that my friends and I can all agree on.  This summer, however, it seems like there have been plenty of opportunities to enjoy some time at the movies.

A neighboring town has a theater that hosts Dollar Deal movies.  Each week they choose a different movie that they play each day.  It only costs $1 for a ticket…the perfect price for a babysitter who can’t help but spoil the little ones. I took the girls and their friend to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  They loved the movie and I loved watching them laugh and react to the different scenes. 

 

Well, it just so happened that the same week that I took them to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid was when Despicable Me 2 came out.  Now, I have a confession.  When the first Despicable Me came out on DVD. I may have watched it a million times as a freshman in college.  I watched it enough times that I am pretty sure my entire dorm floor thought I was crazy.   When I heard that they were coming out with a Despicable Me 2 I was a little LOT excited.  I told the kids that I would take them as long as their parents didn’t mind…and lucky for me we were able to see the movie on its opening day.  I am fairly certain that I was more excited to see the movie than the kids. (Sorry the pictures are such horrible quality.  Camera phone + dim lighting = nasty pictures)

 

I LOVED Despicable Me 2…so much in fact, that I went to see it again with my friend Kayla.  We went to the drive-in (we visit that place way to often in the summer) to see the movie and this time we went to the drive-in in style.  We took my parents’ van and spread out some pillows and blankets.  We were so comfy in fact, that I may have almost fallen asleep during the movie.  We got to the movie extremely early to make sure we got in and got a good spot, so we killed some time by playing our favorite card game.  By the way, do you remember my previous post where I mentioned that the drive-in was closing?  Well, I was extremely excited when I heard that the drive- in had found a way to stay open.  I have already been three times this summer and I anticipate several more in the future. 

What movies have you been to see or are you looking forward to see in the future? Let me know!

 

Fourth of July...5 days late

Happy Fourth of July!

I may be a few days late for this, but that is simply because I just get so wrapped up in this holiday.  I absolutely LOVE everything about this day and the festivities it involves.  I love the fireworks, the BBQ we have with family and friends, the parade, and of course the fireworks (it is absolutely necessary to mention that one twice)! 

Since I am late in sharing the details of my Fourth of July, I will make this post short and sweet.  In our town we had our evening festivities on July 3^rd, so once I got off work I drove out to the site and joined some friends and family for a cookout and an evening of some lovely fireworks.  The three cuties I am blessed to watch stopped by and watched the fireworks with me.  I absolutely LOVE fireworks, but it was even more fun to be able to hear the kids ooh and ahh at the shapes in the sky and the beautiful colors.

 

 

The next day was the parade…perhaps one of my favorite parts of the Fourth of July (oh who am I kidding….all of it is my favorite!).  For a few years now my friend and I have been heading up the Vacation Bible School at my church.  It is such an incredible opportunity and I feel so blessed to be able to serve in this way…but I digress.  We create a float to be in the parade each year to help advertise for the VBS.  This year our VBS is Custom Garage.  The men in our church went crazy when it came to the decroations for the float.  They were all into this “manly” theme and helped us to create one FABULOUS float for the parade.  It was, in my opinion, the best VBS float we have ever built.  On the day of the parade we woke up early to get organized, get the kids dressed who would be riding the float, and take care of some last minute details that came up.  While waiting for the parade to start, we were handed a trophy and told that we won first place!  It was absolutely incredible!  We received several compliments for the float, which was amazing. BUT, most importantly, I hope that it was a tool to share the word for Vacation Bible School.  I want as many people as possible to be able to attend VBS and learn about God’s amazing love. 

To end the Fourth of July festivities my family, and best friend Kayla, went to the fireworks in a neighboring town.  The firework display they put on was incredible!  We were pretty tired from the day’s events, so while we waited for the fireworks to start we played some card games and just relaxed.  I tried to get a decent picture with my brother…but he was being a little stubborn. ;)

 

I hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July as much as I did.  I am so grateful for the freedom that we have in this country and all of those who fought to make that freedom possible.