It's FINALLY here!

Splish! Splash! It's a Bible bash!
Gonna have fun in the Son-God's Son!
The words of the Father are flowing like water
So we oughta ride the wave of God's love!

And so goes the theme song to WaterWorks! Park VBS. We started to ride our first wave of the week last night and learned about God's love finding a way. We heard about Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. We made Red Sea picture frames. We played a Crossing the Sea water game and we learned our theme song and the song for the night-God's Love Finds A Way. And all in all, we had a blast! Everything went off without a hitch (minus me running around with my head spinning) and everyone had fun!

Here is a re-cap of prep and our 1st night in my favorite posting form-Mr. List...

*5-6 hours were spent both Thursday evening and Friday evening prepping for VBS. Thursday was tear down & prep the premises day. Friday was paint and start the foyer day. Our foyer at the church is absolutely HUGE (and echoes very heavily b/c of the tile floor) but is beautiful and worked perfectly for our water park theme. Saturday I spent 16 hours working on VBS stuff and although I couldn't move or think straight or answer any more questions or make any more decisions at the end of the day, I couldn't have asked for a better VBS facility. My volunteers worked tirelessly and put up with my OCD, perfectionist, slightly control freak personality and it all paid off! They are amazing and as you can tell from the descriptions below, deserve all the credit.

*We were able to set up different areas in our gargantuous foyer including 2 waterfalls, a play sand area, locker rentals, a picnic area, a sit & sip cafe, a waterfall including a kiddie pool half full of water, a pictures and prizes area, the tube/raft rentals, and thank you sign.

*Side story: Saturday after finishing the physical labor, a group of us were sitting in the office talking and laughing. After about 30 minutes, our pastor's wife went to check on her youngest child and the children (ages 3 & 4) of a church member who had brought them while he worked on repairing some tile in our foyer. When she came back to the office and posed this question: "Bethany, are we still friends?", I knew something had happened. As I reached the foyer, her 4 year old who is my favorite kid in the entire world, approached me and asked me to hold him. And as I picked him up and felt his wet clothing from the waist down, I knew something was amiss. Come to find out, my little man and his friends had decided to go swimming in the kiddie pool we had at the bottom of the waterfall you see in the pics. After swimming, they played in the sandbox (that is actually an inflatable pool) and just had a grand ol' time. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when there's a pool and sandbox inside the church??? How great is that? All the joys of playing outside without the heat or chance of rain! And so, I laughed. I laughed to keep from crying. I laughed because I was exhausted. I laughed because my brain couldn't fathom what a church full of kids would do to the place if just 3 could make such a mess. But it was SO worth it!

*Sis. Jeri (my VBS saving grace) transformed our senior adult Sunday school room into the Bible Bay complete with a boat & real dock. Absolutely AMAZING!

*The senior high Sunday school classroom became our Splash-Tacular! music & memory verse area in a day thanks to my good friend Dustie who did a wonderful job despite being sick last week. It looks great and the kids have a good space to learn songs & dances as well as play their memory verse games.

*1/2 of the fellowship hall became the Gift & Souvenir Shop thanks to Ash who painted signs and fish for their backdrop. Many kids will be able to let their creative juices flow there as Amanda & Debbie lead them this week. Thankfully, there is enough space for a rousing game of musical chairs when the kids get finished with crafts early. Thanks to the brains behind that idea-I don't know what we would have done w/the extra time otherwise.

*The headquarters for Snack Shack & Raging River just got signs but the real treat is the treats themselves. Bro. Charles & Sis. Alta got very excited about our Moses Parting the Red Sea snacks which were blue jell-o columns laying on either side of a graham cracker w/chocolate frosting & teddy grahams (crossing the sea). They were TOO CUTE and worked so well and the kids (and workers-including myself) enjoyed them as well. We've got cute snacks for the whole week and it works well for games & snacks to occur simultaneously on our schedule. I can't wait to see what Kristy & her crew serve up tonight!

*Angie & Jennifer created our Pre-K (read 3 & 4 year olds) Splash Lagoon from our student ministries center. They set up several different areas for their kids and I pretty much gave them free reign. They have worked VERY hard as the Pre-K curriculum is almost its own mini-VBS. They join the group for snacks and music but other than that they are on their own.

*And the base for this whole operation? Coconut Island which Sis. Jeri again transformed into a cool hangout for our kids. We have a huge waterfall, puppet area, kiddie pool, great sign (thanks to some great men), and prizes laid everywhere for our kids. And the front of the stage is covered in paper to look like a boardwalk. Needless to say, no thanks to me, that Island works GREAT for our opening & closing activities.

I'm posting pictures below so you can experience Water Works! Park for yourselves. I think it turned out FABULOUSLY! Check back later in the week for more updates and fun stories!

*Quote of the day for Sunday's VBS: (straight from the blue mouth of a self-biter) "I think you oughta consider sugar-free for me tomorrow!" Ya think?!?!? I KNOW!

Blessings,
Bethany