This year's VBS held a lot of familiar things for me. I love the atmosphere of it. The kids, the crowds, the music...the chaos, the energy, the uniqueness...the stress, the work, and the reward. But this year God had a little surprise thrown in to the normal mix.
It was a different week because it's been my first as a staff member and not a volunteer. I wasn't spending the week being wonderfully smothered by children, but doing a lot of work and overseeing a lot of happenings. It's been something I knew came with the territory of my job and something I've been handling pretty well.
I was excited mid-week when we took the upcoming fifth graders (who will no longer be in our ministry after August) to Lanes, Trains and Automobiles. I was happily surprised to see that I was able to go and that a lot of my small group was going to be there. (Read more about them here). We all hopped on the bus and headed out.
It was nice to sit back and let them lead things for the afternoon. We went from laser tag, to bumper cars and then to bowling...which as you can see, was pretty interesting. But I didn't mind.
Our sweet little bowling game with 'normal' names shortly became this:
Not sure why mine never got changed. Hmm.
All in all we had a wonderful afternoon together, but I was exhausted.
On Friday, I was hit with another surprise: graduation. I knew it was coming, but I guess God held my heart captive until He couldn't any longer. Because they're going into the youth next fall they spent their time at VBS with the youth. I knew they had a silly little graduation for them at the end of the week, but Friday morning my work load had decreased significantly and I saw people preparing them for graduation. I heard someone speak the words, "you are moving on from the children's ministry...", and my heart sank. In a moment I was overwhelmed with emotion, realizing what was happening. I tried to compose myself and get ready to be in there to support my girls...
But that's the thing. They are my girls. They've become my girls. I sat and wondered why I got so emotional, but that's why. God smacked my heart with this realization and I almost couldn't handle it. I made my way to the chapel and found a spot between my fellow mothers and my aunt.
One by one, their names were called and with tears rolling down my cheeks and my iPhone snapping picture after picture I screamed to the top of my lungs with pride for each and every single girl, dressed in their trash bag gown and paper plate hat.
Just to give you an idea of how many pictures I took...
After it was over I found each and every one and took a picture with them. I am still in the process of letting God work on my heart and being able to trust him with what happens with our group and their lives individually. In that moment I was worried, but God showed me that He's got every single one of them wrapped up in His arms...right along with me. He gave me some peace and excitement of what's to come and I settled in enjoying the time God gives us together, whether it's a few more months or years to come.
Because for now, there's still this gorgeous picture every single Sunday...
and I love, cherish, and adore every minute of it.
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