Vacation Bible School

Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church.  Every year, for the past 6 years, I have volunteered in some capacity for the week.  Previously it has always been in the preschool ministry, as that is where my children have been, however this year I made the jump, along with my boys, into the Children's ministry to help.  What a difference!

In the preschool ministry, you have little ones, all week, self contained in YOUR classroom for the entire program and you are ultimately responsible for all the activities, from crafts, snacks, bible lessons, potty breaks, etc...  By mid week everyone is pretty much EXHAUSTED and pulling up their bootstraps to complete the week, and complete it strong!

This year I was asked to be the Crafts Rotation Leader in the Children's division.  Once kids "graduate" into the children's ministry VBS becomes an entirely different program.  The kids rotate throughout the day to different areas with different leaders at each station.  My station was crafts.  It was a mad house at times, doing close to 5000 crafts by the end of the week, but it was nice b/c we had each different grade level coming in at different times and got to see a wide variety of children...and then send them off to the next rotation station.

Everyone in my group seemed to enjoy the week.  There were times that we had to get creative with our crafts.  I wasn't the one that picked out what crafts we were doing...I was just in charge to make sure they got done.  There was one particular craft that had like a 4 part gluing process that just was not feasible given the amount of time each rotation had there.  We had to refocus on what our primary goal was while we were there serving in crafts and realize that the kids need to see Jesus thru us and with the right attitude we can roll with this.  We modified the craft as we went on thru the day, got thru with it, survived and rejoiced when it was complete! :)

One particular helper that I had this year with me was Ethan.  He REALLY wanted to help me in crafts this year.  In the past he has begged and pleaded to stay with me and I have shunned this and strictly encouraged him to be with his classmates where he is "supposed" to be.  Ashton on the other hand...no desire to stay in crafts helping me...he WANTS to be where the action is with his classmates.  Prior to last week I still wasn't sure what I was going to do about letting Ethan stay along with me.  Last year, even though Ethan had a teacher that is a dear friend of mine, he still complained of a tummy ache and dreaded going each morning.  Ethan is highly sensitive to loud noises, and I have heard the octave levels it gets in the Worship Center, so I imagine in his little mind it is very unsettling.

One of the most popular misconceptions of homeschoolers is their lack of socialization.  While I think this couldn't be further from the truth, the thought of Ethan not wanting to go be amongst his peers for this week made me think "will others see this as just another sign that socialization problems are accurate?"  Well....seeing Ethan in action this week would put that statement to bed for good.

Ethan was in his element... he was by far NOT some wall flower, or unsocialized child hiding in the corner!  He EAGERLY greeted everyone who came in the door with a smile and "welcome to crafts!"  He would walk around mingling with each different grade level that came in.  He wanted to show several tables how the craft was to be done.  He would see me giving the cues that we had "five more minutes" and want to inform everyone on his side of the room as well.  In the morning during prayer time amongst my team whenever I asked for questions he would eagerly raise his hand wanting to make sure he knew just what was to be expected for that days craft so he would be prepared for the upcoming classes!  He most definitely got some chuckles from the other craft team over his zeal and determined leadership he was striving for.  

What this week taught me more than anything about my children is that I need to be looking for these opportunities to allow my children to bloom.  This week Ethan was able to really shine in his strengths.  I shouldn't look at it as a "weakness" that he does not want to be a part of the "pack" of 1st graders and go with the flow.  He desired to be a helper, a true helper.  There will be plenty of occasions where he will be amongst his peers, and this week really showed me that just because he doesn't desire to be with them for VBS doesn't mean that he lacks socialization, or that he fears being away from Mommy...what it showed me is the potential leader that Ethan will grow into one day as a man.