Sharing Saturday: VBS and Missions Sunday

We are so blessed to have great camp options in our area.  A "must" for our kids is vacation bible school.  This year the theme was "Pandamania."  This year, they served around 400 kids, 3 of which were mine.  This was J's first year as a real camper and she was thrilled!!  I wanted to help out but I knew that with JJ's schedule, I wouldn't be of much use during the day.  So I asked for some behind-the-scenes kind of work. 

My job was to cut out hundreds of paw prints, medallions, and fish.  The funny thing is that I believe that I only cut out half of the total!  I
showed up to help tape them all up and I was amazed.  The decorations were amazing!!  So many people had really put so much time, thought, and effort into transforming the church into "another land" for these kids.  There was no blank space left.   For making this week so special for our kids, H and I are so thankful. 
*We are also sooo thankful for a dear neighbor who transported our kids to and from so that JJ could nap and I could keep my work schedule. It was more helpful than she'll ever know!

Each day at VBS, the campers brought a certain coin to donate and dollars on the final day.  PT had a great time sorting all of them out so that we could donate.  I think that the camp raised over $2000 to donate to missions/programs.  They also brought in certain food pantry items each day.  Shamefully, we didn't catch on until the last day when we donated canned meat.  We have to deliver some items this week instead. 

On a seperate note, during "Missions Sunday" I bought a shirt where proceeds will benefit the various national and international mission trips that some families and youth are going on.  The slogan is..." I refuse Not to move..."  If you have heard the lyrics to the song "I Refuse" by Josh Wilson, this might make more sense.  The refrain states, "I don't want to live like I don't care...  I don't want to say another empty prayer... Oh, I refuse to sit around and wait for someone else... To do what God has called me to do myself...I could choose not to move...But I refuse."  Check out all of his lyrics here. We hope to participate in a mission some day, yet until then we'll have to provide prayer and financial support.