It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: to shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Psalms 92:1-2 (KJV)
This year Parma Heights Baptist Church called it quits for sports camp which ran for 10 years and instead of VBS, had one week for a large ministry to kids in the community called Summer Shake Up which combined some good things from Sports Camp and VBS into something brand new. I took this week for my vacation so I could be a small group leader for 4th graders and had a fun week with the kids, going along through all the activities with them. I took some pictures and some video of some things and made this video.
Our theme of the week was Philippians 1:6:
God began doing a good work in you and will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.
They did five different main activities twice during the week: create, Wacky Science, Obstacle Course, Large Group Games and Nature Alive. It was set up to have something for everyone, not just kids who like sports, but some active things for those who do like to run around. I felt it was a pretty good mix. Most importantly, the kids had fun and enjoyed the week. Everyone who came got caps and a prize bag with several items depending on how many days they came.
The devotions for the week were: God is the Master Builder (sin entered world), Built Right (Nehemiah), Built New--Inside & Out (Zachaeus), Built with Power (Saul/Paul) and Invited Home Forever (John's vision of heaven).
Over $1,000 was brought in for hygiene items the Chain of Love orphanage in Brazil.
I was disappointed on Thursday when I took some video with my Flip camera to find out later that I didn't have it on record so missed some really good shots of our group playing that pirate game. I went over Friday to take some of the younger group, just so I could include it in the video. Our kids really had fun with that one!
I always enjoy spending my vacation helping with Vacation Bible School at Parma Heights Baptist Church because it is so much fun, and so BIG, and so well organized! Once again, we had another fantastic week and kudos to our two summer interns, Ben and Camilla, who helped with so much to make it great for the children. Thanks to them (and the help of the youth group), the church hallways were transformed into what looked like a deep sea aquarium.
Not only did they head up planning all the decorations, but they also took on the job of scientists, conducting amazing experiments in our lab for grades 4-6. We had over 800 children attend through the week and over 180 workers each day. The children brought in $1,780 for the Chain of Love orphanage in Brazil and $1,134 worth of hygiene products for our youth to take with them on their missions trip next week to assist Kids.inc in Indianapolis.
I was especially blessed helping in the fourth grade group by being a small group leader of nine very energetic, enthusiastic and cooperative boys. In our small group time, we help the kids memorize the daily verses, review the Bible story and emphasize personal application. The verses were not the same ones we usually have that so many are already familiar with so I was very pleased that all the boys in my group made an effort to learn them each day. Even new ones who came on Tuesday, also said Monday's verse to help our team stay in first place.
Two highlights for me in our small group time was when one of the boys said he wanted to pray to receive Jesus as his Savior and I was able to pray with him one on one. It is not enough to just know that God loves us and Jesus died in our place to save us from the punishment we deserve for our sins. Each one must accept his gift of eternal life by asking forgiveness, and trusting in Jesus as his/her personal Savior, thanking him for dying for them and be willing to live for him by obeying his word with God's help.
The second highlight was when we applied Psalm 28:7 in our small group by asking the Lord to help us all memorize that verse which is:
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
When I first saw it, I thought the boys won't be able to do it and that's exactly how they felt when they saw it too! (I let them know I felt the same way.) It was unfamiliar to all of us, but the Lord answered our prayer and each one did learn it! After that, the boys were so encouraged and amazed they did it, they were ready to go all the way and learn the last two of the week as well. Some were not used to memorizing verses and were really surprised when they were able to do it!
I think what made this small group so special was the chemistry they had. All were included and as more came the second day, they were welcomed in with our special "green turtle chest bump" greeting that the boys came up with on their own. I encouraged this and they definitely wanted to help each other succeed in memorizing the verses. It was great to see them helping and encouraging each other.
The over 8,000 homemade cookies were a wonderful treat! It's nice having so many people in our church who actually like to bake and cook!
Praise be to God for a great week! It was a LOT easier than sports camp and much less draining! My husband enjoyed helping in the 4s and 5s group where they had around 100 kids, but said the songs got on his nerves after the second day. (He is sitting on the floor in front of the camera on the puppet pic in the video.)
Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post to give Mrs. 4444 a break for the summer. Here we go:
Most Frustrating
The most frustrating thing this week was when I went to change my blog color. It showed the changes in the preview but would not save it! GRRRR! I tried saving it four times and it never worked! What's up with that?
Vacation
Last week we were on vacation so I didn't do as much blogging as usual and missed doing Friday Fragments for the first time in ages. In spite of Gerard's hernia operation on Thursday and four other doctor appointments between us, we still had a good time together enjoying our club seats at the Indians game on Monday, walking Abby at West Creek Reservation, going to both the Akron zoo and the Cleveland zoo, and watching TV together (OSU football, Indians, Red Sox, Browns and Patriots).
New Bible Study
I started a new Beth Moore Bible study last week, "David, Seeking a Heart Like His" and am really enjoying it! In my Sunday Sharing post this week, I'll share some things that I learned from it so far.
Sports
We are happy! The Patriots and Browns are both in first place! The Patriots won 2 so far (the only team who has) and the Browns are tie for first in their division even though they lost to Miami last week.
We are still hoping the Indians make the playoffs and are pretty sure the Red Sox will be in it.
We visited the Akron zoo on our vacation last week and couldn't help comparing it to the Cleveland zoo. We had a nice time and it was a gorgeous day, very comfortable! The first difference we noticed between the two was that we had to pay $2 for parking; the Cleveland zoo is free parking.
Most of the Akron zoo exhibits have glass so it's harder to get good pictures of the animals than at the Cleveland zoo. The animal of the day was the sloth bear who stood on its hind legs right in front of us face-to-face with only the glass separating us. I couldn't get a picture because it happened so fast and then the bear went back inside. It just came out to greet us, I guess.
Small Penguins
Peek-a-boo
The penguin exhibit was the first one as you come in. Although there was glass all along the front of it, we were able to climb some steps up to a platform so was able to get a nice picture of them from above.
The penguins and the Red Panda were a couple animals I was able to get, but the red panda was pretty much hidden in the leaves. It was a very bright day too so was hard to see what we were shooting.
The Akron zoo is not as big as the Cleveland zoo and many exhibits are grouped close together so it doesn't take as long to see everything. There is a lot more shade at the Akron zoo but the concession stands were closed when we went. There was only one building that had a cafeteria which was open. The landscaping at both zoos is very nice.
otter exhibit
One of the things I like most about the Akron zoo is all the interactive attractions they have for young children which are spread out all through the zoo. There is a carousel with carved animals, a scale that is big enough for a group to get on to see if they can weigh as much as some of the animals, there was a frontier town for children to just play in, but my favorite was the tube slide going through the otter exhibit. The Cleveland zoo also had a lot of fun things for the children so I would say they tie on this issue.
Grizzly Ridge
Grizzly Ridge was a newer area and I loved the big wood carving of the bear at the entrance to this area! The two grizzly bears there were from our Cleveland zoo and I must say, they looked happier at our zoo, but perhaps because they were just cubs then and had two others to play with as well.
Lehner Family zoo gardens
It was different for us going to the zoo where we didn't know where everything was! Way at the opposite end from the entrance was a beautiful garden. Both Gerard and I like gardens so we wanted to make sure we saw it. Here are a couple photos I took of it.
Lehner Family Zoo Gardens
We recommend visiting a zoo!
The only animals the Akron zoo has that the Cleveland zoo doesn't are the penguins and the Alpaca. The Cleveland zoo has many more animals. The Rainforest alone takes an hour to go through if you actually take time to look at everything. We like our Cleveland zoo better, but had a wonderful time and didn't get lost!
My scripture highlight this week is from II Peter 1:5-7 from the Children's International Bible which says:
Because you have these blessings, you should try as much as you can to add these things to your lives: to your FAITH, add GOODNESS; and to your goodness, add KNOWLEDGE; and to your knowledge, add SELF-CONTROL; and to your self-control, add the ABILITY TO HOLD ON; and to your ability to hold on, add SERVICE FOR GOD; and to your service for God, add KINDNESS FOR YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST; and to this kindness, add LOVE. If all these things are in you and are growing, they will help you never to be useless. They all help your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ make your lives better.
Oh, I had such a fun busy week when on vacation doing Sports Camp Monday through Thursday, coaching basketball in the morning, assisting soccer coaches (who I had in my Sunday School class when they were 5th graders) in the afternoon and helping set up for the family picnic on Thursday evening! I was able to incorporate all of the above things mentioned in this scripture passage and definitely did not feel useless, just a bit old. I was having such a good time and was so busy that I only got a few pictures, but thought you might enjoy seeing some of what my vacation looked like.
We as a church put on this sports camp free of charge to show God's love
to our community and get the opportunity to share the Good News about
Jesus with them. Many would never come into our church otherwise. The
final program this year were two jugglers and all the kids there who
attended through the week received four juggling balls. This year we had more kids than ever before and both morning and afternoon sessions were filled to capacity in all the sports!
I didn't get to visit many blogs this week, but it was kind of nice being outdoors and enjoying seeing people face-to-face for a change. I sure hate to see my vacation come to an end.
