Youth Sunday!

Today was Youth Sunday at Northside and it went very very well for my first one ever. We opened with a skit titled, "The Backpack". I had a boy and a girl do this skit. (I don't ever mention names of my kids for security purposes, if you haven't noticed yet.) The whole thing was silent. The girl came upon a backpack sitting in the middle of the floor. She kinda poked and peered at it with curiosity for a while. She lightly kicked it, then dropped it. Then, the boy, dressed as Jesus, came along, picked it up, slung it around his shoulder showing the word SIN, and walked her out. It turned out pretty cute! They did great! Then, I welcomed everyone, professed my love for Tobymac (as a joke because I enjoy making people laugh), and led the girls in a special. One of my girls sang Amazing Grace My Chains Are Gone by Chris Tomlin while three other girls signed the song. I sat in front of them and signed it too so they could watch me. That way, they wouldn't get lost and feel embarrassed. I could tell they were nervous, but they did a great job! Then, we led the congragation in song. We did many of our youth's favorites: I'll Fly Away, Peace Like a River, Mighty to Save, and Jesus Paid it All. One of my boys worked the slide show and the whole thing went very smooth. They really did awesome. I was so proud!

Tonight is the finale for vacation bible school. All this week we have been singing, dancing, moving kids from station to station, and having a great time. The theme was Crocodile Dock and we had a very enthusiastic group of kiddos! Last year, nobody really got into the music, but this year, they were all over it! It was awesome! Tonight, we're singing our songs one last time, having cookies and homemade ice cream, and pelting Carl with water balloons. We raised more than $600 for our missions this year! The money will be split up evenly among five local organizations: Caring and Sharing, Food Pantry, Coats for Kids, Tools for School, and Our Place. The whole thing went very well!

With my older kids, I've been talking about a poetry slam that we're going to do. I assigned either a sin or a fruit of the Spirit to each kid in Sunday School today so that we can get started on that. We'll do the slam coffee house style with coffee, doughnuts, dim lights, and snapping. The kids aren't too thrilled about having homework during their summer break, but I think they'll end up enjoying it. For now, I'm glad most of this stuff is over with and we can slow down a bit. I'm getting worn out!