Also this past month (and the last week of May), the girls attended Bible school at St. John each Friday from 9:00 A.M. to noon. The Bible school experience culminated this past Thursday night with a family potluck supper, a chemistry show by a chemistry professor at DSU, and the regular Thursday night church service at which the kids all performed a few songs that they had learned during Bible school. Here's one of their songs (called "Power"):
Susan, as Sunday school director at St. John, was in charge of Bible school, too, and spent NUMEROUS hours at church and at home preparing for each week's session: getting crafts together, setting up the church, ironing logos onto T-shirts, contacting volunteers, planning music, etc. By the registration deadline in May, 78 kids were signed up to participate. However, registrations kept coming in, and children kept arriving each week of Bible school to the point that Susan ended up with 117 kiddos in Bible school--which, according to congregants who've been at St. John longer than we have, is a surprisingly large number. People are crediting it to Susan's enthusiasm and her hard work to carry out an engaging and fun Bible school program, and I don't see why she shouldn't take that credit!
The theme of Bible school this summer was Power Lab: Discovering Jesus' Miraculous Power. It managed to mix Bible study with science (thus the culminating chemistry demonstration Thursday night--I know that you raised your eyebrows when you read about that in the earlier paragraph!) through crafts and "science adventure" videos and "test tube treats" for snacks--all in ways that connected with the daily "Bible points" and showed, through the power of science, analogies to the power of Jesus. There were also mission projects for outreach to needy children throughout the world. It was a high-energy experience that was "awesome," as kids reported to their parents, who then passed on the compliments to Susan.
The girls spent most of those same numerous hours at church with Susan, helping most of the time and growing impatient some of the time. Susan has assured them that, now that Bible school is over, she'll have more time to offer them for other activities, like taking them swimming or hauling them around town for play dates or just letting them play at home without having to cut it short and head off to church so that Mommy can work. It also means a little summer vacation for Susan now, too!
Your kids are quite the performers! Is there a reason Susanna is wearing a "I am goign to be a grandma" shirt?
ReplyDeleteSuzanna is the oldest grandchild, so when Susan and I broke the news to my parents some 11 years ago that we were going to have a baby, my mom was exceedingly excited! She had this T-shirt made (and a blue one with "grandpa" for my dad), and one day she and my dad went to a church social event wearing their T-shirts as a way to spread the good news to their friends and neighbors, too. It was very cute.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, after my mom died, we gave her T-shirt to Suzanna since Suzanna was the reason for the T-shirt in the first place! It's a nice way for Suzanna to remember my mom . . . and for us all to remember the story behind the shirt.