Vacation Bible School 2011 (Ministry)

Every year when Vacation Bible School comes around, I immediately get excited! Yes, there is a ton of work involved and I hardly see my Husband for almost 2 weeks strait, but it's totally worth it.

The smile on the kids faces.

The excitement in their eyes as they see all the decorated rooms.

The children who have never heard the Gospel and accept Christ.

It's priceless.

You can't put a price on eternity. It's far above and beyond anything else. Every ounce of hard work was worth it once again this year!

This year's theme was so amazing and I just have to share about it!

Every year, we try to come up with a theme that is outside the box of the normal VBS themes. So, this year we did board games.

Our theme was "Ministry" instead of Monopoly.

We took ordinary board games and put a Biblical application to all of them. It turned out amazing! Rick dressed up like the Monopoly Man aka "Ministry Man" and he looked great! We decorated the gymnasium up like the the board game and made the cards the books of the Bible. They turned out so cool. We made a bank and a jail and decorated the stage up like a giant treasure chest. It was great!

Here's some pic's!

Isn't that fun!!!

Here is my room... Enjoy!

This year, I really enjoyed decorating my classroom, The Promise Land aka "Candy Land"... We put so much detail into every corner of that room in hopes that the kids would love it. Every day I shared about Heaven and how we can go there. I mentioned Maddie and her little story and talked about how we don't know how long our lives will be... I had the opportunity to lead dozens of boys and girls to the Lord each day. It was truly amazing and humbling. I couldn't help but think of my sweet girl every time a soul accepted Christ. I thought of her with every hug I received from all the the little girls that week. I missed her. I wanted her there, but I was so thankful for how the Lord worked throughout the week in the lives of all the children.

I thought of how just one year before, we were announcing sweet Maddie Grace's pregnancy on this very week of VBS. Annette made us shirts that said "Future VBS kid" for me to wear. Everytime someone would read it they would realize what it meant... Baby #3 was on the way... Here is a pic of Annette and I at 3 and 6 months.

 I dreamed this year about seeing Maddie at VBS and thinking how big she would have been by now. This never came to be but I could still feel sweet Maddie Grace with me all week long. She was there too.

Our theme for the week in our class was "Heaven gets sweeter every day." And this I can first hand say I know to be true. Heaven is so sweet to me and I'm so excited to go there one day and see my Savior and my sweet little girl...

The rest of the rooms were lots of fun too, Here are a couple more pics...

Operation Miracle...

Jacob's Ladder... aka "Chutes and Ladders"

And The Clue-cifixion...

So much hard work and detail went into these precious rooms. We stayed working until 12 am some nights the week before. We were exhausted before the week even started, but God gave us strength to face our most amazing week of VBS yet!

We had around 200-250 kids and workers everyday almost 400 the last night. We had 89 children accept Jesus as their personal Savior. 89! The hard work paid off and God blessed above and beyond what we could ever imagine...

This is what it's all about...

I'm so thankful to be a part of an amazing Ministry for the Lord. I found myself in tears that week thinking about how much the Lord was doing in our Church and Ministry at the Emmanuel Baptist Church. Even in the hardest days of my Husband's and my life, God has been able to use us to do His work hear on earth. I'm so thankful that though we feel like broken vessels some days, He can still use us. It truly is an honor and privilege to serve the Lord. We are grateful!

I think my boys enjoyed the week too!

Aren't they cute with their faces painted? Love them.

So, I know I've been off here for almost 2 weeks and I apologize for no updates. Stay tuned. We have had so many wonderful things happen in the last 2 weeks and I'm excited to share. Thank you for being here.

Much Love,

Natalie