Gold Rush: Discovering the Rock of Ages!

This summer is giving us little time to catch our breath, but isn't that sooooo much better than being bored?  Just a mere 48 hours after leaving Band Camp, we were full swing into our church's summer Vacation Bible School!  This year's theme was such fun for the kids and the staff alike.  Most of us have a little "yeehaw" in us, and vbs was our chance to let it out! 
Five evening sessions lasted 2-1/2 hours each, but with the team rotation format and live drama not one attention span had time to max.  It was amazing!  All four of our kids equally enjoyed their classes, games, snacks, Bible time, crafts, and assemblies.  We were blessed by the incredible staff that volunteered to make the week a huge success. Most of these photos were taken by Stephanie Cantrell, who did a great job with the nightly slide shows! 

Toothless Kait @ 24 Karat Crafts

Allison @ Lip-Smakin' Snacks

Olivia (our niece) and Halie (a friend from church)

Kait @ Discovery Mine Bible Time

Kait's team with their awesome team leader - Kerri (far left)

Part of Ryan and Evan's team with their awesome
team leaders - Dennis & Brenda Estes (far right)

Part of Allison's team with her awesome team leader -
Heather (left), and one of her helpers - Sondra (right)

"My name is Ryan, and I'm 11..." - nuff' said  :-)

Allison exhibiting some creativity

Ready to paint!

One of the "Miners" taking a break

This is our second year to incorporate drama into the vbs.  It occurs in the final assembly, lasts about 20 minutes, and is continued from night to night.  At the program, the entire drama is reenacted for the congregation. It incorporates humor and suspense, is filled with spiritual content from start to finish (weaving the plan of salvation throughout), and includes at least one of the characters making a distinct decision to ask Jesus into their heart. 

Sheriff Theodore Tweedle (Greg) and Deputy Otis Henry (Greg)

Supposed to be getting a shave, but Otis wanted
to give Theodore the "spa treatment"...

The kids were captivated by the "hold up" of the sheriff's
dept (notice the "dynamite" between them)

Peteunia Periwinkle (Sharree) and Sadie Brown (Lindsay)
did an awesome job in the drama!

We are fortunate to have a photographer(thanks, Wendy!)in the congregation, and she took a photo of each student which they received in a nice frame on the last night of vbs. These are all 'pictures of pictures', so excuse the quality...

Hmmm...they look familiar  :-)

My camera likes to do its own thing...what's with the yellow?

***We highly recommend VBS materials from Answers in Genesis! The quality, content, and price are unbeatable, and our team loves the format. We have done the 2010 and 2011 kits, and are doing the 2009 kit next year. 2011 is a personal fav so far, but 2009 looks very facinating!