Bear Country
This week happened to be vacation bible school (VBS) at my church. When my children were little I was the co-chair of VBS for many years, and have not since returned to that position. It’s one of those volunteer things you do for your children, but once there are older, you gladly make your exit. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun to do, but also a huge commitment both with time and energy. I am happy to admit I wouldn’t change a single thing from those years. Well, this week I made my return to the annual event.
One woman from the church faithfully organizes everything to do with the children’s curriculum, and truth be told, I’ll gladly let her. However, if she asks for volunteers, I usually say yes. This year my role was to help in the craft area, as well as all around support for the group.
Upon arrival I found the leader busy organizing the registration desk, and since I was the first volunteer to arrive, it was my new assignment. She began throwing instructions at me, one right after another in rapid fire. There were sign-up forms and name tags for the pre-registered kids, blank forms and name tags for walk-ins, tickets to put in for a raffle drawing, song sheets for practicing at home, iron-on transfers for t-shirts, information about the church, a check-off list to make sure the parents signed their children in and out, as well as received everything fore mentioned…….oh, and if they brought in a new pack of twenty-four count crayons, they received an extra raffle ticket, and one more thing, the kids get to pick out one of the free gifts……”Ummm….can you repeat that?”
Shortly after my brief training session, reinforcements appeared, and I was given a helper and somehow I was now the tenured registration desk volunteer….HA! I was training my helper…..OK, I’ve got this. Just then four kids and two parents walked in the door 30 minutes early; then another two kids and their parents. The first two sets went a little slow, but we picked up speed by our third group of children,we were in our grove.
What I loved about working at the registration desk was getting to greet each child as they waited for their name tags and raffle tickets. Most were very excited and smiling ear to ear. The handmade decorations made VBS look like the coolest camping trip to bear country, and the kids made their way back to enjoy dinner, including s’mores.
The children were busy for the next two and half hours, playing games, story time, crafts and music. It was fun to engage with these precious little souls. One little girl wanted my help tracing her hand, but insisted I used her purple marker as compared to the slightly lighter shade purple marker in my hand. Another little boy asked if I would help him squeeze the glue bottle on the jagged, but darling moose face. He was very fond of glue…..as he piled it high for the googly eyes (that probably took hours to dry).
The last rotation happened to be music, and I heard one little girl ask in her most excited voice as she skipped into the sanctuary…”Are we gonna dance?” What a fun experience it was for the children and I must say, me too. They all seemed to enjoy this year’s VBS, Bear Country. It almost made me want to consider being a co-chair next year, but then I quickly came to my senses. Volunteering will be just fine…..especially since I have the registration desk already mastered.
xoxox…..Sheryl