Of all the needs a child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God.
~Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
~Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
Last year's VBS was the very first time I ever dropped off my child without a blood relative present, but I do think of church members as family. It was at a time when my husband was working out of state and they had plenty of adults there, so I had a just a bit over an hour to spend by myself each day for five days. It is just amazing how much I covet having a few hours to myself and then, when I finally have them, I really don't know what to do. I even had to fight the feeling that I had lost my child somewhere in the store when I did a little shopping.
This year VBS was from July 20-24 and I volunteered to face paint. I was not sure how many nights I could be there, but as it turned out, I was there all five. My husband came when he could, as he was working locally for part of the week, so he took some pictures of me painting faces. Now the thing was that nearly every child wanted painted every day, which keeps one child occupied while others are waiting because it takes a few minutes to each, and face painting had to be squeezed in between planned activities. I wish more children had been there, but I was also thankful we had only about fifteen at the most; I did some adults as well. 
After working with youth for years in other churches, I know I am not one to work well in organized chaos--although I have done it, of course, and it worked out well--but for this I had my own little corner and face painting is all I was needed to do. Compared to what the other adults were doing, I think I had it easy. What you don't see in the pictures is that I was on my knees to paint the children and adults sitting in the chair, but my Lord is good, as I had absolutely no back or knee pain the entire week.
The VBS theme was superheroes of the Bible, which is why everyone was wearing a cape. I have become pretty practiced at doing various designs for girls, but not that many for boys. The girls mostly wanted horses and butterflies. The boys more often went for a Superman "S" and a Spiderman splosh, as I called it. It was a black web on the a cheek with a red background--unfortunately, we did not get a picture of one, but it was striking and one of the easiest designs I did. Actually, they all became quite easy, as things usually do with forced intensity.
The grand prize for the one who brought the most guests was a full face design, but two sisters tied so I ended up doing two instead of one.I was so tired that by the weekend I had nothing left and I had to get the Princess prepared for a 4-H Horse Day Camp the following Tuesday, too. I was already behind with posting about our other activities, so I just got around to resizing the VBS pictures for my blog today...finally!
Tah-Dah!
~ My Lord, please bless these precious young souls and the people who are devoted to serve You by teaching them about You. ~
