It's still August, so it's still summer, right?

School has started. Temperatures have cooled off. And still I can hear vacation Bible school songs resonating in my head. Most of the summer, I've pulled from my repertoire of easy/action-filled/call and repeat camp songs. Especially for sites that are less than five days, I'm kind of over trying to teach super wordy songs to kids who can't read yet. But for a full week at Eldridge, I had borrowed the music video, and that's a different story. Kids can pick up on the actions and catch on at least to the chorus pretty quickly, and they can just listen to the lyrics during the verses. The overwhelming favorite song here was Even When the Lions Roar. They loved singing it, and I loved watching watching young humans announce "I will not be shaken; I will not be moved" with strong, unselfconscious eyes. The lions can roar pretty loud sometimes. We talked at length that the lions in our lives show up in a lot of ways- arguments, doubt, sadness, fear. They reared their heads even at VBS-
"Leave me alone!" she shrieked at me and several others, troubled by whatever inner lions growled at her. Then after another round of that at recess, with a friend going to talk to her and her sister yelling not to go near her when she's like that, the girl went running- not into the street- but straight into my arms. I gave her a hug for a long time. Her sister tried to come over and do the same, and for a while we were a hugging mess. The sister left; the girl calmed down. We blew bubbles. She helped me with mine because my bubble wand was all shook up and wasn't very bubbly. Afterward, I praised her for calming herself down, and suggested that next time she try using a calm voice to say I want to be alone right now instead of screaming, because when you scream, people think something's wrong and they want to help even more. "Ok," she smiled, very receptive. "Can we practice?" Oh, someone has walked down this road with her before. Fantastic. We did a quick role play. Later, the pastor told me she came up to her and said she should have said "I want to be alone" instead of screaming. Oh, my heart. Full disclosure? This wasn't a permanent fix. Learning to deal with your emotions takes time.

The same day when it was time to go, one preschooler came back to give hugs to all the helpers. every single one, including the kitchen lady whom she trailed a little while before the woman noticed she was there, as we all looked on grinning.

We will not be shaken; we will not be moved. All our hope is in You.

The last week of summer brought JOY camp at Wesley Woods. I was excited to return to my original role as a counselor. For the past several years, I've helped oversee all the groups, so I did miss getting to know what was going on with everyone. But I traded breadth for depth. My co-counselor was absolutely amazing, and our group of girls bonded pretty quickly. They contributed in Bible study, they sang a great memory verse to the tune of Senorita, and they worked on lifting each other up. Many of my older campers realized they were aging out of JOY camp and wanted to know about junior staff. So lions and all, the season ended on a peaceful, hopeful note.

EP3-20 Meets His Hero

"If you were traveling in space, who would you trust enough to take with you?"

When the teacher posed this question in Bible study time, there were many answers of parents or siblings. Then one very astute little girl answered Peggy Whitson. And that's how I knew for sure I was in Mt. Ayr.

In case you don't know, astronaut Peggy Whitson was born in nearby Beaconsfield and went to school in Mt. Ayr. Every Iowan should be very proud!

EP3-20 met his hero. 

We had about 23 VBS voyagers with us that week in Mt. Ayr. They loved the great meals served by friendly helpers; our puppet friend; science time led by a real-life science teacher; craft time led by a mom-daughter duo; and Bible reflection time led by a resident musician and teacher, who also played Dr. Speck this week. Turns out I left the DVD with our urgent transmissions from the Starship Galaxion in the DVD player in Batavia, so Sally and Pastor Emily stepped up to act out those segments with me. This often proves to be way more fun than watching a video, especially as I handed Dr. Speck her prop ukulele and saw pure joy on her face. :)

While we somehow managed to put a hula hoop on the roof and leave a fine trail of moon sand on the carpet, we also had some great faith discussions throughout the week. A few younger kids were asking questions as they tried to figure out just who this Jesus fellow is, anyway.
"Is He an angel?"
"No, He's higher up than angels. He's God's son."
*several moments of quiet*
"Did God have a wife or a girlfriend?"
"No..."
"Then how did He have a son?"
A very valid question. May we all have kids (and adults) in our churches that think through things this much. That's how you grow your own faith, by rejecting the easy answers and struggling through ideas like this. What a joy to struggle together.