Christian's Vacation Bible School Adventures

Tonight Christian wrapped up two weeks of Vacation Bible School (VBS).   This past week, he was at our church, Calvary Chapel Surprise, and the week before that, he was at a Presbyterian church that is just a short drive away from our house.

We were so fortunate to find two VBS locations that held evening session, and which accepted pre-schoolers.   Many churchs only do VBS during the day and the youngest they'll take are kindgarteners.

We found out about the Presbyterian church via one of Christian's now-former teachers with whom I'm friends on Facebook (Facebook sure does come in handy!).  She knows Christian well and how uncomfortable he gets in unfamiliar situations.  It was her teenage daughter who was one of the people working with Christian's class, so I knew he'd be well-taken care of. 

The final day of VBS, they held a concert with songs they'd been working on.  I didn't know about it until I dropped him off that day, and I wasn't sure how he'd do.   Watching him brought tears to my eyes!  He thought I'd left, and didn't realize I was in the audience (as I knew if he knew I was there, he'd either freeze, or insist on sitting with me).

Here are four videos - apologies for the very poor quality.  The closer I zoomed, the worse the quality got.
This one below makes me smile so much ... he was so into the song, and then shouted out a bit late and got kind of embarassed (notice the hands go up over his hears?  That is his coping mechanism).  But he kept going!


In the video below, Christian sees Papa in the room.  He didn't know Papa would be there, so he got extra excited!


I love his enthusiasm in the video below!  You'll notice Miss Scarlett was getting bit fussy - so it was hard to keep the camera still.


The video below was actually their first song.  I love how he claps at the end! :)



The following week was VBS at our own church.  They gave us a CD of the songs ahead of time, which was GREAT!   Familarity is key with Christian and I knew that when in a large room filled with lot of childen, he'd handle the situation much better once familiar music started to play.

This church is quite a drive for us - at least 1/2 hour each way.  But it was well worth it!  He seems to have learned a lot and had a ton of fun.   He requests the songs on the CD while we're in the car, and during dinner he'll say, "Mommy, Papa ... we have to pray for a minute!"  And then he'll put his hands palms-up on the table, bury his face in them and say a prayer that we can barely understand.  Then when he's done, he informs Jonathan it is his turn to pray.  After that, Christian informs me it is MY turn to pray.

I'm just so impresed he handled two weeks of very loud and very busy situations - without Mommy and Papa.

And that, my friends, is progress!!