Update on God's Big Backyard!!!

Vacation Bible School was great!!! The kids had such a great time and so did the adults. Our commencement turned our wonderful. All the kids did such a great job. It was a very busy week and while I hated to see it end it was great to go back to a somewhat normal week. Here are a few pictures of our commencement. Hope you enjoy!!!
I know this blog is a little late, but I have been so busy with things and haven't taken the time to blog, for that I apologize. I will get the pictures ready from Chancelor's birthday party and post a blog about it real soon!!! Until next time God Bless You!!!

God's Big Backyard

For those of you that read my last blog you already know that our Bible School theme this year is God's Big Backyard. What wonderful fun we've had in God's Big Backyard this week. I wanted to give everyone that reads this a little update on how the week is going and share some pictures with you all. On Monday night we had about 70 children show up. What an awesome turn out for the first night. Tuesday night was even better, we had 101 show up for Bible School. Wednesday night we had about 70 show up again. With all those children one could only imagine the energy that was surrounding us. It's busy, busy, busy, but so much fun!!!








On Monday the children were fed Pizza. After marching in and doing our opening ceremony the children went to their different activities. Our life focus on Monday was about Serving Family and our Bible story was on Moses. Exodus 2: 1-10 The children talked about how Miriam took care of her brother Moses. The children talked about Pharaoh's order that every Hebrew boy must be thrown into the river and drowned. There was one woman that refused to obey Pharaoh, she hid her baby. As the baby grew the danger of him being found increased. Wanting to see her baby survive, the mother gathered papyrus and weaved a basket. She covered the basket with pitch and tar to seal it. The mother laid her small son into the basket, covered it with a lid, and placed him among the reeds in the Nile River, setting him on a journey that only God could design. The baby's sister Miriam, waited among the reeds, close enough to protect her brother from the scorching sun and the Nile River. Little Moses' basket got caught in the reeds and also caught the eye of the Egyptian princess bathing there. The princess lifted the basket and realized that the baby was Hebrew. Feeling compassion toward the boy, and knowing Pharaoh's edict, the princess decided to raise the infant. This was the sign Miriam needed. She ran quickly to the princess and offered to get a Hebrew nurse, Moses' mother, to nurse him until he was weaned. The Egyptian princess agreed, and the baby was reunited with his mother because Miriam served her family.

On Tuesday the children ate hot dogs, cheese doodle, and chips. The Life Focus for Tuesday night was Serving Friends. Our Bible Story was about four men that carried their friend to Jesus. Mark 2 1: 1-12 These men were waiting for Jesus to return from Capernaum. When the news came that Jesus had returned, they lifted their crippled friend onto a mat and quickly moved toward the direction of Jesus. Lots of people ran past them, some to experience Jesus' teaching and healing and some to dispute him. Upon arrival, the men saw the small house where Jesus was. It looked like an over-crowded anthill with people pushing to get in the door. The men were eager, desperate for their friend to be healed. After some thought, the four men looked toward the roof. They immediately picked up the mat and climbed the outside staircase to the top of the roof. The men looked for a soft spot on the roof and began to dig, as the roof crumbled, the people grew quiet with interest. Slowly the light trickled in and four faces emerged through a hole in the roof. Then the men slowly, as to not injure their friend further, lowered him. Everyone waited to see what Jesus would do, the men knew that if their friend met Jesus, he would walk. Jesus recognized the men's service and faith. Because four faithful men served their friend, many saw the undeniable power of Jesus, the Son of God.
Rain clouds filled the sky on Wednesday night, still that didn't stop the fun in God's Big Backyard. We may not have been able to play games outside on Wednesday, but we all had lots of fun inside the classrooms. We made silly faces, danced, and had a great time.
On Wednesday night the children ate chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, peaches, chips, cheese doodles, cookies, and other sweets. Our Life Focus on Wednesday was serving neighbors. Our Bible story was about a Samaritan man that helped a neighbor who was hurt. Luke 10: 25-37 There was a man heading to Jerusalem from Jericho. The road he traveled was a rocky, rough area with many caves and drop-offs, and an area where robbers hid. On his journey, robbers ambushed him and beat him nearly to death. His eyes were swollen shut, his ribs bruised, and his body covered with open wounds and gashes. He laid there dying on the the road. Two men, one a priest and one a Levite, walked by the beaten man that day, neither of them stopping to help. Perhaps the priest or Levite thought the man was dead or perhaps they thought he was unclean and unfit to touch. Either way, two revered religious leaders walked by, refusing to acknowledge the need of their neighbor. A Samaritan chose to serve this man. Even though the Samaritans and the Jews shared a mutual dislike, the Samaritan gave the man his clothing; he gently placed him on his donkey, while he walked beside him on the way to the inn. The Samaritan cleaned his wounds, paid for the man's care and food. The Samaritan's care for his neighbor honored God.

Each night during our opening ceremony we get a visit from our puppet friends. We have all met two new puppet friends, Cooper & Nick. They are some silly little guys. The children have also had a lot of fun doing crafts, playing games, and learning their songs and the dances that go with them. Tonight is our last night of Bible School and tomorrow night will be commencement. We all hope to show the parents all the things we've learned this year in Bible School. Please pray for the children to be confident during our commencement and that nerves will not be an issue.


Our memory verse for the week is Mark 12: 29-31 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

I'll update later on how the rest of the week goes. As we prepare for commencement, our family is also planning a birthday party for Chancelor. He will turn five July 25th and we are planning his birthday party for Saturday July 26th. We are planning an outside party so please pray that the weather will be nice. Until next time, May God continue to pour His blessings upon you and your family!!!

Smiles :)

More than anything in the world, I love to see my children smile. It warms my heart! We have had so much fun over the past few weeks together. I'm in search of a job so the kids are staying home with me. I'll admit at times it can be overwhelming and very stressful. The kids aren't always happy and we don't always have good days, but the time I'm able to spend with them is a gift. We have played baseball, gone for walks to the garden and grapevine, played inside doing silly things, just having fun.


On Thursday night we went to Nana and Papa's to eat dinner. We had fish, slaw, french fries, and hush puppies. It was awesome!!! After we were done eating, Chancelor wanted to ride the motorcycle with Papa, so out in the yard they went. They rode around the yard a few times and Layla wanted to ride. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but Chancelor burned his leg on the motorcycle, and came inside telling me that he had hurt his leg and the skin was burning. He was so afraid Papa was going to be upset with him that he didn't shed a tear. Papa prayed for the pain to go away, and Chancelor said that it worked. God is Awesome!!! Here are a few pictures of Chancelor helping Nana fix slaw and a few of Layla trying to get on the computer.

I've started having a little trouble with Chancelor and his attitude. I'm not exactly sure if it's his age or if he feels like he doesn't get enough attention. As many of you know, he goes to his daddy's every other weekend which leaves Layla alone. On the weekends he's gone, it gives Layla time to have all our attention. Chancelor never really has alone time with us. After giving it some thought, I decided to see if my mom would watch Layla a few hours on the Saturday's that Chancelor is home in order to give him some special time alone with us. We had such a great time on Saturday with Chancelor. We decided to take him fishing and the excitement in his voice Saturday morning when he woke up before 7 am, was all I needed to get up out of bed. We went to the river, which was so low we could have walked a crossed it (we need rain BAD). We didn't catch anything and I decided that after 3 hours it was time to leave and go where we knew Chancelor could catch fish. We went to a pond and it was perfect. Chancelor caught fish, I learned how to bait crickets and it was a really fun time. Thanks Nana, we look forward to doing that again real soon!!! I urge each of you that reads this to take the time to spend quality time with your children. If you have more than one child, then let them each have you alone for a few hours each week, you'll be surprised how much you'll enjoy it :)
This week our Vacation Bible School starts at our church. Tonight was the first night and it was GREAT. We had about 70 kids show up and can't wait to see what tomorrow holds. If you are in the area and want to bring your kids, its at Lanier's Chapel Church in Lyman. It starts at 6pm and runs to about 9pm. We will feed the kids at 6pm and begin to line up around 6:30pm. We would love to have you join us in God's Big Backyard!

Until next time, May God pour His blessings upon you and your family!!!

Dewalae

Let's go fishing....

Chancelor was gone for the weekend and Layla was pretty lonely. Chancelor goes to visit his Daddy every other weekend and it was like this weekend was the first weekend Layla noticed. It was really sad. We did have lots of fun though. On Saturday, Layla went to visit Aunt Heather, LoLo, & Yaya. She went swimming again and was asleep when we got there to pick her up. On Saturday night, Layla had a friend come over and stay with her. Alyssa is a bit younger than Layla, but it was so much fun watching the two of them. Here are a few pictures of Layla and Alyssa :)


Chancelor got home Sunday night around 5:30 or 6:00 and was so excited to see Alyssa. We went up to visit Grandma & Papa and played with them for awhile before we came back home. Alyssa's mom came to get her about 8:00 and it was time to put tired little kids to bed.


As Chancelor went to bed Monday night he wanted to know what we had planned for the following day. I told him that I had to go get tags for the car and that when we were done with that, we'd be going to the library to return some books and get him some more. It was about 12:30 when we got back from running errands and both the kids were starving and in much need of a nap! The kids were getting up from there naps about the time Sheldon was getting home, so both of them were really excited to see him. Ayden's dad called back about an hour after Sheldon got home about taking the kids fishing. Chancelor was excited! Here are a few pictures of the kids fishing.


Today while we were visiting Ayden the kids were playing around and I'll admit Chancelor gets a little rough at times. I don't think he's being mean but he just doesn't understand that all kids aren't like that. There was laughter then crying, saying I'm sorry and giving a hug, and back to laughter. A simple apology and hug made everything all right again. If only we as adults would look at our children and how they react to things, we'd learn so much. If only we could forgive and get past things like our children, what a better place this would be. Kids are AMAZING and I learn so much from mine.

We got home tonight from our fishing adventure and that's all Chancelor could talk about. He had such a wonderful time and can't wait to go back and play with Ayden again. We got the kids baths, fed them, and finally they are in there beds sleeping like angels. Chancelor will be staying with his Nana tomorrow night and is really excited about that, he doesn't know that he has family that is coming in from Mississippi. On Thursday we will all be at Nana's to visit with the family and it will surely be a great time.

I hope each of you reading this will have a wonderful week and remember to thank God for the blessings in your life. Each day we have with our family is a blessing and we never know when it might be our last. My prayer is that I will never take that for granted and I will always have a thankful heart!

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Philippians 4:6

Until next time May God pour his blessing upon you and your family!!

Dewalae