Family Faith Companion

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Sky Vacation Bible Camp (VBC): Where everything is possible with God! Here’s what your kids did today…

We started our day at Up & Away Sing & Play by singing (of course!) and we got to watch a video of us from yesterday! What great memories. We also remembered where we saw God yesterday and added to our God Sightings poster.

One more Bible Buddy! Today it’s Rockette the Flying Squirrel! Flying Squirrels don’t really fly, they actually glide. They have a built-in flap of skin between their front and back legs which acts like a parachute that lets them glide from the tippy tops of trees. And can they cover a lot of ground! That sounds scary. Sometimes do you have to go places that are scary? I’ll bet that going places has something to do with our Bible Point for the day.

What’s the Bible verse for today?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

We wanted to see Flash one last time but she didn’t even answer her phone! Why? Graduation from flight school is coming up and she’s afraid of going out into the real world; what if she is sent flying somewhere she’s never been before? We taught her another Bible Point!

No matter where you are… trust God!

Then it was off to the stations. The preschoolers had fun at:

• Games – We played a game called “Slippery Fish” and we went “fishing” for hidden fish. We learned that even if nobody knows where you are, God knows! He is always with us.



• Drama/Bible Adventures – We heard our story about Jesus helping his friends to fish and then we built a boat and went fishing! I wonder if we got wet? Then we had “breakfast” on the beach. We also heard a story that takes place in Liberia, called Koi and the Kola Nuts.
• Bible Buddies – Skyler fixed his rocket! How great it was for him to be able to travel to so many places, even though Skyler was afraid of heights! No matter where he was, he could trust God.
• Crafts – We decorated picture frames for our crew photos.

Meanwhile elementary kids visited the following stations:

• All-Star Games – Today we played “Take the Treasure” and a couple of tag games. I think we got rather wet. I wonder how that happened?
• Wild Blue Bible Adventures – We started off reviewing all that we’d done this week. Wow what a busy week. We’re tired! We decided to go fishing! But we didn’t catch anything! And that’s just what happened in our Bible story, in John 21:1-14. Jesus’ friends didn’t catch any fish until Jesus showed up. He helped them catch a lot of fish! Yep, wherever Jesus is, amazing things happen.
• Sky High Movie & Missions – We watched the finale of our video. Who won the contest? Then we spent time making thank you cards for all of the volunteers at VBC! (There were a lot of them!)



• Imagination Station – Today we mixed up a special formula for bubbles. We talked about how no one can know where a bubble will float. No matter where they go…

The Grad Group went on another field trip today. They delivered school supply kits to the Bryant Community Center. On the way back they stopped for some fun at Burns Park. (They’ve been working so hard all week, they deserved a break!)

What was our snack today at Sky Dive Diner? It was called “Barbell Bites.” Ask your child how this snack tied into our Bible point of the day.

Finally we gathered one last time at Fly Away Finale for singing and dancing. (Who has the tune to our theme song stuck in their head?)

We had a visit from Pastor Doug. And we got a report on our collection for Camp RAWANA – we’ve provided funds for 35 kids to go to camp! (Ask your kids how we demonstrated this.) AND we provided 93 school supply kits to our local mission. All ways to share smiles with those around us! What a great week we’ve had!

Today’s Links of interest (click on the highlighted words):

• Slide show of photos from Friday.
• Info about our regular education programs for kids on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. (Continue the fun learning!)
• Other posts about our week at VBC.

And, some conversation starters on our global mission project: Camp RAWANA Youth Camp in Liberia:

• What was the name of that country again, that you were raising money for a camp?
• Why do you suppose we should be helping people in such a far off country?
• What was the most interesting thing you learned this week about the people of Liberia and the RAWANA Youth Camp?
• What was your favorite part of Sky VBC?
• Can you imagine someone in Liberia finding out that they get to spend time at Camp RAWANA? How do you think they’d feel?

Thanks for joining us at VBC!
~~Carol (on behalf of the VBC Team)

Join us at 9:30 this coming Sunday at FUMC. Put on your VBC t-shirt and be ready to sing! We’ll be singing our theme song (hear it in this post) and “You, You, You.” (Hear it here.)

Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Bible Buddy image used by permission of Group Publishing.
Rest of photos courtesy of Griffin, Wendy, and Carol.

Win Big! All new email subscribers to this blog will be entered into a drawing for a $25 Great Lakes Scrip gift card of your choice (proceeds support FUMC youth mission trips). Three winners will be selected randomly. Subscribe by midnight on July 16, 2012. You will be notified by e-mail next week if you are a winner! Enter your email over on the right.

Day four of Sky Vacation Bible Camp (VBC): Where we are learning that everything is possible with God! Here’s what we did today…

I liked seeing kids remembering to bring in offerings for our mission projects. Our “Share a Smile” offerings can help ensure that there is enough funds to buy supplies, food and transportation for the campers in Liberia. So far, $136.36 has been donated to Camp RAWANA! And every one can relate to the need for school supplies, our local mission project. (See the needs list down below.)

At Up & Away Sing & Play we started off singing songs. (This is routine now, isn’t it? But still fun!) Did you know that this coming Sunday, we’ll be singing in the church service at FUMC? Put on your VBC t-shirt and please do join us at 9:30!

Let’s see, who was our Bible Buddy for the day? Apollo the caterpillar.
Wait a minute. Caterpillars don’t have wings. What is a creeping caterpillar doing as the Bible Buddy for a VBC about SOARING through the sky?
Oh, that’s right. I guess they do eventually become butterflies.

That reminds me of the way Jesus died yet came to life again (Matthew 27:32-28:20). When things seem hopeless, if it seems like you’re stuck crawling rather than soaring, there is hope! Our Bible Point for today is:

No matter what happens… trust God!

Here’s a Bible verse worth committing to memory…

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38a

What a beautiful promise! We said our verse out-loud a few times. It sounded convincing!

Other routines of our morning? Sharing our God Sightings with our flight crew, adding more “clouds” to the chart (the more we focus on God Sightings the more joy we feel!), a visit from Flash, and a Sky High Hint. (That’s the hint on the right photo below. Ask your child about it.)

Then it was off to the stations. The preschoolers visited…

• Games – We discussed what an “obstacle” is and then we went through an obstacle course!
• Bible Adventures – We heard our Bible story and used a balloon to describe what happened to Jesus. Even when a balloon is deflated, it can “rise” again.
• Bible Buddies – Oh no! Sklyer’s rocket for the contest didn’t work! But Skyler is okay with that. He can try again next time. He knows to trust God and not give up.
• Crafts – We made caterpillars. They were covered in love.
  

Meanwhile elementary kids visited…

• All-Star Games – Such inventive games! Today’s was called “Cloud Movers.” Ask your kids about this one.
  
• Wild Blue Bible Adventures – We went back through the clues we found yesterday and reviewed the story about what happened to Jesus. (Kids even remembered about Pilate’s house and the fake trial of Jesus!) Then we continued the story, hearing about how criminals were killed: cruifiction. We learned that Jesus could have stopped the chain of events leading to his death, at any time! But he choose not to. He went through all that pain on purpose. Why? For reasons such as: ___enter your name here___. Ask your kids about carrying the cross, shouting crucify him, and creating an earthquake.
• Sky High Movie & Missions – Today we wondered about who made each of the contests Chadder and Jayla were in, so “exciting” and why? We discussed when we had faced scary situations. Then we looked at pictures of the Cestos River in Liberia and the Huron River. There were big differences in how each of those rivers are crossed!
• Imagination Station – Today was a quiet day. We decorated special picture frames for the photos of our crew. What a keeper!
  

Today’s focus for our “older” elementary kids in the Grad Group was to learn about our global mission to Camp RAWANA in Liberia. We also put together snack packs for L.O.V.E. Thy Neighbor, a program which packs Saturday lunches for the homeless. And we collected and counted school kits.

Mid-way through our time this morning we all gathered at Sky Dive Diner. Our snack was called “Inseparable Swirls.” I wonder if your child can tell you why it is called that? (Can the chocolate be separated from the whipping cream?)

At the end of our morning everyone gathered together again for Fly Away Finale. We went “flying” around the Sanctuary while singing “We Will Fly.” Our Grad Group reported on the status of school supply kits being collected for the Bryant Community Center. Our hope is to create 25 early elementary (K- 2nd), 25 late elementary (3rd-5th), 30 middle school, and 20 high school kits. Here’s our list of needs:

Lastly, we discussed how Apollo (today’s Bible Buddy, wanted to fly but he had to wait; to trust God’s timing. We’d like to be able to fly! Flying feels like we are connected to God. But it is hard to connect with God because of our messy sins. We helped create a dramatic illustration of this concept. Ask your child what are some of the ways we tried connecting with Jesus? Did they work? What finally did work?

Today’s Links of Interest (click on the highlighted words):

• Other posts about VBC.
• Slide show of photos from Thursday.
• The music video for We Will Fly.
• Sign Language links to some words from our key verse: Convince (use “know”), Nothing, and Love.

See you tomorrow! Our final day!
~~Carol (on behalf of the VBC Team)

Thanks for allowing members of our Grad Group to escort your children into the Sanctuary. It makes our drop off extra smooth-sailing.

We started off the morning really dancing! A few crews had the chance to lead everyone.

We huddled up in our crews to share our God Sightings and filled in three more letters on our posters with miniature “clouds.” It helps us remember to look for God in our lives. He really is everywhere!

We were introduced to our Bible Buddy of the day, Scout the Bald Eagle, by watching a short video. Do you know that Bald Eagles can have a wing span of up to seven feet! That’s a big bird. There is a cool verse in the Bible about eagles:

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. Isaiah 40:31a

Flash was back again today. She was all tied up with troubles. A kid in her flight class came up with the story that Flash had cheated; but she hadn’t! Flash wanted to strike back! She wanted to tie the offender to the wings of her flight simulator! Our Up & Away Sing & Play leader reminded Flash that sometimes people aren’t always nice. We need to trust God no matter what people do to us. In fact, that’s today’s Bible Point:


No matter what people do… trust God!

Our Sky High Hint for the day was mysterious as always. This is our clue as to what our Bible story will be about. Oh, oh. Something bad is going to happen to someone in our story. We’ll have to remember to trust God!

A note for parents/caregivers: our story was about Jesus being arrested and put on trial. Read about it in Matthew 26:36-27:31. This is a long story with dark themes, however know that it was handled in age-appropriate ways, the overall point being that people did bad things to Jesus. He was falsely arrested and beaten and mocked. Jesus understands how we feel when people do mean things to us. (Our story tomorrow will tell the happy ending.)

The preschoolers visited the following stations:

• Games – We played some fun games on the playground.
• Bible Adventures – We heard our Bible story while sitting around a pretend fire.



• Bible Buddies – Skyler the squirrel was back with Chadder Chipmunk. Chadder had also entered the build-a-rocket contest, except part of his directions were missing! We think that Orly took them. How mean! Did Skyler stand up to Orly? (We also talked a bit about how to make friends since sometimes friend-making can go astray.)
  
• Crafts – Kids made Soaring Eagles. What is written on your Soaring Eagle?

Meanwhile elementary kids visited…

• All-Star Games – Today we played a tag game called “Owie, Owie, Out.” We also played “Surprising Strength.” We were… surprised!
• Wild Blue Bible Adventures – We really had an adventure today. We had to hide from Roman soldiers and then we found evidence that something bad must have happened to Jesus after he’d been arrested. Ask your kids what we found.
• Sky High Movie & Missions – We found Liberia on an unmarked map of Africa! We also looked at pictures from Camp RAWANA. In our video Chadder almost lost the contest today. Then the video left off on a real cliff-hanger! In reviewing our key Bible verse we learned a way to feel like we’ve got extra strength. Ask your child to show you.
  
• Imagination Station – was a blast today. We flew Tube-A-Loons! (And a few paper airplanes.) We learned that when something happens that bugs you, you just have to let it go.
  

The Grad Group went on another field mission trip today. They visited Alpha House, the homeless shelter in Ann Arbor for families. The grads helped organize, clean, and re-stock. (Hopefully we’ll soon get some pictures of the Grad Group in action.)

Our mid-morning snack time at Sky Dive Diner is always enjoyable. Our snack today was “Sky Cakes.” Ask your child about the decoration on the top of the cake.

At the end of our morning everyone gathered together again for Fly Away Finale. There was more singing and a slide show of the day’s activities. We watched a demonstration of what can happen with our sad feelings when we trust God. Members from the Grad Group gave us an update.

We ended our day with more singing and happy dancing!

Today’s Links of interest (click on the highlighted words):

• Slide show of photos from Wednesday.
• A web site to see American Sign Language signs – a way to learn today’s Bible verse! The signs for the words: trust, Lord, and strength.
• Other hints on learning Bible verses by heart.

See you tomorrow!
Carol (on behalf of the VBC Team)

Each year we choose a mission for kids to support during our VBC week. This year we have two projects:
1. Collecting backpacks and school supplies for children in our community that can’t afford these essential items.
2. To “share smiles” with kids in Liberia by collecting coins (or paper money!) to support children going to a United Methodist church camp, Camp Rawana.

Both offerings can be turned in at the start of VBC each day at the front of the Sanctuary. Watch for more info coming soon.

Now, here’s what your kids did today…

First we all gathered together at Up & Away Sing & Play. We learned our theme song, appropriately titled: “Sky.” (Hear the tune and see the words in this post.)

♫ “Wherever we go and whatever we do, we’re trusting God all along.” ♫

That song pretty much taught us our theme for this years VBC: Trust God!
Each day during VBC we’ll learn a different situation in which we can trust God. Today we learned that:

No matter who you are… trust God!

We heard a Bible story about someone who trusted Jesus. (That’s the same thing as trusting God!) We learned about a Roman soldier who figured that because he was a Roman, he wouldn’t be worthy to have Jesus come to his house! (Even to heal his very sick servant.) Ask your child to tell you this story and re-read it in the Bible at Matthew 8:5-13. (Any time you see highlighted words, you can click on them to be taken to a link, in this case, one where you can read our Bible story.)

Also at Up & Away Sing & Play we met a couple of interesting characters: Pat the Bat and Flash Sky Runner.

Pat the Bat	That’s Flash on the left

Both of them supposedly have lots of experience flying. (At least we know that Pat the Bat does. Flash on the other hand, I’m not so sure. We’ll be seeing Flash all week long, so stay tuned.)

Pat is our Bible Buddy for the day. Look what’s printed on the backside of our Bible Buddies: the day’s Bible verse! It applies to our Bible story even though it’s from 1 Samuel 16:7c. (Isn’t that cool how the Bible ties together so many stories.) The verse is: “People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Oh, I get it! That’s why they choose a bat as the Bible Buddy; bats look kind of scary on the outside but they are actually very helpful little creatures! This reminds us that God doesn’t care what we look like, or where we live, or what brand of shoes we wear; God is interested in whether we are honest and do we help people. Stuff like that. It’s what we call “what’s in our heart.”

What happened next? The preschoolers went off to their special rooms and did the following:

• Games – Including “Name Toss” and “Go” provided lots of fun.
  
• Bible Adventures – This was our drama workshop. Ask your kids how the story was told. Also ask them what foreign country they learned about.
• Bible Buddies – The kids met the puppet, Sklyer. He told us about a contest that he entered to build a rocket! Except there is one problem. Ask your kids about it.
• Crafts – Here kids decorated faces to remind them it’s not what the outside looks like that counts.

Meanwhile elementary kids visited the following stations:

• All-Star Games – There were a couple of games with a parachute and one very strange game that involved using our brains: “Mystery Substances.”
  
• Wild Blue Bible Adventures – In this station kids experience the Bible story through exercises that point out how it would have felt to have participated in the story. Then they gathered in what we call “knee circles” to discuss the story’s application to their life.
  
• Sky High Movie & Missions – Here’s where the kids watch the adventures of Chadder Chipmunk. This year Chadder is animated! Ask your kids about the contest Chadder is involved in.
• Imagination Station – New this year! Where the Bible story is reinforced in diverse ways.
  

Our “older” elementary kids in our Grad Group are working every day this week on various mission projects – both local and global! Today’s project was to prepare school supplies for the Bryant Community Center. They reported we needed the following:

Mid-way through our time this morning we all gathered at Sky Dive Diner. Our snack was called “Sky Surprises.” Ask your child what the surprise was.

At the end of our morning everyone gathered together again for Fly Away Finale. There was more singing and we watched a slide show of our day. Ask your kids about what else hapened. Something about a launch?

See you tomorrow!
Carol (on behalf of the VBC Team)