Hope Kids Adventure Day

I organized my first big event, since taking on the role of Children's Ministry Coordinator at church. In past years, we've had "Cross Training" in the summer, which is our version of VBS...only problem is, I never actually attended them. So as I prepared a new program for this summer, I had no idea what the kids and parents would be expecting. I decided to keep things simple and have just 2 days of focused fellowship for the kids. I had an extremely hard time finding help to run this and in turn, kids who could attend, and struggled with questions of cancelling. As I prayed about the day I realized I just needed to have the right attitude: I can't expect all 50 kids of Hope to come, but I can put a smile on my face and be joyful that the ones who show up are there.

We met at the Edward's AMAZING farm. It is seriously one of the most beautiful places I've been. Maybe it's the Kansan in me, but I would live in their backyard if I could.

The forcast for the day was rain. I was up most of the night with a teething Eli and as I listened to it storm a majority of the night, I wasn't sure we would be able to pull off our outside Adventure that ended with swimming. But, the One who is able to do much more than I could ever dream or imagine, blessed us with a SUNNY morning...it was even HOT and we were all anxious to jump in the pool. We set up a tent just in case, but it served more as a source of shade than a dry spot.

16 kids came, 2 of which have only been to Hope once.
Ben and I brought back the Youth Group days and led a couple of fun songs.

We made knapsacks and friendship card packs.

The kids played "pizza toss"

and went on a scavenger hunt to build our memory verse
John 1:7
"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."

For snack, we made "dirt" and friendship snack mix (i.e. everyone brings their favorite snack and you throw it in a big bowl).
We ended the morning in the pool. Maybe we should have started in the pool, because no one wanted to get out when it was time to go home. Alison loved sliding down their princess slide. Except, I'm not sure you could really say she slid...more like inched down the slide until I lifted her off and pretended like it was the most fun thing we've ever done. She reminded me of myself though. I know we have a home video of when I was probably her age, inching down our slide in Texas. I always wonder how my parents weren't cracking up during all those movies.

You might be wondering what in the world Eli did while mommy was busy running this event.
Well, he ate some oreos...

and sat with Miss Lisa...

and got a drink from daddy...

and let's just be honest, I'm not really sure what all he did :)
But I'm thankful for all the other adults there to jump in and help me where I forgot to organize help.

It was a great morning and it left me excited to start planning the next one.
My goal for the morning was to build fellowship among our kids...all of the kids said they had fun and no one cried, so I think it was a success.