Taste & See that God is Good!

On Sunday, July 31, we dropped Caleb & Joshua off at Forest Hills Mennonite Church to experience Vacation Bible School for the first time (well, Joshua went one night with his friend Kyler right after the baby was born, but this was his first full-week experience!). Uncle Mike was in charge of Caleb's 3-year-old class, Aunt Jen was helping with the crafts, and Joshua's teacher ended up being Bonnie Sharp, owner of the "Sharp Shopper" in Leola (a discount grocery store that we love). Cousin Daniel was also in Joshua's class. Bible school started at 6:15 each night and ended at 8:30. When we dropped the boys off we saw: my friend Tara from Study & Share with her husband bringing their two kiddos in - Luke was in Caleb's class and Elizabeth was in Joshua's; Shawn's cousin Zach & his wife Megan bringing in their two boys - at least one of which was in Joshua's class; my twin friends' cousin Josh bringing in his daughter; a couple from the LCBC city campus who also went to Calvary preschool bringing in their daughters; and of course, the McGowan kiddos.

The theme for VBS this year was "Taste & See that God is Good!" I LOVED it! They sang songs each night and learned motions to them, and Joshua said that this was his favorite part every single night. I was also impressed that they gave us a CD of the songs to bring home at the end of the week, and Joshua knew all the words (okay, MOST of the words) and all the hand motions. My favorite was "Taste and see that God is good, down on the farm!" which said "Taste and see (down on the farm) that God is good (down on the farm); we've got seeds (down on the farm); we've got weeds (down on the farm); plenty to eat (down on the farm)." There was much more (I honestly don't know all the words), but both boys enjoyed it and doing the hand motions. We've played the CD a LOT! And another song that was on it was one I used to help lead when I was on the worship team at Lord's House of Prayer - it said "Ain't no rock gonna cry out in my place, as long as I'm alive, I'll glorify His holy name! You've got to PRAISE His holy name, as long as I'm alive, I'll glorify His holy name - yeah, yeah, yeah!" Well, Joshua yelled at me for singing 'praise' His holy name because he INSISTED that the song said 'MAZE' His holy name. I just laughed. How often do we sing the words to a song and then realize later that we had them mixed up a bit? So cute!

Each night, the kids would come home with crafts that they had done, which my sister had helped with. The first night they planted seeds in a pot (which ours haven't grown at all, but that's okay!) and decorated the pots with foam stickers. I think they were chives and parsley. I'll admit I have no green thumb to help them. The second night, they made these aprons with their names on them. They colored them and then the aprons say "Taste & see that God is good!" The third night, they made these little baskets with snacks in them. The fourth night, I'm going to say that they made place mats and the fifth night necklaces. I could be wrong, but I think that's the correct order. Both boys could recite the verse "taste & see that God is good," too. Their offering money went to a charity that helps poor people grow their own food, and they also took a collection of canned goods in grocery bags to donate to a local food bank during the week.

The boys highly enjoyed themselves (thanks for inviting us, Aunt Jen!). Sunday night Caleb came home and told us it was VERY loud. In fact, Uncle Mike said that Caleb wasn't too sure about all the noise. Joshua, on the other hand, was in his element! Monday night, the boys came home and went to bed after having a busy night. When I was nursing the baby late that night/early morning (can't remember what time, but I'm guessing midnight-ish), I thought I heard Joshua whispering. It sounded like 'Daddy' to me (maybe wishful thinking on my part!). So, I nudged Shawn to go check on him since I had my hands full with little Ryan eating away. Shawn came back and said "he's not whispering, he's sniffling" and went right back to sleep. So, after Ryan was finished, I put him back in his crib in his room and went over to Joshua and asked him what was wrong - why was he crying? I thought maybe he had had a bad dream. He replied "I'm not sad, Mommy, I just can't breathe." I was startled. It was true - he was having an asthma attack!

I told him to come to my room immediately for a breathing treatment. But, just as surprising, he said he didn't want to. He was so tired he just wanted to sleep. I said "NO WAY!" and got him moving into our room while Shawn heard us and got out the nebulizer. Praise God, Joshua's body responded to the breathing treatment the first time round. I can still picture his little face telling me "thank you, I feel SO much better!" Thinking of it makes me shudder - what if I hadn't heard him? Praise God that Ryan was eating and I was coherent enough to hear my little Bean. While he was absolutely fine when he went to bed, he woke up schnarky.

I debated on what to do about VBS - he didn't have a fever, he was just sniffly the next day. He would cough a little, sneeze here and there, but sniffle in the mean time. And his lips were chapped, which seemed to bother him the worst. I called my sister and asked for her input. She said if it were her kid, she'd take him. He didn't have a fever or thick mucus, which are signs of being contagious; he wasn't constantly needing a tissue to be taxing on the teacher; and chances are he had picked it up there anyway. Grandma had come over that next morning and we went to the Pottery Barn outlet and then the Disney store (where she bought them both Mickey Mouse ambulances that were on sale - they are having a fun time playing with them; thanks so much!). She also said that she would send him.

I asked Jen if she would be willing to keep his inhaler with her. He seemed so much better during the day that I thought he may be fine to go. But, I wanted someone there that would be able to give him an immediate boost if he had an attack there. I knew she would keep an eye out when he came through for crafts, and I demonstrated how to use it to her. She agreed. When we arrived, I had his inhaler in a little baggy to take back to her; and his teacher stopped to ask me about it. I explained that he was a little sniffly and had had an asthma attack the night before. She told me that she also struggles with asthma and would "watch him like a hawk." I told her that my sister would have his inhaler since she had SO many kids under her wing. She smiled and replied "we are busy!" I was so thankful that his teacher knew the signs of asthma to watch for.

But I was most impressed when we went back that evening. Mrs. Sharp told me that she kept a close eye on him all night, and while he was sniffly, he was not wheezing at all. Then she told me that she was also a registered nurse. I felt like that was my answer to prayer! Here was a very watchful, concerned woman who knew the signs of asthma and was also an RN! I couldn't have asked for a better teacher - out of all the workers there, she was the one in charge of Joshua's room! I was thrilled. All the teachers were volunteers, of course, and there were lots of volunteers there but God had placed the Bean under her care. And as Shawn had noted the first night, she "ran a tight ship." While the rest of the room was a bit chaotic, she had her children sitting on their colored mat waiting for the night to begin. She also knew each child's name every night. Even that she noticed the inhaler in my hand before I approached her was impressive to me. I was so thankful that she was there!

I also saw a little boy "helper" that was so sweet. When he first arrived, I thought maybe he was a student at VBS. I would have guessed him to be around age 10, but dressed to impress with plaid shorts, a "cool" shirt and a hat on sideways. But, when we arrived, he gave Joshua a big grin and a high five. I thought it was so cute that an older kid would pay attention to the Bean, who soaked it up! Then I saw that he was a student helper, and he would sing the songs and do the motions with the little kids, continuing to smile as he served. I was quite impressed because Joshua thought he was great. I hope my kids are big helpers when they are that age! All said, the week was great. Both boys had a blast! We came home knowing lots more songs & motions. And Shawn & I had some time to ourselves during the week. We went out to eat at an outdoor restaurant twice - once with a gift card from my friend Suz (thanks so much!) and once to a place near his work that had .75 tacos. The food wasn't important - it was being out together. Ryan was a GEM the entire time. He sat and cooed and smiled and didn't fuss at either place.

God is good! Taste & see!