Lifeway Submerged VBS 2016

Submerged...it's an interesting theme to say the least, but do what you gotta do to reach thousands of families with the good news of Christ.

VBS is a must do at many churches. It's a week full of fun, music, and memories. 

As a lfie long church goer, I can still sing the theme songs of Rickshaw Rally (2004) and Artic Edge (2006) thanks to many summers spent in Brentwood Baptist and Triune Baptist.

It's effective. I don't care how you look at it, VBS works. There's just something about motions, themed crafts, and extreme decorations that prepare hearts for the Lord's work to be done. 

I don't know what it is, but it works, so I join in every year as a teacher. This year, I taught 3 year olds...It was an adventure but worth every second, when sweet Jake sang "Jesus Loves Me" and recited the week's theme bible verse without being prompted. Every frustration, dicut cut, paper folded, all worth it for a new heart to begin to understand the amazing love of Jesus.

I failed being an artsy and efficient blogger, meaning I did not take pictures of our crafts and how they turned out, but I did keep track of every craft we did. And we did a lot.

• Pipecleaner Fish- just a pipe cleaner with beads, twisted into the shape of an isthmus fish.
• Fishnet Painting- similar to the link, except we glued dicut fish to black paper and used white paint to create the "net". Our kids were too little do do in big groups, so we had to do it two at a time
• Bean Bag Fish- this required some prep from a volunteer in our room, as it involves sewing, but it is basic sewing that practically anyone could do. See the curriculum book for more instructions!
• Necklace- an elastic string with straw pieces and beads. Make sure to use elastic though, as not all kiddos heads will fit one size (we learned the hard way)
• Ocean Bottle- most use full sized 16.9 oz water bottles, but for younger kids, the snack size 8 oz ones work great! We gave each child 2 rubber fish, some sparkles, and shells.
• Fish Measuring- Lifway supplied the kit with a strand of one inch fish to place upon a yardstick, but considering most kids are taller than 36 inches, we had some difficulty. If I were to do this again, I would simply cover the wall in butcher paper, mark their heads with a marker, and let them fill up the space between their mark and the ground with dicut fish.
• Jelly Fish Sun Catcher- the contact paper was sort of tricky to peel off, but easy peasy, and the kids loved feeling how sticky it was.
• Celery Fish- This was another hit, though many used the celery as a brush, rather than a dotter.
• Blindman Puppet- we used this in our story time. As they followed along listening, they flipped their man from blind to seeing.
• Blindfold Coloring- so simple, but so entertaining. Blindfold each child and give them each a roasting pan with paper inside, to create boundaries. Help them predetermine an object to draw: dog, house, self portrait, etc. So cute to see how things turn out!
• Handprint Fish- I loved this one. It was so precious. We used cricut cut out hearts for the lips and dot paints to create scales.
• Paper Doll Chains- Glue the cut out dolls onto black paper, so they stick out sight wise. The kids loved creating outfits and personalities for the dolls.
• Snack Mix- We made assortments of goldfish, juju fish, gummy worms, pretzels, oyster crackers, and M&Ms as a special snack on Friday. You could tie to to "these are children's favorite snacks to eat." ;)
• Sticker Octopus- use circle colored stickers or fruit loops to create suction cups for the octopus. We used stickers.

Here are some of our decorations from the week, too!

 

My VBS board on Pinterest has tons of resources, too. Granted, we didn't use them all, and everything we did do isn't on there, but it is a good place to look through.

Happy VBSing!

Lauren

Side note: being with 3 year olds, rather than elementary schoolers, we used different music. Rather than using crafty writing styles and sly theme related puns, Lifeway presents the simple truths encompassed in our week in our music, and singing a long to the basic versions of these fundamental beliefs reminded me of the goodness of God. 

"God, you know everything about me. Help me do what is right."

"Do you know that Jesus loves you? Do you know that?"

"He made me special, just the way he planned."

They are so elementary, but so important. I was moved to tears singing "Do You Know That." VBS moves in many ways, y'all."

CMA Fest

You can't live in Nashville and not know about CMA fest. But at the same time, you can't live in Nashville and want to go downtown filled with tourists.

But I do love country music enough to brave it, and let me tell you, it was SO worth it. 100%.

Side note: Kelsea had her own
Snapchat filter for the show,

I started off with seeing Kels at the Cannery Ballroom, and that was a blast. Being that the Cannery Ballroom is a 21+ venue, I had to be "X"ed and those sharpie Xs did not come off for 3 days...I got some weird looks at church for those. 

Seeing her live her dream, and be surrounded with a room full of her supporters was amazing. Not to mention, she had Hunter Hayes and Hillary Scott come out as guests, which was insane. My middle school me DIED inside when Hunt came out. I straight d i e d. I tell people that I don't like him anymore, but when he came out, my heart blew up into 1000 pieces. I would post my videos I took, but my singing is so bad that I'm actually saving you if I don't share them. You can see it here though!

Before Kelsea came out, newbie Levi Hummon and veteran Jon Pardi took the stage.

Levi was so cute. He wasn't always there vocally, but where he lacked vocals, he made up for in adorableness. I'm interested in what he'll bring in the next few years!

Jon Pardi on the other hand brought straight party. He got the crowd alive with his hits like Up All Night and Head Over Boots, but also with new songs from his latest album, California Sunrise. I saw him once before at the 2015 N.R.A. Convention and was not impressed in the least, but Jon rocked this baby venue. His guitarist looked like a poorly kept version of Billy Ray Cyrus and was so entertaining. While not strong in large venues, Jon is great in small ones, and most importantly, he stays true to country's roots. No pop remixes but steel guitars and fiddles. I loved it.

I also loved meeting Sadie Robertson on our way to Ascend Amphitheater. Like nbd. I just almost idolize you. It's casual.

At Ascend, we saw Chris Young and Old Dominion. Chris Young "kicked off CMA Fest" and conducted the ceremonial duties before singing. As always, Chris was phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. He could sing the phone book for his entire set and I'd be so content.

Old Dominion though....(I'm getting excited even just thinking about Old Dominion) Old Dominion was the real show stopper. I've been a fan of OD since my middle school days, and I have been digging Meat & Candy ever since it came out. I just had never had a chance to see them live, and they met and exceeded all expectations. They sounded good, they looked good, they were just so good. They also got their award for Meat & Candy going platinum, which was really cool to see their reactions to their records. I just love Old Dominion. Love. Love. Love.

Also during CMA Fest, I got a chance to be an extra for the CMT Awards.

It was an absolute BLAST. I saw all the big names in country up front and personal. Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, Cam, Thomas Rhett, Carrie Underwood, the list goes on. It was absolutely incredible. I really hope I get to do it again next year. Not only for the "be on TV" thing but more for the "free concert!" thing.

 I've put some of the pictures I took below for you to see just how close I was. (Update: I published some others on my VSCO from the homepage.) It was an absolutely awesome experience.

 Sometimes, it's worth braving the tourists...at least I think so.

xoxo,

Lauren