Biggest mistake of the week was to try to do one last thing before the Luthins pulled out on Saturday morning.  All Luthins were WORN OUT.  ALL little boys were sad.  The weather was HOT.  There was nothing in our favor.  Sheesh. Of course, that’s all hindsight.We had lunch together in The Commons of the church because of the heat. Bubba had gotten it into his head that a goodbye party for Will HAD TO HAVE an ice cream cake. Thankfully Honey was able to deliver and we invited anyone we could find to share a piece with us before we moved on to the park for some running and playing in the water features.When we got to the park I told everyone in my car (and that was all the children except for Little) that I would be taking a picture before we left the park.  They could either get out and take one before we go play or I will be stopping them in a bit to take the picture.  All the boys voted for right away – this is the best I could get:I am so very thankful for Shary Dare and her offhanded comment years ago about a group of friends she had that swapped play-dates all school year. That story led me to ask these girls to do the same thing and that led to years of happy memories for me and my family.  (Cue Michael W. Smith’s Friends are Friends Forever)

This year’s VBS was my favorite at The Kirk, by far.  When we started doing VBS several years ago, we started using curriculum by the company Group Publishing. It’s been alright. . . well-organized, great music, and the kids have fun. I have been a bit disappointed with the “Bible Points” over the years and very disappointed that we have only done four days but charge $20 for a kid to attend.  This year we did five days, there were four Promise students that attended, and each Bible Point focused on a topic that meets kids RIGHT where they are . . . and MY KIDS right between the eyes!

1. Even when you are left out, Jesus loves you.
2. Even though you are different, Jesus loves you.
3. Even when you don’t understand, Jesus loves you.
4. Even though you do wrong, Jesus loves you.
5. Even when you are afraid, Jesus loves you.

The kids had a blast and I actually heard them using the Bible points with each other at different times throughout the week.Throughout the week there are “KidVids” shown and this year each video had an interview with a young child sharing their story (orphan, etc.) The last day, the video told the story of a little girl who had high anxiety and her school provided a therapy dog that helped her to be calm in the classroom.  A member of our church has a therapy dog and brought Ticket to meet the VBS kids.  Little loved it and her group leader, a teacher at our school, immediately went and put KDS on the wait list for a therapy dog!

This is a big week at our house. Yes, another one. This week is VBS week at our church, and ends with the arrival of Memom, and the departure of dear dear friends to the state of Florida.

Since Regan has been swamped with packers at the house, a deceptive realtor in the Sunshine State, and a myriad of other details we jumped at the chance to take the Luthin boys for an afternoon and help out.  It turns out that a small “soda fountain” in town announced a VBS giveaway and that became part of our LuthinLighter plan for the afternoon.

Fizzy’s tweeted that they would give a free ice cream cone to any children coming in wearing their VBS tshirts.  So many things about that are wonderful! FREE!! ICE CREAM! TSHIRTS! So, we piled into the van, set the iPad to direct us, and headed out for our first trip to Fizzy’s.It was so very fun and somewhat depressing.  These little boys are family and our family is moving away.  Everybody felt it though none of them to put words to it. I started to talk about it and Bubba interrupted, “Could we please talk about something else?”

First stage of grief. . . denial.
I feel you, Bubba.