I had the privilege of telling the Bible story to ages 3, 4, and kinder.  That meant that of the five rotations of the day, I was teaching three of them in the Bible Barnyard.  Keeping 3 and 4 year olds interested in the story instead of the horses proved to be no easy task (the kinders were easier)!  I couldn’t blame them though; they were the only animals on the farm at the time and, well, who doesn’t want to pet and feed them?

With April being still quite young and nursing exclusively, she was the one I was concerned about.  Turns out that once again I found myself fretting about the wrong child.  April spent all five mornings in the nursery and was the perfect gem the entire time.  The easiest one they had and each day they fought over who would get to hold her.  I think this crew had one of the toughest and thankless jobs of the week, so here’s my shout-out to them and all the diapers they changed.  Y’all rock!!

What I hadn’t expected was for Abe to have a tough time with things.  He suddenly became quite clingy and wanted to spend the whole morning in the barn with me.  It wasn’t that this was a problem, but I knew how much he would love doing the crafts, singing the songs, and playing the games.  Thus, I  spent the two rotations that I wasn’t teaching in his class with him so he would see more of VBS than the barn.  However, Abe wasn’t the only 3 year old having trouble so I was comforted that this truly was an age thing.  The tantrums of the week reveled that the “trying threes” are going to be much tougher than the “terrible twos.”  I commented to a friend that I didn’t know if I was going to survive age three; she sweetly reminded me that I really didn’t have a choice.  I can only dream how the next years are going to stretch me.

We did have some amazing moments of shining beauty and I’m choosing those moments to remember the week by.  I tried to pick the top one from each day: Monday – While story telling, I asked the group to name who they love; Abe rose his hand and said, “Baby April.”  Melted my momma’s heart.   Tuesday – I had the pure joy of watching him during worship time sign all nine of the fruits of the Spirit.  Wednesday – The whole day was beautiful!  He did all the rotations on his own and loved every minute of it.  No “three-year-old” moments this day!  Thursday – He was so proud of the barn that he made in craft time that he just had to show it to me right away.  He LOVED the flaps and the animals.

Friday‘s memory came at the evening program which took place at a local park.  I was sitting down next to a friend and her husband when I glanced at the one water feature in the park only to see my son naked from the waist down, in the process of removing his shirt.  (Most children if they aren’t in swim attire and want to get wet they just do so fully clothed; mine gets naked.)  To my relief I saw that Daddy, although too far to prevent full nude running, was en route to rectify the situation.  I was more than happy to let Mike handle this one and he was able to convince Abe to at least put on his undies.  And things only got better when he agreed to get fully clothed and sing his song for the actual program.

Each day over lunch I would ask Abe what his favorite part of VBS was.  His answers typically rotated between the barn and the songs.  Every once in awhile snack would creep in there.  I’ll still catch him signing certain fruits or telling me what they are.  And I still find myself using the lessons we learned to teach them to him, and myself, again.  Yeah, I’m going to need grow a lot of that patience that God calls us to.

**All pictures except the last one were taken by In the Still Photography.**

Unfortunately, it was really too early in the season to get a good showing of the bats as they left the bridge well after sunset and it was too dark to see them.  We all got a enough bat guano to make it a true experience though – that’s all that really counts.  We’re hoping to take Abe back in August when the bat population should be at its peak and the “mass exodus” from the bridge will happen while it’s still light enough to see them.  Maybe Ben and Matt will come back and join us!!

One of the best parts of the night was watching some impressive choreographed “dancing” on the side of the Hyatt Hotel.  It was clear this wasn’t random repelling, but we don’t know if it was for a music video or what.  In Austin, it could easily be for a low-budget independent film or a high-profile music artist – you just never know.

Matt ended up leaving town on Thursday so Ben came to hang exclusively with us.  We went to the Oasis one night for dinner and the boys spent Friday at Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool.  (Of course, they didn’t take any pictures and Abe went in his pajamas – boys.)  Ben is always a pleasure to have around and Mike enjoyed being able to get out for some night life for a change.  I’m pretty sure Ben enjoyed Austin too.  When we were trying to decide what to do on Saturday, he replied, “I know what I want to do.  Find a job, a place to live and maybe a nice Texan…”  It’s hard no to love the jewel of Texas.