VBS 2012

A week of VBS is over! In May, I was asked to coordinate and direct our Vacation Bible School at my new church in Kansas City. Not only am I new to the church, I've been working 40+ hours a week, and I haven't been to VBS anywhere in five years... challenge accepted. :)

I did my best to put groups together and with a few exceptions, all of the workers were young adults (such as myself), college kids, or high schoolers. We had five planning and accountability meetings prior to VBS and then had our five day VBS last week!

I had NO idea what I was getting myself into, but the Lord provided both the means and the sanity for me to finish the week strong. Tears were only shed twice. :)

We had a total of 60 different kids there over the course of the week with a nightly high of 50! Our offering totaled over $367 that is going towards buying new beds for Baptist Children's Home. There were three salvations during the week and many other seeds were planted!

The Thursday night of VBS, as I was leaving the church, there were a few workers lingering and laughing. I watched them as they chatted and signed each others' staff shirts and I had memories flood back from years of camp. The VBS staff had gotten to know each other in a capacity outside the norm. And they were thriving. :) It was SUCH a blessing to see them rally together and take on a difficult task with reckless abandon. :)

As for now, I'm just enjoying the "free time" before my last week of work, our Youth Mission Trip, and my last full week before school starts! Where has the summer gone!?!?!


 

DIY laundry detergent

My roommate and I were approaching the bottom of our laundry detergent bottle and since we just bought it a month ago, I was thinking about making my own. Thrifty, nifty, and just totally fun. Thanks to Pinterest, I didn't have too hard of a time finding instructions for making one. I didn't do much research, but I did read the reviews for the "recipe" I found on howdoesshe.com. They were all raving, so I took their word for it.

Emily and I headed to Target to get the things we needed. In the original post, she mentioned mixing it in a five gallon bucket. Emily and I don't have space to leave that sitting around, so we got a 16-qt. Sterilite box that worked perfectly!!!

This recipe was easy to follow, and Emily and I have never liked doing laundry so much in our lives. Our apartment smells FANTASTIC and I'm starting to wash my pillowcases everyday. :) (that last one was an exaggeration...)

If you're up for trying new things, this DIY Laundry Detergent is fabulous, inexpensive, and pretty much the bomb-diggety!!!!!