Our Little Miracle

It's only Tuesday and already we have had our first little miracle at VBS! Let me tell you about the day...

It all started early this morning when I listened to the radio weather report. Rain! Ugh! With all of the flooding we have had lately, we really did not need any more water...our chitlins were all ready soaked! And my class wanted to go for a picnic lunch on the grounds by the cemetary. Our lesson plan was about God's mercy and love and I thought it would be a great idea to pray for those who had died. And since Sr. Caprice worked our little fingers off getting the cemetery cleaned up, we needed to visit. There was a beautiful spot, right underneath the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to place our blanket.

The children came to VBS all heavy hearted, especially since they helped make the picnic lunches. The children brought in sandwiches, chips, vegetables, fruit, and other delectables. They knew how bad I was in the kitchen (I tried to make peanutbutter cookies for the class but no one would eat them since they were burnt - I told them they were fit for a king - burnt offerings. They did not like that joke!). *sigh*

The children were looking forward to our picnic but the rain continued. Then one of the students asked a wonderful question that made everything turn around...'why can't we pray about it?' Wow! What faith this youngster has! I can learn a lot from these children. Jesus did say that our hearts & faith need to be like those of children.

So, we prayed. Mother Frangelico brought in a statue that someone donated last week - a statue of the Infant of Prague. The children prayed to the Child Jesus to turn the grey sky, blue. It reminded me of the song 'You are my sunshine' however, I was thinking more of 'You are my Sonshine!'

Wouldn't you know it, God heard their prayers. About 11:30am, the clouds disappered and the sky was a bright shade of blue, the bluest I have ever seen. The sun was shining brightly as if to becon us outside. We took a plastic tarp, laid it on the ground then laid our blanket of that. It made the talk about God's mercy even better! It even seemed as if Jesus' Sacred Heart was beating happily with our discussion.

You ARE my Sonshine!

Faith, Hope, Love...the Greatest of these is Love

I finally have a few moments to sit down during my second round of VBS. As I reflected upon Mother Frangelico's chiding of my last VBS teaching, I thought how would I improve my next session, keeping with the program yet adding some of my 'love of life', so not to confuse the children. I really enjoyed reading their stories, and I know everyone here laughed because of the simplicity of the children, however, I would really feel bad if Father asked them about Noah and they told him that Noah's wife was Joan of Ark. Granted, Joan of Ark is a fantastic Saint and showed us how to fight for God and God's Laws, and Noah showed us how to be obedient to God's will, they did not live at the same time.

So the next VBS teaching was on love - the greatest gift of God. How was I going to teach about love? Did the children really know what love was? I prayed about this for a week. I decided to go out on a limb again (this limb may be getting a bit thin) and decided to ask the children what they knew about love before I started the lesson. I thought this would be a great way for me to understand where they were coming from and help them understand God's love.

What happened was quite unexpected! Not only did my children participate, but also children from other classes. All the teachers compiled the answers for your review.



"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." `- Rebecca - age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." - Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." - Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." - Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." - Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." - Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss" - Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." - Bobby - age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." - Nikka - age 6

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." - Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." - Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." - Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." - Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." - Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." - Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." - Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." - Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image) - Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." - Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." - Jessica - age 8




I think we can learn a lot from some of these children! Their wisdom is beyond their years! What would happen if we took this wisdom to our work places? I think it would be a much happier world. What are your thoughts?

the 'New' Bible?

As Mother Frangelico explained, we have been working very hard with Vacation Bible School and the children. It has been exhilarating as well as exhausting!

One of my duties was teaching some of the Bible Stories to the 5-6 year old children. I asked the children to write down their favorite Bible stories and then give a presentation to the rest of the children and teachers on Friday. What happened was quite interesting. Here are a few of the more memorable snippits:

In the beginning:

• "In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the Sabbath off."
• "Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree."
• "Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark."
• "Noah built an ark, which the animals come on to in pears."

The Old Testament:

• 'Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.'
• 'The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals.'
• 'Samson was a strongman who let himself is led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah.'
• 'Samson spayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles.'
• 'Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.'
• 'The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the 10 amendments.'
• 'The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.'
• 'The seventh commandment is thou shall not admit adultery.'
• 'Moses died before he ever reached Canada.'
• 'Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Genital.'
• 'The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.'
• 'David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.'
• 'Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.'

The New Testament:

• 'When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.'
• 'When the three wise guys from the east side arrived, they found Jesus in the manager.'
• 'Jesus was born because Man had an immaculate contraption.'
• 'St John, the blacksmith, dumped water on his head.'
• 'Jesus said the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you.'
• 'He also explained, "A man doth not live by sweat alone."'
• 'It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.'
• 'The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.'
• 'The epistles were the wives of the apostles.'
• 'One of the opossums was St Matthew who was also a taxi man.'
• 'St Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.'
• 'A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony'

The Brothers, Sisters, Mother and Father were all trying to control their laughter...I could hear snickers and coughing coming from the back of the room. I tried to tell the kids that they were doing a good job, but all I could hear was the laughter. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. *sigh*

Regarding the mixup with God's grace, I'm still contemplating what Father explained to me. I'll post about that soon.