#WorthRevisit: Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity

With the ending of the summer approaching and Vacation Bible School sessions going on all over the place, I felt a pull to share memories from Little Man's first time experiencing this faith strengthening fun. This year our parish was not hosting a Vacation Bible School and I have to admit I was really sad. VBS always seems like a necessary part of our summer. Thankfully Holy Heroes is hosting their Summer Faith Adventure and we start our session August 1st! If you are looking for something to inspire yourself and your children, I highly recommend giving this online program a try and join us on our Faith Adventure. You can find more info and can ask questions through my Facebook Event here. Let's end this summer on a high note and make sure we have enriched our children and families as we head into a new month, a school year and all the new adventures that we are heading towards.

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 1}:

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity Vacation Bible School started today and Little Man was excited to have something to do for the entire week! As I mentioned in an earlier post, it has been raining non-stop this past week (there is a town not too far away that has declared a local state of emergency, so please keep the Gulf Coast in your prayers). I am so thrilled that our church is continuing with their lesson plans from last year's VBS. Last years the theme was Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a Kid and this years theme is Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity. Hometown Nazareth was an eye-opening experience for Little Man. He knows many stories about Jesus and his life but the idea that "Jesus was a kid like me"was a concept that had never entered his mind before. I was relieved Little Man remembered the amazing experience he had last year woke up excited, knowing he had a great day ahead of him. Another reason I really enjoy the depiction of these Vacation Bible Studies is because it incorporates an abundance of arts and crafts while exposing the children to new songs and music.We still have several refrigerator magnets from last year and I hope we have more to add by the end of the week. I wish Squishy was old enough to participate in this religious program, he gets lonely without his big brother around the house for several hours.

I love that Little Man can describe his entire experience and relates it to how we try to live our lives. The first thing he asked me after his first day at VBS was, "Mommy, did you know when things change, God is always with us?!" I thought this was a great lesson for him to be learning at this particular time in his life. I felt like God was truly speaking to him (and our family) because Little Man has expressed some concern about our move. I have to admit I was raised a military brat and this move is already making me a nervous wreck. Finding a new home, school and church from such a long distance with little time... not exactly my idea of fun. Although, the excitement of a new adventure in a new place with new experiences and knowing God has a plan for us helps calm and reassures me that this is the best thing for our family.

Here are a few crafts and original artwork from Little Man today! As you can see... he loves color! I hope he is ready to help create our front door wreath and some Sacred and Immaculate Heart T-shirts sometime this week. We are also attending story time at our local library and picking up some books from our book list. There will also be a celebration in the evening for the library celebrating its 10 year anniversary! I will have some more on those activities tomorrow.I am going to wrap this up so I can get back to snuggle time with Squishy. We are watching The Little Engine that Could, his absolute favorite movie! Little Man is in bed early in preparation of Day 2 of VBS. I hope everyone is finding some great adventures to have with your families during this summer. I will leave you with a cute snuggle picture of me and my Squishy baby.

God Bless!

You can check out the following information on the rest of Vacation Bible School:
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 2}
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 3, 4, 5}

I have linked this to Theology is a Verb and Reconciled to You

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 3, 4 & 5}

I am sorry I wasn't able to keep up with the daily updates. Working extra shifts is starting to catch up to me and my schedule feels completely jumbled. Here is a small overview of the past three days at VBS. On Wednesday I did manage to get an adorable picture of Little Man in the lion cut out on my cell phone but I am still searching for the USB cord to download it onto the computer. I did get a cute magnet to add to the refrigerator that just so happens to have a picture of Little Man in the lion cut out! 

The pictures around him are foam stickers of lions, angels and a sign that says "The God We Serve is Able to Save Us". The picture is up close because it also has Little Man's name across the top of the magnet with foam letter stickers! Its absolutely adorable and looks amazing next to the magnet he made last year. My favorite new magnet was the only thing that was brought home this week. We had several coloring sheets portraying different parts of the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den. Little Man also made several finger puppets and a jewelry box. The jewels that adorn the box have already been sprinkled all over the carpet and on random objects but for one whole day it was Little Man's prized possession. He even asked me if I had any diamonds and gold that I needed him to keep safe. He was really disappointed I said I didn't have any diamonds or gold but offered my watch (which wasn't good enough for the jewelry box lol) but was happy when I told him he could use it as a treasure chest instead. 

I think the plant project completed on the last day of VBS is Little Man's most favorite. The jar is decorated with a lion and Daniel is on the other side. The paper on the side says "Please water me so I can grow big & strong like Daniel". We need to find a safe spot that little fingers or crazy cats can't reach our special plant this weekend. We may have to leave the little guy outside on the patio, at least until we get the house a little more organized. I wonder what kind of plant it could be?

During the week there have been several feast days I have yet to post about. Wednesday was the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua and Today is The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Sunday is Father's Day.

Above are the only pictures I have from Wednesday during our small celebration of Saint Anthony of Padua. We enjoyed some delicious spaghetti and meatballs. I know Saint Anthony is mostly known for his time in Portugal but he also ministered in Italy. We needed something easy and quick and who doesn't love spaghetti night? As you can see by the pictures... Spaghetti night is always accompanied with a long bath :o) I am planning to incorporate the Feast of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart on Sunday.

 Another craft that Little Man is extremely proud of was his lion hat which he shared with Squishy after his delicious pizza party. We are having a great start to the summer and have many more fun activities coming up including Squishy's first haircut tomorrow along with a friend's birthday party and an outside movie for the boys! Little Man's 5th Birthday and Going Away Party is also coming up next weekend! Please keep us in your prayers while we try to get this move underway.

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 2}

 Today was the second day of VBS. Little Man had another amazing day with great stories and crafts.  It is so adorable to listen to him sing the songs he learned on the car ride home. I am pretty sure he makes up most of the words since he is still learning them but it makes it even more cute.

Crafts today included creating a stamp and picture from your unique stamp and a collar decorated rhinestones. It looks like the stamp was made my using a plastic lid from a peanut butter or mayonnaise jar that had foam cut out stickers on the top. The stamp was brought home with Little Man but when I tried to clean the ink off the stickers fell off as well. I had to throw away the wet project while no one was looking. The stamp craft seems like something that would be a great way to decorate handmade cards or scrapbook and I will be trying them out sometime too!

Here are the pictures of Little Man's prized artwork that will adorn the refrigerator until August. A color page of Daniel in Babylon to the left and his stamp artwork created from his homemade stamp to the right. I noticed today  that there is the cutest lion backdrop for people to take pictures with at Little Man's classroom. I didn't have my camera on me today but you better believe I will get a picture of Little Man with the lion tomorrow! Maybe even a picture of Squishy... I don't know if he will be tall enough but its worth a try!

Little Man wearing his decorated collar

Does anyone have any fun ideas to incorporate in Summer Learning? I have found a Book Adventure by the Sylvan Learning Center and The Summer Faith Adventure by Holy Heroes. We completed the Lenten Adventure with Holy Heroes for the first time this past Lent and it was an awesome experience for the whole family! I think I am just as excited as the kids about the Summer Adventure starting. This is our first time participating in the Book Adventure but Little Man is having fun creating a book list and reading some of the books we all ready own to get more reading points. I would really like to try a few more programs out if anyone has any suggestions... I would greatly appreciate it!

Time to make some coffee and get started on some cleaning and preparations for the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua tomorrow. If you are looking for some quick ideas check out Catholic Cuisine! They have some wonderful recipes... some of which I will be trying out tomorrow! Pain Perdue (Lost Bread) and possibly the Multitude of Fish Trail Mix.... God Bless!

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 1}

Vacation Bible School started today and Little Man was excited to have something to do for the entire week! As I mentioned in an earlier post, it has been raining non-stop this past week (there is a town not too far away that has declared a local state of emergency, so please keep the Gulf Coast in your prayers). I am so thrilled that our church is continuing with their lesson plans from last year's VBS. Last years the theme was Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a Kid and this years theme is Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity. Hometown Nazareth was an eye-opening experience for Little Man. He knows many stories about Jesus and his life but the idea that "Jesus was a kid like me"was a concept that had never entered his mind before. I was relieved Little Man remembered the amazing experience he had last year woke up excited, knowing he had a great day ahead of him. Another reason I really enjoy the depiction of these Vacation Bible Studies is because it incorporates an abundance of arts and crafts while exposing the children to new songs and music.We still have several refrigerator magnets from last year and I hope we have more to add by the end of the week. I wish Squishy was old enough to participate in this religious program, he gets lonely without his big brother around the house for several hours.

I love that Little Man can describe his entire experience and relates it to how we try to live our lives. The first thing he asked me after his first day at VBS was, "Mommy, did you know when things change, God is always with us?!" I thought this was a great lesson for him to be learning at this particular time in his life. I felt like God was truly speaking to him (and our family) because Little Man has expressed some concern about our move. I have to admit I was raised a military brat and this move is already making me a nervous wreck. Finding a new home, school and church from such a long distance with little time... not exactly my idea of fun. Although, the excitement of a new adventure in a new place with new experiences and knowing God has a plan for us helps calm and reassures me that this is the best thing for our family.

Here are a few crafts and original artwork from Little Man today! As you can see... he loves color! I hope he is ready to help create our front door wreath and some Sacred and Immaculate Heart T-shirts sometime this week. We are also attending story time at our local library and picking up some books from our book list. There will also be a celebration in the evening for the library celebrating its 10 year anniversary! I will have some more on those activities tomorrow.I am going to wrap this up so I can get back to snuggle time with Squishy. We are watching The Little Engine that Could, his absolute favorite movie! Little Man is in bed early in preparation of Day 2 of VBS. I hope everyone is finding some great adventures to have with your families during this summer. Please check out our Book Adventure! I will leave you with a cute snuggle picture of me and my Squishy baby. God Bless!

You can check out the following information on the rest of Vacation Bible School:
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 2}
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 3, 4, 5}