We've had some fun visitors in our home the past week. Our friends have a bunny named Elvis who won my children's hearts long ago. They periodically ask if we will ever be able to bunny sit for Elvis. Their wish came true and they had a pet bunny for a whole week. They did a great job taking care of him. Julia made me smile so many times as she would sit next to his cage professing her love, "Elvis do you know how much I love you? I love you Elvis!" And yes, she cried when he left. Thanks for coming to visit Elvis, you are always welcome.
We also brought home caterpillar eggs from our recent trip to the butterfly farm. We were fortunate to have 3 caterpillars hatch. They spent the last two weeks stripping the milkweed plant of every leaf. They are hungry little munchers, growing 3,000 times their original size!
This past weekend we had the privilege of watching them make their chrysalises.
We'll keep you posted. They are set to emerge as butterflies on July 7th around 10:30am. We are anxiously awaiting their miraculous transformation!
In addition to Chloe the cat and the four fish, it's beginning to feel a little like a zoo around here.
You may have wondered where we've been lately. We've been in the Big Apple...
Okay, not the actual NYC... our local Vacation Bible School.
We all look so forward to this week every year. Both the kids attend and I teach the preK rec/games class. It is a week of crazy fun and excitement, but also exhaustion. Wipes me out every time, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. We start on Sunday transforming the church for the week. Then from 8am-12pm every day, we are going nonstop. This year we broke a new record with 487 kids in attendance and 150 adult and teen volunteers! We had 60 in the PreK dept and they kept us hopping as usual!
We started the morning in centers spending some time playing with and getting to know the kids.
Then it was off to Worship Rally in Times Square to get things started.
This is one of our favorite parts of the day. The time to praise together and practice all the songs for the week. They also teach us a lot the sign language to go with the songs. It adds so much to the worship to use your voice and body all at the same time. I love watching the kids...
Through the lyrics we also learn some powerful truths. This year the focus was connecting to Christ with faith, with trust, with love, and with others. We also learn several scriptures in the songs. This was our theme verse for the week. All the kids could sing it from memory in no time.
A few of our songs contained rap this year. Ms. Janet, the resident rapper, did a great job with her lines. On the last day she had some of the kids come up on stage in front of everyone to sing with her. I was so impressed that Julia actually did it! She knew all the words and the motions!
Here's the song they were singing...
The kids spent the days moving through different stations for Bible, music, crafts, moonwalks, and rec games. We had a lot planned for them this year with 15 fun games in our own Central Park. We pretended to be tourists...
delivered pizzas... (love the purse Mady!)
played with the animals at the zoo...
made hot dogs...
practiced our tee ball and football skills...
hopped over manholes...
and crammed as much fun as possible into our time...
Carter, meanwhile, was having a great time upstairs with the big kids having fun of their own and taking the time to really dig deeper into the truths we were talking about this week.
It was a year ago at VBS that Carter made his decision to accept Christ. And this week we celebrated the one year anniversary.
On Wednesday night they host Family Night and have everyone come for a big Worship Rally and fun night...
We had a wonderful week in the Big Apple. The kids learned so much about faith, salvation, and evangelism. They've been asking some great questions and making some good connections. And we loved the time with our friends- old and new!
See ya next year, VBS!! Now off to nap and recover :) Thanks for the memories!!
Daddy took the kids to the children's museum for an afternoon of fun...
and Star Wars Day! Carter has recently watched the movies and has several of the Star Wars' lego sets. Julia loves most things Carter does and knows most of the characters, too...
Making their Yoda masks...
Time to make the doughnuts!!The Krispy Kreme doughnut simulator was a big hit...
Chef Julia taking charge...
Then it was on to the animals...
The crazy part is, she probably would try and kiss a raccoon! She sleeps with a possum after all.
Julia LOVED the vet's office and eagerly got to work on her new friend the raccoon...
One of the primary goals of our local foundation, Kids of Childhood Cancer, is to bring joyful opportunities to the inpatient oncology families at Brenners' Hospital. We want them to have fun together and feel more 'normal', even for a moment. We want them to have a chance to get to know each other better and talk with the other families who have gone before them. One of the ways we do this is through theme nights.
This month we had Lego Therapy Night. Vinny is our resident lego fanatic. He has made several trips to the new Lego store, just an hour from here. One of the Master Builders has become a good friend to their family. He wanted to do something to help and asked if he could bring the store to the kids. After some work with Lego corporate, his vision came to reality.
Have you ever seen so many legos at one time?!
Vinny, in his element...
Vinny and Master Builder Mark, busy at work...
Even Dr. Buckley, one of our oncologists, got in on the action. He's such a kid at heart!
Camp Brenner has never been so fun :)
One of the Lego Builders made a UNC sign (the small one on the right). One of our kids one-upped him and made a huge replica himself- awesome!!
It was a great night for everyone. We all had fun building and creating. We all made some new friends. I was able to talk with Christine and her son, Chris (6) who was just diagnosed with Stage 3 Wilms' in March of this year. It is an emotionally complex experience when you meet another family battling the same cancer- so excited to connect with someone who understands, thankful to be able to share your journey for the benefit of someone else, relieved to not feel so alone, sharing all unique struggles and challenges of cancer, but devastated to realize the war goes on and another child has been dragged into the fight, aching for the personal knowledge of what lies ahead for them. Chris is in the beginning weeks of inpatient chemo. Friday was his radiation simulation and Monday he begins 13 rounds of radiation. Please pray for Chris and his family.
The kids were so excited to celebrate Father's Day today. I love that they are old enough to anticipate, understand, and prepare for holidays now. It is a treat to see what goes on in their little minds and hearts. They both ADORE their Daddy. When Daddy's around, Mommy takes a quick backseat. They even have completely different habits, expectations, and requests when Daddy's around- including waking up a whole hour earlier. Glad this one swings the other way on weekdays :) They both watch the clock in the afternoons to figure out how long until 5:26 when Daddy walks in the door. from that moment until their heads hit the pillow- they are all Daddy, all the time.
They are so blessed to have a dad who loves to play, makes them laugh, likes to be silly, gets involved in all their activities, and can cook, clean, bathe, shop, and care with the best of them. They keep him on his toes and rarely give him a moment to breathe, but they couldn't love him more of they tried. When Daddy's around they don't want to miss even one thing and see the potential fun and opportunity in every spare second.
Julia couldn't wait to give him the tie she made at church. She loves to make gifts, cards, and pictures for people. It is definitely one of her love languages. My bedroom door is covered with her work right now and I cherish every little piece. It's not in any danger of falling off either. Her love of art is equally matched by her love of scotch tape- a lot of tape.
They had eager;y shopped for a new rolling cooler for him and filled it with all kinds of camping and outdoor items...
Of course the cooler doubles as an animal house for the kids. Julia is a rabbit these days. I think they had as much fun playing with the cooler and the wrapping bag as opening the gifts. Daddy gave them several rides around the house...
We had a yummy day of food, too. French toast for breakfast made with Panera's cinnamon raisin bread, egg strata and biscuits for lunch, and ribs, corn on the cob, and fruit on the deck for dinner...
So thankful for simple days like this when we can enjoy our family and give thanks for healthy, happy moments together :)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dads out there. Our family is so blessed by all of our dad friends who play a role in our children's lives. Thank you for walking this road beside us and rising to the calling God has placed on you. This one's for you! Had a great time singing along at church with some of you this morning :) Classic.
And to all of those dads who influenced my life- way back in the day- I thank you. And to my own Dad, I love you and couldn't be prouder to be your daughter. Thank you for teaching us how to walk through this life with grace, integrity, and purpose- and more importantly for showing us by example. our family is so blessed by the legacy you carry on. We love you!
We also brought home caterpillar eggs from our recent trip to the butterfly farm. We were fortunate to have 3 caterpillars hatch. They spent the last two weeks stripping the milkweed plant of every leaf. They are hungry little munchers, growing 3,000 times their original size! 
This past weekend we had the privilege of watching them make their chrysalises. 
We'll keep you posted. They are set to emerge as butterflies on July 7th around 10:30am. We are anxiously awaiting their miraculous transformation!
