AWANAs wraps up for another year . . .

The kids have just wrapped up another AWANAs season. Since September, they've indulged themselves in great teaching, games, fellowship and fun on a weekly basis. They showed an awesome level of commitment in their memory work, too.

In the fall, we enjoyed participating in the AWANA fun fair. In Feb, Levi and Daniel paired up as a team in the Bible Quiz competition - and got 2nd place!. In March, all of the kids enjoyed designing their pinewood derby cars and competing in the "AWANA Grand Prix" . . . several new trophies entered our house that day! Just a few weeks ago, Emily had the unique opportunity to prepare and teach the weekly lesson for her class. She did an excellent job!

Anna was sick the night of the awards banquet, so she didn't make it into any of the pictures - but she zoomed through her book(s) and received several awards as well. We are thankful for the blessing that AWANAs continues to be to all of our kids.

Allow me to brag on Emily (even more!) for a moment and share this excerpt from the e-mail that her leader sent me just after she taught the lesson:

"I wanted to let you know that Emily did a phenomenal job of teaching the AWANA Trek lesson tonight. Due to the fact that she completed the requirements for the year well ahead of schedule, her demonstrated grasp of Scripture, and clear enthusiasm for the topic (spiritual gifts and service in the Church), I challenged her a couple of weeks ago to prepare a lesson for tonight. Last week, we reviewed her plan for the lesson to verify that she was on target, and tonight she delivered a practical, challenging lesson that was very well-rooted in Scripture with an exercise that encouraged the entire class to look at their own strengths from the perspective of how they could be used to further the Kingdom. I was impressed with the depth of understanding and level of preparation that Emily demonstrated, along with her willingness to stretch herself beyond what she would usually be comfortable with.
I am not aware of another instance of a Trek student leading an entire lesson, let alone doing so with the aplomb that Emily did tonight"

(kudos to our Emily girl!)

Maggie!

One of Anna's best friends lives right across the street from us. Maggie and her little sister, Rebecca, play at our house regularly . . . they play dress up, watch movies, play with Lincoln Logs, jump on the trampoline, swing on the swings, build things in the sand, eat fruit roll-ups, play in the sprinkler and sometimes even get permission to play in their favorite spot of all - on top of our minivan! Anna and Maggie were both thrilled to have their first sleepover together this spring. What a blessing neighbors can be!

Daniel's half birthday

Daniel, in keeping with tradition, made sure that Arby's curly fries were part of his half birthday celebration this year . . . that boy LOVES those things! He has also had a great desire to go bowling lately, so we were sure to knock some pins down with him too. We had a good time (even if mom did win every game!!). We also had to sneak in a free Krispy Kreme donut (or two) and a quick trip to Chuck-E-Cheese to use up a few tokens (and thanks to a few mishaps with the games and generous employees, Daniel landed a lot of tickets!). Super, fun boy, growing up before our eyes ~ we enjoyed our special time with him.

Happy Easter!

Brothers and Smurfs!

Samuel and Daniel have spent many recent nights together sharing Daniel’s upper bunk and reading Smurfs books together! It’s so fun to hear them talking and giggling together.

Hunger Games Craze!

There’s been a definite Hunger Games craze at our house lately. Emily has long been a Suzanne Collins fan and read all of her books about a year ago. With the recent hype around the opening of the Hunger Games movie, the boys didn’t want to be left out. Both of them enjoyed the book and had a hard time putting it down (which was a fun milestone for Levi, who normally doesn’t care much for fiction). I can't locate the picture that I took of Levi with his nose buried in the book, but it is similar to this one of Daniel! It was fun seeing both of them enjoying the book so much.