One day left

I knew that VBS week was going to be killer. Truly, I did. But knowing it, and actually living it are two completely different things.

All week I have been saying to myself, "Bethany, you just reappeared in the world of blogging. This is no time to disappear again." But every night, I have simply crashed. Today however, I fell asleep in an exhausted heap from 3:30 to 4, so I have a small second wind built in.

Two sad thing I have learned this week: 1.) It is really hard to get your body onto a new schedule. 2am -9am versus 12-7... they are the same amount of sleep, but when your body is use to one, it really hurts to try to go to bed "early" and get up "early". I have been trying to get to bed by 11, but my body just struggles with that. Plus, with VBS taking up 8-12:30 every day, and there still being the normal schedule of Tang soo do for C, speech therapy for Z, and well, things like laundry, grocery shopping, returning library books, cooking an actual meal and then putting the dishes in the dishwasher....

I am making myself tired just writing about it.

But back to my original point. The second sad thing I learned is that I am not happy with my new camera. I have heard great reviews about this model, but mine is not great AT ALL. I can get decent pictures with it, but I have to work for them. With kids, I don't want to have to work for them. I want them to be easy.

I am not sure if I got a faulty one, or if I am just hard to please. Either way, it is going back tomorrow. I might use it for the final day of VBS, because I don't have time to go research and pick out a new one tonight. But I might just use my old one. I am not pleased.

Thankfully, there have been others taking pictures for VBS. However, I am the only one who has been there every day, all day. One of the fathers is a professional, and has equipment that is amazing. He got some fabulous action shots. But he came for about an hour, two separate days. One of the mothers has a fabulous camera, and an amazing eye for shots. But she was only able to come for half of today. So, it has just been me, three hours a day, every day. I am the one who has (hopefully) gotten the shots of kids loving on each other, bonding with a teacher, learning something cool, painting a fun craft....

Oh the pressure! It is hilarious though. I am in charge of the drama and music on stage so after opening "ceremony" I am a floater until the closing - I take pictures, run errands, find lost items, etc. Several of the kids just assume that I am coming to take their picture. As soon as they see me walking their direction, they pose. A couple of the others have taken to telling me "no flash photography allowed" as soon as I get close. I have been sure to get several shots of them, just to be annoying!

These are my drama teens. The one not in costume runs our sound and video. They have all been fabulous!

These girls are two of my shutter bugs.

They love to ham it up, and then immediately want to see their picture.

I loved this shot of all the shoes.

They had to take them off before they played the game that required them to do things like

hula hoop in jello,

or stand in a bucket of ice!

There are more pictures I would add, but they will have to be edited first. The kids all wore name tags, and I don't think it would be wise to post their names across the web.

As exhausting as it is, I am loving every minute. From dancing enthusiastically on stage, to helping make breakfast kabob "swords of the spirit",

water balloons and hula hoops, 400 pictures, and even cleaning up after the poor little thing that ate too many marshmallows... and you can guess that how story ends. I love Vacation Bible School. Little hearts that are eager to love Jesus, openly, without holding back. It truly is a beautiful thing to be a part of.