VBS week

The last time I posted was just 9 days ago, but according to my pictures, I have lived a lot of life since then!

Starting with the forest fire smoke our area was hugely affected by at the end of last week.  On Thursday, July 16, the haze and smell of smoke increased dramatically throughout the day.  In the afternoon we were decorating the church for VBS.  When I arrived I took this picture of the view from the parking lot, which usually is a lovely view of the mountains.

A couple of hours later when I was leaving, the view had changed to this!

Friday was still pretty bad.  Lots of events were cancelled in the area.  Saturday morning we got some rain and storms, and after that the air began to clear.

This past week we had VBS at church, Monday through Thursday evening.  Each day I picked Hunter up from day camp and took him along to VBS.  I led the singing in the whole group assembly each evening, and I also helped out with lesson time.  One evening the story was about God's love and crucifixion.  As the leader was telling the story, Hunter raised his hand and asked if he could tell why Jesus was crucified.  She said he could.  He proceeded to explain the false accusations against Jesus, and the reason he was crucified, in a slow, simple, profound way.  All the kids were quiet and listening to him.  Melissa, the teacher, thanked him and said maybe he could be the teacher.  She meant it as a sincere compliment.   My heart was happy!  

As usual, it was a fun and tiring adventure! On Thursday afternoon I met Steph half way to get Sammy and Bianca.  They helped out with the outdoor games at VBS that evening and were VERY appreciated.  As I took pictures I watched them a bit and was very proud of how natural and confident they were.

On Wednesday morning Dick and I drove to Lancaster County for his Hempfield High School class reunion brunch.  I think I knew one person, and I didn't even sit at the same table as her!  Dick had a great time.

From there we drove to Lititz.  Our friends, Elvin and Lorraine Brandt, who bought our Lititz house from us in 2010, would be moving the next day, and we wanted to see the house one last time.  We had a wonderful time reminiscing together for an hour or so.  How we had loved that house!  Never imagining that we would live there just a few years before our big move to State College.

As I said above, Sammy and Bianca are here for a few days, but I will save the stories and pictures of our adventures for another post.  

Meanwhile, some GREAT pictures of other grandchildren.  I was sent these beautiful pictures of Frank and some of his kids (J'von, Alaya, V'anni, and RaeLynn) at a festival in Reading last weekend.

Destiny sent me these incredibly adorable pictures of Ketsi.  She was 6 months old on Wednesday.

And of course, what is a post in the summertime without a few pictures of my flowers??

Have a great weekend!