The Grand Finale

Friday morning was one of relaxation. We didn't go out and do any of the door-to-door stuff, which in one sense I was disappointed, but in another I was thankful that we got to spend the time by going to Da Vinci's (a coffee house) for a drink and some time playing cards. Bill thanked us for coming and then we broke up into two groups and just chatted for a while. David, Nathaniel, Ruth, and Jeanne played Dutch Blitz. I joined in for one round but man, my heart was racing by the end of the game. Those things are just too fast for me. That, and I probably try to get a little competitive!

I spent the morning writing a couple of posts for this site, writing in a couple of journals, packing (which took all of five minutes) and reading, so overall I felt very rested and active when we went to the YMCA for the afternoon of Vacation Bible School. The kids were pretty good. I had to take Andrew R out for a little bit. I was thankful when he showed up he ran up and sat on my lap and told me he was going to be good today. He started squirming though and I moved him back. After he had proven he could sit still, we went back to the group.

David reiterated everything that we had done by asking questions and getting the kids involved. We recited our memory verse and sang a couple of songs we had learned. Admittedly, I had never heard "The Steps of a Good Man" before this week, and I enjoyed that one as much as the kids I think. There was a snack time where nearly everyone had Root Beer Floats, which made a bit of a mess but the kids loved it. Then we headed over to the pool. It took a little time to get everyone dressed and through. David had gone to the pool beforehand for preparation, I quickly changed and ran out there. There were a couple of small children that needed some place to go so I took them to the kiddie pool, which was about 15 x 15 feet and only 20 inches deep in the deepest part.

The bigger children were allowed to go in the larger pool if they took a swimming test. but all the little kids didn't mind being in water that went up to their thighs. I didn't see David or Clay but I'm told that they each had a half dozen kids hanging on them at any given time (in the larger pool). In the small pool, I was joined by about 15 kids, Christi, and Evelyn (who was looking after Leanna, the petite little girl who sat on my lap and just about everyone else's during the course of VBS). I was the monster and went "sneaking" around in the water, grabbing and gobbling whatever little kid I could get my hands on, grinning horribly and roaring whenever I lunged. I got rub marks on my knees from it being so shallow as I dragged my legs behind me but it was a lot of fun. Mikala (or something like that) was a tall girl who rarely smiled, was probably about 12 and was always in a corner by herself, with a little tuft of hair done up in a tail and glasses. I was surprised but she joined in too and she and Lily went around being sharks. She was having fun and was more active with the group than I'd seen her before. She dared me to get her (which I did several times by grabbing her ankle) and then she'd shriek and laugh. It was a good time. Oh, and if Christi ever sees this, I want to thank her again for the haircut, I had a couple of kids grab my hair and give a yank, thankfully there wasn't much to hold on to!

The workers at the pool turned on some water fountains, one of which was on top of a large mushroom, or umbrella and came cascading down in a shower around the edges. There were also fountains that squirted water in on the sides, and the kids lined up, sitting on the edges to play with those. Two of the older boys stayed in the pool to "help" with the younger ones. I think Tray (Trace?) is a good kid, he looks after his younger siblings and they respect him and like him a lot, as do many of the younger kids. The first day I had one of them tell me, "That's Tray, he's cool."

Soon it was time to get out and go get changed. It took a while to get all the boys out of the locker rooms, when I came in, the larger boys were putting the younger ones INSIDE the lockers. Thankfully there were no locks on them and the younger boys liked it, but I tried to move them out as quickly as possible so we could get going to the parents. I was thankful in a way that it was over and we could rest from those labours, but at the same time, I had enjoyed interacting with some of the kids and knew that if I did see them next year (since the Y invited us back) that they would have grown and wondered if they would remember me. Some of the children had bonded a little with us, and looked up to us as their leaders and friends, and that is a great thing to have.

We went back to the W's house and some of them got ready to go, as Mr S just pulled in to take them to Covenant Heights. We said goodbye to them all and hopefully some of the guys and myself will be able to keep in touch with e-mail.

It was sad to see everyone leave, but I knew that I at least would be back in about a month for school, so that was something to look forward to. I'll miss you Evelyn, it was really nice getting to know you better and being able to share a few things about the trip and I think I finally figured out who was making the faces at me. It was Anna.

Okay, so maybe I'm not sure but it's a good guess at least. I'll connect the dots one of these days, and then The Shadow really will know!

It was such a great group of people and we all got along very well. I was blessed to be a part of the group and was so thankful I stayed another week. Thanks to the W family and S family in particular, and Ruth and Anna for all their help, Evelyn, Laura, for the days she came (thanks for being my partner) and the entire church family, everyone was so generous and willing to work and I was blessed.

I stayed for dinner and then decided I wanted to watch Spiderman with the W family and Clay and then I went home, arriving just at about 12:05, taking almost exactly two and a half hours. Then I woke up this morning and said hello and started talking! See you all soon, Lord Willing.