dual personalities

Tag: VBS

June 19, 2024

I press on

by chuckofish

Well, I made it through another day of VBS. Thankfully it was not as hot as they predicted and it was windy so not really unpleasant at all.

Yes, it is hot work for this old lady, but I salute myself for getting out of my comfort zone. And I do enjoy interacting with the kids and the teenage helpers. It makes me feel better and more hopeful about the world in general. Every year the guy in charge of Games is pretty special and this year is no exception. It is our friend who just graduated from WashU Law School and is headed into the JAG Corps. Ridge is like 6″4″, handsome, a Marine, hilarious, and a fine young man. Of course, the kids love him.

He can make them do anything in the 95-degree weather, including jumping jacks, and think it’s fun. (Don’t worry, most the games involve being doused with water.) He has a whistle.

I loved how when the boys doused him at the end of Game Time today, one of them said, “We are baptizing you!”

Meanwhile here are some worthwhile things to read:

What You Read Builds Who You Are–so true!

Anne has many good thoughts here, well expressed as usual. “This is the point in late-stage decadence where the progressives who created a perfect world for themselves look around and hate what they have made. They are Frankenstein, recoiling from their fancy-liberal-utopia Monster. They are the proverbial I-Didn’t-Leave-the-Left-the-Left-left-Me.” Haha–so true.

Well, onward and upward.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

–Philippians 3:12-14

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June 18, 2024

Postcards from Michigan

by chuckofish

We had a wonderful time hanging out on Lake St. Clair with my brother and his wife. The marsh is beautiful there and a treasure trove of birds and other wildlife.

We went out in the boat…

…and drove to Port Huron, a nice town on Lake Huron with a good coffee shop. We sat on folding chairs and watched the big boats go by on the lake and on the St. Clair River.

Mostly we talked and talked. We are great talkers. We also celebrated my brother’s upcoming birthday…

Sunday we went back to Grosse Pointe and then I flew home without much ado that evening. Daughter #1 picked me up at the airport and I got home around 9:30. (The OM managed to get to Nashville and back and not burn the house down in the meantime. 🙌)

After the gorgeous Michigan weather it was a blow to return to 95-degree St. Louis! But bright and early the next day I arrived at church for the first day of VBS.

It was hot as blazes outside but I survived. Afterwards I went home and ate a big bowl of ice cream and took a nap. It will be a wild ride, but I think I’m up to it!

“They will not hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;
For He who has compassion on them will lead them
And will guide them to springs of water.”

–Isaiah 49:10

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June 4, 2024

“the wonderfulness of insects in the air”*

by chuckofish

Like baby Ida, it is taking me some time to recover from my busy weekend.

This week I will be catching up on a lot of things and working on an article for the Kirkwood Review. Besides the usual laundry and tidying up, I have quite a bit of Bible reading to catch up on. In my chronological Bible I am still in I Kings/I Chronicles and Psalms. I can’t help chuckling that I am such a movie nerd that when I read the verses Psalm 46: 10-11, I heard the voices of the Colour Sergeant and the missionary in a famous scene from Zulu (1964)!

I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

I’m sure some of you can relate.

Here’s a good reminder that you do not need to be perfect for God to use you. And as the line from my favorite hymn says, “if you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.”

And by the way, I volunteered to do VBS again this year, so I am preparing myself mentally for some good times to come in two weeks.

Onward and upward.

*I’m trying to appreciate this along with Walt Whitman (Miracles)–as our cicada invasion continues…

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June 19, 2023

It is well with my soul

by chuckofish

Well, VBS was a timely reminder that it is a good thing to get out of one’s comfort zone every now and then.

And I have to say, being with all those smart kids kind of restores my confidence in the future somewhat. For example, I had a really engaging conversation with one of the boys in my group about his first name. I asked him if was Welsh and he said Gaelic. This led him to ask if I had ever heard of Tombstone, because he is a descendant of the McLaurys and I was able to jump in and say, why yes, they were participants in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. (I had, of course, already been wondering about his name.) He said ‘they’ (his family) hated the movie Tombstone because of the way the McLaurys are depicted. He admitted that the McLaurys were the bad guys, but argued that the movie was not fair. I said he should tell his father to get the movie My Darling Clementine, which is an old movie made in 1946 starring Henry Fonda and is a much better telling of the story. He nodded, and being an intelligent lad, I am hopeful he will pass this information on to his father.

He went on to tell me that his father is a pastor at a downtown church. Then the boy next to him chimed in and said he also went to this church where his mother is the Music Director. We had a good conversation about animals we have seen in our yards. They were impressed that I had seen a coyote.

Anyway, I was glad to meet a boy who is interested in his genealogy and who can talk about it intelligently.

It was also a joy to see my grandchildren in the thick of things and to get hugs throughout the morning when we met in passing. They did great and I think they had a lot of fun.

Can you see them in the front? It did my heart good to hear those babes singing “It Is Well With My Soul”!

I had hoped to see them in church on Sunday singing with the rest of the kids at the beginning of the service, but Lottie broke her arm on Saturday at a pool party. She spent the afternoon in the E.R. We FaceTimed later that evening and she told me, “I’m okay, Mamu!’

She goes back to get a cast (purple with pink sparkles bien sûr) next week.

And lest we forget: we wish a belated happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful fathers out there!

And happy Juneteenth!

6 Comments
June 14, 2023

Our God is Holy!

by chuckofish

Well, I have made it through two days of VBS. The weather has been beautiful so no complaints there.

Everything is going according to well-laid plans. This is necessary when you have over 200 kids in attendance. And the boy assures me that the wee twins are practicing their songs and praise hands at home.

Besides praise singing, we do a lot of scripture memorizing using a variety of games. I ask you, what could be better for small children to learn and internalize than this:

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

My girls won the “Multi Verse Games” yesterday in our age group, so I was very proud. (Not that there are prizes or anyone pays attention to who wins or loses, but still, I was pleased.) We also tied in our field hockey game using pool noodles.

So onward and upward and here’s part of a prayer by John Calvin:

Grant that I may hear your voice in the morning since I have hoped in you. Show me the way in which I should walk, since I have lifted up my soul unto you. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, I have fled unto you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good Spirit conduct me to the land of uprightness.

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June 12, 2023

Arise my soul, arise

by chuckofish

We had a quiet weekend. The twins came over with their dad on Saturday after their swimming lesson and they ran around wrecking some havoc. We ate bagels before they left to go to a birthday party. I watched our local auction house online auction, but didn’t make any rescues. When I suggested to the OM that we might go to dinner at the Cracker Barrel, he literally leapt out of his chair and was in the car before I could powder my nose.

We enjoyed our homestyle meals and were home by 6:00 pm. Such oldsters. I noticed later on Not the Bee that there has been some controversy surrounding Cracker Barrel and a boycott because they are too woke. That might explain why there were so few people there! (Note the empty tables above.)

In church the sermon was about Hosea as we have been delving into this book for the last month or so. Interestingly, Anne wrote about it too. “Just to recap, in case you haven’t cracked open ye olde holy scriptures recently, (paging Rick Warren…and basically everyone), Israel, upon settling into the Land that the Lord her God had given her, decided that worshiping the gods of the people who lived there was at least as interesting as offering sacrifices and praise to the Lord. It’s not that they didn’t “worship” God, it’s just that on the way home from the place God put his Name, it was expedient and sensible to also stop at various other shrines and sacrifice a child or two along with pouring libations on the ground and depositing other kinds of offerings in the nooks and crannies of their inheritance. The all-or-nothing nature of Temple worship didn’t really suit the people whom the Lord had called out from all the nations around, to worship him alone.” God just wants your steadfast love. Is that too much to ask?

After church I helped decorate for VBS. And, thank you Jesus, I now have a teenage helper assigned to me so I do not have to go it totally alone with the 4/5th grade girls this week. 🙌🙌🙌

I thought this was very interesting, especially considering my post last week about outlawing insult. Now Monty Python is in trouble (again)…Forty-four years later we’re certainly not allowed to laugh at this nonsense because it has become the truth:

I mean who would have guessed how spot on the Pythons were back in the day!

And just in time for VBS, Matt Mitchell has a new video about…VBS!

P.S. Look at the wee pup and how his training is going: Sit, boy!

Good, dog!

3 Comments
June 5, 2023

It is hotter than the devil’s hootchie-cootchie out here

by chuckofish

Yes, it is full-on summer here in flyover country–hot and humid–and you better not walk barefoot on your asphalt driveway, that’s for sure. Heavy sigh. Well, we had a nice long spring and it was great while it lasted.

We kept a low profile this weekend, but Katie turned three in style back in Maryland.

She celebrated appropriately. (She is wearing her favorite vintage nightie, which my mother made for daughter #1/Aunt Mary about 36 years ago.)

Aunt Mary made her a tote bag with Pete the Cat fabric she found at Joann’s!

She immediately filled it up with books–a girl after our own hearts. Love the matching bow!

And, of course, there was cake!

I stayed after church on Sunday to go to a meeting for VBS volunteers–because, yes, I am once again doing my part, even after I said never again last year. This year I am on my own with 14 4th/5th graders! Am I crazy? Yes, yes I am. I will never be able to remember their names, much less keep track of them. I am praying for a teenage helper to step up to the plate.

I got a new t-shirt, since I threw mine away last year thinking I would never need it again. Well, I have a week to psych myself up for this. Please pray for me.

Enjoy your Monday!

4 Comments
June 16, 2022

I will praise your name

by chuckofish

I am that old lady! But the week is nearing an end. (Thank goodness.)

These homeschooled/Christian- and public-school kids are smart, disciplined, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic. They are allowed and encouraged to blow off steam during music (lots of jumping and hand movements) and during games, so they are ready to calm down and focus during crafts and Bible study. No one has complained about the heat (yet) and I haven’t heard a whine or mean word. (One girl did use a tone with me.) There are lots of teenage volunteers to pick up the slack for us oldsters. The games leader is a tall, handsome West Point cadet home for three weeks on break. The kids are all crazy about him, of course, and do not mind getting hot and sweaty and drenched with water balloons. (I am much less enthusiastic.)

But as Tim Challies advises, I have “embraced my finitude”—i.e. the fact that I am limited and weak and in so many ways insufficient and incapable. “This is a feature of your humanity rather than a bug.”

Anyway, I will make it through the week and then will have succeeded in making a few new friends and feeling more a part of my new church. Not a small thing for a super introvert who would prefer to not. Yay, me!

And the black bears are back! Ay caramba!

Thank you, sir, for saying this.

I liked this article a lot. “Whereas we denizens of late modernity are wandering in the fog of the simultaneous global renegotiation of all human custom, and consequently pining for nodal points of orientation, it seems fitting to remind ourselves that it is of the very essence of said “nodes” that they force no ultimate choice betwixt — ” Food for thought!

And in other news, Katiebelle’s mother gave her a haircut.

Perfect hair wasted on a toddler!

P.S. I almost have the hand movements down to this VBS song which doesn’t involve much jumping and so is my favorite. Also the lyrics are pretty familiar, right?

5 Comments
June 14, 2022

That’s why I sing

by chuckofish

Greetings from Mystery Island where the cool kids are hanging out this week.

And we are having fun–if only it weren’t so darn hot! Most of our VBS activities are outside and it is literally 100 degrees in the shade. But I am keeping up with my 10-year old charges, who are good sports and are staying hydrated.

I have my own fond memories of Vacation Bible School. Back in the day my Episcopal church held a VBS with two other churches (Ladue Chapel Presbyterian and Second Baptist). Although practically 50% of my school class went to my church, no one went to VBS. It wasn’t cool and everyone was busy at their country clubs. But we went and my mother even helped. I always had fun and made a few new friends.

Many years later, when I was a junior at Williams College, my friend Bob from Long Island went skiing in Switzerland over spring break. While he was on the ski lift, he started talking to the young man in the seat next to him. When the other young man said he was from St. Louis, my friend said, “Oh, do you know Katie Chamberlin?” and the guy said, “Yes, I do! We went to Vacation Bible School together!”

They had a good it’s-a-small-world laugh over that, but I think it really blew Bob’s Jewish mind.

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