VBS

So I have somehow managed to land the responsibilty of being the director of Vacation Bible School at church. Last year was my first year. I cleary remember driving in my car when Pastor Jeff called my cell phone (I was at the intersection of Vogel and Old Lemay). He said my name had been recommended by someone and he wanted to see if I was interested in Directing VBS. I asked who had given him my name and he said it was a little birdy. I am pretty sure I knew who the little birdy was but that is besides the point. Anyway, I told him I would think about it. I called my husband and asked what he thought. He said, "but honey, you don't even like kids!" Then he told me that whatever decision I made he would help out if I needed him. So I thought about it for a long time. I wanted to make sure i could handle the responsiblility. Well my husband is right about one thing: I am not very good with kids. It's not that I don't like them. I just don't have the patience to work with them. I know that makes me sound like a bad person but I swear, I'm not! So I called the director from the previous year and she assured me that she would walk me through the process for the next 6 months (yes, it takes 6 months to plan for VBS) and she would help me set everything up. She also assured me that I didn't really have to work directly with the kids. Now I was getting a little excited. I could set everything up for the kids to enjoy a fun week and then find volunteers who actually like working with kids to do the teaching, crafts, games, etc. So after I couldn't find any reasons to say no (aside from the fact that I have a young kid of my own and I run my own business) I called the pastor back and told him I would.
I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS GETING INTO!!!!!
For one, I had no idea what I was doing. The old director literally had to hold my hand for the next 6 months. I had never done anything like it before. At times I wondered if she thought maybe she should have just done it herself.
Since I never done any of it before I didn't know how much time certain things would take. While some things I got done quicker than I thought, other things I put off till the last minute and ended up staying up till after midnight the entire week before.
VOLUNTEERS! calling people to volunteer nearly put me to tears! Everyone was "on vacation" or "had camp" or "worked part time". Then all the teenagers wanted to be in the same group as their friends if they volunteered.
Lastly, the children's sermon. The previous director warned me about this. Although I am not afraid of public speaking, who wants to prepare for a children's sermon the Sunday before VBS starts, when you have 1 million other things going on?
Well the Saturday before VBS I remember laying on my bed in tears wondering what would happen if I didn't show up for the children's sermon or if I didn't show up that Monday for VBS.
Now, this blog may sound like I just want to crab about how much I don't like VBS BUT read on.....
The week of VBS turned out great (aside from the registration process Monday) and after Friday I realized there is nothing more rewarding than to see 200 kids go home with their crafts, singing songs that they learned from the music director, telling their parents what a great time they had. 6 months of being overwhelmed and I finally figured out why I had said yes and why I am again the director of VBS this year. Yep, I volunteered to do it again. (well, I say "volunteer" but I do receive a small payment for the 6 months of preparation)". All I had to do was convince my husband that I would not have a break down again this year and I really do enjoy it.
Vacation Bible School is only 6 weeks away. This year has been soooooooooo much easier. Apparantly everything just took twice as long since i was just learning how to do it. And people are actually volunteering on their own, without me having to call! I have all my supplies and a wonderful group of volunteers to work with. Now if I could just make it through the children's sermon......