DAILY LAB REPORT

JESUS GIVES US THE POWER TO...

... BE THANKFUL! AH-HA!

DAY 1

One day over already? It seems like just yesterday I was training my Junior Crew and Crew Leaders and feeding them Pizza.

Oh wait, that was yesterday!

Sunday was out first ever Crew kickoff and we had an awesome turnout.  We got to hear a few songs and they all got to listen to yours truly explain all the amazing things we were going to experience at VBS this week.  I hope all the parents of my Crew Leaders know that even if your tweens and teens don't always seem to be listening at home, they all listen and participate very well "in public."  These teens and tweens will do a great job being the "face of Christ" this week -  I know they have the power!

So now it's Monday already and our Bible Buddy Fizz taught us that the Jesus Gives us the Power to BE THANKFUL (A-ha!).

Check in went well thanks to Power Lab Helpers Kelly and Maureen - and of course our Crew Leaders and Jr Crew Leaders who were ready to greet the parents and kids at the doors!

I think the bubble machine also helped. Of course, I am inordinately fond of bubble machines... 

I was thankful all my kids and leaders and volunteers showed up, ready to work and praise God together.

I was less than thankful about the feedback problems I was having with the computer and the projector and the microphone (thanks for covering your ears during all those sound checks gang!) but the kids are going to find out who the Patron Saint of computers is for me before tomorrow. 

Maybe a few well-placed prayers to him (her?) will help me out.

Of course, plugging in all the right cables might help too....

Professor Wilma is going to be one crazy guest this week.  Music leaders Kelsey and Pauline sure do have some out there friends!  Wilma had pink hair - PINK HAIR!!  Who ever heard of a professor with pink hair?  At the beginning and end of the day we got to hear Kelsey and Pauline sing along as they taught us all our songs of the day

Amazing Bible Blast Leader Paddy and his team gave the kids leprosy today - but don't worry! Dr. Nick was there and helped the kids learn that Jesus cured the lepers.  Professor Mike and Professor Alexandra (in her AWESOME pink glasses!) were on hand to lead the kids from quarantine back to their village after they were cured.  I think you missed some leprosy though guys. I could have sworn I saw kids walking around with red dots on their name badges as they left...

Games were great.... but the giant bubbles didn't like the rain.  Not to worry though, Hyperspeed Games Leader Carolyn and Professor Mike and Professor Tom had fun moving the pools of bubble out from under the tents and then back under the tents each time it rained.  Really, didn't you guys think that was fun?  Professor Dan, I promise to stop talking the FIRST time you blast the horn at me tomorrow.

Who knew that the VBS director would be the one getting in trouble for talking too much today? Ooops...

OH and Professor Mike, next time use the CHEAPER bubble solution, not the expensive one! :-)

Some Games kids got to do Spotlight Drama today too.  You can (or will be) able to view those slideshows here on the web page too. Thanks to Spotlight Leader Kelley for taking over this new event! We all loved it!

The power of Jesus coupled with the Power of the "Dans"  made our Cinema Science an awesome experience!  Cinema Science Leader Danielle and her trusty helper, Professor Danny proved that two Dans are better than one.  Those balloons made a crazy noise - even BEFORE they popped!  Rough times that become less noticeable during the smoother times of life.  Good lesson, Danielle and Danny! 

Now if you two could just let me know if Chadder eats the giant M&M or not.  I need to know, um, because, it's a director thing.  Yeah, a director thing.  A need to know basis.  Anyone think they are gonna buy that?

The Bible Buddy Test Tubes that we made in crafts were so glittery and fun!  Wacky Works Crafts Leader Lisa really knows how to make a craft sparkle - get it? Glitter - "sparkle".  Wow, tough crowd...  Anyway, Professor Mary and Professor MaryBeth (I'm sensing a theme here - I wonder if Leader Lisa's middle name is Mary too???) helped prep for each crew and kept the glue and glitter in the proper scientific balance.

All this really works up an appetite! Thanks to Test Tube Treats leader Stephanie and her cast of thousands (Mary, Susan, Heather, Bev, Libby, Sharon - hope I'm not forgetting anyone!)  we all had delicious Thankful Faces. Well, our faces were all thankful, but the Thankful Faces we ate were made with sugar cookies. frosting, M&Ms and Orange slices for smiles.  Well they were smiles for all cookies except Jack's - his cookie was sad, because it had no hair, then it was sad because someone was going to eat him, but then the cookie was happy because Jack gave him hair and someone loved the cookie enough to eat him.  See? At VBS even the sad cookies get happy and thankful with the power of Jesus!

I am also thankful to the many parishioners who donated items for us to use or eat at VBS this week! A-Ha!

We learned about our Holy Person of the day at snack from Stephanie.  It was Mary, Mother of God.  We should all be thankful she said "YES!" to God. 

Oh and Stephanie thought it would be fun to do the daily challenge after all, so I have to end now and finish helping my daughter build a giant beaker out of pool noodles, PVC and duct tape.  I think I should say a prayer for the person who invented duct tape. 

Talk about someone all VBS Directors are THANKFUL for!

A-HA!

Alex

...HELP OTHERS! AH-HA!

DAY 2

In case you couldn't wait to find out, I can now tell you who the Patron Saint of the internet and computers is, thanks to Crew Leader Mari and crew members Daniel, Katie and Gwen!  You all rock! 

The patron saint of the internet and computers is... Saint Isidore of Seville - and he is a "he" not a "she".  He is a Doctor of the Catholic Church and compiled "Etymologies" that were dictionaries with a database-like structure.  All that and he helped convert a whole bunch of Visigoths to Catholicism - and he did all that before his death in 363 A.D. 

He's even got a prayer:

Almighty and eternal God,
who created us in Thy image
and bade us to seek after
all that is good, true and beautiful,
especially in the divine person
of Thy only-begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant we beseech Thee that,
through the intercession of Saint Isidore,
bishop and doctor,
during our journeys through the internet
we will direct our hands and eyes
only to that which is pleasing to Thee
and treat with charity and patience
all those souls whom we encounter.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

All that and I got to say "Visigoth" in a sentence. See why VBS is so much fun?

Today our sound system problems were less, so all that talk about St Isidore must have helped a little.

Professor Wilma looked... different today. Her hair was kind of orange. I wonder what kind of experiments she is doing when she isn't at VBS?  They do seem to make her a little colorful.  Today, after hearing of how Jesus cured the blind by rubbing the mud on their eyes, Wilma decided she would go make a big batch of mud so she could help others too,  Luckily, Kelsey stopped her and explained that it was really Jesus who did the healing, not the mud.  Wilma learned that Jesus gives us the power to HELP OTHERS!  A-Ha!

I wonder why Pauline always seems to miss Professor Wilma's visits?  Hmmm, maybe they will get to see each other tomorrow.

Sparki was our adorable Bible buddy today and lots of crew leaders and volunteers wore yellow shirts to look a little like her.  I don't generally "do" yellow, but I made an exception today, just for Sparki and VBS.

We did our first daily challenge day and the beaker we built is filling up with balloon "bubbles" faster than expected!  I guess the kids were right...

We did a "starter" batch for our donations for Dorothy Day House today.  When I was a kid, Mrs. Mason used to keep "starter dough" in her fridge so she could always make sourdough bread for us.  We figured we'd try that with out donations by adding some sample size soaps and toothbrushes and school supplies to the box while resident-VBS-strongmen Nick and Mike held the box up for all the kids to see.  I'd love to see that box full by the end of the week. Things that mean so little to us can make such a big difference for a family in crisis.

Our snack was mud too - don't worry though!  This mud was pudding and crumbled cookies.  That's my kind of mud pie!

And in Bible Blast all the crew members went blind thanks to some handy-dandy VBS blindfolds and then the mud was applied by Jr Crew and Crew leaders to help them "see" again.  Of course, the mud was made of oatmeal, which I am told is extra sticky and gloppy when it's cold.  So sorry if all your kids needed to take an extra shower tonight to get oatmeal off them that we might have missed.

The craft was a gooey, gloopy, colorful concoction called "Color Magic" that showed us that God made everything using just three colors!  Games were great and it was so hot, I very nearly ducked into the path of an oncoming splash buddy being thrown by our "blinded" crew members.

Chadder hasn't eaten the M&M yet and I still have no information on what he is going to decide.  Of course, today Chadder was warned that it may taste like Moldy Gym Socks. Ew!  However, it does still look like a big yummy M&M to me...  We also got to write all over ourselves with invisible ink!  Jesus showed us all the light so we could see what Crew leaders wrote. I hope you all remembered to HELP OTHERS tonight! A-Ha!

No closing experiment tonight, but we did get a visit from the amazing, if self-conscious "Light Woman" today.  She helped Joey pull a heavy suitcase, helped me stop crying when I was sad (just like in real life!) and helped comfort Mike & make Gregory see he can't just steal a toy from his big brother.  Thanks to Jackie who was unselfconscious enough to really have fun as "Light Woman"!  You really do have the power to HELP OTHERS!  A-Ha!

On top of all this we had a visit from Paul and Claudia from The Catholic Sun.  They took photos, interviewed a few of us and generally seemed to enjoy their VBS visit today.  Thank you to both of you for understanding every time I had to jump up and do something else.  If nothing else, a VBS director's job is certainly to HELP OTHERS!  A-Ha!

Okay, I'm all A-Ha'd out for the night, so before I forget to mention something important (other than the things I have already forgotten) I'll sign off.

Oh and in case you were wondering Richard G. Drew invented Duct Tape in 1940 while working for 3M.  This was 20 years after he invented masking tape and ten years after he invented cellophane "Scotch" tape.  He was a banjo player before he was hired by 3M - they liked him because he was such a determined man.  He died in 1980, but he sure did use his brains to HELP OTHERS. A-Ha! (Oh look, I had one more left in me after all.)

I wonder if he was Catholic.  If so, he'd have my vote for patron Saint of VBS decorators. directors ;-)

Alex

... BE BRAVE! AH-HA!

DAY 3

This had to be the best Wednesday in VBS history - ever!  It was a super day for any VBS day, but for a sleepy, dreary, no-one-wants-to-wake-up Wednesday it was super, super awesome!

Thx to Matt and John for being ready to GET UP, GET UP and make people WANNA BE dancing and singing and praising out loud!

Professor Wilma must have been experimenting again because today her hair was BIGHT BLUE, just like Dewd, our Bible buddy.

Hey, I'm sensing a pattern here. If she shows up with Green Hair tomorrow, I'll be sure I am right.

Wilma lost her mouse (a little one with ears, four legs and a tail, not the computer kind!), stood on a chair in fear, fell of the chair, made Kelsey run around until she caught the mouse and in the meantime learned that Jesus gives us the Power to BE BRAVE! A-Ha!  Then she left and tripped and lost the mouse again.  I am unclear on if the mouse is still running around IC or not. Uh-oh, I think I forgot to mention that to Father.

On top of all that Pauline missed meeting Wilma AGAIN!  Hmmm...

Paddy got us all to walk on water by focusing on Jesus in Bible Blast and it was amazing.  Dr Nick got reminded of the good old plaster-cast days while Mike helped make a major Storm for us all.  Alexandra helped us all clean up after out walk on the milk, er, water.  Another day at VBS, another bath needed for all our crews...

Luckily, the Hyperspeed Games gang made sure that at least the Crew Leaders got their showers early!  The kids in the crew were supposed to save their leaders from the spray bottle wielding kids, but I think they had more fun making sure the crew leaders got soaked!

Everyone is really getting into the Spotlight Drama now.  Today's slideshow was full of really great photos and a new song!

Crafts were a little noisy today.  Lisa assures me it was just all the ducks in the room.  Funny, I didn't know ducks went to IC but the kids really had fun making Oozy Slime!

Snack was delicious with Strawberry boats on a cool whip sea - oh, and don't forget the Pretzels for oars!  The Daily Challenges are going GREAT! Looks like Olivia will be right again and that beaker will be full of balloons before the week is over.  We also learned about Dorothy Day and how she always helped those less fortunate and established "The Catholic Worker" paper.  Now the kids understand a little better the holy woman behind the Dorothy Day House.  Hopefully I'll be proved wrong again and our donations will over flow the collection box.

In Cinema Science the Power of the Dans united with the power of Jesus - and we really needed the help to BE BRAVE.  Chadder worried us all a little, but I am sure he will be fine tomorrow... He always is when he listens to Jesus and does what is right!  Danielle "poured" all our worries into a cup of water and showed us how giving your problems over to God and Jesus makes the problems disappear - just like she made the water disappear before she turned the cup upside down over our head! Phew!  Good thing Danielle and Danny know what they are talking about.  The idea of having water pour over my head had ME worried!

In our finale, Pauline and special guest Mike helped us figure out what would sink and what would float in the deep blue water.  While I splashed "blue" from an orange in my eye, right Sophie and Mike? Just like we expected Peter would sink walking over the water, we kind of thought the watermelon might too, but it didn't!  Maura Kate and Ashley Marie made our ocean calm so Matt "Peter" could walk on it again.  Good thing or else he really would have needed the scuba gear!

Like I said, it was a wonderful Wednesday - and Jesus gave us the power to BE BRAVE (A-Ha!) enough to make it through our third day of VBS!

Alex

 

... LIVE FOREVER! AH-HA!

DAY 4

Day 4 of VBS is complete. I can hardly believe it.  It seems like we just get to know each other and it is nearly time to say goodbye for another year.

Traditionally, the Thursday of a week long VBS is the day we tell the story of Christ's resurrection. Power Lab is following that theme, so today our bible Buddy Max taught us that Jesus gives us the power to Live Forever! A-Ha!

Poor now green-haired Professor Wilma was confused and thought that Living Forever meant being immortal.  She even tried to make a "Live Forever" formula - but Kelsey figured out it was really just koolaid... and Pauline missed the whole visit again.  Suspicious...

We learned a new song today and everyone really loved it.  At the end of the day, we all brought our needs and prayer requests to Jesus during the Untitled Hymn.  It was a very moving experience.

Our craft in Wacky Works was making Grass Seed Friends to remind us that Jesus is our friend and is always with us.  The great thing about this craft is that the seeds we use to make the hair will take time to grow... kind of like the seeds of faith we planted at VBS this week will keep growing long after the songs are just a memory!  Nice way to tie in that seed metaphor, right?

Chadder is still trying to figure out how to get to the lab... During Chadder we also talked about what we learned from VBS about Jesus and made cards for people that we thought might like to hear about Jesus' love for them.

DID I MENTION TODAY WAS DANNY'S 21st BIRTHDAY?

How could I forget?! We sang Happy Birthday and the Test Tube Treats ladies brought out a HUGE cake for Danny.  Luckily for us, he shared the cake with the ENTIRE VBS crew... just like he shared his talents with us in both Chadder and with his guitar.  What a great way to celebrate your birthday!

Speaking of Test Tube treats we also had cracker crosses which were topped with most-delicious-not-exactly-healthy-but-who-cares-anyway cheese in a can.  Again, it's like "visigoths" - how often do you get to use "cheese in a can" in a sentence?  How often do you get to use cheese-in-a-can on a snack? Seriously!  We also learned about St Dismas - you know, the man who was crucified along side Jesus and asked for his forgiveness?  Jesus said He would see him in Heaven with His Father that very day.  We learned that even though you sin, if you are truly sorry, Jesus always loves you and is willing to take you home with Him.

Special thanks to Rachel for all her research this week and her willingness to tell all of us what she learned about our Holy People each day this week! 

During Bible Blast Paddy showed us how we all gained the benefit from the "work" that Jesus put in for us on the cross.  It was a real eye-opener to realize that Jesus dies for each one of us thousands of years before we were born.  To be reminded that Jesus loves us that much and gives us the power to Live Forever A-ha! is a powerful message... and to hear it from such a powerful team in such a delicious smelling room (yum, vanilla!) was even move moving that you can imagine.

What am I forgetting, what am I forgetting? Oh yeah!!  Hyperspeed Games!  Well today the highlight of games was the Mentos & Diet Coke experiment.  We had a terrific time when each crew got a chance to try the experiment. Crew leaders and Junior Crew leaders had to work together to make the experiment work... kind of like they had to work together all week long.  The award for most impressive display goes to Pauline, Jack, Daniel and Megan - you couldn't have made your bottles of soda shoot across the parking lot like that if you had tried!  I did my part to drink some of the flat, minty diet coke.  It was a sacrifice, but the least I could do...

Well, tomorrow is another and our final day.

Better get some rest.  These kids have way more energy than I expected!

Alex

...TELL OTHERS ABOUT GOD! AH-HA!

DAY 5

I must have tripped over the Bible Point today 100 times.  I know that Electra is right and Jesus Gives us the Power to Tell Others About God (A-ha!) but I just kept messing this one up.  Lucky for me I had close to 200 kids standing around ready and willing to yell A-Ha for me even when I messed up.

I think after a week of VBS, Professor Wilma finally got the point.  Last I saw her she was running off, ready to throw away her "plan" and just tell others that Jesus Loves them.  I guess that's all you can ask of a week of VBS right there isn't it?

Thanks Kelsey and Pauline for all your hard work this week - what a way to tell others about God!

By today we all knew the songs so well, we hardly needed the DVD to sing along with!  Fr Ryan came in to visit again this morning too.  Confidentially, I think he just likes the music...

Bible Blast today was all about the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost.  Every time I stopped in, the kids were answering Professor Paddy's questions and really thinking about what he had to say. That being said, they seemed to have a tough time understanding Professor Mike (zombies rule!) until the "breath of God" gave them all the ability to speak in tongues.

Today was the only day that the weather didn't cooperate.  After the first session, our Hyperspeed Games folks were faced with rains so heavy that the tent didn't help, so they quickly moved into the priest's garage (thanks for moving the cars Father, Monsignor and Monsignor!).  The team thought quickly and were able to switch up the games to accommodate the space and from what I can tell, everyone had a blast anyway.

In Chadder, not only did we find out what happened with the giant M&M, we also got a little background on the Catholic Church's stance on science. It was really interesting and I think it gave us all some things to keep in mind when faced with questions during the school year.

Our craft was super, solar science bracelets!  The kids who got to go to games after craft got to see their bracelets change color with the power of the sun.  The changing color told us all that the sun was out (for a while) and reminded us that Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God.

Snack was scrumptious! Ice Cream, generously donated by Byrne Dairy.  Thanks to Byrne Dairy for the donation - nothing reminds kids they are loved like an unexpected ice cream dessert- even for kids like Daniel and I who are sadly lactose intolerant :(  Oh well, it was fun watching everyone else enjoy the ice cream!  We also learned about John Paul II as our holy person of the day.  For Stephanie and I and most of the adults present JPII was "our" pope.  He spoke to us as teens so directly, so honestly and challenged us to live our faith boldly and OUT LOUD in a way no one had challenged us before.  I always say JPII is a big part of the reason I am involved with the crazy, fun, stressful time that is VBS - so I hope he was as much of an inspiration to our kids as he was to our adults when we were kids. That wins the prize for the most convoluted sentence of the VBS blog!

Today was our final Spotlight Drama as well. Nick was off visiting a potential college choice, so Kelley was on her own but she once again did a fabulous job!  We all love seeing our photos on the big screen.... well almost all of us. I could personally do without seeing my face 9 feet tall, but that's just me ;-)

The Faith Finale was loud, Loud, LOUD!  I couldn't believe the POWER in that room.  Thanks again, again, again to Pauline and Kelsey for all the singing... for Danny for the strumming... to Mike and Matt and John and Matt and Sophie and Rachel and Greg for all the dancing...  What a finale! We  have never had such a POWERFUL closing before and we couldn't have done it without you.

After VBS we had a cleanup party for our crew leaders and staff ... and Stephanie's test tube treat team fed us all AGAIN!  Even I ate this year - after Matt H. and Kelley made me sit down for a minute!

Now we need to get ready for 9am mass on Sunday and our first ever VBS mass!  Then after mass come coffee and donuts (yum) and our decorations move along to another parish. Even when VBS is over we have the Power to help others! Thanks Jesus.

Before we left there was some talk about next years (??!!!) Crocodile Dock VBS.

But before that, I think I need to take a long, long nap!

Alex

 

Please take a few minutes to check out our Parish website!  Click here!

Immaculate Conception Parish
400 Salt Springs Street
Fayetteville, NY 13066
Attn: VBS

Phone: 315-637-9846