Vacation Bible School in Babylon

I hope you can see by these pictures that we had a wonderful Vacation Bible School again this year. Of course it's always wonderful, but it seems like every year is better than the one before. So far we've been to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Galilee, Philippi, Rome, Jerusalem again, Nazareth, and--this year--Babylon. That's eight years, and nobody is tired of it yet.

We had 49 children this year--including Zaya and Mim, who came all the way from Missouri--and they were an exceptionally well-behaved group. Entering with enthusiasm into every activity and lesson, they were simply a delight!

This little girl is decorating her boxes to make a hanging garden--Babylon, remember?

The carpenters this year taught stamping with leather dies and staining. We actually used coffee for a light brown stain.

At the metal shop, they made name plates.

Every night more and more children came early--so we had to do extra singing to give the family leaders time to arrive and set their rooms in order.

The name tags didn't all survive the week, but they did endure long enough for the leaders to learn names.

Every year we have a bakery. It's everybody's favorite shop.  All evening we smell the baking bread. Then, after the singing, stories, and marketplace, each "family" gathers at "home". They light the candle, say their verse, bless the food. They eat freshly baked, whole wheat rolls and drink cool water (from the "well"). Not once--in eight years--has anybody asked for cookies and kool-aide.

Our bakers explained and demonstrated how bread was made--even grinding the wheat in a remolino. (This year, they inadvertently left the impression with the children that they had hand-ground all the flour for the bread.)

In the "families" older children took responsibility for the younger ones.

And the shop keepers stayed kindly-disposed all week, ignoring the marketplace noise and bustle.

Lights!

Singing! Dancing!

Cheers! Stories about Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar!

Clay beads.

Claye ran the Pottery booth again this year and Carina was one of the "Mater Familias".










The children made necklaces in the bead shop, screeching flutes in the music shop, and ink stamping cylinders in the House of Scribes.

They poured seeds and dirt into their own little "Hanging Gardens."
And so...by the waters of Babylon, we sat down and sang. Well, that's better than weeping.