Mighty Dread Has Seized My Troubled Mind!!!!

Howdy gang, this is me, finally coming up for air!

Since my last post we have been racing on all cylinders, towards Christmas and the end of the school year.

Let's start with the Kidzone nativity service. I don't know if you remember that last year I made a whole bunch of 'have on hand' Christmas costumes since we often have kids turn up on the day who want to be involved but have no outfit? Well I had wanted to add to the collection this year so once again, the day before, I sat up making 'serger specials' (ie...no hems or niceties....just overlocked together!).

I managed the purple and yellow robe and gown of the king (front left) and the kid sized grey robe for Joseph. That was it. My flatbed machine was behaving badly and I just didn't get time for anything else.

Last year I also made some 'angel' costumes; shifts in cream and gold with tinsel for halos and an attempt at angel wings using 'buckram' or stiff hatbrim interfacing. I had no chance of getting these angel costumes to 'fly' as long as most of the little girls at church had their own preferred fairy costumes! One day I hope to teach them that pink maribou is not 'angelic' per se!!!!!!

There's one of the angel shifts on the king below at front right although she's also got a king's green and blue robe over the top of it and I'm not at all sure it 'works'. Also, get a load of our black sheep, front and centre with grey ugg boots :-D and the shepherd with his baseball cap on. These kids are too much!!One of my co-workers keeps telling me that it's not about perfection but one day I would just really like to have angels that looked like this, or this:






Alright, there's a bit of maribou there, but at least they don't have wands!!!!









No, the answer is to make my angels as shiny and glittery as the fairy costumes from K Mart.


To this end, I have been making angel wings for next year!


What do you reckon my chances are?

Anyway, despite my anally retentive need for accurate Biblical costuming, the actual service was quite successful. This year we incorporated the Nativity in our final Family Service; this is a service where the kids and youth run everything. We had little skits from the youth and child friendly carols with kids leading the singing.

Amongst the conglomeration above you can see the three wise geeks (complete with GPS and google maps to find the baby), some Bogan shepherds and yes, another pink angel. The bloke on the left in gold is actually the angel Gabriel, I thought he at least was colour appropriate :-D
Despite the apparent chaos before the service, it all came together very well and we received lots of compliments.
Now to start planning next year's extravaganza!

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Never Work With Dogs or Kids

The scene is church last Sunday morning. I am doing my twice monthly 'Kidspot' in the service. The reading for the week was about the Hebrews worshipping a golden calf and forgetting about God. I had decided to run my little interactive segment as a mock 'game show'.

Me: Good morning everyone! Welcome to 'Decisions, Decisions' the exciting game show where you get to win great prizes depending on the decision you make! Now firstly I need a contestant.....Ah yes, young man, and what is you name?

James: James

Me: Alright James, are you ready to play? Well then, here is your dilemma:
You are trapped an airtight bank vault.
With you in this vault, you may have one of two objects: Object A is a mobile phone; a very expensive mobile phone with internet connectivity and a qwerty keyboard, or you could have Object B which is a Mystery Box! Now here is Object B; you can hold the box if you like and get a feel for what might be in there....

(James 'hefts' the obviously empty box)

Me: Alright James. What's it going to be, the mobile phone or the mystery box to help you
escape from the locked bank vault????? I'll give you five seconds thinking time....

Well, James didn't need any thinking time. He practically ate the microphone as he replied without hesitation:

James: The mobile phone!
Me: Ah hah! And WHY would you choose the mobile phone?
James: Because I could log onto the internet, create a web page and let people know I needed rescuing!

....was NOT the answer I was expecting! What ever happened to phoning the police?????????

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For those of you who are interested in the 'point' of my little scenario, the mobile phone was of course the wrong choice........because it was broken! Expensive, impressive to look at but useless. The empty box on the other hand held fresh air which you would need to sustain you for those last 30 secs as the fire brigade were cutting through the door with their oxy torches :-D. Can't be seen but meets your needs.
And if you can't see the connection to the golden calf in that you're going to have to come to Kidszone to find out!

Kidzone Revisited

Phew. Just had a meeting here (good excuse to vacuum and clear away the washing and ironing) for Kidzone, our Church's version of Sunday School. An eclectic group with some real talent and some real characters. I've somehow managed to be labelled 'Co-ordinator' which is fine with me...at least I'll know what's going on :-) It was a productive meeting and we ironed out a few issues like the 'Family Service' and what that means, whether we will have a Nativity or not (yes), whether we need a curriculum or just follow what's going on in the service (the former) and a bit of who's doing what, when. I have also been invited to become a 'member' of the Church of Christ ooer. It's funny changing denominations; at the end of the day it doesn't really mean anything at all but I've written down C of E or Anglican on forms now for so long it feels odd to write anything else. And yet, I so do not feel a part of the Anglican church with all the carry on that they're dealing with at the moment.
Must away to prepare for tomorrow. Have to do better than the 4 hours of sleep I got last night.
xx

Launching Kidzone.

I know, I know, not very good pictures......but what can you do? I was up to my eyeballs in glitter, icing, smoothies and kids!

Today was the launch of our new, rebranded 'Kidzone' (aka Sunday School). It wasn't until it was all over that I realised I had not taken
any pictures. The committee had already started to set up for Sunday Lunch (once a month...did it have to be THIS Sunday?) and the old furniture with flowery tablecloths did not do justice to our new 'look' so this is a just a taster. Besides, we have only really started the makeover. We still have to get new floor covering, tables and chairs and get a bit of art and craft up on the walls. The metal strips you can see are an IKEA invention. They are display rails complete with magnets for holding up art works :-D.

So how did it go? Well, in church the kids opened boxes loaded with craft goodies which they then brought down to the new 'sealed' room. There was the grand unveiling amongst many 'oos' and 'aahs' and a few 'where are my sunglasses?'. The whole congregation was brought down to have a look and then we gathered the kids in the middle and prayed for them and for blessings on the work of the children's ministry.

After the congregation left we had a riotous game of 'Ship to Shore' rebranded as 'Surfs Up'. They had to 'paddle out', wait for a wave (without moving or you're OUT!), Hang Ten, scrunch up on their imaginary 'surfboards' for "Shark" and race back to the beach on a big wave. Last ones to do anything were out! We also had a big dice which was the 'dumper' wave and as each child had a number, when the dice was rolled...that number was 'dumped'!! It went very well. No great Biblical message but a lot of fun :-D

We followed this up with the story of Peter, Andrew, James and John leaving their nets to follow Jesus and become 'fishers of men'. We then broke into groups to do various craft activities including, icing biscuits and adding scales (smarties) and tails (spearmint leaves) to make fish; making 'summer' drinks like banana and peach smoothies; decorating starfish for the pinupboard and decorating the letters of the words "Come and follow me" to take back into church.

Of course we ran out of time and although we managed to hand around the 'fishy' biscuits, we totally failed to get our glittery sentence together out the front. I think it said
CME AND FOLW ME........ reminds me of Owl in Winnie the Pooh.
Afterwards I had wanted to pin it on the pinboard.....but half of them wanted to take their letters home! So that bit was a bit of a disaster!! Never mind. They all seemed happy and positive and, God willing, it will a be a foundation to build on.

The clean up factor was mega.

Now I promise if I get my hands on any photos of the time with the kids inaction...I will post them. Meanwhile, that was Sunday!! I slept for a good deal of the rest of it .

The Infamous Paint Incident: or How to make yourself REALLY unpopular in one easy lesson.

I haven't got enough to do.

This must be obvious to anyone. Why then, if I did, would I have volunteered for Sunday School?

My church, of which I am a relatively new member having given the old Anglican Church the boot recently, has not had a functioning Sunday School for two terms now. There has not been a leader. Many of us have volunteered for a 'Kids Alive' program which was basically a babysitting service keeping the 'noisy ones' occupied and 'out of the service' but this was always just a stop gap measure.

Recently, the pastor phoned a number of us up and invited us to attend a meeting to 'brainstorm' ideas for Children's Ministry. I was delighted, as a relative outsider, to be included. I had also made it known that I would be more than happy to be involved in any Sunday School activities or even planning as I had been involved in my last church. I wondered what the meeting would entail.

Well, it was very exciting. We established a format and made a start at rosters and resource ideas. The pastor also told us that he intended us to 'brighten up' the room used by 'Kidzone' (aka Sunday School) by the 5th Aug for a 'launch'!
hahahahhahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahha

Sorry, that was me laughing hysterically.

Brighten up, it transpires, meant repaint the entire 18mx10m double room in bright, child friendly colours. By the 5th Aug. With volunteers.

OK. We swallowed our panic and turned our minds to colour schemes. One of the ladies had a copy of the IKEA catalogue. We spied a page layout which appealed to us and selected the marine 'blue and green' theme. We then left the job of getting test pots etc to, the pastor and another volunteer from the church who is a signwriter.

The following week we reconvened and were asked to come and look at the test pots the signwriter had used on the walls.

They were yellow and blue.

There was general confusion. Many of the older committee members renegged swiftly and proclaimed the colours 'delightful'. Others, like me, simmered slowly on the backburner. The yellow was industrial, it did nothing for the blue, there was nothing fun or funky about it.

What to do, what to do? A new committee member, no-one knows me from Adam, I should just shut up, after all, what did it really matter?

"Errrrrrrrrrrrr....," (was that voice mine)?
"Yes?" the pastor inquired.
"Errrrrrrrrrrr............well....................errrrr.....why did we not go with the green?"

A flurry of conversation. Too sickly, too strong, too loud, ceilings too low, room too big etc etc etc

"Uuuuum..........I think it could work. I think it would be fun and funky if we got the right combination." (Good grief, will I never shut up?)
"Could I please get my husband to look at the room, and our IKEA picture inspiration? I know he would just be able to point at the colours we need." (Oh great, now I've involved Himself as a third party without even asking).

There was grudging and muttered conversation. The sign writer was really put out.
"Well," he snipped (not quite as bad as snapped) " I have limited time to get this done you know. I have some volunteers available Fri night but I'd need to know the colours by Fri morning so I can buy them at trade prices." Glare.

******************************* Fri morning**************************************
Having completely failed to get down to the church to look at the room or get any paint charts Himself was facing divorce or at least a Non Co-operation Policy. It didn't help that our last conversation about it occurred as I was rushing out the door to work and he was asleep.
"Its not the end of the world"' he grunted as he rolled over.

Huh, he hadn't seen the look on the face of the signwriter!!!

So on the Friday morning I had to ring the signwriter and tell him I didn't have any colours for him ....yet. I flew out in my my double free lesson and, clutching my IKEA catalogue, made for the local Super hardware store.

After 30 min I had a selection of possible colours but no firm idea of which ones would be just right. Left to me I would have bought 6 tester pots and made a patch work quilt of the wall before deciding none were quite right, but I did not have the luxury this time.

A quick prayer and I flew down to Himself's office clutching my swatch of colour samples.
"Lord, this is to be a place for inspiring children with your message. If you want it to work, let Himself be NOT in a meeting when I get there!!!!!!" ( I am not above bargaining with God at times).

Himself was out on the pavement having a cigar. (he doesn't actually smoke hahahahahahaha)

In a flurry of colours and phrases such as 'that will pop', 'those two are really sexy', 'that's a sit on the fence colour', 'that's too dirty', we settled on three colours. Water Raceway, Sharp Green and Modal (a greeny sky blue).

I then had to ring the sign writer. I was 5 mins inside his 'latest convenient time'. I was not popular. He didn't have a pen and was not able to discuss which wall each colour would go on. After all "I am a sign writer, I do know what I'm doing!"

Ouch

That was Friday. I peeked through the window on Sat to see the first coat looking very 'in your face' indeed. Imagine the trepidation I experienced as I got ready for church on Sunday morning. How badly would they hate it? Would I have to eat major humble pie and volunteer to pay for all replacement paint and do the cover up job myself???????????? (noises of hyperventilation)

I should have had more faith.

By Sunday they had done a second coat. The colours are stunning. Loud, but stunning.

Of course I had to endure the inevitable "Which Italian restaurateur chose these colours?" and
"I wouldn't want to be in here with a hangover" but as we said, it wasn't chosen for them. Its for the kids.

So, how are the sign writer and I getting along? Well, the Lord moves in mysterious ways.

It was evident he had not forgiven me entirely on Sunday although I did apologise profusely for being a pushy, bossy, passionate type. I offered to come and help paint whenever I was required now my busy weekend was over and I gave him my 'business card'. Now I put this in inverted commas because I have never had a business card in my life until my husband decided I needed one to help make contacts for the business. On our company's business card my title is 'Production'. Whatever that means!!

Aaaaaaaanyway. As I handed the signwriter my card the most remarkable expression passed over his face. He began to laugh.

"I can't believe who you are," he shook his head,"I work with your husband. I did the signs on his window and the name for his boat!"

The Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.

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Post Script: The colours look sensational (although you can be sure at least 50% of the congregation will hate them), the sign writer thinks I'm OK and the kids are going to have a great space to be in next Sunday for the launch of Kidzone.

Now to plan what I'm going to do with them.