It’s become our accidental tradition to launch a just-out-of-school summer trip, and then race home to dive immediately into VBS. Which is exactly what we’ve done again this year!
We literally went to bed at midnight on Monday after returning home from Telluride, then we were up at ’em early the next morning to head to church.
It’s been quite a VBS journey that we’ve enjoyed over the past five years since living here in SA. It’s kind of wild to look at all of our rounds in sequential order and realize how many years have passed, and how giant my babies have grown!
In 2019, Little Man wasn’t even old enough to attend, yet…
Then, in 2020, we were all on pandemic lockdown and VBS was virtual. Holy. MOLY.
Fast forward to 2021, which was probably my favorite VBS of all (more on that in a second)…
In 2022, we’d just returned home from Vail, where I wound up in the ER, with…COVID! So I was down and out for that round, but the kiddos had a blast.
2023 was a milestone year, as Chica aged out of participating and launched her first round of volunteering!
And, now…2024, here we are, again. Straight off a trip, prepping to leave town again in about 36 hours, and flying by the seat of our pants for the week, with all of us sort of going in different directions!
Chicklet has now spent the past three years in a VBS small group with her same little school friend, and she is probably my kiddo most In It To Win It. She’s already chatting about what station she’s going to volunteer in next year, when she’s aged out, which makes my heart so happy. :)
Meanwhile…Little Man is a little less enthusiastic this year, as he’s had a smaller group (today, it was just him and his group leader!) so it’s a slightly less boisterous vibe. But he still wanted to snag his souvenir TV shirt today, and I’m hoping we can close out the week strong tomorrow.
I signed up for just two days of volunteering this year, due to the insanity of our bookended schedule…
Aaaaaand, my Chica has officially not been participating in VBS this week, as she’s launched a strength and conditioning camp through her middle school, in prep for 7th grade sports. So I’ve been dropping her off prior to heading to church…
Aaaaaand, my Chica has officially not been participating in VBS this week, as she’s launched a strength and conditioning camp through her middle school, in prep for 7th grade sports. So I’ve been dropping her off prior to heading to church…
As I mentioned above in my little recap, I think I’d rank 2021 as my top VBS year of all time.
It was the first year all three kiddos were old enough to participate, I volunteered the entire week and was deep in the weeds of teaching the Bible Study rotation (and felt God’s encouragement and blessing throughout), and everything just felt so magical, BIG and age appropriate.
But I can see how things have slowly changed over time (this happens for all manner of kiddo/life activities) so that we’re not exactly in the heart of the VBS years anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of ways we can volunteer our time and efforts in the years to come, but next year, both girlies will have aged out, and I can see a very strong possibility that Little Man won’t want to attend as the only “child” in the family.
This is all okay, if a little bittersweet.
There is an age and a time for everything, and there is great peace in knowing that you’ve done something up right, so when that stage or age passes, there’s not as much mourning.
We’ve been blessed, many years over, to have this VBS experience. It’s been a cornerstone of our early summer, year after year, and I’m grateful to count another round in the books tomorrow when we wrap up and move on to our next summer adventure!
Okay…more mañana, peeps!
Over and out.
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