Rodeos

Last week was our church's vaction Bible school week.  I (Alex) have been teaching VBS for over a decade-- I really wonder what parent thought it would be a good idea to send their 5 year olds to VBS when the teacher was still in Jr. High.  This year I served as an "adult guide" for 25 2nd and 3rd graders.  Basically I was crowd control.  I had to round up and herd kids up and down the hallways to snacks, games, songs, etc.  There were a few times a cattle prod would have been helpful.  The thing I dread most about Bible school or any children's ministries activities is the singing.  I don't like singing anyway and children's songs always have a boatload of actions which is somewhat challenging for us who are lacking in coordination.  I have participated in Zumba classes requiring less physical activity than Bible school songs.  This year all the songs had a superfulious amount of actions.  When the word "of" gets its own action they have gone to far.   My favorite thing about Bible school has to be the snacks which just happened to be directly after song time and good motivation for my to push through singing so I could get a rice crispy treat.  I haven't been around many elementary aged kids in the past year or so and here are some things I noticed:

- They get really excited about even the simple things.  We exploded Mentos in Diet Pepsi one night and it was the coolest thing ever as far as they were concern.  I think this is why Jesus said we have to be like little kids to enter His Kingdom-- full of wonder and awe about His Glory and so excited we can't sit still.

- Kids just don't sit still.  Granted I do spend most of my day around adults and many have difficulty moving at all.  As a physical therapist I would also amazed once again by how flexible kids are-- how can they sit with legs bent back behind them comfortably?  Or why would you want to put your foot to your nose or bear crawl down the hallway- I don't know.

- Kids are also loud.  I think I have aged enough that my vocal cords cannot withstand the rigors of the enthusiatic yelling and shouting required of VBS.

For the weekend we headed out to Arthur's hometown.  Over the past few years it has become tradition to attend the Professional Bull Riding competition at a nearby town.  Another tradition is also eating dinner at the Chubby Pickle before hand.  Watching the bull riding was fun-- the bulls probably had a better night than the cowboys.  As a physical therapist/athletic trainer I have a few comments: Core stability and balance is key for bull riding (actually I wold argue that core stability and balance is important for almost anything).  Also, bull riders should wear helmets.  Most of them did give up the cowboy hat for a helmet with a face mask.  The cowboy that won the competition previously won the designation of bullriding's sexiest cowboy.  He didn't wear a helmet and it looked like he took a pretty good blow to his head and face during his last ride.  Maybe broken noses and head injuries are considered sexy.  Not for this gal which is why Arthur has promised to wear a helmet if he ever rides a bull. 

Our other activities lately have include watching the NBA finals.  I was told that the Spurs' win in Game 3 was "more than watching basketball-- it was beautiful, like watching the symphony".  On the gardening front we had an invasion of caterpillars that demolished our cilantro.  Another gardening lesson learn was to put tomato cages around plants when they are first planted.  I spent awhile wrestling large tomatoes and squash plants into tomato cages-- it reminded me of trying to fit a sleeping bag back into the tiny bags they come in.  As for Dennis the worm(s), he is still doing what worms do so nothing to exciting to report there.  Omnia Vincit Amor.