Vacation Bible School

Dad told me that Vacation Bible School is starting at their church tonight. Boy, does that ever bring back memories. VBS was far more than just attending for our family. I'd say that's one of the best ways that my siblings and I learned the meaning of "service." I have lots of memories:

I remember Mark and I would pour what seemed like thousands of plaster molds of plaques to be used in crafts for the teenagers. They were usually Bible verses with flowers or other decorations around them. He and I would mix up the plaster of paris and then fill all the molds, repeating it over and over until Mom said we had enough. The "Casting All Your Care Upon Him" mold was the easiest because it was flat (it looked like a slab of distressed wood) and the one with a big rose was the hardest - and of course it was the one we needed the most of, because everybody wanted to paint that one. But the rose was much thicker and heavier than the part of the plaque with the verse - which I can't remember - and therefore much more prone to breaking as it came out of the mold. I remember much frustration over trying to pour enough rose plaques. I'd also paint samples of each plaque, which was a lot of fun.

We'd line tables with newspaper - teens would stand around them - and every week had the same order: Monday night - base coat; Tuesday - varnish; Wednesday - finger paints with metallic paint decoration; Thursday - spray finish over the whole thing; Friday - if you were faithful and came all week you didn't have anything to do this night because those who had missed a night needed to get done.

Some years decoupage was the teen craft. That was a slightly different order: Monday night - sanding the board base and trying to burnish the edges of the card or picture we were using (now that was interesting - we ruined a lot of pictures that way); Tuesday - varnish; Wednesday - putting on the picture with decoupage and rolling, rolling it with a special tool to make it completely flat; Thursday - paint decoupage all over the plaque; Friday - attach a hanger (and finish up the latecomers like with the plaster).

Then there were the treats. The first night was always boxed cookies from Kroger, and the last night was always ice cream in some form. But over the years I helped make hundreds - thousands? - of rice krispie treats, and other baked goods, often with Grandma Hemmer, for kiddies to eat at VBS.

There's more I could remember about Vacation Bible School, but I'm getting tired just thinking about all that craft and treat stuff. And, since we helped at three churches, all this was times three every summer. We loved it.