Children's Service Day

For several months we had been planning a Children's Service Day.  The kids in the area have very little for fun because of the culture as well as all the upheaval in the last years, so once a year Dad and Mom put on a Children's Service Day.  Originally they started with just a couple kids coming over for some fun--playing games, reading stories, doing crafts together, in general just giving them the opportunity to enjoy "kid" time.  Through the last couple years when visitors have gone to Dad and Mom from the States they have participated and often run the day and it has grown. 

Our Children's Service Day ended up being 39 kids and several adults who thought it was too fun not to join in.  The kids arrived around 9am and left around 1:30/2 pm. 

We started the day with Mom leading devotions for the whole group on the Fruits of the Spirit. 

Then we divided all the kids up into different animal groups, each getting an animal with their name on it.  The first activity, however, we divided the kids up into older and younger.



The younger kids went to the porch to do some coloring and painting.
One group of older kids attempted to put wooden puzzles together.



Cal and Christel took another group of older kids to the office to learn how to play recorders.

After that we divided into their animals groups and rotated groups through  five different activities.



Stacey and Rachel held the melting beads station.

 

Cal taught kids how to play Jenga and Memory.

 

Christel gave the kids a scavenger hunt to complete.



Al and Bryan had a painting station.



B2 and Aaron taught kids how to play Jacks.



And Al played soccer with them in between activities when some groups were finished and others weren't.

After every group had rotated through all the activities, we fed all the kids lunch and handed out all the papers and crafts that they had made and the kids went home.


After a long, busy, and fun day, our friends Phillip and Chris came over for Tuwo da Miya and we played the infamous Horlings game of Maui Maui! 


It was a great ending to the day.

Praying the beginning of your week is purposeful.