Em-pulse

Hey guys!  Just thought I would give an update on what God has been doing through Journey Church!  YAY!  Well, as you know, yesterday was Sunday and we had another wonderful day at Journey Church.  We have recently moved JourneyKidz to the same time as worship to help more families be able to come to church.  It has actually been working out well!  Honestly, I was afraid, at first, to miss “big church”, haha, but have come to realize that children can sometimes much better teach you things than adults!  It has been amazing having the kids meet while the adults are in worship!  Sonja, Rachael and I are having a blast too.  We introduced a new curriculum this Sunday, called Elevate.  We had a few gliches here and there and it will take some getting used to how to use the DVD’s etc. . .but overall it went GREAT!  It is a really great curriculum because it uses the teachers as the ones who teaches them the lesson, rather than watching it on video, AND it combines video with the lesson and activities to get the kids up and moving.  It is AWESOME!  I must say, I think the kids really like it too.  Sunday, we had this activity to teach kids about trust and how if we say we obey God, then we trust him, because the 2 go hand in hand.  So, we scattered things throughout the room, blindfolded the kids, then told them they had to make it through the maze of items without touching anything.  They listened to Sonja giving directions, which way to turn, how many steps to take, when to stop, etc. . .I just have to say, it was the CUTEST thing to watch.  It was cracking us up!  Sonja would say turn left, they would turn right, Sonja would say turn right, they would turn left, or she would tell them just to turn a little bit, and they would end up turning all the way around and ending up back in the same place!  It was rather cute and amusing to watch.  The theme right now for the Elevate series is a cowboy theme, so at the beginning of the lesson, the kids sing this really cute country/cowboy type song.  Well, we, as the teachers, even got into it.  I was running around with my fingers on my head, pretending to be a bull, and pretty soon, even Sonja and Rachael were pretending to be bulls.  The kids were laughing at us, but started doing it to, and you could tell they were having a blast.  The funniest thing, and a “what was I thinking?” moment for me, was there was a portion of the video where it looked like the cows were doing cartwheels. . .so yes, you can see it coming can’t you?  I actually did a cartwheel, right in front of the windows, and I am PRETTY sure people in “big church” saw me.  I didn’t care, cause the kids cracked up and I think Rachael and Sonja almost had a heart attack from laughing so much!  So, as you can see, we had a wondeful time in JourneyKidz yesterday.  And as we continue growing with the kids, getting to know them and who they are in Christ, they are teaching us things about ourselves and opening up more!  It is really neat.  Little Loree has really come along way!  When she came, she was a pretty shy kid, but now, she isn’t afraid to volunteer for things, she giggles, she answers all the questions, and sings and shouts really loud and does motions!  It is pretty amazing to see the Lord working a transformation in her life.  I don’t think it will be long before she too, makes the decision to accept Christ!  COOL!!!!  Our other little child, Erin, has already made the decision and you can tell by her life, that is was a genuine decision.  She is having a great time smiling and singing, she too does the motions!  Last week, she was one of the only kids doing the motions I was showing the kids, even though she had never heard the song before!  It was really amazing to see how happy she was to be in church and how much fun she was having worshipping the Lord!  I love kids!  I love the Lord, and I love how the Lord uses kids to teach us things!   Have a GREAT day!