VBS

Jesus is ALL-POWERFUL... We talked about Jesus' power over nature, demons, sickness, and other things last week during VBS. Over 300 kids (and adults) heard about Jesus' power. We just pray that everything they heard will take root in their hearts, and that many will someday understand the power of Jesus' blood in their own lives.

Trying to keep hundreds of kids occupied before we started singing every morning was a challenge... Here some of them are playing tug-of-war.

Keith taught the 12 and up class, and a few days had OVER 80 kids! That's a ton of teenagers to keep track of... Lots of the girls in our house were in his class, and were a great help with registering the kids.

One day we were talking about how our classes went, and I (Emily) was saying how I love teaching the 3 and 4 year olds, and how fun they were, and how we played games, etc. Keith told me about how he had to drag a kid out of class... Well, let's just say I was very glad to teach the younger kids.

We had a fun class... The kids just make me laugh. Since they won't pay attention to the story for over 10-15 minutes, we played some games as well as doing the Bible story, craft, etc. The day we talked about the blind man being healed by Jesus, our ALL-POWERFUL God, we blind-folded the kids and led them over to a bucket of water to "wash" their eyes and be healed of their "blindness..." They thought it was great!!!

How exciting for some of the kids to hear about Jesus' power- maybe for the first time!

Please join us in praying for the many hearts that heard the word last week during VBS... Many may return, but some we will probably never see again. Pray for God to do abundantly above all we could as or think, according to HIS POWER that is at work within us.

Ephesians 3:19-21

Luau!!!

ALOHA!!!We had a very fun luau at our house this weekend- planned by the summer staff girls! We all had a great time, but most importantly, the girls had a BLAST!
The girls worked really hard and made grass skirts and tops for Kaleigh and Gloria... (It was great... It kept them busy for hours trying to tape the skirts together!)

This picture would be so cute... if Gloria was happy (she HATED the grass skirt!) and if Kaleigh was looking...
Thanks to the summer staff girls for a great evening!

Graduation and Summer!

Lupita... She was one of the 4 graduates from 6th grade!

Jaqui... God is really working in Jaqui's life. She has changed so much over the past few months... She used to ignore us completely, and hardly even say good morning to us. It's been neat to see her open up and it's so encouraging to see her desire to serve God. Please pray for her...

The 4 6th grade graduates... Armando, Jaqui, Lupita, and Magda... The girls were all really sad to leave their friends at elementary school, but at the same time they are excited to move on...

We have a playground in our backyard now! Kaleigh has a blast, and Yaneli loves to play with her because she is the only one allowed to use it!

The Indianapolis group came a few weeks ago. The girls made purses with Ashley (Emily's sister in the orange) and some of Ashely's friends...

Summer is in full swing here... The kids have summer school every morning from 10-1 and then they also read for an hour a day. The summer staff as well as a few others are teaching summer school. The girls will also start swimming lessons soon... And we are going to do some fun summer activities as well!

Big Girls Dress-Up Party

One of the last posts was of the little kids dressing up... Well, we had our own dress-up party last weekend... Jaqui and Lupita modeling their dresses...
Here's the party!!! A few unfamiliar faces? Melissa Kaeb, the blonde in the middle (back row) is one of our summer staff. We are really excited about the summer staff that is coming to help out with summer school for the kids! The girl in the back row, far right... that's Jarrin Rabe. She is, Lord willing, moving down here for good in a few months.

Alexia and Michelle Michelle and Lili enjoying the good dessert...

Yaneli

Karla and Lupita

Prayer Requests...

-Please pray for the summer staff as they get adjusted and prepare for summer classes, which start in about a month.

-Pray for God to do a mighty work in each of the kids' lives. We may plant the seeds, others can water, but GOD giveth the increase. I Corinthians 3:6,7

To think about what God can do through even one of the kids' lives is amazing- we need your prayers.

The Little Girls

Gloria and Kaleigh are not very little anymore, but they are still pretty cute...

This picture reminds me of the picture that was on the blog last summer of these two girls in their swimsuits... They have changed a lot! If Kaleigh treats all kids this way, she may have no friends...

The things the girls think of to entertain Kaleigh... Would a mother ever think of putting her child in a mop bucket and pushing them around? I guess that's why Kaleigh has so much fun here!

Dress Up

Whenever we get donated clothes, the kids like to dig through and find fun things to try on. Our girls especially enoy how willing the little boys are to be "dressed up". Tania has Diego looking snazzy with his princess dress and Clifford slippers.

Aaron, or as he said, Aaron-a was looking very fashionable in these boots. I think almost every kid has tried the boots on at some time.

He even showed off a few dance moves.

Continue to pray for the kids!!!

More from CVE

Karla LOVES hanging out (and sometimes bugging) Kaleigh!!!

Kaleigh ended up liking her costume once Karla let her run free...

The girls did a really fun craft with one of the last teams (in April)... Usually the older girls think they are a little bit too cool for the crafts, but they really liked this...

A few weeks ago, some of the girls acted out a skit that portrays the battle in our lives between good and evil... You can see "Jesus" in the middle, in white, as He conquers Satan. It was so powerful to see them act this out. Please keep praying with us that as the battle of life is so real, they will understand that in Jesus we have victory!!!!