The Party's Over

So our guests left Saturday morning. I gotta admit I'm sorry to see them go. After all, they've been dear friends for many years and it was great to spend the week with them. That week was our exhausting Vacation Bible School week, an absolutely fantastic week. This was our first one ever, and we couldn't believe how much work went into producing a week like this successfully. But it was so worth it. On our high day we had forty-four kids come. We gave out popcorn, snowcones and cotton candy and tons of prizes. Everyone dressed up like Indiana Jones and we had skits and songs and a lot of laughter. There's nothing quite like seeing Indiana and Snidely Whiplash duke it out in slow motion wearing Incredible Hulk boxing gloves while Chariots of Fire plays in the background. Then again, there's nothing like seeing them chase each other around the room, only to suddenly stop and do the Chicken Dance. That's one for the books. (or the camcorder! Those guys will never be running for public office, that's for sure!) The best part of the week was that five kids accepted Jesus as their Saviour on Friday. That's the reason we put this week together, and we're excited about what God has done.
On the homefront, I teased the youth pastor because every once in a while he would come up with one of those "fifty cent" words and casually throw it into conversation. He's a Redneck and it was pretty humorous to hear that southern twang throw out a big word every so often. We also had an impromptu concert with my son and another guy singing Cathedral songs while a brother and sister pulled out guitars and played along. There were numerous games of Rook, Balderdash and MadGab. There were also numerous showers. It's a good thing we have four bathrooms! There was red ink on the carpet, toboganing down the stairs and painting guys' toenails while they were sleeping.
But all that finally ended on Saturday morning. Our fifteen houseguests packed up and left, and since it was early morning, we headed back to bed. Later that day we went to turn the church back into a church instead of a jungle. Some of the decorations ripped the paint on the walls, so we need to repaint. Garbage accumulated everywhere and had to be hauled out. The kitchen needed cleaning from all the leftovers and the nursery toys had to be scrubbed because of the dust from the air conditioning installation guys earlier that week. (Don't ask.)We headed back home late that afternoon. The dishes had been done, but there was still junk scattered from one end of the house to the other. Towels overflowed the hampers and furniture was out of place. I told my boys to unpack and put their things away while I attempted to clean up the downstairs. My son wasn't moving fast enough to suit me and his stuff was in my way, so I hauled it all into the family room and dumped it in a pile on the floor in front of the stairs. That got him moving. Then I vacuumed the whole downstairs, stripped beds and washed sheets, collected towels and put away boxes of food. Finally about eight o'clock that night we were back to some semblance of order. Now we're just trying to catch up on sleep and get ready for camp, next week. Thank goodness we have a week to breathe!
In spite of all the work--or maybe because of it--VBS was a fantastic week. As soon as I get things back in order, we'll start planning for next year! But for now, I have to go ship back to Alabama everything our guests left behind.