Kidz Gig 2013

Our church's vacation Bible school is called, Kidz Gig.  Kidz "Growing in God."  This was Koen's third year in attendance, but it was Tavin's first.  Koen started attending after he had already been in preschool and was used to being left somewhere for a few hours, etc.  Tavin will not enter preschool until the Fall, so this was a whole new experience for him.  Thankfully Kidz Gig was full of familiar faces and routines that Tav enjoys from Kidz Church every Sunday, but still, it was an adjustment.  He was happy there, but tentative and reserved much of the time.  On Monday, I got to hang out with him at the end after taking him to his speech therapy appointment.  He was pretty happy getting into the wiggly song.

We actually had a little Kidz Gig preschool friend over afterwards on Monday as his mom needed a hand until the older kids got dismissed at 2pm.  Tavin loved having him over.  He called him, his buddy, Logan.  Precious!  Here they are at lunch and at play.

The second day of Kidz Gig was "Crazy Hair Day."  Koen and Tavin were both pretty excited to have Daddy gel their hair.  

They had fun all week and today was the grand finale.  We, as parents, got to attend the final group session and then a picnic.  Tavin LOVED his Kidz Gig experience.  Here's the big boy singing and doing the motions to one of his favorite songs.

Here's a little glimpse of the session time and Koen enjoying it too.

After the session, we had the picnic and then headed outside for some fun.  Koen was on the water slide, but Tavin spent all his time at the bounce house.  I love this happy kid!

Well, it was a super fun week for both the boys.  A fantastic first experience for Tavin and Koen's favorite year yet.  Thank you to all the staff and volunteers who put such enthusiastic effort into this week-long event.  It makes a big difference in the lives of these kids.  I know first-hand.  This week Tavin received a plastic cross necklace at the end of the Thursday Kidz Gig to represent that day's Bible story time (clearly what Christ did for us).  Later that evening Tav was wearing the necklace and said, "Mommy, Jesus died on the cross."  (I'm writing this in real English as translated from Tavinese).  I said, "yes, bud, he did.  Do you know why?"  And then he said, "for our sins!"  I was so excited that he made that important connection.  Then I asked, "do you know why he did that?"  Tav said, "because God loves me."  That's right, Tav.  God loves you.  He was definitely riveted to the Kidz Gig activites, but now I knew he was really listening to what they were saying too and I was thrilled to know that he was starting to awaken to the amazing truth that God loves him so much that he sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for his sins.  Yep, a good week.