Awana Awards Night

Kinsey finished up her last year of Cubbies and LOVED her teachers and friends in her class for two years:). Kinsey was able to finish up her last book and just loved being there...and was proud to share her verses for her younger friends:).

Braden accomplished a LOT this year and was sweetly recognized for it. He finished both AWANA books, the first three chapters of Genesis, and the first four chapters of Mark. His memory is AMAZING but even better is the fact that he really knows the bible and is hiding God's word in his heart...not just memorizing for one week and then forgetting it the next. I have learned a great deal of the Genesis and Mark chapters from listening to him practice and was amazed at church last week when the pastor was referring to the verses in Genesis. Brian and I laughed because we both knew them WELL thanks to our seven year old son!


Cailey rocked it this year too. Her memory is crazy amazing but we don't know who she got it from (def not me!). TnT is much different than Sparks where you just memorize a verse each week. They had to do a bible study, memorize verses, remember a question and answer for EACH verse, do review verses (which was easy for Cailey b/c she has such a great memory), plus she did the silver and gold each week.

In the Silver they have to learn additional verses to go with what's already in that section. For the gold they had to do service projects, learn longer verses, do bible studies, do art projects, etc. Also, for their last gold they have to go through the ENTIRE book in one sitting and do each question/answer with the backup verses for each one. A whole book in one sitting. It's amazing!

It would have been tough to get through one book and the gold and silver..BUT my Cailey girl finished her first one so quickly that she decided to aim and get the second book done in the year. She would NOT slow down and ended up getting THREE (out of four) TnT books done in one year. She did ALL the golds and silvers too...this is SUPER hard work. On average she was learning 10 verses plus questions and answers a week. She did three years of work in one year. Each book got harder because it was meant for older children...so the silver and golds were harder too. She could have actually finished all four books but I really put my foot down there. She would have been done with her AWANA years and had nothing to do for next year!

Cailey's goal (at this point) is to serve in AWANA and be a cubbie helper. Having only one book left will allow her to do this when she is in 5th grade before starting any kind of middle school program. Next year we'll supplement when she's done with her book.

They did a nice job of recognizing all the hard work she did this year...because it was hard! She got a medal for the first book and trophies for the other two plus a pin each for the silvers and golds (so 6). She wouldn't smile up on the stage until she started dropping everything she was carrying when she finally realized just how much she earned for her hard work. Like Braden she hides it in her heart...doesn't forget it as soon as she learns it. We sat down a few days ago and went through all THREE books and she still knows her questions/answers and verses...even back from August. That's what important to us. Remembering it in the long run.

I pray they continue to desire to hide God's word in their hearts while they are young and have such good memories. I have been able to memorize more from listening to them recite them each week than I could have ever done on my own. Awana is a great program!

a cubby, a spark, and one in TnT! They were ALL VERY excited!

friends! cailey's been in church with these girls since she was a baby

Ms. Caryn was one of her teachers and SO sweet! (Her other teacher left early so we didn't get a pic). Braden and Cailey posing with Dave

Braden was so blessed to have Dave for two years! Dave listened to A LOT of verses from his including 7 chapters of the bible!

Kinsey's teachers and me with my sweet kiddos! This year I helped in Sparks for their verse time (which the TnT kids were doing game time) and then served the rest of the time listening to the TnT girls do their verses and went to their club time with them. Since I have both a Sparks and a TnT shirt I joked about having someone cut them in half and sew them down the middle to show I served in both:). I love the people I served with and loved the time I got to spend with the girls each week.

I thankful we found out about AWANAS back when Cailey was three and she went to Open Door for it. Then we switched to Providence when they first started and next year we're making one last switch to Mt. Vernon. The kids are going to miss their friends and leaders for sure...I'm DEF going to miss the leaders but it's going to work out better for our family. We look forward to meeting new people and making new (while keeping old:) friends there.