Returning to Our Roots. Helping out at the NTCC camp was a deja-vu kind of experience, bringing back memories of serving the kids of the same church seven years ago. But most of the kids I taught back then are now in college and have moved on.Labor Day weekend was historic for our family. We went up to Princeton, TX to help with the children's program of North Texas Chinese Church retreat. This was not the first time my wife and I had helped with this church. We did it before in 1997 and 1998. Only this time we were setting out to do this as a family—with Anne, Elise Joy and Nathan as our co-workers in the ministry.
Anne was assigned to help Mom with the preschoolers (2-5 year olds) while Joy would assist me with the elementary kids. Mom was using Lil' K curriculum, while I used Kidmo (www.kidmo.com) in our main teaching sessions. We had 10 sessions to work with the kids, from Saturday morning till Monday morning. Five would be teaching sessions, and the other five would be activity sessions with sport stacking (formerly called cup stacking).
Anne and Elise were extremely excited that we considered them mature enough to be helpers, and they made sure that they were helpful. Although, later on, Joy abandoned me to help with the preschool class. Their class had a lot more fun, it seems.
Great Helper. Elise Joy helps two-year old Christina learn the basics of stacking.
I had asked Nathan to help with the lightswitch but wasn't quite sure what else he could do. He found his niche though, in helping the younger preschoolers go to the bathroom, making sure they had a chair to climb to wash their hands, and in taking care of those who were younger. He showed real compassion by looking out for the younger kids.
NTCC Kids Building a Tower. The biggest hit of the weekend was the sport stacking, as the youth and children spent their free time stacking and building and stacking and building ...
Betty and I were quite impressed with the NTCC youth and children. The preschoolers were very much interested in the lessons and did not present any discipline problems. Isaac seemed reluctant to sit still at first, but when Betty told him clearly that he had to listen to instructions, he fit right in. The older children and youth were respectful and followed instructions as well.
The elementary kids really enjoyed Kwizmo and Memory Max: The Competition (some more than others) and look forward each time to the sport stacking sessions. They divided into two teams and competed to see who could build the fastest pyramid or cocoon. The team who cooperated together came out first both times. But then came the big competition—Stalagmites. Each team was required to build a minimum of 19 towers with the cups they were given. Then they were to stand in a line to protect their towers. The teams took turns throwing a large ball trying to eliminate the other team members and knocking down the towers. You had to catch the ball cleanly or you're out if the ball hits you.
We also used Toybox Tales (www.toyboxtales.com) as an intro to the lessons, which the kids enjoyed a lot. It was fun seeing Kermit, Ms. Piggy, the Kingpin, and the Terminator taking a departure from their normal roles to act out lessons from God's Word.
The weekend seemed to end pretty quickly for something so busy. Not long after it all began, we were driving back the six-hour trip to Houston.
NTCC Kids Building a Tower. The biggest hit of the weekend was the sport stacking, as the youth and children spent their free time stacking and building and stacking and building ...Betty and I were quite impressed with the NTCC youth and children. The preschoolers were very much interested in the lessons and did not present any discipline problems. Isaac seemed reluctant to sit still at first, but when Betty told him clearly that he had to listen to instructions, he fit right in. The older children and youth were respectful and followed instructions as well.
The elementary kids really enjoyed Kwizmo and Memory Max: The Competition (some more than others) and look forward each time to the sport stacking sessions. They divided into two teams and competed to see who could build the fastest pyramid or cocoon. The team who cooperated together came out first both times. But then came the big competition—Stalagmites. Each team was required to build a minimum of 19 towers with the cups they were given. Then they were to stand in a line to protect their towers. The teams took turns throwing a large ball trying to eliminate the other team members and knocking down the towers. You had to catch the ball cleanly or you're out if the ball hits you.
We also used Toybox Tales (www.toyboxtales.com) as an intro to the lessons, which the kids enjoyed a lot. It was fun seeing Kermit, Ms. Piggy, the Kingpin, and the Terminator taking a departure from their normal roles to act out lessons from God's Word.
The weekend seemed to end pretty quickly for something so busy. Not long after it all began, we were driving back the six-hour trip to Houston.
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