VBS recap Ladies and Gentlemen, Under the Bigtop VBS is finally over!
That's right, I have a life again. Well, at least as much of one as I had before.
VBS was great. Pictures should be up at Jamesave.org soon. I was told our average of 165 was a record, and I'm certain that the 50+ teens that crammed in every night was something we haven't seen at JA in a very long time. Playing Napoleon the clown has been great fun, but a break from him will be nice. Rumor is we'll return to the bigtop again next year, but of course that's not official yet. It'd be our first VBS sequel ever.
Here's some fun highlights:

The kids across the street from the church saw us all lined up for the car wash and yelled until we brought them candy and came to play with them in their cul-de-sac. I bloodied my elbow on the pavement when I learned I can't cartwheel.

Later in the week I also tore out the clown costume in embarrasing places. Luckily I was wearing pants underneath. I don't think anyone noticed, until now.

Our trapize artists were an old Alf puppet and a Trapize possum (your church is so southern when...)

On Monday I knocked over the trapize possum while riding on John's shoulders. He couldn't see for his wig and I couldn't talk to tell him, so I had to kick, wave, and bonk his head until he turned around and started heading back toward the possum, then had to right it before he carried me past it. Darlene yelling was the only reason I noticed it. The kids loved it. They had no idea...

All 4 puppet scripts were written in less than 4 hours.

All 3 puppets were older than their puppeteers.

The Devil puppet used to wear a black-floral-print cape. He "lost" it last year and nobody's searched very diligently for it.

The United Methodist Publishing House donated the 150 boxes that were used to create the Temple for Samson's skit, the wall for Balaam, and the Tomb for Christ (Thanks Jeff!).

The original Monday Puppet script called for the Devil puppet to lift his own set of miniature barbells. When I forgot to make them, we opted for the huge ones instead.

The altar for tuesday's skit was actually our second attempt. The first took place in my backyard with me running around in the background.

The Stone for Christ's tomb was roughly actual size, based on historical record / speculation.

That same stone is made of melted together pipes covered in sheets and paper. We're not sure what we're going to do with it now, but it won't disassemble! (Suggestions have included hamster wheel for exercise and alternative power or base for gigantic coffee table)

The tomb's side wall fell an hour before the skit.

The donkey costume for Wednesday was made by Shannon and featured slip-on-hooves and a paper-mache mouthpiece that looked just like the one from Shrek. Tonya's still being called "Donkey."

All our sets were made by two real engineers, Heather and Bryan.

Over 4 rolls of duct tape were completely used up this week.

The youth (Ohio and JA) hand-delivered flyers to every house from 64th (James) to 51st, Charlotte to Centennial.

I was been sick the whole week. I got strep on top of allergies, and really did lose my voice. Starting Wednesday I tried every trick in the book to get my voice back. It finally worked! I think drinking 20 ounces of pickle juice with a twist of lemon was what finally did the trick.

On Tuesday I had to re-write my memory verse sign on the spot.

On Wednesday I actually had a pre-made sock puppet. When I couldn't find it, I improvized by pulling off my shoe and making one on the spot.

India really was a clown before Anna was born.

Steven really owns his costume.

So does Eddie. He had to hunt the rare pink alligator of southern florida to make the shoes.

John rented his, and accidentally painted a black stripe across the back of it. Lots of prayer and scrubbing cleaned it off.

The purple silk and Silver silk ties Eddie wore? Both Mine. The blue bowtie and crumb-catcher were Tonya's.

Thursday Night Eddie the Ringmaster and I (Napoleon the Clown) had no idea what our lines were. We made up the entire ending, bit by bit, very loosely based on what we were supposed to say.

The Devil puppet made up most of his lines Thursday, too.

Thursday I wasn't supposed to throw confetti everywhere either, but I did, and it was worth having to stay late to vacuum it up.

The black spraypaint shrunk the styrofoam on the barbells by about an inch.

Marks created a "James Ave as the cast of the Simpsons" list at work. I can't tell you all of them, but I heard Larry was Flanders.

I made 3 kids cry, one of which overheard me jokingly telling India "Can't sleep, clown will eat me" (another Simpsons reference, d'oh).

Over the course of the week I spotted at least 7 members of the cast read Harry Potter book 6, despite the fact that there were only 2 copies at the church.

The clown routine tonight is actually a Barnum and Bailey routine India picked up from a retired clown.

This same VBS is being performed at Alum Creek Church of Christ in Ohio next week. David Estes will be playing the part of Napoleon the Clown.



So, while there were no grape incidents this year, VBS was definitely full of its usual fun follies. Never a dull moment under the JA bigtop, is there?  ¶   2 comments