Belle has been attending Awana since she was 15 months old. Although she had a good time each Sunday evening as a Puggle and a Cubbie, it wasn't until this year as a Spark that she truly started LOVING going to Awana.
As a Spark, she was in the main building with the big kids. She really enjoyed the funny announcer, the opening songs and going on stage. I appreciated the terrific K5 Sparks leaders and the expectations they set for the kids to learn their memory verses. For the first time, she was able to earn Awana bucks and visit the Awana store. It was really sweet to see how proud she was of her purchases, but even sweeter to see what a thoughtful shopper she was. Not once did she come home without gifts for everyone in the house, and even some to "save for Christmas."
Game time was another new adventure this year. Belle was leery of playing with the big boys, but by year end, she actually participated in a few dodge ball games. Once, she happily told me about one thoughtful boy who was nice enough to give her the ball he caught. (Bless that young lad!)
Once again, Belle enjoyed building a derby car with her daddy and racing in the Awana Grand Prix. Nothing would persuade her to have anything but a "Narnia car." After she diligently sketched the main characters onto her car, I was surprised to see her paint over it all. When I asked why she covered up the Narnia drawings, she simply explained, "They are hiding in Narnia."
As instructed, John dutifully held Aslan to see Belle getting her certificate at the Awards Ceremony. With the church Awana club on break now, Belle decided to start holding her own program for her brother each Sunday night. She stripped the awards from her vest, slapped it on John with a name tag, and had him quoting verses before I hardly even realized what she was up to. As long as John is willing to play along with her At-Home Awana, I have no complaints. After all, she is just continuing the mission of the program off season. As the club song says, "We are Sparks for Jesus...Sparks to light the world!"
