Today is the end of an era in our home, a true sign our
children are growing up faster than we would like. Tonight Elizabeth will receive her Timothy
award one of the highest honors in AWANA. The AWANA program has been a part of
our lives since our son Conner was four years old. Elizabeth was three years
old when she started AWANA.
 |
| Elizabeth age three in her first year of AWANA |
Through this program they have learned to study, plan, meet
goals and memorize large portions of verse. They have done different service
projects in each book, learned things like how to handle a American flag,
joined quiz teams and played games on the game square. It has been a wonderful
addition to our homeschooling. In some ways AWANA gave them a classroom/school
experience and brought the “socialization” that many non-homeschoolers often
mention.
Every Wednesday since 2002 our family has driven down the
road to our church. Some Wednesdays for many years I stayed and worked in the
store. We would serve snack and assist the kids in buying things with their
earned chapel checks or stars. That is where we saw our friends Matt and Tammy for years, we loved those weekly meet ups. It was the first place we went after my Gramie
died on Wednesday in 2003. It was the place we went and had people pray after
Marty got the call from the doctor saying something was urgently wrong with
him. It was the place my kids went the day their dad got the call for
transplant. After we came home from transplant? The first place we went was
AWANA to take our kids.
It was a place to see our friend’s mid-week standing outside
or sitting in our cars waiting for the kids to come out. I loved meeting Alyce and Jerry in the breeze way to chat. Often a great place to
ask someone to pray for you if you had a need. Even our dog Oscar looks forward
to riding in the car to get his kids on Wednesday evenings.
We met Helen the first night of AWANA; she raised five boys
in the mountains of the Philippines’. She took Conner’s hand and off he went.
Elizabeth was taught by my dear friend Heather in cubbies, she’s a Kindergarten
teacher and Elizabeth loved it. We met Scott who quickly became a huge part of
Conner’s life, a real mentor for him. Elizabeth and Conner both loved Traci who
directed Sparks for years. Traci truly helped Conner overcome some real
struggles with learning. Of course, they both loved Del and Colleen who
directed the program for years.
As you can tell, this was a huge part of my kid’s formative
years. Tonight is the real end of their elementary school years. It will be
weird when the next school year starts to not go to AWANA on Wednesday nights.
We are so thankful for this program and the impact it has been had our children’s
lives. We are truly sad to say goodbye forever.
 |
| Elizabeth on her last day of AWANA |
