AWANA Tales

Our children have a lot of fun at AWANA each week.  It is a great program.

This week, we had an eventful evening at AWANA.  It started out well.  The theme was "Double Friend" night.  Kids were encouraged to bring a friend, and also to dress alike with their friend.  Jersey #1 coordinated outfits with a friend of hers from church.  Jersey #3 dressed up his little brother (Jersey #5) in identical clothes, to get credit.  It helps that they already look alike as brothers.  Jersey #2 had the most fun of all, because she had the opportunity to dress alike with her best friend.  We had coordinated a playdate that afternoon, and the girls pieced together matching outfits and pigtails for AWANA that evening.  They had a giggly blast!

From there, my evening at AWANA went haywire.  I assist in the Cubbies class, so I was there with Jersey #4 and Jersey #5.  Much to my surprise, Jersey #5 decided to plant a big kiss on a little girl in Cubbies.  Mouth to mouth, with the full "smack" of the lips afterward.  It was so surprising that another Mom in the room did not have time to compose herself, and accidentally said, "aw, how cute!"  That prompted my little Romeo to attempt a second kiss...which I managed to thwart in time.

I don't know what I am going to do with this child.  From the time he could walk, he has been distracted by pretty little girls.  He would toddle over to a little girl in a stroller and smile at her, or do something silly to make her laugh.  The day he dropped himself to the ground, just to get a little girl to giggle, I knew I was in over my head.  

Thankfully, Jersey #5 managed to keep his lips to himself for the rest of the evening.

Then, right at the end of AWANA, Jersey #3 injured his foot in the gym.  I still haven't gotten the full story out of him, but it sounds like there was some goofing off involved, right before the closing program.  Jersey #3 hurt his ankle.  He pampered it as if he could not walk.  His teacher even hunted me down to tell me about it, because Jersey #3 said he was in such bad shape he wanted his Mom.  Jersey #3 dragged himself, on his bottom, across the gym, to line up with his class.  He was sitting on the floor with his class by the time I made it to the gym.  Coincidentally, just as I was approaching him from behind, his teacher announced his award.  Without hesitation, Jersey #3 jumped up from the floor, and ran to the center of the gym, to receive his award.  

I know my jaw dropped, because I was just that stunned and amused.  The AWANA Commander caught sight of the look on my face, and did his best to stifle his laughter.  I said, "Wow, I guess he is all better now!"  

Later, in the hallway, the AWANA Commander joked that it is amazing how fast kids heal these days.  

Every time I think about the drama of Jersey #3 and his injured foot, I just shake my head and chuckle.  

Children have such a way of humbling us.