The Bead Bazaar. We started with the left side closed, but needed a bit more light to see inside. The fabric on the top of our tent is material I was given for a project I never made while we lived in Utah. The red rug in the front was given to us by a friend from Morocco and the tree on the right is from our living room.
The fabric on the sides of our tent are our curtains from our master bedroom (that I made -woot). We tucked the loops on the inside then hung beads and necklaces from it. I had many necklaces that were from my friend who gave me all her beading supplies. They were made from rocks and shells and glass which was perfect because we were pretending we lived in Jerusalem. I thought it was a perfect touch.
The purple material in the back is a beautiful velvet I got from my sister in law years ago when we lived in Utah. (Thanks Vanessa)
Most of this jewelry was also from my friend who gave me all her beads. I used a plastic 3 drawer organizer to put our craft supplies in and covered it with a brown blanket we had. It's important to note here that I had almost everything we needed for decorating. Some of these things I haven't used in years, but I held on to them for that "someday" and then someday came and I used them! Hooray!
Andrew and Bailey came into the bead bazaar to make some necklaces.
Every child was a part of a tribe. Bailey and Andrew were in the tribe of Dan. They made up a cheer that went:
We are snakes
We are long
We will bite
All night long
Go Dan!
Here is one of the young women helping Dan's tribe.
Here is the stage where they had their tribe meetings and where they did lots of singing and dancing.
The entry was decorated to welcome kids to Hometown Nazareth.
We shared a room with the Rabbi and his (her) Synagogue. She taught the kids about Jewish faith and worship and the kids made scrolls.
This was Bailey's scroll. It didn't match up in the photos but it said, cat, bat, hat, Bailey, BYU, I heart u (more than once), can, bat, mug, Megan, Andrew, Mommy and some other things I can't quite make out.
The woman on the left was my partner for the bead bazaar. We had characters to play as we taught the kids. She and I were sisters who had just moved here and had been hearing talk about someone named Mary and Jesus and asked the kids to tell us more about them. Each day we would ask different questions to the kids that came to the bead bazaar.
Each day the tribes would visit Mary's house and she would teach them about her life and her son, Jesus. The kids loved visiting Mary.
Mary had a neighbor, Unich, who did not like Mary and did not believe Jesus was the son of God. She would come in and ask the kids doubting questions. It was neat to hear the faith of these sweet little children.
While Bailey and I were taking photos our ourselves, she whispered so sweetly in my ear, "Mommy, can we ask Mary to take a photo with us?" It made my friend's day when I told her what Bailey had said.
The kids got to learn a bunch of uplifting songs and dances about God and Jesus. I could hear the music from my bead bazaar room and would try to sneak out to take photos and videos. They came home singing the songs and teaching me the dances. They loved it!
At some point in the day they asked the kids if they had noticed God in their lives that day. They called it God sightings. I heard that Bailey went up and in the microphone said, "I feel God when I'm at Mary's house." My friend who was dressed up as Mary told me it almost made her cry. It's so nice to know that every adult and leader was a volunteer. We had planning meetings, practice set ups, crafts and materials to make and buy and characters to play. We did it all because we love God and wanted to share His love with these special little children. I am already looking forward to next year!
Here's some clips of the songs and dances at Vacation Bible School.
The End!
