Don't worry. I did survive...I've just been recuperating. Phew! It's hard work planning and carrying out a service like that. As soon as we got home on Sunday I needed a nap. Thank goodness Andrew played quietly with his toys and then watched a movie.

Husband took lots of pictures so I'm going to share some of them with you all in Blogland. I'm hesitant to post pictures with any of the kids in them due to privacy reasons for the chitlins, so I'm only going to post set-up photos and one and Andrew. If the pictures of everyone do go up on the churches website I'll post them here...

First Up!
My letters--They say "Sending Christian Greetings" which was the theme of the week. While they did take forever and a day to make I think it was totally worth it.
Initially I was going to hang the letters vertically and made the letters reversible. Once I tried to figure out how I would actually hang the letters vertically I realized it was next to impossible so I decided to hang them horizontally on a clothesline with clothes pins (thanks Google for the help on that one!). Because of this last minute Saturday afternoon change the letters on the backside are all backwards...it says sgniteerg naitsirhc gnidnes. People didn't get it. Quite a few asked what it was supposed to say. Yay for seniors. :P
You can see that we very creatively hung the string off the chandeliers in the hall. :P Husband thought of that & he's a genius! Husband also hung the string and put up all the letters on Sunday morning for me. He's a sweet Husband.


Next Up!
My banner - Husband sat and took some pictures of it on Sunday too. I can't believe I made something so big! It was supposed to be for the kids to march around with on Family Sundays but really it's too big for them. They can't see where they're going when they carry it. lol

You can see how I had the stage set up. To the right of the banner was the power point screen. It went better this time because we used the stage. The kids seemed to get the idea of where they were supposed to be better then the last two months. The set up is more traditional then the church has been used to since moving to the hall space. I know they have grown to prefer the semi circle or full circle seating plan, but it almost made it too difficult for the children to keep focused.


This is the little altar I made up with the books we were reading/discussing, the cross, and the radishes that the kids planted last month (oh and btw, can anyone tell me why the leaves are turning this orangish colour?). I meant to mention it during the service...but of course I forgot. Boo on me. I don't know how ministers/preachers remember to say everything they want and plan on saying.

& Andrew being Andrew beforehand.

The ideas for next time....

• play stump the vicar (we always call our minister vicar) - play for five minutes and if someone stumps the vicar with a question about church/religion/the united church they get a prize
• be more focused - have less small activities and one big one instead
• GET LOUD! Make a joyful noise!
  
• work completely of taped music - the man who plays our piano on Sundays doesn't seem to get the idea of lively children's music...
• Have 'stations' set up around the church for children to go to if they're bored - quiet things like a puzzle, play doh, felt board.
• Rely less on books and other peoples ideas and do more of my own 'stuff' aka my secular and non scary way of saying preching. lol.

Thanks for all the interest guys. It means a whole lot to me.