Bible Stories are not for the Faint Hearted

Guess how many times I got to listen to "Zaccheus" on the way to and from church today.  Go ahead.  Guess!!  Ok, I'll tell you. 16.  SIXTEEN.  And this is not one of my semi-famous made up numbers.  I listened to "Zaccheus was a wee little man..." and so on, sixteen times in the car today.  On the way to church it served as a great diversion for my poor anxiety ridden son who wants to talk about church all the way there.  This would be one thing if he could say more than three words about it, but after going through the whole routine 10 or so times, who wouldn't welcome a little "Zaccheus"?

And then, my Sunday School lesson was a total downer.  We are starting a new unit-Ruth.  And, like me, I'm sure you're thinking, "Oh what a sweet story.  Women helping women.  My favorite." And like me, you're skipping over that whole unfortunate part where Naomi's husband AND two sons die.  I ran into this problem when (back in my former life) I would write Children's Ministry curriculum, trying to stay true to studying a whole chapter/book.  Sometimes you can't quite come up with a way to explain certain passages in the Bible to a four year old.  In class yesterday, the staff set up a laminated tree with some sticky leaves on it.  Each leaf had a character from the story on it-think "family tree".  While telling the story, I was to point to the appropriate leaf.  You know, until the character kicked the bucket at which time I was supposed to remove them from the tree!!  I was horrified!  You should have seen the look on the faces of the kids.  I'm thinking of one little girl in particular.  She has a mass of curly hair and she literally had wide eyes with her mouth open.  This is tricky territory.  If you're too dramatic, those four year olds will be crying, no doubt.  But, you can't exactly make light of it.  Whew.  

And, then just to drive home the morbidity of the day, our "craft" project included a coloring sheet with Ruth and Naomi on it-they were faceless!!!  The "craft" was to glue their faces on.  Dead guys, headless ladies to color.  Tough day in Pre-K B.

A big shout out to Drew who had his first awesome day in class yesterday.  They did not even have to stroll him in the stroller!!  And he was smiling when I picked him up.  Shocking.  I am really so thankful for his 2nd hour teachers Christina and Dave (or dvvvv if you're Drew!).  They are my new favorite.