Our last Rainbow

This awards night was a really dear one to my heart, my last little Rainbow was moving up. 

Sunlight and Rainbows are 3-4 year old little boys and girls so we started having a separate awards night for them a few years ago to make it extra special for them and it works really well. 

This year I wanted to add a little theme to the ceremony so I got a stuffed animal from every lesson the rainbows had done the past year and decorated the tables with them. Luckily for us Brock is a stuffed animal junkie so the only animal we had to purchase was a camel and thanks to amazon.com we had him in two days!

The night before the ceremony the kids and Joey and I decorated. Joey set up the stages and tables and chairs and we decorated them.

 

 Our teachers for Sunlight and Rainbows will have many jewels in their crowns when they get to heaven! It takes a lot of patience and love to teach the 3-4 year olds but the blessing received when the kids get the lessons is priceless and completely worth it! 

  

 The ceremony was adorable (as always) with lots of giggles and smiles

 The teachers amazed me as they always do with the little things they do to go over and beyond to show the kids how much they care about them and want to show them Jesus.

 

 

  

 This year our Bethany was graduating from Rainbows. Patricia, one the Rainbows teachers, was a huge part of Bethany's life right from the beginning; when she was just two weeks old Joey had to leave for a mission trip to Jamaica and I was left alone with a 2 year old, 1 year old and a two week old. In the middle of the night Brock (who had just turned 1) started screaming and would not stop, I was trying to nurse Bethany and had to be at work in the morning. My nerves were shot and I had a little post pardon depression also. At midnight I called out to my Mpact director at the time Kirsten Stovall, I left a voice mail that I needed help and within 10 minutes she was knocking on my door. That week changed my life. For the rest of the week ladies from the Mpact ministry took turns staying the night at my house, bringing me dinner and helping me get the kids ready in the morning to go to work. Patricia was one of those ladies. Patricia literally held Bethany all night long after getting off of work. I joke with Patricia and tell her that's when Bethany's lap colic kicked in :) Bethany made a grand entrance into the world and the events surrounding her first few weeks really did impact us in a great way later on. So as we celebrated the Sunlight & Rainbows awards this night, it really did mean so much more than just little ones putting on their vests and walking on stage. It reminded me about a time in my life when I felt completely helpless and alone and Jesus showed up through my sisters in Mpact. It reminded me of how blessed we are to have men and women that pour into our children at the littlest age so that they grow up to be godly men and women and in turn do the same and pour into others. It represented an awesome cycle that I am blessed to be a part of!
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Two of our precious girls from Mpact, Elizabeth and Allison, were so sweet to handle setting up the reception after the ceremony

 

 

An answered prayer right here in a photo. This year my friend Sandra, who I've been praying for, for many years started bringing her babies to church on Wednesdays... and you know what happens when your kids start coming to church..... 

 

 The parents start :) Mom is here and one day we'll see dad... I just know it :)

 Wednesday nights are a lot of fun and looking from the outside in you may think it seems like a fun activitiy or a "free hour of childcare" but looking from the inside out... it's life changing what happens here!

  This is the next generation of world changers!