Mural Art Camp - Last Day & Reveal Party

Friday, July 13, was the perfect last day for our Art Camp.  After sharing a snack together, we learned about the fourth theme to our mural.  The themes for the first three sections were:

           1)      “Build houses and settle down;”  Jeremiah 29:5a

           2)      “Plant gardens and eat what they produce.”  Jeremiah 29:5b

           3)       “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you”  Jeremiah 29:7

And our fourth theme….

           4)      “I will gather you from all nations and places…” declares the Lord, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you.”

All of these themes are from the Bible on building community.  The fourth theme, the students learned, is all about God calling all peoples, from all backgrounds, to build community together wherever they are.  Mr. Andrew and Amir would be working all that day to put final touches on the mural, so we all made some fun art projects inside.  One of our special crafts for the day was making people from all nations and places out of paper dolls, crayons, fabric, felt, and yarn.  Each child made two people – one to take home with them, and one to place on the LYN House wall to be a part of a ‘community.’  The kids also had fun creating a scrapbook page as a memento of their week at Art Camp. 

The rest of the day was used to prepare for our Mural Reveal Party!  Parents, family, and friends all turned out to celebrate the unveiling of the mural our kids had worked so hard to complete that week.  Cake, popcorn, and lemonade was served to welcome everyone; then we all made our way to the community garden to see the wall.  Four of the students were chosen to each read the verse/theme for each section of the wall as it was unveiled.  The kids all took great pride in what they had accomplished, and the mural looks beautiful!!    

 The unveiling...

“Build houses and settle down;”  Jeremiah 29:5a

 “Plant gardens and eat what they produce.”  Jeremiah 29:5b

 “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you”  Jeremiah 29:7

  “I will gather you from all nations and places…” declares the Lord, “and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you.”

 The artists of the week!!!

Kid's Kitchen Herbal Walk and Tea!

Yesterday, 10 Kids Kitchen participants learned all about herbs! Our special guest was Mr. Greg, who works at Pogue’s Run. Mr. Greg is also an herbalist and he grows his very own plants and herbs. He came to the LYN House to teach us about herbs and to take us on a walk to show what kind of plants we can eat and use to cook with that are in our own community. Before we began the herbal experience we discussed as a group what kind of abilities herbs have and had a devotion. Kids shared how some plants can heal cuts, some herbs can be made into teas, and some help with our sunburns. This led us into our devotion about how Jesus is a healer. Kids listened to a few stories from Matthew 8 about how Jesus healed a leper and Peter’s mother-in-law from a terrible fever. Herbs and teas may help us feel better, but Jesus is the true healer. He can perform miracles, he makes us feel better when we are ill, and we makes us feel very special.

                Next, it was time for the herbal walk! Mr. Greg took us to our own community garden. He pointed our numerous herbs that were growing wild in and around our garden. He also explained how each herb can help us. Some of them could be used as lotion, another herb is eaten because it helps the brain, and others are good for keeping our bodies healthy. During our walk kids recorded the different types of herbs and drew what they looked like in their journals. After we made our way through the garden it was time to head back inside and make some tea. Mr. Greg took some herbs that he found outside in our community and also from his herbal farm. He chopped the herbs, placed them in hot water, let them soak, and then poured the tea over ice to make cold tea. Everyone got to try the cold tea. While we drank the tea we enjoyed some tasty English biscuits and the kids recorded their thoughts and ideas in their journals.

Today the kids learned that herbs may have the ability to make us feel better and enhance our health, but that Jesus is the one and only healer who loves us, performs miracles, and saves us from our sins.