And whoooooosh.....

Oh it was good to go to church yesterday! It was good to see the children, we had about 20 even though it's traditionally a low attendance week. It was good to see all our members back safe and sound; no longer housebound by the heavy snow, no longer stuck in far flung cities stranded at airport hotels. It was good to sing hymns and affirm our covenant together again.

During the service the children were all together, family style for a few stories and then a game day. I read "The Everything Seed" and the kids shared what they'd gotten for Christmas (one thing each, please!) and then we had games and crafts and free play. Our Religious Education space looks like a big gym, so sometimes keeping a gaggle of kids contained can be a challenge, but not this time. Some played Uno in a big group, some played playmobil and horses and did scratch art and did a weaving project. There was even a chess game. I love these days because you get to sit down and visit with the kids for more than just a few moments. You chat, you joke around, you get to hear that they chose sushi for their birthday dinner. You make duplo trains filled with animals. It's so fun.

And it was wonderful to tell the Story for All Ages.

We were unsure about the story until late last week, I was distracted by Christmas and the weather and all the services we'd missed, so I pulled out the story I always carry in my back pocket.

We made a rain storm.

Have you done it? You rub your hands together making a soft swishing sound, then snap fingers (or do little finger claps if you don't know how to snap) to make the raindrop sound, then stomp for the thunder? That's how we started, we recreated the Seattle Solstice Storm. So then of course we had to make snow! We made little starbursts in the air with our hands. And then, and then, and then......we were quiet. Like the quiet snow. All you could hear was the sound of children playing. But then we could hear the dripping of snow off the branches, off the roof. So we made dripping sounds, and then bigger swishing sounds. And then with one big WHOOOOOOOSH, the snow all turned to water and flowed down the hills, down through the storm drains, down, down, down and splashed into the sea.

It was so good to be together.

And it was so good to hear that WHOOOOOSH!