A boy with dirty blond hair looks down and watches the mud squish between his toes. His big grin reveals his missing front tooth.  "Can I squish it in my hands?" he asks the adult volunteer.  "Well, the Hebrew people would have used their feet. Can I help you out?"  The boy puts his hands in the big hand of the volunteer, and he steps out of the plastic wading pool filled with mud.  "Now, let's make a brick!" the adult tells the boy.  Together they scoop the mud into the wooden brick form and place it in the sun to dry.  They talk about which inside market shops he had visited.  Another volunteer hoses off his feet, lovingly dries them with a soft towel and helps him wiggle his socks and shoes back on.  On his way back inside he asks the volunteer, "Can I come do this again tomorrow? It's my favorite."  The man looks at the three bricks he has already made, smiles and says, "Sure.  I can't wait to see you."
 
Back inside the cool church, he finds himself in a busy Egyptian marketplace.  One child is learning to play shuffleboard as a shopkeeper tells her, "Did you know shuffleboard was invented in Egypt?"  Having already had hummus and flatbread at the food market (he didn't much care for the olives), he decides to pass the jewelry shop and the library and head for the Architect's Apprentice, the block area. He remembers that downstairs beside the Nile River they are building a pyramid out of stones covered with God-Sightings.  Each morning his Family Leaders ask him where he saw God that day.  As he stacks wooden blocks, he knows what he's going to tell his leader tomorrow.  "I saw God in the mud." 
 

Volunteers and kids strike an Egyptian pose on the banks of the Nile River.

To the many, many dedicated volunteers who gave of their time, the members and friends who donated and loaned items, the youth who woke early and had the toughest jobs, the parents who signed up and brought their kids, the staff who accommodated and welcomed the chaos, and you who gave your prayers, THANK YOU.  I saw God in you at Vacation Bible School.  And yes, you can come back next year!
 
                           

     

The Youth Family Group Leaders circle with their families as they sing "We Are the Children of God!".

 

 

 

 

 

Linen Shopkeeper Rani Remus helps a group decorate their tunics.

         

At the Brickmaker's Shop, Lazo Veselinovic cleans some muddy feet.text here.

 

 

 

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