Star Wars Reads Day

This morning we continued the trip to the west with another thrilling chapter at KidPak, all about striking it rich!

Of course, the Bible there involves digging and searching, and all sorts of digging.  Here's the write-up for the day, which coincides with Gold Rush Days in Dahlonega this weekend, by design.

      Get ready to hit pay dirt!  In 1849, many, many folks gave up all they had and headed west for the great Gold Rush in search of the Mother Lode!  They were called the forty-niners, hearty miners and prospectors with nothing but pans, pick axes, and a whole lot of hopes and dreams.
     How about you?  Are you a forty-niner?  Are you searching for something valuable?  In Psalm 49, the Good Book tells us to chase after what is really important, and that's something pretty priceless:  a relationship with God, and eternal life. 
     Does that interest you, partner?  If so, then it's time to dig deeper!  You've got to seek and knock, and stake your claim!  It doesn't matter if you're a miner, or someone older:  your prospects are better the more you dig.  Spend more time with God, looking for nuggets of truth in His Word, and digging deeper into a relationship with Him.  He'll keep you away from that fool's gold, and keep you calm when your whole world starts to shakin'!
     Now don't panic!  If things seem a little too hot for you, remember that it will all pan out in the end!  It takes heat and pressure to refine gold to a place where all impurities are burned away.  And in our lives, it's no different.  God uses situations to bring us to place where we can be pure before Him, and that is exactly where we want to be. 
     You know why?  Because there's gold in them-there hills!  Jesus wants to meet us in a place where there's streets of gold.  So join the Gold Rush, partner, and spread the word.  It's heaven or bust, and you're about to strike it rich!

     It was a great morning, from messages to videos to the skit of course.  The characters were fantastic - here's Mary Shannon backstage, waiting to go on stage.

It was a great morning, a double portion for Madison, who gets to see everything twice each Sunday.  Daddy doesn't mind that at all though, because she gets to hear the message twice.  Plus, it's a lot of fun!  

But this next activity was a lot of fun for Madison too - here's what she did after church:

We decided to head over to the Post Library, where they were having a Star Wars Reads Day celebration.  Instead of this taking place on one specific date each year, the organizers of this nationwide event leave it up to local libraries to choose one date in October that would work best.  This was the date that the Post Road Library chose, and as we were planning things out, we though it might be worth checking out.

So here is Madison, once again dressed as Rey.  Daddy opted for a casual Star Wars t-shirt, although there were plenty of adults who had decided to dress up, including this really weird Darth Vader to Madison's right there.

There were a few other great costumes though, including this guy above.  He's from the 501st Legion, and was happy to be here for the kids.  He was happy to force all the kids into some craft labor, as you can see below:

This is Madison creating a great BB-8 plate, which would get us extra points if we were playing a rhyme game.  But sadly, we're not.  Madison made Princess Leia hair buns, stormtrooper stencils, and even some decorative Yoda ears.

The event lasted a few hours this afternoon, with games (like toss a bean bag into Jabba's mouth, or search through a trash compactor [a kiddy pool with styrofoam peanuts and plastic bottles] to rescue action figures).  And, of course, we were there to look for books.  Madison got a few, and ran into another stormtrooper who was also looking for a good book to read.

Finally there was a parade.  Yes, a parade through the library.  Look at the kids dressed up as Rey there, lined up after the stormtroopers.

We did some trivia afterwards - we spent a few hours here today.  And it was fun.  Madison had a great time, made some crafts and got some books.

We came home in time to finish our piano practice, and then pop in a movie.  By request - Madison's request - we chose for our October movie, "The Tower of Terror."  Popcorn, and a movie.  After watching this, it'll be easy to get some sleep tonight.  Today was a big day!