PENNSYLVANIA

So I arrived last night into the beautiful state of California where smog is our humidity :) My family and I ventured across the country to Pennsylvania for a Falcioni Family Reunion. We decided to make this our vacation and see the great state of Pennsylvania for all its worth. Boy did we milk every moment out of this trip!

We departed from John Wayne Airport around 9:30 Wednesday morning. We arrived into the Philadelphia Airport around 9:30pm (Eastern Time) and a shuttle picked us up to take us to the airport.

We quickly realized this was going to be a long flight and discovered that the SkyMall magazines tucked away in the seats had Sudoku puzzles and Crossword puzzles, these kept us very busy on each flight we took.

Once we arrived to the airport around 10:15ish, we realized we were all starving. We unloaded our luggage in our rooms and off we went to Ruby Tuesdays. I have always wanted to go there - we have commercials for them here, but as far as I know we don't have any of them in southern california (if we do, they are hiding). It was great, we closed the place down and returned back to our hotel.

Thursday morning we all gathered in the lobby for an unbelievable breakfast! It had everything you could every imagine to eat. There was an omelet bar and a cafe with makings for oatmeal, bagels, pastries, yogurt, fresh fruit, bacon, sausage, muffins, all kinds of juices, coffee and so much more. It was great! We then departed from the hotel to see the sights of PHILLIDELPHIA! I had no idea what a treat this was going to be. The weather was great - although it did rain and drizzle quite a bit throughout the day. The overcast weather really cut the heat - and to be honest I was a bit chilly for most of the day.

We went to Independence Hall and saw the Liberty Bell - which was such a huge piece of history and to be right up close to it was amazing!

After going to see the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall, my mother told us that Pretzels are kind of a big deal in Philly, so we had to feast on some pretzels with mustard.

We also went to the US Mint which was AMAZING!!! I am a coin collector myselft - so to see where all of the production happens was fascinating! I absolutely loved it.....I could have spent all day there! I don't have any pictures unfortunately from the inside, we had to leave all camera's outside before we entered the mint - security was pretty tight here, so we couldn't bring much of anything inside.

After visiting the US Mint, we travelled over a few blocks to the "Best Philly Cheese Steak Place in Town". One of the locals recommended this place to us as being the best in town. These are the cheese steaks they serve at Philly's & Eagles games....so we knew we were in for a real treat! We arrived at "Campos" and Catherine asked Mrs. Campos herself what the authentic way to eat a Philly Cheese Steak is - we were informed that in order to have an authentic Cheese Steak - it has to be made with cheese-wiz (believe it or not). Needless to say I broke my P90x diet for the day and indulged in a cheese steak for myself. I was the only one who consumed the entire thing - it was hilarious! This sandwich was AMAZING! It was soooo good, I wish I could have taken one home.

VBS - DAY 5

DAY 5 - GO SERVE!

So as you can probably tell, I am extremely exhausted from a week at VBS (hence my posting this morning rather than yesterday). Yesterday at VBS was a blast. The kids just had an incredble time learning about serving the Lord!

In our closing session yesterday, we played our final round of the game show and it was time for someone to be slimed.....Professor Wordsmart & Coach Armstrong were the victims. Who better to do the sliming than some firefighters!!!! It was great to see them take on the task - the children absolutely loved it! They got such a kick out of it! We had some special presents to present to various people who have served ShoreLife or the community that surrounds us so we were graced by the presence of some visitors yesterday. Debra Tous came to represent Horizon Pregnancy Center. The kids made baby blankets one of the days at VBS and it was such a special thing to see them directly go to Horizon Pregnancy Center. Linda and Michelle came from Sunset Screen Printing to receive a Studio GO! Game Show T-shirt signed by all the kiddos! I couldn't believe they stayed for the whole thing and the pizza party following! YAY! Then to top it all off the Huntington Beach Fire Department came and received some homemmade cookies and thank you cards made by the kiddos! They even brough their Fire Engine and came in uniform - the kids LOVED it.

Overall yesterday was such a blast!!! Praise the Lord for a successful VBS!

VBS - DAY 4

DAY 4 - GO OBEY!
So today is Thursday and I can hardly believe that tomorrow will be the last day of VBS. I have had so many incredible responses to VBS this year - I am pumped and ready for VBS next year - ok so not really, I am exhausted I will admit. Every day this week I have come home from a long day at church and said to myself "I am going to take a nap" and sure enough the evening rolls around and no nap has taken place in my day. I am really feeling it today. Tomorrow should be tons of fun - we have a jam packed day of exciting things! Here are some highlights from today!

Yummy snack today! Peyton approved of the Turkey Balogna!

Me and my friend Aubrey - we have been dancing partners all week in the closing sessions! What a sweet girl!

They did such a fabulous job cleaning and serving today!

In Service Showcase - the kids cleaned the toys and facilities in the baby classrooms

Chloe was playing doctor with our camp nurse - how fitting!

Diagnosis: "Mrs. Shannon is very sick"

We played this fun game called "Dress for Success" The contestants had to get dressed in an adults outfit - aren't they so matchy matchy :) haha

The whole gang! What a fun group!

always room for a silly picture - my personal favorite!

VBS - DAY 3

DAY 3 - GO TELL!
So day 3 at VBS has come to a close and I cannot believe how fast this week is going by. Today was especially incredible and I don't know why I am ever surprised about how awesome my God is. Today was decision day at VBS and kids were given the opportunity to accept Jesus into their hearts. Jennifer Thomas led them all through the wordless book which offers a fabulous visual for kids to reallly grasp. 15 children chose to ask Jesus to be the Lord of their lives forever. It really got me when a little girl, only 6 years old interrupted me while I was talking and said "I need to pray right now, my heart is hurting!" And sure enough she bowed her head and started to pray in an audible whisper - desperately asking Christ to enter her life and dwell in her heart forever. It is moments like this that make all the blood, sweat and tears and endless hours of preparation worth it 100 times over.
PRAISE THE LORD!
Here are just a few photos from Day 3 of VBS

Jesus was wrapped in clothes and burried in the grave

On the 3rd day, Jesus broke free from the grave and rose again!

This is dedication to cleanliness - only for Pastor Brent

Me and my bestest bud/sister! What an incredible servants heart Jenn has :)

Snack time: GO TELL Microphones

hehe - one of my favorites.....getting into some trouble. They snuck into the pastor's car!

hard at work...

look at those little hands working so hard to clean Pastor Brent's dirty car

VBS - DAY 2

Day 2 - GO RISK!
So today at VBS was a blast. We started out our morning session playing a good ole' game of "Let's Make a Deal", I was worried that the kids would make the connection between risk taking and this game, but they definitely GOT IT!

The kids seemed to have a blast with it!!!

The air conditioning was fixed early on in the morning - which was FABULOUS and got us through this scorcher of a day. PRAISE THE LORD FOR A/C! We are so blessed to be at a church that has A/C :) I am still going strong on my energy levels and am really excited to see what the Lord does at VBS tomorrow.

The purple team WOW'd us all by memorizing the Bible Verse already - by day 2! It was so awesome to hear them recite scripture in unison! It was awesome and such a neat thing to hear in children's voices! It was definitely the highlight of my day! God is GOOD!

VBS - DAY 1

So today kicked off the first day of Vacation Bible School at church. This was the first time I directed VBS alone. I can definitely say that I miss the companionship Rachel offered. The support that was naturally in place was missing. It was so fun having her text me throughout the day wishing me well and cheering me on - it totally made my day complete!


We had about 53 kids in attendance today which was awesome! It was so much fun seeing the kids let loose and praise Jesus together. Although we had only a few snafoos - the day went great and everyone seemed to learn a lot and really enjoy themselves. I found myself right after the closing session, making my list of things to do for tomorrow. I am such a list maker my nature and as soon as I finish one thing, my brain moves on to the next. I suppose this is my brains mode of efficiency :)

I am very excited about tomorrow and what the Lord has in store for our day #2 at VBS - GO RISK!