You do know Elise is the VIB, right, Mom?

So while Ed, Bethany, & I were over at the all-state concert, I get this text from Sarah:  “Grandpa wants to know what time on Friday and how many kids are in Elise’s class?”

Um…what?

Finally, several texts later, after trying to figure out what on earth is going on, I get this: “You do know Elise is the VIB, right, Mom?”

Um….NOOOOOOOOOO!

The VIB, or Very Important Bear, is a very special week in the life of a second grader. It’s the week that you take home the class bear for the weekend, take pictures, and write in a journal all about what the bear did over the weekend. Then on Friday you get to bring a special guest to class! The two oldest girls chose their grandpa as their special guest and he built frames for some art work and taught them about sanding wood and cutting glass, etc. We had pretty much planned that Elise would do that as well, since she had the same teacher. But finding out that your 2nd grader is the VIB on the weekend that you’re FIVE HOURS AWAY was a little stressful.

Thankfully, I got this text next from Sarah: “Don’t worry, Mom, we’ve got it covered.”

Well, thank goodness.

And I came home to find out that they, they being Sarah and my parents and Becca, did indeed have it covered. The bear attended ball games, watched Olympics, and did all manner of other fun activities and it was all recorded both in the class journal and in pictures for us to print and include in the journal. The special guest activities were all figured out by the time I got home, and I ended up having to simply print the pictures and help Elise include them in the journal and THAT WAS IT! Seriously, I should go away more often!

So not this past Friday, but the Friday before, my dad was the special guest. This time I went to go watch (I didn’t with the other girls because I had small, napping children at home) and it was great. Elise had a great time and my dad did an awesome job.

Sanding the frames Grandpa built!

Cutting glass with Grandpa! Each kid got to sand their own frame and cut their own glass. Very cool! Elise is SO proud of her VIB guest and the frames she & her classmates made!

That same night, we attended our long-awaited, much-awaited Toby Mac concert!!!!!

We were SO excited! Unfortunately the wait at the border almost killed all our enthusiasm. I gave us an hour. Plenty of time for the crossing we were going to. But…between the concert-goers and the Canadians returning from a day of shopping…ONE HOUR AND 45 MINUTES later, we finally entered Abbotsford! Ugh. We had packed dinner in the van, so we ate. And we listened to Toby Mac music. And we read and played games. And then finally we got there…just a few minutes after the concert started. We really didn’t miss much at all! And what a concert it was!

The little girls had never experienced anything like it and were amazed at how they could feel the music beating in their chests! They soon got into it and I sat next to four girls who sang and danced and worshipped happily the whole evening. My heart swelled and was full.

Excuse the horrible pictures…an iPhone camera in a dark auditorium just doesn’t perform well.