During the beginning, all the kids (and there were a lot of them) gathered together in the sanctuary to sing and dance and make a lot of noise. Faith was very nervous during this part, and she was telling me she was scared.
Both me and Chloe tried to console her the best we could, but it was just too much for Faith. I took her outside to the lobby where she proceeded to tell me she wanted to go home. I talked her into staying as I knew we would be breaking down into smaller, hopefully quieter, groups.
During the first session our "crew" watched a movie. Faith was fine with this, but I couldn't get her to stop talking to one of the crew leaders during the movie. She kept asking what we were going to do next.
The next session was a Bible story where kids learned how God made the world in six days and what He created on each day. "In the beginning" of this session, it was pitch black, which caused Faith some stress. Next, we were off to snack. One of the crew leaders was kind enough to scrounge up a straw so Faith could drink her water from a glass. I always forget to put one of her cups in her backpack when we go somewhere.
After snack we went to crafts where a lady helped Faith "dress" a little wooden girl. Faith seemed to like this part the best because it was much calmer. Way calmer than the games we played outside that involved running around in a circle with a big bottle of water with holes in it. Faith got a little wet, but she wasn't too concerned about it. I was more concerned about the wheels on her chair getting wet because we had to go through dirt to get back into the building.
After all the sessions were over, we went back into the sanctuary where Faith was a little nervous, but she managed to hang in there listening to the music and watching the little stuffed pandas getting blasted out of a panda-blaster.
When it was all over, we were both exhausted! Unfortunately, since I didn't want to mess around with her feeding pump at the event, she still had one more feeding before she could go to bed. Needless to say, she pretty much fell asleep right away.
VBS runs all week long and I'm not sure if she'll make it back every night. I know she was nervous, apprehensive and a little anxious, but does this mean I abandon these kinds of events and not let her take part?
She was excited when telling Rob about everything that she did. I think she was having fun, but her muscles wouldn't allow her to fully relax. This is the same issue we had with her during school programs. But we noticed during her last
school program, she was way more relaxed and actually took part in the singing. My thinking is the more we take her to events like VBS, she will get used to them and not be so anxious.
I must say I am grateful for the wonderful people at Century Baptist. They knew ahead of time about Faith's special needs, and they tried to help her be as comfortable as possible. The pastor came up to us about four different times making sure Faith was okay. The crew leaders were great in making sure that Faith was involved and participating with the other kids.
At times I just tried to hang back and not interfere with Faith's participation. I tried to just be there as someone to help get her around and make sure she wasn't getting overly stressed. Maybe one day during these kinds of events, I will even be able to leave her entirely in the hands of others. MAYBE!
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