Eli's first service project

Last night was the last church service of the summer - okay, I realize that needs a little explaining for those of you who aren't familiar with our church...In addition to traditional Sunday morning services, we also have a Saturday evening service, which is the one Ryan, Eli, and I usually attend. We love this service for several reasons, the greatest of which is the fact that Eli stays with us during worship and communion, then goes to his classroom during the sermon (and has his own little Bible lesson). The Saturday service takes a hiatus during the summer, and we all go back to Sunday mornings until the Fall. Okay, now on with the story... :) The church leadership wanted to do something special for the final summer service, and boy did they succeed! We had an extended time of worship, and then the kids all stayed in the sanctuary for the sermon (which was abbreviated for the sake of both the parents' and the little ones' sanity). Then the whole congregation did a service project together - which was really awesome! We partnered with an organization called Children of the Nations to package 10,500 meals for hungry children in underpriveledged countries. It was really amazing! They did a great job of getting everyone involved by creating age-appropriate tasks; Eli's age group helped by coloring the boxes in which the food is shipped. It was so neat to engage in this act of service together, both as a congregation and as a family. As you can see, we especially enjoyed our incredibly cool ensembles: hairnets and plastic aprons! I'll talk about Eli's hand-over-the-face photo posture in a later post!