NPC July CrossWord Page 4

Ranch House Round Up!

- by Amanda Helmstetter

Knock knock.

Whose there?

Little old lady.

Little old lady who?

I didn’t know you could yodel!

The good news is the jokes at Vacation Bible School didn’t get much worse. The bad news is that, sadly, Ranch House Kids Circle G Ranch – the Adventure of the Open Door has come to an end.

This year, through the help of many of the gifted and talented people at NPC, an average of 27 children were herded all the way from Norcross, GA to the Circle G Ranch. The Ranch, complete with “Dusty” and his trusty (rusty, musty – you pick!) sidekick Sunny, was the meeting place for great songs (“God’s in the house”), creative crafts (didn’t know you could do so much with pie plates), Tony-award deserving dramas, and a mission project that really resonated with the young buck-a-roos that were in attendance.

An effort of this size doesn’t happen without many hands, many hours and much love. So, my hat’s off to the following folks who turned the Circle G Ranch from a cute idea into a real place (at least for a week) that had real meaning to many Jr. Ranchers.

Jason Bernardo for his role as “Dusty” and Tanya Carroll for her star performance as Sunny! Laura Lankford and Melissa Fry for teaching a room full of children the words and the motions to the songs for the week.

Matt Fry, Mark Karasek, Duck Ae Karasek, Maryann Peterson, Tanya Carroll, Diane Lewis, and Melissa Plyler for being the Directors of all of the activity stations. Matt brought the lessons to life each evening using a “mini-play” to act out the Bible lesson for the night. A ranch-sized thank you goes out to the NPC players - Alan Lankford, Pam Fox, Ken Birmingham, Mike Carroll, Jessica Lankford, Dot Reilley, Tim Rado, and German Correa.

Maryann, Melissa, Mark and Duck Ae worked magic with foam squares, pie tins and lanyard to make lesson-significant crafts. In between her duties as Sunny, Tanya got the kids all riled up with lots of recreation in the front yard.

Diane Lewis made the mission project relevant to the children as she collected items for Operation Christmas Child. She completed 17 gift boxes for children the same age as our ranchers. The boxes will be sent to a local collection center in August.

Melissa Plyler got creative with food as she presented a snack for the children each night that was tied in to our theme and lesson. Sandy Plyler did an awesome job preparing a feast each night for Jr. Ranchers and volunteers.

Kerrie Bernardo, Mitchell Bernardo and Jake Grubb were tireless as they handled the Pee Wee Ranchers all week long. Thank you to Laura Harris, Mundy Rado, Tim Rado, Becca Rado, Paula Smith, Lynn Ferraiolo, Katie Steele and Katie Badeaux for being really GOOD SHEP-HERDs for their teams of children – the Cow Pokes, Ranch Hands, and Horse Shoes. Norma Badeaux for taking special care of the littlest ranchers in the nursery and Kelly Bartlett for her excellent Circle G Ranch “doors”. And a very special thank you to the “floaters” – those folks that came in each night and just asked where we needed the help. Charlene Villalobos , Julia Villalobos, Pam Bartlett, Jeremy Wirth, George Tatro, Daniel Karasek and his faithful side-kick Noah.

So with a final hats off, we’ll see you all next year at Vacation Bible School!

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