Reading Rodeo

 I had the privilege of volunteering today at Emerson Elementary. They were having their annual Reading Rodeo. It was a blast! I wish we had this when I was in Elementary school. I definitely gets kids reading. I was trying to figure out all of the details on how it works but from quizzing the kids it sounded like at the beginning of the year the kids are given laminated card that are number off 1-200 or whatever the limit is. The number represent points and you get points for reading books. The harder the book the higher the amount of points you can earn. Sounds easy right. Well theres a catch, after completing the book the kids have to take a test on the book (I am guessing this works kind of like a book report to prove if they really read it or not).

So at this Reading Rodeo the kids get to "spend" their points on fun things like, funnel cakes, snow cones, silly hats, cotton candy, games, posters, stick on tattoos or face painting. That is where I come in, along with 5 other wonderfully talented women who made my face painting look like poo doo. HA!

We arrived at 8 and 8:30 the kids began cashing in points for beautiful and fun painted faces. We painted all grades from Kinder-6th. It was fast and furious but a lot of FUN! The kids were so wonderful and so proud of their hard work. It was a rewarding day to sit and talk to all these amazing children from all walks of life.

As I painted I asked them about their school, if they had brothers and sisters, what their summer plans were and ever once in awhile I would get an insecure girl and I was able to share with her the Jesus loves her and she is valuable.

One girl in particular was really sad because some other kids had been picking on her for being the smallest kid in the 3rd grade. She said it was stupid to be small and that she hated it. She said that all she wants to be big so people would see her. It broke my heart. It sounds like such a small thing but to this little 8 yr old it was HUGE and it was devastating! She told me that she wanted to be a butterfly so that these other kids might notice and think she was beautiful. She was so adamant that I not make her face look silly. So as I painted a beautiful rainbow colored butterfly on her sweet little face I told her that God created her just the way she is on purpose and that he is very proud of the way she looks. I told her that even when people are mean, and people will be mean remember to love them and remember that you were made this way by the hands of God. I told her that when she feels sad because her classmates are mean to her, pray for them and pray for their heart. She told me that she loved Jesus and was learning about him at her church. I asked her some question about him and she answered them with the sweetest little heart. I love the innocence of children. Before she walked away I told her to always remember that she is worthy to be loved and she is valuable, that she has a Jesus who loves her with all his heart. She smiled and walked away. I figure if the teachers cant teach them about Christ's love then as far as I know, no one is stopping a little volunteer from teaching them about Jesus. I pray that her heart remembers those words.

So basically it was a great day and I feel so blessed to have been apart of it! Thank Melinda for thinking of me and including me in the FUN!!