Trees and Such - by Lisa

So, I bought a tree this week. Not a real one, of course, but one of those bulletin board trees that you can punch out and assemble and add stuff to it and make it whatever height you need to. You get the idea. Well, I had the perfect tree in mind. I had one in my classroom that I used in all sorts of ways, and I figured it would be perfect. Then, when I got to the teachers' store, I realized that they not only have my tree, but about 5 other ones to choose from. Decisions, decisions. I guess you should know that I want a tree to go with our VBS theme in Guatemala. Our mission leader sent us a theme that he wanted us to use for our week: We are Sowers. Kind of a good theme, considering most or all of the children we are working with come from farming families. He also provided the stories and bible verses that we were to do each day. He asked us to plan to do lessons on the seeds of kindness, seeds of goodness, seeds of love, and seeds of forgiveness. From those ideas, we got creative license to do whatever crafts, games, and to choose a lesson delivery method. Anyway, we decided to build a tree with the kids, and each day, add the Bible verses to the trunk, and add leaves, fruits, whatnot to make it bigger and better. So back to the store. I began to look through the different styles and patterns of trees, and I began this debate between me and myself about which one to use. I felt bad for the store owner, because she just wanted me to pick one, and I must have spent 15 minutes discussing the pros and cons of each one. I decided on this really cute palm tree, and I got coconuts, bananas, and monkeys to decorate around it. I think with the leaves, and other cutouts, we will have enough for every child to put their name on a part of a tree to help to build it bigger and brighter each day. Now, I just hope we have one good wall to put it on!!