Polishing the Pulpit Part 4

At Polishing the Pulpit, there was a session about what to do with the baby Bible class. Kellee and I were excited to go to it. I wanted to get ideas of things to do at home with Hannah Kate. Teah and April had a quilt laid out on the floor with baby dolls in a semi-circle like the babies would be (in a table) during class. They had a little mini-class and taught class to the "babies." I really enjoyed getting to hear the different songs and see what types of manipulatives (for lack of a better word) they used. Wednesday night, I took Hannah Kate to the baby class (because Kellee scoped it out for me Sunday morning!). I thought it would be better for Hannah Kate because there would be lots of singing, etc. to keep her interested and I wanted to see a full class session! Brody and Hannah Kate were so tired and they both ended up asleep by the end of the class! Ms. Teah is amazing! She had TEN babies total......eight on a QUILT in the floor of a meeting room at the convention center. Think about that just a minute.......not in a nice table where you can strap them in......a QUILT. Most of these babies were mobile! She never stopped talking or singing. They were focused on her (most of the time) and only a few were crying (but BOY were those few crying!). When she finished class, she just said, "Whew. I'm tired!" I was amazed. I don't know how she did it! Hannah Kate was so funny. She just watched Ms. Teah with HUGE eyes while we sang different Bible songs and she handed out different related objects to the babies. Then, she started fussing and went to sleep. :)

Of course, she woke up RIGHT as we were taking a picture with Ms. Teah-this was Hannah Kate's first time to go to her own Bible class.
After the baby class, the next session was Sheila Butt "Help! How Do I Discipline My Child?" It was fantastic. Mindy took Hannah Kate-who refused to go back to sleep-during this session. I was sitting about half way up in this huge ballroom and I could hear Hannah Kate, "Ooooooooooo, oooooooooooo, oooooooooooo." I looked back once to make sure she wasn't fussing and Mindy was in the very back of the room with her. She said Hannah Kate just "talked" the entire time. She really started "talking" while we were at PTP (of course, this would begin when she was supposed to be quiet!). It is so fun! See how alert she is for 9 at night?!
On Thursday morning, a few boys from the Future Preachers Training Camp were selected to present their sermon to parents and anyone who wanted to come. Andrew was selected. He did a GREAT job presenting his first sermon! We were very proud of him!
After that session, there was a 20 minute "Final Charge" session and then it was time to go home. Here's our little family at the end of PTP (and in front of the bathrooms no less!).

We ran to the outlet mall for me to run into two stores and then came home.

Hannah Kate woke up Thursday morning VERY congested. It was so sad. She was having a hard time breathing and we had to suction her nose (which is much more difficult now that she's bigger!). She was a pretty sleepy girl most of the day Thursday and Friday. We were very careful about people touching her and even more cautious since we were in a group of large people. I don't know how she got sick. I guess it was inevitable, but I was hoping to hold it off for awhile longer. She seems to be doing a little better now.
Our favorite parts of PTP:

Hannah Kate: there were TONS (over 2000 to be exact) of people to look at her and smile and talk and say that she's the cutest baby ever. She pretty much thought that everyone was there for her entertainment!

Denise: being around faithful Christians all day and hearing excellent lessons all day! I also love that there are so many young Christian family examples for us!

Wesley: fellowshipping with our church family and spending time in Bible study.

Wesley said he struggled with what to put on his suggestion sheet for PTP-he said he wanted to put that it should last all year long! Last year, I remember him talking about how it's a foretaste of what Heaven will be like. He said that if you don't like PTP or going to something like that (with fellowship, study, singing, etc.), then you aren't going to like Heaven! I think this is totally true.

If you are a member of the Lord's church and did not attend PTP this year, would you please prayerfully consider going next year? It's not cheap, but we considered this our vacation for the year. (What better way to spend your money?! and there are scholarships available for those in need.) There are many ways to save money throughout the year to attend and to save while you are there (there are examples on the PTP website). I promise you will not regret attending. You will learn so much from the Word of God, be able to hear many different speakers and topics, have opportunities to praise God in song each day, and meet many different faithful Christians. We are anxiously awaiting PTP week next year!

I also wanted to mention that we met two people who had been following our blog who we didn't know before PTP. After Kellee introduced me to the first person, I told Wesley that there were probably more people at PTP who knew about Hannah Kate and us that we didn't know. After one of the night sessions, someone else came up and introduced herself to me and said she had been following our blog and praying for Hannah Kate and us. How neat is that? We are thankful for the prayers of our fellow Christians-those we know and those we haven't met! Thank you!