Who am I?

The theme was "dress-up-as-your-favorite-Bible-character" at Awana last night.  The "favorite" part wasn't too realistic, since probably at least the top five on my favorite list are men.  Of course, dressing up as any Biblical character (especially a woman) isn't all that realistic.  What did they look like, anyway, and how would you know them apart?  But for my kids, I had to give it a shot.  Guess who I was?

...Hello, I'm Rachel.

Or Rebecca.

Or Sarah.

Or Leah.

Or Miriam, or Esther, or Ruth.

I could even be Hephzibah or Zipporah.

Or not.

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Hello, I'm Rachel.  Not the wife of Jacob.  Rachel, the Sparks leader who didn't get any further in her costume designing than the somewhat-Biblical-looking headscarf.

You know, there are at least a million ways to wear a sheet (over one's clothes, of course), but with only about 30 minutes and a few safety pins, all of them are equally frustrating.  Okay; maybe I didn't try a million ways, but it was close enough.  My time was up, and I had to head out the door with just what I'd managed to come up with so far.  Those poor kids.  I was letting them down tremendously.  Their impressionable minds would be so traumatized.

The worst part was, when I first walked in, NO ONE was dressed up.  Great, I thought, now I look like a complete dufus!  (Not that that's an entirely new thing, mind you.)  Don't worry, I didn't get my themes mixed up.  Once I looked around, I saw others with costumes on.  Whew!  Believe me, THAT was a relief!

One little guy (not in my group) came up to me and commented on the headscarf, "Even though you wear that all the time, it still counts as dressing up."  Thanks, little buddy.  Hee hee!

Another walked past and exclaimed, "You're too big for that!"  Really?!  I wonder if he noticed that even our director was dressed up.

I was curious to see what the kids would come up with for their costumes.  We had the predictable ones: girls with robes, blankets on the head, and baby dolls (for Mary); boys with similar outfits - minus the doll (for Joseph); angels; girls with princess dresses and tiaras (for Queen Esther).  One little girl dressed up like the typical "Mary", but brought a basket for her doll.  Points for originality, little "Miriam."  The reindeer was original, too, although I'm pretty sure that reindeer don't qualify as Bible characters.  Sorry, Joseph.

But my two favorites of the night were these: a little girl in a very fancy princess outfit, who I thought must surely be some queen.  I overheard one of the leaders ask her who she was.  "Mary," she replied, "after she was dead."  Um...okay.  I'm not sure I want to know where that idea came from!

And then there was Samuel, a very cute and VERY energetic little boy who tossed his tan towel down on the floor and pulled off his coonskin cap (revealing a nice tuff of hair standing straight up - I had to laugh!) before the night had even started.  Coonskin cap and tan towel?  Yeah, I couldn't figure it out either.  He was John the Baptist, he told us.  Oh, of course!  ;)

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Hello, I'm Rachel, an almost-former Sparks leader.  Next week is my last time with these kids, and I'm going to miss my little guys so much.

It's been a wonderful experience.