This year I was able to be an assistant guide, with the first and second grade class with my church's Children's Caravan Program. For those who don't know, Caravan is a scouting program that meets Wednesday nights at my church and it is like Boy scouts or Girl Scouts in the way they earn badges and go on camping trips but the only difference is that the badges are always tied in to a verse in the bible. The children also work on memorizing what is known as Articles of Faith or I believes, depending on what grade the student is in. At the beginnning the chilren have a game night where they can get to know their teachers and their fellow classmates. At the end, the children go to an event called Round-up where they get together and go camping over a weekend from friday night to sunday afternoon. While at Round-up, the children get to meet other children in the Church of the Nazarene district and they play games, do crafts, roast 'smores, sing songs, and are tested on their memory work/articles of faith/i believes.
When the children have gone through the program from benson's buddies up to adventurers and have earned every badge there is to earn, they are eligible to earn the Phineas Brasee award and the Esther Carson award. I had the great privilege of earning both and my name was engraved in a plaque in the sanctuary foyer but our the sanctuary building was flooded due to a leak in the fireside room so they had to completely redo the carpet and they repainted which meant the plaques had to come down. They have not put the plaques back up yet..... should I say something about that? lol
;-)
One other fun event the children get to be apart of is the Pinewood Derby. Now if you have heard about the boy scouts having a pinewood derby, it is basically the same thing. the children make cars out of blocks of wood, paint them however they want, and they are raced against the other cars made by their classmates and other children form the church of the nazarene district. It is so fun to meet other children from our area and cheer each others cars on. This year three of our students went home with awards. My neice took second in her age group and one of her classmates took fourth. One of our benson's buddies even took home second place i believe. I'm not sure.
In two weeks we will be packing up and heading the the Caravan Round-up and I am really excited. I'm going as one of the chaperones and my sister is going as support to my neice and mephew because they have never stayed overnight away from home before and if they are anything like my sister, they will cry and get homesick and want to come home. I don't get homesick. I don't think I ever have. My sister got all of those genes. By the time I was my nieces age, I had already been to caravan overnight outings i think once and I was getting ready to go on i think my second trip to childrens camp. My niece is ten by the way. By the time I was my nephews age I had been to science camp in big bear, gone to summer camp three times i think or going on my third time, and getting ready to go to my third of fourth time at caravan roundup. I have even been to Hawaii by my self with my youth group as well as New Orleans and Canada. (Yeah even out of the country). I think I might die young.. knock on wood....because of the full life I have had.
Below I have posted the caravan symbol and the symbols for each grade with a short description about each. I hope you find them infromative.
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| This is the ensignia(sp?) that used to be on the old caravan shirts that were worn when I was in Caravan. Photo courtesy of Google image search |
| Photo courtesy of google image search |
| This is the symbol/picture for the Benson's Buddies. The Benson's Buddies are the youngest children of the caravan program and range from ages 4-kindergarden. Photo courtesy of google image search. |
| This is the symbol/picture for Searchers. Searchers are children who are in grades First and Second. The placement of class is based off of what grade in school the children are in currently. Photo courtesy of Goolge image search. |
| Explorers and children who are in third and fourth grade. My neice, Cheyenne is in fourth grade, so next year she will be an adventurer if she continues in the Caravan program. Photo courtesy of Google inage search. |
| Last but not least is the Adventurers. These are children who are in fifth and sixth grade. My nephew, Sean, is in this class. Photo courtesy of google image search. |
your sister in christ,
Jennifer
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5 & 6
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