I'd heard of Marketplace 29 A.D. but never seen it played out; ironically, this was Woodland West's third year to present M29AD. Naturally, I was excited about the whole "turning the gym into a Jerusalem marketplace" proposition, and I was lucky enough to be asked by one of our shepherds (aka "The Lemon-Drop Man") to be one of three people coordinating the entire event. Unfortunately, I know nothing about turning a gym into a marketplace, so I was extraordinarily lucky to have been paired with one of the most creative women I've ever met, so I could sort of follow along after her and just let her make me look good!
One of the trio dropped out at the very beginning but we were oh-so-blessed with the arrival of Emily (you know, our children's minister) right about that time, so between Emily and Harriet, I just let them tell me what to do and when to do it, and everybody was happy! Really, my only crucial job was handpicking shopkeepers for the various booths in the marketplace and I think I did a pretty fine job if I do say so myself! You'll see most of them in the following pictures.
On Friday Harriet's daughter, Olivia (you'll see her too) offered to keep my younger three kidlets (Tyler opted to stay home and invited his friend Daniel to hang with him) so I could go to the building and help with last-minute preparations. And I helped! I really did! I don't think I got in the way once! It was a lot of fun, personally speaking, but I was a little fresher than the others because they had spent most of Thursday making preparations for the last-minute preparations--whew! Who knew a Jewish marketplace was so multi-layered??! We spent about seven hours working and called it a day.
Tyler and I arrived in the gym at about 8:30 Saturday morning. Tyler volunteered to act in some of the skits that were performed at random times, and even though they didn't necessarily achieve their desired effect (that is, the kids didn't really seem to notice that the action going on was "staged"), I told Tyler tonight how proud of him I was when, at one point, he went storming through the gym, in character (he was Antonius) shouting, "Where is Eli? Have you seen Eli?" He went from one end of the gym to the other, getting in people's faces, surprising some, but not giving up. That wasn't really part of the skit but he was trying to attract some attention and I was so proud of his boldness! Shy, my eye!
Well, I lied. I said I would let the pictures do the talking and there I went again. Okay, other than captions, that's the last you'll hear out of me today. Shalom!
At the stonecutter's booth
The jewelers' shop was quite a draw--the children could have their feet washed, then use one of their denarii to buy a necklace or sparkly ring. It was heartwarming to see that many children opted to save their coins to give to the "beggar," at which point the jewelers obviously gave away their wares for free!
The poor beggar boy, who looks remarkably content to be in his situation in life!
Olivia, aka The Dyemaker
Jerry was a fisherman and an amazing storyteller!
Bonnie was our official "storyteller" and she always drew big crowds
The breadmaker's tent
Sawyer was slightly downcast in this photo because I had just made him put down a play sword that was not for the kids to handle. One of the pitfalls of being a preacher's kid is that you think you're entitled to do whatever you want when you're at the church building, including going into booths and helping yourself to the props!
A stop at the brickmaker's booth outside afforded the kids a chance to stomp in mud, which was then used to mold into bricks (along with a little straw). Sloppy fun!
The booth with musical instruments was a hit, too. Kids could go home with their very own harp and flute--I can't say as the harp is all that musical, but the flute sounds pretty good!
Hey, who let that "kid" in? Oh, that's Mrs. Adrienne (aka Sawyer's Bible class teacher) with a baby goat, one of the many animals in the makeshift petting zoo outside. We even had--hang on to your hats--a zebra!
At the carpenter's shop
By about noon, the farmer's market was the hot spot in the marketplace! Raisins, dates, olives (blech!) and dried banana chips were the only offerings there so I made my own offer--I went and got Subway and Schlotszky's sandwiches for everyone! (Kudos to the employees there for their fast fingers!)
Jesse, a sweet, sweet girl in the youth group (and one of my kids' favorite baby-sitters because she'll play hide and seek in the dark with them!) and baby Brooke, who belongs to Holly, the maiden in the Farmer's Market above
Daniel and Randy, who did absolutely nothing (just kidding, guys) and Brennan, doing what Brennan does best--mugging for the camera!
Tyler and Hunter in their ill-fated skit (but at least they tried!)
Can you hear me now?
Emily, rallying the troops before showtime
Harriet, one of the most creative minds of her time (with Holly and her offspring)
One of my new best friends, Luanne
Baby Landon--would you look at those cheeks?!
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2 comments:
Wow, that looks like so much fun!
Erin, we didn't have as big a crowd as we would have liked, but I told Emily that we could be 100% proud of our (the church) efforts, and all of the kids that were there had a great time. We had a good turnout for our ice cream social last night, too. I wish I'd had my camera for that!
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