AWANA Grand Prix

Last weekend was our AWANA Grand Prix! Drake spent several weeks preparing his pinewood derby car for the big event.

The car starts out as a block of wood. Drake and Adam designed a shape and drew it on the car, which Mr. Murray from AWANA then cut with his bandsaw. Here, Drake is sanding the car after it was cut to the shape he wanted.

Daddy had a go at it with the electric sander! Much faster...but noisy!

Nice and smooth! And lookin' pretty cool with the wheels on there. Next, Drake painted it, but you'll just have to imagine the painting/decorating stage, because there are no pictures!

Finally - it's the big day!

Mom and Levi ready to watch Big Bro's race!

The cars starting to line up for the race.

Drake's masterpiece!

...and a cool side view! We got there early, because Drake wanted to be one of the first to pick his number, ensuring he could get the #8. Why #8? The Seahawks car wouldn't be complete without Matt Hasselbeck's number!

Finally, it's Drake's car's turn. Ready to race!

The Seahawk-mobile won its first two heats! Drake was really stoked!

All the kids cheered as each car's owner was announced before each heat. And they watched the races so intently! Drake ended up winning his first two heats, then losing one, winning one, and losing another. It was a double elimination contest, so after losing twice he was out. (The two races he lost were second-place finishes to the kids who ended up taking first and second place. Not too bad for his first year! He was definitely happy about it!)

After the races, everyone enjoyed cake and other goodies.

Here's Drake showing off his car and "AWANA Grand Prix" ribbon after coming home and getting ready for bed. What a fun time!

AWANA Sparks

Drake is participating in AWANA again this year! Last year he was in Cubbies, the AWANA preschool program. This year he's in Sparks, the Kindergarten through 2nd grade program. It's quite a bit different from Cubbies - much more like school and less like play. There is a game time, though, and he enjoys that the most! (Especially since he's been assigned to the Red Team - red is his favorite color of all time.)

The purpose of AWANA is "helping churches and parents worldwide raise children and youth to know, love and serve Christ." That's a pretty great purpose! In case you're curious, the acronym "AWANA" stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. That's taken from 2 Timothy 2:15, which says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." AWANA is mostly about memorizing scripture, but also continally presents the gospel and builds on that foundation. We are really happy with it, and feel that it's a good "extracurricular" activity for Drake to be involved in right now.

We hope to be enjoying AWANA for years to come!


After his first week of studying, Drake had earned his Sparks vest! To do that, he had to memorize John 3:16 and be able to answer 4 questions explaining its meaning. He is pretty proud of his new vest! He also earned his Sparks handbook, but they were all out - so he has photocopies of his next few lessons for now!