Puppet Fever

Puppet Fever

It never goes away.  Once you catch it, you have it forever. 

It may fade for a bit, but get around some really creative people and some crazy looking dolls with wild hair and no legs for a weekend, and it comes back.

When I was about 21, I became involved with an all adult puppet team.  Being a somewhat shy person, I HATED speaking in public.  PERIOD.

River of Life Team - 1992ish

The first time I volunteered to help this team, they slapped a headset on my head and a puppet on my hand and we quickly went over the script 10 minutes before Children's Church.  Talk about throwing me in! As time went on, they lovingly coached me, taught me and I LOVED it.  I quickly discovered that I could say ANYTHING behind the curtain and developed a "Miss Piggy" personality.  Sweet and nice one minute and feisty/sassy the next.

God used this time in my life to break me out of my shell. I know that I wouldn't have the confidence and the ability to speak as often as I do had I not spent those years behind a curtain with my arm in the air and a mic on my head.

Marc & I with "Riki" - 1998

My brother was the Thespian in school.  He enjoyed acting and such.  Me - I'd rather crawl in a hole.  I still hate charades.  I asked him to join us.  He did and at 16 God  was developing Marc's talents.  He went on to travel all over the country and England.  He taught, built and performed with some pretty amazing people - including Gerbert.  He trained with some of the top puppeteers from Disney and learned to build from some pretty incredible people. 

While Marc was traveling around doing his thing, we moved to Alabama and Russ was the Youth and College Minister at our church.  I took over a puppet team that had existed for  more than 20 years. (Yikes!)  God was once again stretching my creativity and giving me a chance to learn how to lead.  It was awesome!  Our team of 15+ teens and college students learned and grew together.  We performed, competed and accomplished a full length musical. 

Providence Puppeteers 2000

When we moved back to Florida, to care for my mom, I had to walk away from it all.  It was sad.  Other than VBS during the summer, I really have not been able to be as involved as I used to be.  God has used all of the things that I learned to bring me where I am now.  It always amazes me when we can look back and see the "stepping stones."  See the reasons - the whys.

A few months ago, God brought a young man to our church.  He grew up in Savannah, GA being very active in a puppet ministry run by two older ladies.  Recently, one of the ladies passed away, and gave all the puppets, props, costumes, etc. to Alan.  I mean boxes and boxes of stuff.  Alan came to Russ and mentioned starting a puppet team.  Russ sent him to me.

Alan put a team of teens together who where interested and they worked on some great stuff for our Fall Festival.  Then my brother informed me that his church was going to host a puppet festival in March and wondered if our  teens would be willing to help.  I jumped at the opportunity!  Some of the teens have never seen what puppet ministry can do and I knew that one of these festivals would give them the vision they needed.

So for the last two days, we have been catching Puppet Fever!  I was so proud of the group from our church.  We helped with the festival - being runners, setting up, tearing down, etc.  But in between we were able to go to the workshops, the performances and watch the competitions.  They stepped up and did well and they all left today excited to move forward.

God has not called me back to puppet ministry in the way that I was.  I have too many other tasks he has given me right now.  But I am available to help this group any way possible.  But, you can't get around all this creative stuff and not get a little excited!  We had a lot of fun this weekend......






















My sister-in-law, Samantha (who was a member of my team in Alabama - that's how she and Marc met)  Teaching the Basics of Puppet Manipulation Class on Friday night.  She recruited Marc to help since it's a little difficult to get on her knees right now.  Baby Girl #2 to arrive in June.

Alyssa and Cheylan learning basics with Sam.

Chey

Donna, Chey, Morgan and Zoe - waiting for the competitions to start.

Alan competed in the Lip Sync Competition!  It's harder than you think!  

Great job Alan!!!!

LOVE this pic of Marc teaching Advanced Manipulation.   He and the current "Riki" have been together for 11 years now.  Riki visits the kids each Sunday during Children's Church where Marc is the Children's Pastor.

Our group from Hickory Grove

Chey, Morgan, Donna, Zoe, Alan, Nicole, Alyssa, Kyle and Austin

You guys did an awesome job this weekend and I am proud!!!  Looking forward to what God is going to do in and through you as you minister with puppets!

Until next time......