A Smoking Shark Upwards Bound and more!

Even though we travel....a lot! the kids do get to go to school. Monday was progress report day for Victor and we found ourselves sitting around the little half moon table in his class across from his teacher discussing Victor. Turns out he is doing OK (this was tough for us to hear because up to now all the kids were doing "outstanding" in 2nd grade. A's have been the norm and a B was rare and always looked at as a D might be looked at in most families.) Each child is different. One are Victor excels in is creativity, be it art, sharing, or stories. Here is a story Victor came up with for a test. The criteria was "Write a funny story." No other hints, tips or ideas, just "Write a funny story".

The Smoking Shark:
I was at the beach and a shark jumped out at me. He had a cigarette in his mouth.
I took it out of his mouth.
He bit my head. Then he put it back on. I said, "Thank you."
The shark said, "You're welcome."
He had another cigarette.
I said, "sharks can't smoke and they can't talk."
"Well", said the shark, "I guess was just made that way."
"Wow!"
The end.


Upward Bound:
Monday we performed an evening show at the Mega Neighborhood Church in Chico, CA for that area's Upward Bound Basketball group. Upwards is a Christian based athletic league that teaches Biblical principals through sports. Monday was the end of their Basketball season and awards night. As a special treat they had us preform a show with a message. Since we are Christians and the Bible commands that we do EVERYTHING for the g Glory of God, we have developed a program where we share the salvation message (along with other points like self control, obeying parents, etc) that we mix with colorful , dramatic illusions and stunts and routines.
It was a lot of fun. And with our crazy season of fairs and festivals and theaters that have been 99% secular it was awesome to get back into doing programs that edify the Church and Christ and not ourselves.
The Audience was made up of maybe 75% folks who call themselves Christian, 10% who were full practicing believing Christians with a noticeable walk with Christ and the rest non-Christians. It is nice to have programs like this to show all that being a Christian isn't anything like the way the Media or left-leaner's like to portray Christians. That being a Christian is actually very cool and very Spiritually rewarding. That Christianity is comforting and kind, like Jesus himself.
The show went smoothly and the message warmly received. Afterwards the pastor prayed with the crowd and offered and invitation for Christ. Many Children and even some adults accepted Christ! Praise God.

What a great night.

I introduced a new trick: I have a large sketch pad laying flat on a table. After performing my Ball-Silk-Dove routine I pick up the pad and have the crowd yell out their favorite magic show animal. There was a large cry for a bird so I opened the pad and drew a dove (or as close as I can get). Then I closed the pad and push in on the ends of the closed pad so it bows the front and back creating an opening. A dove comes up out of the once flattened pad and the page with the picture is now blank.