The Princess and the Prince

One of the ladies who works for Lee brought a couple of princess costumes for the girls to play dress up with and Bethani floated around in this one all day the other day. With her big blue eyes and curly hair it was even harder than usual to hold her accountable when she pulled something naughty ...

I am so glad that the whole Halloween thing is over. It never ceases to strike me as hilarious that the homes in our neighborhood who normally spend small fortunes to be the most beautiful, spend the month of October vying for the label of most gruesome. Tori especially hates the Halloween season, from the arts and crafts store to the pediatricians office there are witches, skeletons and flying bats everywhere. Last year she literally screamed in terror when we passed a motion controlled witch in the craft store as she was trying to bravely walk underneath the flying bat (she has since refused to walk anywhere near the flying bat...poor girl). We did the trick-or-treat thing until about four years ago when we switched to the trunk-or-treat thing. Eventually we realized there was no difference between the two down here where we're at. The cars are decorated like spooky graveyards and ghost, goblins, and that character that was made famous by the movie Scream are everywhere! And that Scream thing totally scares me. I am not kidding, that things gives me goosebumps and makes me nauseous even just seeing it on the rack at Wal Mart. So, now we just stay home and use it as an opportunity to witness, we get over two hundred children where we live now! That is quite the opportunity! The original purpose for the christian holiday of All Hallows Eve was to tell the pagans that evil was real and Jesus is the only alternative, so that's what we do. For the last few years we have made up goody bags with a sticker, a piece of candy, a Jesus loves you pencil and a tract to give out. The children love the pencil, it's so cute, and only once in the last few years have we heard anything negative. We didn't do it this year because Lee had to work late and I wasn't comfortable opening the door all night to strangers while I was home alone with four little ones, we get a lot of grown up trick-or-treaters here as well, are we the only ones who thinks that's a little odd? We watched a DVD and had a popcorn and M&M night instead. Bri asked if we could just do that every year because it was nice not to have to open the door to all of the icky costumes. I explained to her that those are often the sort of people who need a real relationship with Jesus the most. Evil is all around us all of the time, it just puts on it's true face on Halloween. I guess that makes Halloween a good reminder of the war we're waging, not just on Halloween, but on every other day of the year as well...

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (For the weapons of our warfare are not , but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." ~ 2 Corinthians 10:3-6