pumpkins, puppies, and legalism

Today was Halloween. As a Christian, a mom , and a Pastor's wife, the subject of Halloween is always a toughie. The mention of this 'holiday' can stir controversy and start fights faster than you can say "Holy legalism, Batman!" .

After a few years of avoiding this event like the plague, I finally grew tired of basing my actions on the fear of prying eyes and wagging tongues. The end result?: a great day. Maxwell gleefully skipped around the house in his dalmatian costume. He enjoyed the imaginative play. All day my little 'doggie' pretended to bark and scamper about on all fours.

In the afternoon, Paxson and Richard came upstairs to carve pumpkins with Max and Dante'. It was a rare moment to have most of the kids gathered together having fun. Paxson pronounced Maxwell to be cute and kissed his forehead. William emerged from his room dressed like a Ninja and he looked fabulous! I actually saw him smile before heading out to a football game.

Max loved trick-or-treating. It really was nice to be out in our neighborhood, chatting with friends, admiring the cuteness of other little kids and being a part of our community. We saw almost no 'scary' costumes. The smaller children go out earlier and were dressed very sweetly. I connected with people I hadn't seen in a while.

What is my point? Well, tonight stirred a bit of a memory in me. As a child, it was that feeling of wonder at being outdoors at night, the smell of the fresh, cool air, holding my mom or dad's dad, and that little bit of attention given by grownups handing out candy. "Aren't you cute?", they might say. Over the years , most of that got replaced by fear, legalism, and political correctness. Over time, Christmas parties at school became generic winter parties. Easter parties were blandly re-named spring parties, and Halloween became the devil's playground in the eyes of many.

Please don't give me a lecture on a pagan event practiced eons ago in a foreign country. That is not what we are doing here in the U.S. By that argument, we would have to give up Easter as well, and Christmas would simply have to go. After all, those same pagans who invented Samhain, also created Ostara, aka Easter, and Winter's solstice, aka Christmas. I can't speak for everyone , but I am assuming most of you reading this celebrate both the birth and resurrection of Jesus, our Lord and savior and don't give a hoot what the druids were doing about the same time hundreds to thousands of years ago. There is my point.

Last week one my son's little playmates informed him that he loves Satan, simply because he was excited for Christmas to come! Now what on earth am I supposed to say to that? That just broke my heart on behalf of both the kids. But I am not about to interfere with what a little one's parents have taught him/her. It isn't my place.

Haven't we learned through the real teachings of Jesus , that what we eat, how we eat, when we worship or where, is not the way we 'earn' a ticket to heaven? Does anyone assume that God is so shallow we can buy His glorious love by refusing to eat meat, or worshipping only on saturdays? If I refuse to acknowlege the day of my birth, does it make me more holy?
Newsflash: read the book of Matthew. It says plainly "No man comes to the Father but through Me!" in reference to Jesus.
That's it. The only way.

Is Halloween really important to me? No, not at all. But it has become the point at which I stop following a crowd and look to Christ for my direction in life. For those who choose to eschew this day, that's great. Please follow your own personal convictions. And I understand your concerns, as I have weighed these same matters many times over. But God is to be the centerpiece of our lives, not our lists of legalistic 'does' and 'don'ts'.
Peace,
EJ

"Best Friends"

Joshua , Jade and Max


Thank you for the pic, Annie!

An ordinary day

What was great about today? It was ordinary. What a blessing.

I spent the morning getting the kids into their schoolwork, Annie and Josh came to visit, and we got to go play with the horse and goats.

The best part was making stir-fry for the boys and then taking my daughter and husband to dinner. Dante works hard around the house so she was treated to a quiet meal out with mom and dad.

Now its late, everyone is asleep, and I'm enjoying a few moments of personal time before bed. Good night, all.
-EJ

More pics,AKA "Making a goat shelter part deux"

This post should be called "What everyone else was doing while Phil made the goat pen!

building a goat pen

Dante' and her papa work on the fence together:

Another day, another endeavor. My sweet husband patiently supports my interests. This weekend he started building a shed for Dante's goats.

Since the goats live where we board our horse, stable owners/friends Coral and her husband Phil helped us out. No, that's not a typo, Coral's husband is also named Phil. We all had a great time. Around two everyone stopped to have a big lunch. Coral made sausage and chicken on the grill. There was also crudites, chips and soda. Coral's Phil brought out his guitar for my Phil to play. Max and Jade played happily for hours in the round pen. In the end, it was all about team work. Country life is pretty good.

Misc.

Lettuce in the home garden is really doing well. At the community garden today we actually got to pick a few radishes. This new batch is a different variety, red at the top, white at the bottom. Max loves them. Well, loves to eat them is a more accurate statement.

The goats, Robin and Locksley are my new obsession. ( I know I say that about everything) They are just so darned cute. They 'baa' for us when we arrive and bleat piteously when we leave. I feel like such a heel when they do that.

Lots of life stuff happening. Nothing to call the press about, just normal life. Youth group is going well. It's a great group of kids with a heart for the Lord. They are just super. We meet at a nursing home and have already made a new friend there. A woman named Teresita has sort of adopted us and we adore her. She is a retired school teacher, 77 years old, and she LOVES kids. We visit Teresita every week after youth and she prays for us.

The fine art of procrastination, part II

One of my favorite ways to avoid actual housework is to go to the beach. If I'm really indulging in avoidant behavior, I'll take the kids and go crabbing as well. Here is today's adventure: Dante' baited the crab pots with chicken. Then we all took a walk on the beach. Max found plenty of treasures to enjoy.


All the things featured in this and last post were done today. The only exception is the fall art. We did that yesterday. Is it any wonder I seem to always be posting at midnight? Maybe one of these days I'll wise up and learn time management.

Btw, I promised to be 'eating Oregon', and I did. We caught five crab that became an addition to tonight's dinner. They were fantastic!

-EJ