The question this week is "What do you do for halloween?"

My family has almost always attended Harvest Festivals at our local church. These have been fun for us and allowed our children safe places to play games, get treats, and have a fun meal and fellowship with friends and family.

Costumes have always been optional but we've tried to do fun things with a Christian theme whenever we wore them. Our children have been many different Bible characters: Mary, Jonah -- very easy as you pretty much just carry a stuffed whale around with ya :-), Noah -- because we actually have one, and so forth. They've also done simple things like a ballerina (cause we had a tutu in the dress up box), and a scarecrow (because we had overalls, a flannel shirt, and a bale of hay handy), and a pumpkin (because we owned an orange set of sweats and I had green felt on hand to make a hat), and a pirate (cause who doesn't have boys without having pirate stuff in your toy box).

Me, I don't do the dress up thing much. My favorite costume I ever saw though was a girl in a housecoat, pink sponge rollers, and cold cream on her face. I mean, gosh, you party for a while, and then just fall into bed... pretty simple and truly does border on multi-tasking, which of course I'm a fan of ;-)

My husband always does things a bit silly. One year he wore a black shirt with a large red "c" on it. Get it? The red sea? Another year I painted his eye black (yes, it WAS paint....I didn't really give him a shiner..lol) and he wore a shirt with a large "p". You know, a black eyed pea? LOL... he always seems to have the most fun!! Last year the booth he worked at for our Harvest Festival was a story telling booth. He had tons of children sitting on his lap for hours as he told Bible stories. They always tell him he looks silly but they never seem to want to go back to mom and dad, either! He's a good storyteller with loads of good sound effects! Maybe I should put a video of HIM online!! 

This year we are in a new town, and a new church but the Harvest Festival continues at our new church! I am making three cakes for tonights cake walk and will be working in the hotdog line. I've never tried the line "Would you like mustard, ketchup, Jesus with that?" but tonight I just might :-) 

Whatever it is that your family does, I hope you have a blessed time of fellowship together!! Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season.. oh, wait.. wrong holiday.. oh, whatever... it still fits because, I mean, He IS the reason for our joy!!

Click here to read what other homeschool families are doing tonight with their families...

Sallie

I forgot to mention yesteday that I have a new article up at Heart of the Matter.  My sincerest hope is that these articles are an encouragement to you and help you understand that you aren't alone!

If there is a single lesson that I continue to learn on a daily basis with my children, it is that I need to make sure I get this right. My children are growing and developing faster than I can keep up with most days with interruptions and activities abounding in every direction I turn. In all of the hubbub of life, I have realized that quite often learning moments usually only occur once or twice before we’ve moved on to something new. I have to stay on my toes and never let these teachable moments pass me by.

Click here to read the rest or to leave comments at the article...

Sallie

Train Up A Child Thursday is based off of Proverbs 22:6 which says "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." 

Jesse and I took a walk this morning at the catfish pond. A furry critter of some sort was following us but staying inside the tree line. He wished it was a fox and would come out so we could take a picture. I feared it was a skunk and prayed it would stay right where it was!!

It made me think of how diametrically opposed in thinking my children and I can be sometimes. They see things with pure innocence and as only a new adventure to be had while I, with my mommy brain, worry about the worst "what if's" of it all.

It is quite the same way with politics as we draw nearer and nearer to election day. Folks go half crazy watching the news, keeping track of the polls, and getting the "word" out on their candidate of choice. We hear things like "We mustn't let the other guy win." or "We have to stop him in his tracks!" or sometimes things that are far worse than even that. 

In times like these we have to pull the wisdom from the back recesses of our minds and remind ourselves that God is in control! Proverbs 15:3 says "The eys of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good." That gives me great comfort! There is nothing that God does not have control over. There is nothing that God does not know.

A much greater task lies before us in the days ahead than worrying over things that may or may not happen. Christ commands us in Luke 21:34-36 to watch ourselves, lest our hearts be weighed down and burdened with the cares of this life because they will entrap you in your fear.

This morning, on my walk with my Jesse, I could have chosen to let my mind dwell on the "what if's" of the animal following along within the safety of the trees rather than the beauty of our surroundings. I don't always get along so well with those little furry forest creatures (especially if my active imagination can put a face to them before I actually see them) and those thoughts could have trapped me if I had stayed focused on them. It would have been so easy in my mind to turn it from any old animal scurrying along the forest floor to the "scary fanged beast waiting to bounce upon us, or worse yet spray me with a foul, rotten fluid." Instead, I chose to put my trust fully in God that He was there with us and was in control. I didn't allow myself to get trapped in the unknown but instead enjoyed a blessed time with my youngest!! We both had a great moment of bonding in love and my day will be full of joy because of it!! Here are a few pics of our adventure :-)

Would you like to join in on Train Up A Child Thursday and be added to the list in my sidebar? Just send me an email with train up a child in the subject line and a link to a devotion you have written on your blog about training your children in the way of the Lord.

Sallie

Good Morning, Everyone!!!

THANK YOU ALL so much for taking the time to enter my contest, and linking up on your blogs to it (and twittering, and stumbling, and ...)! I really appreciate having so many new people come by and enter. It lets people know who I am and I've gotten so many kind emails.. it's just AWESOME!

So, the way I do this is I make a list in word of all the folks who left a comment, along with a second "copy and paste" of your name into the list if you posted about it on your blog. I got really smart this time and kept a running list organized in Word so that I wouldn't have to copy it in and make it neat and pretty all at once when the contest was over. LOL.  Next, I go over to random.org and I put that looooooonnnnnngggggggg list (thank you very much) into the list randomizer and that gives me the winners all nice and neatly done :-)

So, without further adieu, here is the winner of the all in one curriculum for Pilgrim's Progress:

drum roll, please.....

Barry Wallace | Homepage | 10.18.08 - 12:38 pm | #

And, the winners of the 5 paperback copies of Pilgrim's Progress that I decided to add in as a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th prize because I was SO thrilled with the amount of comments:

another drum roll, please....

Nicole Smith | Homepage | 10.18.08 - 9:44 pm | #

Danielle | 10.17.08 - 2:40 pm | #

Deborah | Homepage | 10.21.08 - 9:17 pm | #

Jacque | Homepage | 10.16.08 - 4:51 pm | #

The Pool Family | 10.14.08 - 10:21 am | #

If you won, CONGRATULATIONS!!! If not, come back next week as my November giveaway will be starting up and I have LOTS of prizes from great family businesses to be giving away (see the list up in the top left corner).

Please email me at anderklan@yahoo.com with your name and mailing adress so that I can order your prize and have it shipped to you as soon as possible!! I get a special deal on price if I get them the info before Friday so please send quickly...LOL..

Have a blessed day!

Sallie

I love this pin cushion I bought from Dawn's Etsy shop a few weeks back.. so, uhm sew, CUTE!!!

I love all the buttons and lace and ribbon on it!! Just perfect :-)

Click here for the Wordless Wednesday HQ... or here for more WW at 5 Minutes For Mom.

Sallie