Happy Halloween

Today is Halloween. It's on a Sunday. I guess Halloween has fallen on a Sunday during my lifetime but I don't remember it. I was hoping Jon would blog a list of possible Sunday sermon topics around Halloween but he disappointingly didn't.

We're not at church today. Chris is working and my upper lip has broken out in a joyous display of blisters. Lovely. I'm curious if anyone dressed up? Adults, probably not. Kids? Possibly.

I grew up in a home that didn't 'celebrate' halloween. We never went trick-or-treating instead getting to go to the movies. A rare treat! I did, however, get to dress up for school. Never as anything scary like a witch or a goblin. Just happy, cute costumes. A valley girl, a California Raisen, an old lady, an Ace of Spades.

Since Halloween wasn't a holiday in our house I was shocked by my Mother's reaction to a statement I made one night in our kitchen.

I was often holier than thou. Not something I'm proud of but I know I had my share of judgemental thoughts and words toward those less spiritual. It was in this spiritual (overly so) attitude that I declared to my Mom and sister the night before Halloween that, "I hate Halloween. It's the devil's day." Instead of my Mom declaring this fact along with me and insisting that we should pray for those celebrating this pagan holiday she totally shocked me.

Pounding the kitchen counter she firmly stated, "I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. THIS is the day the LORD has made. I will rejoice and be GLAD in it."

I was embarrassed. I made my statement knowing she would whole-heartedly agree with me but instead she convicted me. It IS the Lord's day. Everyday is the Lord's day and we shouldn't give any acknowledgement to anything or anyone declaring otherwise.

We don't celebrate Halloween in our home now. We participate. The girls dress-up, we go to carnivals and tonight we're trick-or-treating. We're not celebrating. We're participating.

DISCLAIMER: I know this comes across that my Mom and our home was uber-spiritual. Where my Mom is a Christian and a spiritual mentor in my life she most certainly isn't uber-spiritual in the weird tamborine shaking snake charming kind of way. She never had rebuked anything I said before. This is why, now, we laugh at this event in our life. It was meaningful and a life-lesson based on biblical principals. BUT it is funny! And we laugh about it every year and Mom blushes and laughs too! So today when Mom comes over for a haircut I'll answer the door and proclaim, "This is the day the Lord has made." She'll laugh and roll her eyes and then she'll kill me for posting this on my blog. Love you, Mom.

Three

Jencee: Is it time to go yet?

Me: No - we aren't leaving 'til 7 and it's only 3. So we have 4 hours before we can go.

Jencee: 3? That's like me!! And I'm almost 4...

Change of A Dress

I once received a card from a friend that had a clothes-line on the front with a variety of dresses hanging from it. The inside of the card announced her new address. She'd moved.

I just realized that I never told the blog world that we moved, AGAIN! I was just re-reading my New Year's 2010 post. I focused alot on my new home in Levelland. We'd moved in. Painted, carpeted, installed a gas log etc. I was so proud of my home. And proud that it felt like HOME for my little family.

Fast forward to May 2010. We moved again! To Odessa, Texas. Before Levelland we lived in Midland for 8 years but Chris mostly worked in Odessa. We moved to LLand for a great job opportunity with a bank we had been doing business with for a few years. After being there for 9 months Aim Bank decided to open a Loan Production Office in Odessa and asked Chris to run it. Soooo - here we are! We moved May 18. Our house in Levelland is STILL for sale ;( so pray it sells soon!

Our new house is soooo lovely! I L-O-V-E love it! We don't have any major projects - like carpet or knocking down walls. Just paint here and there. I hope to post pics of all the rooms as we improve! And it too feels like HOME. Like it's mine! And it feels permanent. My sister, Jennie, was recently here for a visit and as I was giving her a tour of our new home she said, "This is YOUR house. You realize that, right?" She new that it was a perfect fit for us!

Anyway, Odessa has been so good for us! We swam all Summer - when we were home! We've made lots of new friends and been able to catch up with some old ones. We really like being back!

More to come!