Happy Halloweekend.

Every year I want to dress up, but most years it is a struggle. I just don't have the {costume} creativity in me. This year, as I've been sorting through closets and clothes, I found the wedding dress I purchased at Goodwill 7 years ago for a bridal shower that my friends threw for me. It is a beauty - as you can see from the photo! Definitely worth the $10 I paid for it. The girls at school thought it was the prettiest dress EVER. I think they just liked seeing me all dressed up.

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Friday night I sported the dress with pride for Missy's birthday party. A wine-tasting game, great friends, and a nice time just to laugh and relax.

Relaxing ... until the phone call came ... telling me Mack had a pretty bad cut on his head above his eye. A cut that the dads of the group {Ben & Ian} decided wasn't probably in need of stitches, and would definitely give Mack character in the future. I believed them.

Saturday morning, as I sat in the Urgent Care office wondering if it was too late for stitches, I sighed a huge sigh of relief as Dr. D turned the corner. Our favorite Urgent Care Dr. was working. Praise God. We didn't even have to wait. His nurse got us the surgical room, he showed me the thank you card/picture I left for him last year that hangs proudly in his office, and also gave me some advice on the re-occurring redness of my eye. Some people call it luck. I call it God at work. Dr. D blessed us once again! Mack left with no stitches (as it was a little too late), but a row of steri-strips. The $10 copay was worth every cent ... I held my child and they did the work.
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Our Halloween afternoon as filled with sorting, boxing and cleaning. A delivery of homemade beer bread from Lacosta reminded me that we had to stop and eat lunch. The bread was delicious with the stew I had made earlier in the week. As I sorted and swept and mopped and boxed, Mason worked on the toys. Late in the afternoon, he asked me if he could go outside for a while, and before long he asks me to come outside and look at something.

Mason: Mom, hey ... would you mind {his new favorite line} coming outside for a while?
Me: Sure Mas ... what are you doing?
Mason: Well, tell everyone you know ... I'm having a yard sale tomorrow.
Me: What? (trying not to choke/laugh)
Mason: Yep! Call everyone ... I'm having a yard sale.
Me: Are you sure? These are your nice toys.
Mason: Yep! I'm going to have a yard sale.

We walk outside to a table set up and several toys {not the ones we decided to get rid of earlier in the day}, a chair, and a tattered sign with scribbles on it were next to the table.
I've never laughed so hard. He was dead set on it ... so if any of you locals come by today, check out the sale in the backyard.

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My kids must have gotten the un-costume attitude I have. Mason finally agreed to be a football player, and after the 6th time of attempting to put Mack in the clown costume we got from Deb last year, I opted for {I love my mummy shirt}.
We spent about 45 minutes at Mason's preschool party, which was absolutely perfect for my boys ... and then about 45 minutes with Vicki & Milan enjoying Halloween whoopy cushions and a ghost sound making session. Mason even got to hand out a few treats to some kids. We were home by 8:15, with our pumpkins full of treats, and Taco Bell for dinner ... a {perfect} evening in my mind.

Mason and I lit our jack-o-lanterns.

Mack and I popped popcorn.

And we all enjoyed a little movie time watching Radio. I just love that movie ... all around good stuff about life and love and a little football too!

So there you have it ... our Halloweekend!

Hoping and praying yours was a GREAT one too!

Prayer.

I dusted the book off when I took it from the third shelf.

K. Sundberg was proudly written in the inside cover.

Prayer in bold cream font stared me in the face from across the front of the worn book.

I opened it and smiled.

Highlighter marks from her.

Underlining pen marks from me.

The book has been read & re-read ... and is being read again.

Again because I don't believe you can ever be at a place of contentment with prayer.

Again because I am surrounded daily by people, situations, circumstances where {praying} is the best thing you can do.

Again because prayer isn't the same day, after day, after day.

It changes with the seasons.

But at the same time, it's constant.

It's that relationship.

It's the peace.

It's grace.

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Prayer.

Not just for some.

For all.

Friends.

Co-workers.

Family.

Neighbors.

The woman you meet at the same intersection every day.

The garbage man.

Your pastors.

The people that have it all together, but really don't.

The homeless man holding the sign.

The person you married.

Your dad.

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I'm reading this book again.

And I'm being reminded that prayer is what it's all about.

To believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life is the {stuff} of prayer. {pg.11}

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I want to be prayerful.

Prayerful because I choose to be prayerful ... not because I have to be.

Prayerful on the behalf of myself & others.

Prayerful to experience God.

The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives - altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the putre from the impure. But what I have come to see is that God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are we saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it.

~ Richard J. Foster Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home

Cared for ... & all carved up.

I'm cared for.

My whole family is.

Our {support} group spans across the United States.

Emails from Georgia.

Phone calls from Florida.

Packages from Nebraska.

Thumbs-up awards from co-workers.

Dinner with family.

Lunch with a friend.

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I'm cared for.

We all are.

Friends {checking in}.

Friends {complimenting}.

Friends {cheering}.

Friends {caring}.

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How do you care for those around you?

When you enter their world via their front door or their blog site or their facebook page ... how do you care for them?

When you talk to them or write to them ... Who do they see? What do they hear? Do they want more of what you're offering?

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Saturday I was helping my friend Shannon shoot photos at a wedding.

My boys {all 3} were on their own.

But not for long.

Not for long because we are {cared for}.

We're supported.

We're not alone.

We're encouraged ... day after day after day.

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Cared for by friends, family, neighbors & even strangers.

Cared for because God is prompting the hearts and minds of others to lift us up.

Cared for through goodness & blessings ... big and small.

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Thank you Jenny & Justin, for {caring} more than you have to, for offering your home and your hearts, and for being there for all of us.

My boys {all 3} loved their Saturday evening {carving it up} with you! {thanks for the photos Jenny}

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We all have an opportnity to {care} for those around us ...

Are you?

Not just caring because you have to ... but really {caring} because you want to?

$5.

Last Friday I gave a student $5.

She gave me an 11oz. container of Chocolate Covered Raisins.

I have eaten the entire container of Chocolate Covered Raisins from the Girl Scouts in 7 hours.

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What a day.

It's raining.

Hard.

And my students are currently watching a little Tom & Jerry during inside recess.

Yep.

One whole container of Chocolate Covered Raisins.

Gone.

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And there you have it.

2 of my weaknesses.

Tom & Jerry... and Chocolate Covered Raisins from the Girl Scouts.

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Do you have any {weaknesses}?

Friday.

Mason is doing well.

Very well.

Thanks for all the prayers!

He's headed to the pumpkin patch with all his {friends} and {teachers} today.

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Ian is hauling cows for a friend that has H1N1.

I hope he wipes down the truck thoroughly before he spends the day driving it.

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Mack is at a stage that seems to test all patience I have.

I'm praying it doesn't last long.

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I am sporting Raccoon pride today.

Blue and gold.

I love applauding kids and their achievements every month at our award assemblies.

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I'm pondering this today & I am loving this book: Every Day Deserves A Chance.

from Chapter 10

We're important, but not essential; valuable, but not indispensable. We have a part in the play, but we are not the main act. A song to sing, but we are not the featured voice.

God is.

He did well before our birth; He'll do fine after our deaths. He started it all, sustains it all, and will bring it all to a glorious climax. In the meantime, we have this high privilege: to surrender personal Everests, discover the thrill of the doubled distance, do deeds for which we cannot be paid, seek problems that others avoid, deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Christ.

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Note to self: Get over yourself!

A laugh and some tears.

1. I received an email from my father in law yesterday requesting photos and captions for the Onion Express Christmas Newsletter. My response was a link to the blog. This morning, I was greeted with this email & attached photo:



This child's mother makes a living keeping 27 children safe every day.

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2. Mason is having a root canal today. Age 4 & a root canal. I've shed many tears the past two weeks about this, but I know he'll be fine. I'm just feeling like I'm responsible or I should have done something differently, but as my great friend Tammy wrote to me this week: This too shall pass! and remember ... live for today ... not yesterday.
Please be praying for sweet Mason today at 3:00. Ian is taking him, and I'll be there with a package from Aunt Kirsten when he gets out.

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Life continues to roll right along ... and as the book I'm reading on {contentment} reminded me again this morning ~

{our anxiety should be used as a springboard to pray specifically}

So, you know what I'm doing?!

Praying.

And I know God is listening.

blessed.

Thank you Jason, Robert & Billie! We're blessed by you ... over and over and over again!