summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Monday, October 25, 2010

monday again, again?

When I realized last night that the weekend was indeed over, and I would have to wake the kids up in the morning for school, blah! It is a very nice morning, warm and rainy. Overcast and cozy, the kind of day that makes it seem criminal to rouse sleeping children from their beds.

Tomorrow is forecast to be warm and sunny and 74 degrees. When I read that, my first thought was to have all the younger kids skip school so they can rake up the leaves and jump in them.

Yesterday was our annual Fall Feast at church. Mirielle and her cousin Janet shopped and prepared the food, which was pizza and veggie trays. They made 35 pizzas, pepperoni, veggies, hot Buffalo wing, and garlic with tomato and black olives on whole wheat dough. Everyone brought desserts so there were cakes and rice krispy treats and cupcakes and cookies and donut holes....we had a really good time. And not because of the food. There was a children's meeting, where we were encouraged to have a soft heart so that God's word can work in us, and we can be quickly obedient to Him. Some of the kids got up and gave testimonies, and it was precious. To hear those kids say that they want to listen to their mommy and daddy, or to be quick to humble themselves.... We are not the kind of church that just gets together, gets preached at, and goes home. We have true fellowship with each other, and know one another. The young and old and in between get along well, and there is peace. We came home happy yesterday.

Perhaps I will take the girls to the library today. I have a stack of books to bring back, not yet overdue, but the movies are only one-week rentals, and they have been our for over two. No matter how I try, I seem to always do this.

Here is a hilarious thing: one of my nieces is student teaching in a very large school district in the next county. (actually the school I went to). Anyway, in the teacher's room the other day, one of the teachers was talking about Halloween, about how "white trash" come to her neighborhood to Trick or Treat. She said that some come in a big huge van and even ask for candy for their baby. Now the world is not that small, but it isn't that big either, she might well have been talking about me. My niece, of course, thought this was the funniest thing in the world. We live out in the country, and if we took the kids down this road, it would take us all night to go to ten houses. So yes, we do go park in a few different neighborhoods. Yes, I do feel funny about it. But the kids have a great time. And last year, Camille was only two, and yes, one of the big kids helped her get candy and got to have most of it. Because when the kids get too old, they no longer carry a bag and trick or treat. And yes, it hurts to think that people might think bad things about us. We might not be the exact "trash" in the big van, but ouch, this year I am going to wonder at every house if this is where the teacher lives.....I am thinking about going in completely different neighborhoods....but jeepers, if people don't want to give out candy, they should just turn their lights off and not give out candy....or is it just for rich families with only two kids? Or should I just tell my kids that since we don't live in a housing complex or a neighborhood we cannot go anymore? rrr. I hate that feeling that we are taking things we shouldn't.....(which is precisely why we didn't "do" Halloween for several years....)

Little girls are up and cute and have that freshly woken sweetness about them so I am going to enjoy them.....

7 comments:

FLmom7 said...

Your church family sounds wonderful...I wish I could find that around here.

As for the white trash trick or treating...LOL! That's all I can say about that! (And they cannot be talking about your family, because you most certainly are not trash!)

Mary Kate said...

Ugh. Why are some people so bitter? I have been trying for years to understand where the hatred come from. I'm a person who really wants everyone to like me (and my large-ish family!), so when some people decide to write us off before they even know our names, it hurts.

Here's what I have to keep telling myself:
1) Consider the source. This unpleasant person is unhappy. It's not my existence that is making her unhappy, something else is having that effect on her. She obviously has a lot of weird baggage.
2) PRAY for those people. They may be "in our path" for a reason, and our prayers might be the only prayers they will ever receive.

This is something I struggle with on a daily basis. The biblical phrase (ok, paraphrasing here!), "You are IN this world, you are not OF this world." keeps popping into my head.

Just so you know, if your kids came to my door on Halloween, you'd get EXTRA candy from our family!!!

mommeeof10 said...

We live in town, but in an older section where the houses are fairly far apart. I get less that 15 trick or treaters every year. I buy a case of assorted candybars at Costco and still have at least 1 per person left for my family. I just have to hide them well so we don't eat them all before Halloween. :)

I feel sorry for the people who are always complaining about someone else. I wonder how/why they are that way.

Deb said...

I am with you on the whole trick or treat thing. If you don't want to hand out candy, then just shut your lights off.

In my neighborhood we always get vans and cars lined up from other places. It is fine with me. Almost every child that comes says thank you. And it doesn't bother me to give it to a baby who is being carried by someone.

Some people just don't seem to remember the joys of childhood. You can come to my neighborhood any day!

Martha said...

That is just a little bit funny and terribly sad at the same time. The lesson is to watch our own tongues or we may end up eating our feet. They are a bit hard to get back out of the mouth once they are stuffed all the way in...

cheryl said...

Well, the neighborhood we were in, if it were the teacher's.. they can certainly, probably, afford to give candy to Big Van People, their babies, and then some.. they had more lights on in their front yards than we have in our whole house, if we turned them on all at once! I know that's not really the point, and I truly don't begrudge them the niceties of life, but it is interesting to know what people are thinking, and feeling. At least my daughter saw the humor in it, and she didn't seem to be judging the teacher for having that attitude, so I guess she's been taking the Gospel seriously! And I would prefer to be the one bitten than to be the biter.. PS.. you have many wise readers!!

16 blessings'mom said...

Cheryl, you are funny. I would also rather be "the bitten" than "the biter"....although I can't help wondering how many times I have been the biter without even realizing it....and I still think it is hilarious that your daughter was in that room hearing that....it's a wonder she didn't blurt out, "That's probably my Aunt Della!"