Wednesday, October 31, 2007

That Time of Year Again!


It is Halloween once again. A time to divide people into 3 catergories - those who do celebrate, those who don't and those who just celebrate the fun stuff. Our family has chosen to be a don't. This year we have had more comments made to us about our stance than any other. So, I thought - why not post about it! As children Pookie Bear and I came from families that celebrated Halloween. We went Trick or Treating practically every year. Our church even had Halloween parties inside the sanctuary (yikes-can you imagine!). As teens we went to a few parties, but pretty much never felt like it was something we wanted to do. As parents, we really wanted to not just ban Halloween on the "Because I said so" philosophy, but to give our kids actual reasons behind it (which we do every year). It doesn't matter how much you try to sugar coat the holiday and tell yourself your only doing the fun part of it - the evilness of this day is real. When we begin to compromise we open the door to the enemy to continue to compromise. Once we have allowed our child to be introduced to demonic activity (which happens to many children on Halloween whether it was in doing something fun or not) we have to answer for it. Pookie Bear and I are not perfect parents. We make a lot of mistakes (believe me a lot!). We don't think we are better than anyone else - Far from it! But, this issue rests heavy on our hearts. As Christian parents we need to seek God first on whether this is something He wants us to have our children participate in. The enemy wants only to devour our children - the last thing we need to do is open a door and make it any easier for him under the disguise of "It's all in fun!".

Monday, October 22, 2007

Duff Cake


Our kids love "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Network. It is a show about "Duff" the owner of "Charm City Cakes". He makes the most unusual cakes I have ever seen. They are always making their cakes bigger and better that anyone else. Well, a few weeks ago they had a 5 tiered cake with a hang loose hand on top. Josh kept saying how awesome it was. Then a few days later he handed me a drawing he made of the same cake and said that's what he wanted for his birthday. So, my mind begins to churn out ideas. Since I always make the kids' cakes every year to whatever theme they want I figured I better come up with something good for him. Which led me to my first time use of Fondint. That is one unusual product. It's like edible playdough...way weird...but very effective! After an hour of decorating this is what I came up with. He loved it and was impressed with mom for a minute. Another year older for Josh, another year mom came through and a whole year for him to come up with something even harder for the next one!!!
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Monday, October 1, 2007

Cleansing Streams

This coming weekend Pookie Bear and I will once again be going to Pennsylvania to the Cleansing Stream Retreat. This will be our third time in one year. I am always feeling anxious about this time. On one hand I can't wait to go and on the other I am dreading the preparation and kid shuffling that has to be done.

Cleansing Streams is an amazing deliverance ministry that has not only changed my life but many others around me. We love facilitating the classes and having God use us in ways we never thought possible. God is chipping away at me and reforming me into the daughter He wants me to be. It has been hard and very painful at times but so worth it.

So, as we get ready for another journey please pray for us, our families, all the participants this weekend - and that Pookie Bear doesn't get us lost on the way home!!!!!!!