Death and Taxes, Not Necessarily in That Order

Yesterday, we got on Skype with my parents, who had sent the kids little Halloween treat bags.

I say little, but they managed to stuff more candy and other goodies into these bags than I get into a grocery bag.

The kids took turns opening their bags (see, they look small, but they were like magical multiplying sacks), and the older two let Eliana go first. 

They pretended to eat each piece of candy she took out of her bag. 

She was particularly excited about the Tootsie Rolls. I didn't even know she liked Tootsie Rolls! 

She had a huge pile of Kisses and small Hershey bars by the time she reached the bottom of her bag. There were also stickers, an activity pad, and some Goldfish (the cracker, not the animal). 

Christian went next. He struggled to get his bag open at first. Grandma's use of the staple may rival her legendary use of tape on Christmas presents. 

The Grandparents regularly send socks to the kids, and they are always crazy fun. 

He put them on immediately. (Eliana had socks with pink cats on them. She also put hers on right away.)

He pulled a package of Chessmen out of his sack and said,"Yessss!" 

Once he had emptied his bag, he had a pile that equalled Eliana's. 

Finally, it was Michaela's turn. She pulled out her socks. Orange, of course. 

Do not ask me why she put them on inside out. I have no idea. My kids are weird.

I'm sorry to say none of my pictures of Michaela turned out. Bummer. But here is what happens to the bags that my parents send to the kids.

They don't last too long.

This is the candy that Michaela had BEFORE we went to the Fall Fun Fest and trick-or-treating.

Yes, that is a gallon size Ziploc.

Christian and Eliana's look pathetic in comparison.

The reason why there is such a discrepancy is not because my parents love Michaela more, or thought she should receive more because she is the oldest. It is because she won a box of 30 candy bars from Bible study for a contest they had.

30. Candy bars.

Never fear. I have already taken a portion. We shall call it The Candy Tax. No eleven-year-old needs 30 candy bars. I'm just doing my parental duty, and saving her teeth from early and unnecessary destruction.

The kids were very excited once they got to put their costumes on today. 

Commander Fox, Belle, and Hatshepsut (an Ancient Egyptian woman Pharoah)...

Eliana discovered this mirror at a dollar store. She wanted it very much. She told me once she had it that she was a real princess because look at it! It is a princess mirror. Obviously!

This blond girl went dark for the night. 

 

So, this is Michaela at age eleven.

Which is what I dressed up as tonight...

Me, at age eleven. I'm so glad she does not look like I did. At least at this unfortunate stage.

And for those who didn't know me back then, and who said,"Nooo...You didn't look like that!"

OH. YES. I. DID.

After the Fall Fun Fest at our church, and a round of trick-or-treating in that neighborhood, we headed home, ate a late dinner, sorted candy, and hit the showers. I went to switch the laundry from earlier in the day and just about jumped out of my skin as I turned the corner at the stairs.

Maybe the clean laundry pile startled him to death. 

P.S. I think tomorrow should be a day off.  

It's Gross! It's Cute! (I Am Speaking of Two Different Things Here)

Today was the day the class dissected an owl pellet.

Do you know what an owl pellet is? I'll tell you what it is (and I'm sorry for it): it's the stuff that an owl cannot digest, and the owl's body somehow separates it out, rolls it all up into a ball while it's (what the owl ate) still inside of it (the owl), and then the owl, I don't know, hocks a hairy loogie full of bones. And feathers. And fur.

YES IT IS AS GROSS AS IT SOUNDS.

They said it was sanitary. That you could even touch it with your bare hands, and it wouldn't hurt you. 

NO THANK YOU, VERY MUCH, I'M NOT EVEN TOUCHING IT WITH GLOVES ON.

I'm not saying it wasn't a good experience for the kids. They loved it. Eliana's sweet teacher came and helped her sort through her pellet. She found an entire skull and a bunch of bones.

And it was kind of cool, but it's one thing to find a skull in the desert, and another thing entirely to find one (or five) in a little furball on the plate in front of you, you know? (And don't misspell desert, because finding any of this in your dessert would be more than a little traumatic. It might make for a good weight loss plan, though.)

Michaela really enjoyed this science activity, and in fact, had already done this very thing at her cousin's house in the spring. That time, they used sticks. This time, she went the bare hands route. 

IS SHE SERIOUSLY MY DAUGHTER?! SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE!

She also brought the things she found (3 skulls! Plus some other bones!) home in a baggie. What on earth am I going to do with rodent bones? What, I ask? Is this what a hope chest is for?

And now, because I can hardly even look at this blog post without hurling (ironically), here is something that is totally unrelated to regurgiation.

Eliana worked on this tonight. It's quite the masterpiece. 

Detail, bottom right corner

Detail, bottom center

Detail, center, from a different angle

She did say it was a farm, and I imagine there are owls around a farm...so there is a correlation. I was hoping to avoid one. I'm sorry.

I was thinking of making brownies tonight. Now, I'm just not sure.

Not Even One

I've heard it said that one must take hundreds of pictures in order to get a few good shots.

Clearly, I did not take enough pictures tonight.

Blurry kids. Kid wiping nose. 

Tongue out.

And this? This one is my favorite. Something about it makes me think of Julia Roberts, which is always a compliment in my book. 

Ms. Roberts might not appreciate my comment too much.

The Storm

So there's a hurricane a comin'!

It's headed my parents' way. I talked to my mom this afternoon. She sounded very calm, ready to go to work and stay there if she needs to for a couple of days (she works in a hospital). Ready for a power outage. 

Everything I've read on Facebook (that's where I get all my news) is bad. The states that the storm is expected to affect are prepared for the worst. Subways have been shut down. Airports are shut down. The hatches are battened down, folks! But my friends who live in Virginia all sound so laid back about it. It's amazing, actually. They've all been to the store, have water and flashlights, have been readying snacks. I'm impressed.

I've seen a few pictures of some of the flooding that has occurred. I have to tell you, I'm nervous. It's hard to be far away, feel disconnected from a particular event, and yet feel very much like a bad outcome is going to affect you. I told my mom it was weird because I was driving around town, in the sunny 70 degree back end of a cold front (I know, it's crazy. The kids want hot chocolate if it dips below 76 degrees), with the blue skies above, knowing that a "hybrid superstorm" is about to hit the East Coast but feeling like that sounded just as crazy as me having empty laundry baskets on both sides of the wash. (And I don't mean the left and the right...I mean the dirty pile and the clean pile.)

I'm praying that all the preparation saves people from harm. I pray that the problems caused will be taken care of as efficiently as possible. I pray that losses are counted only in possessions, not persons. May everyone in the path of this storm be comforted and guarded by our Sovereign Lord.

Matthew 8:23-27

And when [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

The Vine and the Branch

I struggle. I don't know why, and I don't understand it.
Well, I take that back. I know a part of the why.
I was reading Michaela's devotion with her the other night. It focused on the verses in John in which Jesus says he is the vine and we are the branches. It goes on to say apart from him, we can do nothing.
I've noticed that part before, but for some reason at that moment, it really jumped out at me. I got what it was saying, for a fleeting moment, I realized the truth those words are conveying. I remember clearly now, that feeling of a slap, thinking,"Don't forget what just happened!" and then in a few blinks, a final word to Michaela, a switch of the lamp...the thought was out of my head. Just like that. Just like the light I had turned off so quickly.
It was lying in the corner of my mind just behind my regret regarding donuts, under the question,"What are we going to wear to church tomorrow?" and next to the sticky note on my frontal lobe which says,"Do not forget to add a check and send the World Vision envelopes Monday!"
It was there. I forgot for a bit. But now I remember.
I know why I struggle so. I'm a branch that is hanging on by a thread of a fiber of the vine. I'm swaying in this crazy wind, spinning and waving, but clinging.
Or being clung to. The vine won't let go, even though there hasn't been fruit for a while. The Master Gardener gently holds that almost wayward branch, frail as it is, and carefully, knowingly ties it back onto the vine. Now it can get what it needs from its only source of life. That is the only way I can grow again...how grateful this branch is that there is One who will not let go.