--Thanks so much to Steve and Laurie for time away. What a blessing to pretty much do nothing for an entire week. A huge shout out as well to the "village" (literally) that made it possible for this mommy to farm out all four kids...and no one missed a homework assignment, soccer/lacrosse/gymnastics event.

--I would post pictures of us in Tennessee, but my husband is hoarding them on his zip drive. Here's one of Theresa (my sweet friend and UF apartment mate) who drove two hours to come and have lunch with me!

--How can you not love the Internet?!? Thelma and Joy, thanks for taking the time to drop me a note--it made my day! Joy--I'll be in Phoenix in January to sign books and speak and would love to see you then.

--I heart the 'net part two. Who would have thought that a bunch of thirty-somethings would be such Facebook addicts? (We only really keep accounts to monitor our kids, you know!!). I am loving catching up with old friends and got to have supper with my "little brother" from OT school and his lovely wife on Saturday. They live just a short drive away, and we're so looking forward to renewing our relationship with them!

--My girls are gone this week. PP is at her grandparents' in Sarasota. TQ just got on a plane (no longer on unaccompanied minor status--gulp. Am I the only overprotective wuss parent here?). She'll be getting the star treatment from her NY grandparents this week--a celebration of her 13th birthday.

--I'm thinking a lot about gratitude this week. Profound, considering the holiday,right? I'm sure there's a post in there somewhere...

--Looking for something less fluffy? I'm guest posting at my friend Christina's blog this week. Go say hi to her.

Pray. Vote consciously and intelligently. Leave the rest up to God...He's got it under control, come what may.

Friday evening EJ headed out with his friend to set up for the local church's big "Trunk o' Treat" celebration, while the littles and I enjoyed a pizza from Aunt Sarah and costumed up. Daddy got home with the TQ just in time to grab a bite and head out to the festival with us. TQ stayed behind to clean up after soccer practice and hand out candy.

The festival part was loud, but fun. When the candy handout started, however, we stayed in line long enough to let EJ hand some out to his brother and sister, then headed home. The crush of people (over a thousand turned out!) proved to be just too much for our sensory-overloaded little guy. We headed back to our neighborhood.

Sadly, most of our neighborhood doesn't appear to have been educated in October 31 etiquette. We went to houses with porch lights on to find no one answering the door. We met up with friends who left a bowl of candy on their porch had returned from taking their own children out only to discover the entire bowl and it's contents had been stolen. We did encounter some lovely and pleasant people as well; but overall, we had fewer visitors, and the neighborhood was much quieter than last year.

We arrived home for the great candy sort. In addition to the goodies from the festival and their neighborhood rounds, they had a beautifully wrapped baggie of treats each. When this baggie was was opened, we discovered not only candy, but an article photocopied from a religious publication. It informed us that (I'm paraphrasing) good Christians didn't participate in "Satan's playground" nor did they expose their children to this type of thing. Oh, and that if we wanted more information on "good" Christian parenting, we could send money to a certain organization and receive a book.

I was gobsmacked. I respect these people's right to have an opinion about Halloween. As the body of Christ, we're not going to agree on everything...and I'm sure as they passed out their little bags of condemnation, their intentions were good. But the sugar that came with the message didn't make it any easier to swallow.

My thoughts:

--Aren't they participating in Satan's playground by handing these out to trick or treaters? Or is this kind of like witnessing in a nightclub? Hmmm...

--This would have been a great time to tuck in an invitation to a church, a tract that presents the gospel, or even a "This is who we are, neighbor, come and get to know us..." type message. I may have to do this next year, along with the reverse trick or treat.

--Not to be trite, but What would Jesus do in this situation?

What do YOU think?

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. --Romans 14:1-4