Thursday, October 30, 2008

Confession: My name is Kathy. I am a Christian and I love Halloween.



Found this online:

"The name "Halloween" comes from the All Saints Day celebration of the early Christian church, a day set aside for the solemn remembrance of the martyrs. All Hallows Eve, the evening before All Saints Day, began the time of remembrance. "All Hallows Eve" was eventually contracted to "Hallow-e'en," which became "Halloween." As Christianity moved through Europe it collided with indigenous pagan cultures and confronted established customs. Pagan holidays and festivals were so entrenched that new converts found them to be a stumbling block to their faith. To deal with the problem, the organized church would commonly move a distinctively Christian holiday to a spot on the calendar that would directly challenge a pagan holiday. The intent was to counter pagan influences and provide a Christian alternative. But most often the church only succeeded in "Christianizing" a pagan ritual--the ritual was still pagan, but mixed with Christian symbolism. That's what happened to All Saints Eve--it was the original Halloween alternative!"

I grew up in a Christian home, an authentic and real Christian home where we were always taught to live out scripture. The way my parents acted in front of others was the way they acted in front of us. I was not taught how to live a hypocritical lifestyle.
We also thoroughly enjoyed Halloween. We dressed up every year, we decorated the house, we carved pumpkins, we made cookies and cupcakes, we watched 'Hocus Pocus' and 'The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' and ' Casper, the friendly ghost'. We went trick or treating, put up fake headstones in the front yard with scary music playing for the occasion. We had a TON of fun.
It wasn't until I moved to the bible belt that I saw an intense fear and distaste about Halloween among Christians.
I understand that elements of Halloween are not longer safe like they use to be. I'm sad that due to the state of our world, the traditional fun of trick-or-treating is no longer a safe activity. Kids can't go door to door without worrying about being poisoned or abducted...I'm sure it's still going strong in the community I grew up in, but few places are as safe and innocent as Green's Harbour, Newfoundland anymore.

My point is this: Regardless of why Halloween came to be, as a fun-loving, Christian family, we used it as a time to be silly and have a great time together. Halloween didn't represent Satan or the occult, it represented family time, silly costumes, imaginative (pretend) ghost stories and community togetherness.

I recently was involved with a conversation with a Christian mother who said she sat down with her children (not much older than my own) and explained to them the Pagan and Satanic origins of Halloween and why Christians shouldn't have anything to do with it. She read them a book called, "Why we don't celebrate Halloween" and this year they are giving out book marks instead of candy with poems about how evil this day is.

Talk about asking babies to deal with adult issues!

My view is this. If we are firm in our faith and instill the love and direction of Christ in our kids lives every single day of the year, why should we be afraid of October 31st? Why not take what we know to be true, that Jesus has already won and Satan has no power over us, and laugh in his face by taking Halloween and filling it with good, clean fun and family togetherness? Why not teach our kids that with God's light in their hearts, Satan is powerless over them and we don't have to be afraid of him?....and the truth is, if we look back over history, Halloween has about as much to do with early Christianity as it does paganism, so why not focus on that? Why not join in with everyone else but set ourselves apart by choosing not to wear revealing, tasteless costumes...by choosing not to use the night as an excuse to drink & drive and cause trouble...why not be a light in the midst of darkness instead of removing ourselves all together?

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine...hide it under a bush, OH NO! I'm gonna let it shine."

It's the same debate as whether Christians parents should take part in the Santa thing or not. I've heard Christian parents say, "Kids will mix up Santa with Jesus and when they learn Santa's not real, they'll think Jesus isn't real either."

WHAT!?

If I make Santa as much a part of my child's daily life as Jesus, then that's a problem with me, not Jolly Old St. Nick.

But that's another blog for another holiday...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

my new favourite song



The video is not that exciting but just listen to it as you read the lyrics.

The Heart of Life

I hate to see you cry lying there in that position
There's things you need to hear
So turn off your tears and listen

Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No it won't all go the way it should
But i know the heart of life is good

You know it's nothing new
Bad news never had good timing
Then the circle of your friends
Will defend the silver lining

Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No it won't all go the way it should
But i know the heart of life is good

Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
Fear is a friend who's misunderstood
But i know the heart of life is good.

I know it's good.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Big Boy Underwear

Caden has taken to the potty quicker than I could have ever imagined. I have to give a shout out to Amber, who has been wonderfully consistent with him at school. Yay, "Amba's school!" (aka: Little Lambs)
He has known about the potty for a long time...He's always understood the concept, but his little body hadn't quite caught up with his sharp mind until recently.
All of a sudden, he gets it!
Saturday morning he went in my bathroom and yelled, "MAMA! POTTY!"
I went in, got him into position and he didn't pee......HE POOPED! This is a big victory. He remained dry the rest of the day, asking to go to the potty when he needed to pee or doing a funny dance which indicated to me that he had to pee. We went to a fall festival that night and he stayed dry, peeing in the potty twice while we were there.
The next day he peed in the potty first thing in the morning, twice before church started and 3 times during! There were a couple of poops in the pants but his pull-up remained urine free.
Today, I received a text message from Amber that Caden has not only been peeing in the potty, but has pooped in the potty not once, but TWICE at school.
We're going to keep working on poopy this week but this weekend we're going to go to the store and let him pick out his own big boy underwear. Then starting on Monday, he'll only wear pull-ups to bed.
6 changes of clothes may accompany him on his way to school, but he'll still be a big kid in his underpants!
Where is the time going? All I can say is....GOOD-BYE DIAPERS! HELLO EXTRA $50.00 a MONTH! WOO-HOO!

Monday, October 27, 2008

I Know

Once again, the house showing was a bust.
I trust God. I know His will needs to be done in this...I also know I am to be very thankful that we have a roof over our heads, food to eat and good jobs to pay for it all...I know I am suppose to remain positive...I know God has already taken care of 2 out of the 3 biggest things we had happening...he got Caden into a better school which has completely changed the quality of his and our lives...Jay got a better job which was a prayer many years in the making...trust me when I say, I am super thankful for those things coming to pass...
I know that everything happens for a reason and that I can't see the bigger picture...I know the house will sell when it's suppose to and that there's more to this than meets the eye...I know there are more people involved in this scenario than just me...I know that I need to be patient and faithful regardless of whether I feel like it
...I know, I know, I know...
It's still tough....and right now I just need to have the right to be disappointed.
*sigh*

I Miss My Nephew


Mr. Evan Higdon.
He's getting so big, so fast! Time flies.
Love you little man.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

2nd Annual Halloween Costume PAR-TAY!

Our 2nd Annual Halloween Costume Par-Tay was last night. It was a good time. Lots of great people in hilarious get ups.
We were a family of Ninjas. The winner of the costume party was Sabrina who came dressed as Hurricane Katrina.
Many more pics on my facebook.



Tonight we're going to a Fall Festival in Sopchoppy, then next week it's off to the Fall Festival at Genesis church west campus. I love this time of year.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

"Daddy's on airpain. Daddy's on tip"

This has been Caden's common phrase for the last 5 days.
Translation: Daddy's on an airplane. Daddy's on a trip.
Jay comes home tonight. He has been gone since Sunday morning. WAYFM held a conference in Colorado Springs so he's been there, enjoying the snow and mountains. I'm glad he's coming home today.
It's during times like these that I begin praying for single mothers. Widows, divorcees, military wives....anyone who has to go it alone raising kids and holding down the home front.
To be completely honest, I don't feel as though my work load has increased with Jay being gone. I still drive Caden to school, go to work, pick him up, come home, make dinner, bathe him, get him in bed, clean up, do laundry, pack lunches...etc. With Jay always having had really long work hours, I've become accustom to getting things done on my own, not because he wouldn't help but because he's always had such a demanding work schedule....that's why his new job has been such an answer to prayer.
The truth is, I'm able to keep the house much cleaner and organized while he's away...less laundry, less dishes, no dirty tissues or moldy coffee cups laying around (I married a stereotypical man :) and with Caden going to bed at 8, I'm bored and lonely enough between his bed time and mine to submerge myself in cleaning as to not feel the effects of being all alone in the deep south. Usually after Caden goes to bed, Jay and I eat dinner and hang out talking, watching TV and catching up on our day...and I tend to let everything else slide in order to just be with him...making for a messy house, but a happy couple.
I would much prefer to live in a pig sty, enjoying time with my husband, then in an immaculate home without him.
I'm just not me without him. Nothing is as good without him being there. Jokes aren't as funny, sweets aren't as tasty. I love Caden and he brings me so much joy and frustration (mostly joy :) but going through the motions of tending to a child, keeping a house, working a job and finishing up just in time to go to sleep and wake up to do it all over again, can become incredibly monotonous without having a best friend to share it all with.
I tend to sleep much sounder when I sleep alone. There have been several nights this week where I've fallen asleep and woken up 6 hours later in the same position I lay down in...which rarely happens when Jay is home. He is a midnight snacker, and bathroom user and nose blower...He's precious, but sometimes it's like I'm sleeping next to a monkey! I may sleep deeply while he's gone, but it takes me a much longer time to get to sleep because I am wishing he was next to me...Deep sleep without Jay is not as refreshing as broken sleep with him. He makes me feel calm and rested by just being there...even when he's sneezing like crazy at 4 in the morning ;)
He flies in tonight at 7:30 and I couldn't be happier. Now life will take on some normalcy. We've yet to really see what Jay's new Mon-Fri, 8-5 work schedule will mean for our family...ever since he started 2 weeks ago he's been travelling for concerts and conferences...but next week begins a fresh look at what life will be like from here on out. We're so blessed to be able to have every evening and weekends together! I'll never take it for granted.
If you're a pray-er, keep us in your prayers this weekend. Someone is coming to see the house on Saturday. Believe me when I say that selling this house is so incredibly important within my family right now, and we honestly trust God's timing in the situation, but a little prayer can't hurt :) A young woman with a baby boy saw it online and scheduled a time right away to come see it. Pray that God prepares her heart to fall in love with it..that it will all work out, all of the finances and paperwork will come together and that we'll be able to be in a situation where we're less strapped for cash and time by being in the city where we do all of our living.
Thanks!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Good way to start the week

Today, Caden and his school friends started this new week off in an awesome way. He sang with his friends at an International Day Concert, celebrating the various cultures of our world.

Here he is in his outfit, representing Canada...I know his shoes are on the wrong feet...this was fixed prior to leaving the house :)



WARNING: This video is long (about 10 mins) and mostly of Caden just sitting and listening to the singing going on around him. He takes part a few times, mostly towards the end (he breaks loose on 'He's got the whole world in His hands') but for the most part, he just sits quietly. If you want action only, scroll ahead to 5:15 and then scroll to 8:00-10:00. The remainder is pretty uneventful, but I was proud of him for being such a good boy!



So proud of my little man!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Comfortably Numb

A lot of times we can miss out on God's best for us by being unwilling to work on ourselves. Unwilling to give up those things that separate us from where we need to be in God's will. We know what scripture says about our personal struggles, but we shrug our shoulders and say,
"This is me. If I could change it I would, but I can't."
How dare we rob that kind of power from God to work in our lives! When we say we are unchangeable, we are saying that God is powerless to change us! That He who created us can't bring us out of our struggles and into the light. We take Christ's sacrifice and make it meaningless.
My father has a friend who was once a Pastor. After years of struggling with living a lie, he left his wife to pursue a homosexual relationship with another man. This was devastating to his wife, children and the people who were once under his ministerial care...me included. Today, he has what he thought he wanted for so long but lacks the peace of God and is constantly yearning for acceptance for his choices from anyone who will listen because he is living in a constant state of sin, outside of God's will and God's best for his life. He's been told continuously that he's still loved, that he's still God's child but what he longs for is someone to ease him of his guilt by telling him it's ok for him to act on his homosexual urges when according to scripture, it just isn't. He knows, deep down, that he's outside of the will of God when he was created to be inside of it and the fine line he walks between submitting to temptation and wanting to grow deeper in Christ is causing him impeccable strain.
I worked with a woman once who had 7 children. She worked hard to provide for them, sent them to church, raised them according to Christian values but when I mentioned something about going to heaven one day over lunch she looked at me and said, "You can't know you're going to heaven. Nobody can be sure of that."
She went through the motions of church. She walked her kids through the motions of church...yet she lived every day without the eternal security that a relationship with Christ brings. She had head knowledge and a vision of what Christianity should look like and she acted it out like a play, but her life lacked the crucial element...Christ himself!
When we remain in our brokenness without delving deeper into God's word and will for our lives, we become numb and complacent....and for most of us, numb is much more comfortable then the burning of the refiners fire. In fact, when we ignore the conviction of the holy spirit for long enough, the conviction goes away...not because it's suddenly ok to live as we had been living, but because His presence has left us. Not our salvation, but His presence. That's a scary place to be.
We somehow convince ourselves that faith and words is enough. It's true that true faith in Christ is salvation...but faith without works is a dead and sorry faith...where we selfishly hoard what we have without letting the light of Christ shine through our example. There's believing in Jesus, but then there is truly LOVING God and living for Him. It's easy to accept a message about a man taking our blame and dying for our sins in our place...it's a very different thing to give our lives over in sacrifice to God and say, "Your will, not my own be done. Take my desires, my future, my passion, my will, my job, my kids, my spouse, myself."
The bible tells us that we can know whether we are in the midst of believers by their fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faith and self control...these are testaments to God's working in you and I. It allows us to judge one another and discern God's presence.
We are all human and we screw up (i know i do daily) but when we are making an effort each day to live according to God's word and purpose, it shows through the fruit of our lives. We love according to Corinthians 13. We have the joy of God in our hearts (this is different from happiness....joy is contentment...no matter what the circumstances, we have joy in knowing it's all for Jesus). We're at peace with our creator and each other. We're patient in situations when we should be off our heads with anger. We're kind to people (this is different from being friendly...sometimes being kind means being honest...and sometimes honesty is not well received). We're gentle when we're correcting or guiding each other. We're good to each other by helping each other out, giving of our time, money or belongings to help someone else. We can control ourselves and our urges when the Holy Spirit is truly given permission (by our choice) to have control over our lives.
My prayer is this: That modern Christianity will awaken from it's state of numbness and be willing to endure whatever pain it takes to become like Christ in a world that needs him desperately. To delve into His word and love Him not just because it's trendy in the bible belt to go to church and hit the Golden Corral afterwards. That we will enter Christian community in an effort to sharpen each other and become better, not wallow in our brokenness. Let's rightfully bare the name of Christ because we LOVE him. The bible says we are His friends if we DO WHAT HE SAYS. How can we know what he says? Read your bible.
God is more than what we limit him to when we refuse to take up our cross and follow him. When we refuse to do the hard work, we stunt our growth and we leave Jesus behind the door, knocking.
I believe that we are all children of God...after all, he created us ALL. But if you're struggling with something...even if it's a big something...God can overcome it within you.
A popular Christian vocalist was on Oprah once discussing his life altering, once-secret addiction to porn. At the end of the interview Oprah said something to the effect of, "You can't pray that away" to which he replied, "I did."
Was it easy? no. He struggled for years. His marriage struggled, his career struggled and he cried out to God time and time again for deliverance...but through the power of Prayer, he is healed. Take that Oprah.
I don't know if any of this makes sense...It's late and I'm overwhelmed right now by a culture that I don't like my son having to grow up in. Where there's pre-marital and homosexual sex on public TV stations at 3 in the afternoon...where teenagers are learning how to raise their hands in church and be completely vile and inappropriate at school because the most important thing is to be cool and trendy...where 4 year olds at daycare are dropping curse words cause their parents don't have the common sense to shield them from it, regardless of whether they believe in Christ or not...where teenagers are so confused about who they are and who God is (by what they see us doing and not doing in His name) that they feel hopeless and are hurting themselves and each other at rates higher than ever before.
My plea: If you are comfortably numb and satisfied with mediocrity, if you're what the bible calls, "luke warm" by customizing your Christianity...taking the parts you like but excluding the parts you don't...please awaken from your sleep and be the woman or man that God has called you to be. Reshape the Christian faith so that people will start to take us seriously again and so that our kids can model what we're doing in the name of Jesus.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Monday, October 13, 2008

Case of the Monday's

I stole this title from my friend Jerad who used it a few Monday's ago, but I couldn't think of a more fitting title today. I am having a severe case of the Monday's. The clock could not be moving any slower as I sit here in my puke coloured cubicle, watching life pass me by...is this worth 12 bucks an hour?
I guess so.
Having a week to spend with my family has made me miss them more than ever now that we've all been tossed back into the busyness of life. With all the commuting (10-12 hours a week) Working (35-40 hours) Volunteering (9 hours a week) not to mention cooking, cleaning, lunch packing, errand running, and occasional sleeping, we spend the majority of our time rushing from point A to point B, spending very little time with each other.
The great and long anticipated news is that Jay started a new job today! HUGE answer to prayer. I haven't blogged much about it till now because I wanted him to be completely done with Busy Body Gyms to Go before announcing to the world that he has found something a million times better. Through awesome connections and the skillz of my hubby, he has landed himself a position as an account executive for WAYFM (a Christian radio station in north Florida and south Georgia) and he started today! This month will be insane. He has a few concerts to work and he's flying to Colorado next week for a week long conference, but soon life will have us spending a lot more time together. He gets VACATION! AHHH! He even gets the same government holiday's off like everyone else, unlike with retail. We may even get sick of each other! Jokes. Not possible.
I'm so proud of him...and I'm ultra excited about having Saturday's with the family for the first time since...well....ever!
As my life has filled up more and more, I become increasingly more protective and guarded of my time with Caden and Jay, and increasingly more irritated with anything that tries to take that time away. If I had my choice, I'd be home with Caden again, at least more than I am now. I think being a stay-at-home mom is a much more straining and difficult task than what I do now, but it's so much more rewarding. Unfortunately, working a full-time job is something one has to do when living in an economy such as this one. The one income family is becoming few and far between. Even so, while sitting in this cube, my family are never out of my thoughts. Spending an entire week with them opened my eyes to how much I am missing when we are all separated and how much joy I have within me when we are all together, which has led me to seriously re-organize my time and my priorities. My Father called me one day after many days of trying to reach me unsuccessfully, just to tell me, "Kathy, the Holy Spirit is not the author of busyness."
I'm starting to believe that whole-heartedly. Right now, my schedule is filled with things I need to do and love to do. Some are unavoidable responsibilities, some are choices. I'm going to spend the next couple of months focusing on God's most important calling on my heart. My family.

Enough with all that. Here's the Caden update:

-He has officially stopped saying, "I-I-Ice" and now clearly says, 'Mickey Mouse'. This happened all of a sudden while we were on vacation. We've mourned the loss.

-He is getting better about the potty. I still think we're far from dry underwear, but he is grasping the concept more and more daily.

-His new phrase is, "I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT, YAY!"

-He is doing great at school, absolutely loved the beach and can out eat anyone in a pancake eating competition.

-Last night while eating dinner, Caden held up a piece of broccoli and said, "Mmm, trees."

-He will be singing in an international day concert this Sunday at his school's church. I am super excited. Jay will miss it because he flies out to Colorado that morning, so I will be sure to record it and post it here for all to enjoy.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

all good things come to an end


We're back from vacation. We left last Saturday for a week in Flagler Beach where we rented a beach house with friends from Newfoundland, Cliff, Danielle, Nevin and Sarah. It was incredible to hang out with old friends. It was like going home, but so much warmer! ;)
We did a lot of boogie boarding, a little sight seeing and a lot of laughing. My friends are somewhere in the sky right now, flying back to the place where I belong, and I look forward to making this group vacation thing an annual event.
More photos can be found on my facebook...if you are not my facebook friend, request to be and then you may bask in the pictorious glory. ;)