HALLOWEEN 2017

This was the busiest Halloween I can remember in a long time.  It began with me picking up Debbie and Kathy for Bible Study.  Dorothea showed up too so it was a full house.  We talked about true discipleship from Mark 8 -- what it meant and how we could be disciples.  Another good study and the last one for this year.  I used to take a break in the summer, but figured out that was pretty useless since people are around and the weather is good.  A winter break made more sense.  Not only is it cold and icy at times, but being women we are all super busy with the holidays.  We will pick back up in March.

After the study we stopped by Salvation Army to make some donations.  I didn't have much together, but anything is something.  I gave away a dress that I really like but haven't worn in over a year, a top that is really pretty but the neckline is annoying to wear (someone else it might not bother), a green sweater that is too small for me (I bought the wrong size and wore it only twice), and a top that I knit for myself back in 1984.  I hated to give it away because there was so much work put in it.  I wore it a lot for a long time but I had to admit that it was way too small, I'm not in my 20s anymore and I would never put it on my body again.  *sigh*  So instead I took a picture of it to remember it by and put it into the bag. I hope someone else loves it as much as I do.

Next we took Kathy home and then headed to the bank.  At least I was putting money IN.  Then it was off to the library.  The church library is getting rid of a lot of books and we are donating them to the library where I used to work.  If they can't use them in the collection, they sell them to raise money for programming.  So every week or two Debbie and I head over there to get rid of another load.

Because it was Halloween I was wearing my holiday vest.  Hey, I only get to wear it once a year so why not.  I went into the workroom to drop off the books while Debbie returned some of the books she had out.  Diane and Barbara were in the back and I was talking to them.  Diane was also wearing a Halloween top and she was telling Barbara how we always had our picture taken together on Halloween and she missed that.  I said, "You still can.  I have my camera with me."  She had hers too.  So I took off my jacket and we had our picture taken together.  I so miss my co-workers and I'm glad we can still have fun together.

On the way out Doug gave me one of those solar powered Halloween decorations.  What a nice guy!  That was so sweet of him.

Our final stop was ShopRite.  Having gone away last month I hadn't had the money to do a big shopping so I was out of a lot of things.  I bought a lot but there were so many sales that I didn't spend more than I usually do for a two week shopping trip.  Debbie got a lot of sales too.  We were two happy ladies when we packed our bags into the car.

I took Debbie home and then took a long time unpacking the car.  I was very tired.  Very.  That is a lot for me to do in one day.  Joe couldn't help me unpack because it's been only a week since his surgery and he can't lift anything heavy.  He did put things away a little at a time so that helped a lot.

We got something to eat and then went outside to wait for the kids to come around.  Joe stayed outside about 3 hours but I was in and out.  Mostly in.  It was cold.  Last year we had 11 kids come around.  This year we had over 60.  I lost count.  The little girls were so pretty in their princess costumes and the boys thought they were scary in their superhero outfits or monster masks.  Of course I pretended to be scared and made them laugh.  The day before Joe and I decided we might not have enough bags of chips and pretzels to go around and so bought a big bag of candy bars.  I'm so glad we did.  Those chips were gone in the first hour.  I also printed out little gospel tracts and we gave them to the kids until they ran out.  I know a lot of them will just get thrown away, but I always say if the world is beating a path to your door, why not give them the gospel.  Joe and William, our neighbor a few houses away, talked for hours.  It turns out they were both in the Marine Corps the same time and were both stationed in Japan at the same time but never met each other.  Please pray for William.  He was in a serious car accident some years back where he flatlined twice.  No one expected him to live.  He has fought his way back and even went back to work.  Yesterday he was laid off.  He doesn't know what he is going to do.

One of the things I say to Joe each year is that when the door closes on the last Trick-or-Treater, the holiday season begins.  So welcome to November and to Thanksgiving.  I have some great posts planned for this month and I hope you will all enjoy them.

How was your Halloween?

Kathy