Being "Weird" at Halloween

A lot of my choices are not conventional you can look at my story and see that, but when October 31st rolls around it seems to become glaringly obvious to everyone, not just my readers, that this is the case. Honestly, I have never had a person ask me why I don't let my kids celebrate Halloween and I am not sure why. Perhaps everyone thinks they know, the lady at the cash register certainly thought she did when she quizzed my daughter about her costume. But the truth is, we don't celebrate because I cannot rationalize it. Trust me I know that it's about intentions and most (all) of the children walking the streets asking for candy do not intend to be worshiping anything...except that future sugar-high...but the history of the day still remains and I cannot get past it. I think the conversation I had with my 7-year-old sums up my feelings on the day perfectly.

S- Mom, I wish did could celebrate Halloween and get all that candy.
Me- I know. Why don't we celebrate Halloween?
S- Because it was once a holiday set aside to worship someone other than the one true God.
Me- Yup, I'm sorry you are sad about the candy.
S- *sigh* I just wish there was a holiday that we could celebrate God and eat a lot of candy.

So what it truly boils down to with me is that I cannot bring myself to celebrate a holiday that was once used (and in all honesty is still for some) to worship the enemy of the God I believe to be true. Am I being an overly cautious parent? No, I don't think I am. Am I trying to take away my children's fun, absolutely not! But I am trying to teach them that because I believe so deeply in something that I am willing to make sacrifices for it.
 I do not write this to try to "sell" my idea about Halloween or give the impression that everyone should believe as I do. I am simply explaining what my intentions are for not allowing my children to participate and hopefully inspire someone to put some thought and research into his or her own intentions for celebrating.

Being Surprised!

Over the past couple months, we have had a huge surprise in our family. One we weren't prepared for, but a happy gift none the less. We found out that our family is growing again. If I were more chemically unstable then when I saw those two blue lines you would have had to pick me up off the bathroom floor, instead, I just stood there in shock considering what this was going to make 2018 look like for us. I'm not going to lie it was kind of fun sharing a surprise so far out of left field that no one even suspected it, but it does still change things some. For example, I thought I was going to walk in my commencement ceremony in May and that I would start looking for a part-time job to use my education not that I would be organizing a nursery and writing a birth plan again. This is one of those times when I just think "Okay God, what's the plan now?" At the moment my best guess is that God wants me to take a beat and just be a mom for a year and then regroup. I guess we'll see what doors are opened because of this very big and beautiful surprise.