Funky food, Pumpkin fun and Hallow's Eve Thoughts

 

 

It's ET!

 

No wait.... it's Elyse's lunch!
Yes, I have had a little too much fun
with lunch lately.
But hey, if you're kid is on a
food strike (like mine) you
will go to creative extremes just so
they will eat SOMETHING!

Even if it is a little funky ;)

These are cream cheese balls,
rolled in cheese with pretzels
and olives to spruce it up, and
give these treats a funky touch.





Since we are on it, thank you for your prayers for Elyse. I thought initially that her sickness was brought on by food poisoning.... but according to the doctor, it is a viral thing. I am sorry to report she is still battling it, but I feel better that I am not the reason she is sick!



Saturday mornings around here are the official treat mornings. We really brought in the pumpkin season with these yummy treats!

Pumpkin donuts, old fashion baked donuts, pumpkin lattes... delicious!

I got all of these ideas off of Pinterest... so if you are looking for these recipes, look for them there!!

Don't these ook delicious??

Well... they are!

(Pumpkin donuts--below-- and Old Fashion Donuts--above--)

Where are regular Mondays are filled with fellowship and hanging out, these last two Mondays have been a bit quiet with no Bibe study being held with the first Monday always being an off day and this past Monday, Columbus Day. Thus, we have made it a baking day. We made a delicious Butternut squash tart from a blog called "A Farmgirl's Dabbles" and these little guys: Pumpkin Pie Pockets!

 

So CUTE!!!

 In other news: WE FOUND PUMPKIN TRASHBAGS!!!!

All last year, I searched high and low for these guys... but not until this year, with a sweet neighbors help, did I actually find them!

 

Here is Elyse trying to enjoy the great outdoors

(With so much rain, its been hard to do that lately!)

 

We have exercised the imagination though and used our resources for making a rainy day just a bit brighter!

 

And that brings me to Elyse's pumpkin creation:

Isn't she good?

 

Bravo my little artist!!!

 

I got to making my own little treat...

But it's for someone else.

 

I love this time of year because I love all of fall's different colorful opportunities

... and the end of October always offers a good excuse to eat chocolate!

 

I have had a lot of friends tug at my heart lately in this season, so just so they remember

they are thought of REGULARLY, I am sending them some Halloween goodies!!

 

(And their little dogs too ;) )

I found this amazing article too on Halloween that I think is worth reading.

Especially if you have trouble with this season or wonder how you should approach it as a chid of God.

It's worth your time to read.

But hey, I'll save you some time!

Here it is:

Trick or Treat? It's Martin Luther

by David Mathis

It was October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. He wanted to debate the sale of indulgences with his fellow university professors. He wrote in Latin, but a nameless visionary translated the theses into German, carried them to the printing press, and enabled their dispersion far and wide.
Luther ended up with more than he bargained for, but he proved to be no coward in defending the discoveries he was making in Scripture. When the Roman church wouldn’t serve him the treat of sufficiently addressing his concerns, he was consigned to the role of sparking the now half-millennium running trick called the Protestant church.

Why Halloween?

Of course Luther wasn’t trick-or-treating when he approached the threshold of the church in Wittenberg, but it’s likely no accident he picked October 31. There’s another angle on Halloween that many are unaware of some 500 years later.
Halloween’s history is shrouded in some of the same mystery and confusion the holiday is known for celebrating. Some historians claim the origin is really in pre-Christian harvest festivals among pagans, and that the occasion was later Christianized when the gospel spread through the Roman Empire nearly two millennia ago. It may be the case that things started pagan (as with all of us!), but it may be that we Christians have let unbelieving historians cloud the true origins of observing October 31.

All Hallows’ Eve

One thing that is clear is where the name comes from—and that it is Christian. The English Halloween is short for “All Hallows’ Eve,” the night before the November 1 Christian feast of All Saints (Hallows) Day.
As for trick-or-treating, some claim that marking All Hallows’ Eve may have originated as just such an occasion to “trick” Satan, the most prideful of all creatures, by giving him what is most offensive to his arrogance: mockery. As Luther would say, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.”

Mocking the Devil

In “Concerning Halloween,” James Jordan explains the thinking behind it: “to drive Satan from us we ridicule him. This is why the custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. . . . [T]he idea is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us.” Jordan continues,

Thus, the defeat of evil and of demonic powers is associated with Halloween. For this reason, Martin Luther posted his 95 challenges to the wicked practices of the Church to the bulletin board on the door of the Wittenberg chapel on Halloween. He picked his day with care, and ever since Halloween has also been Reformation Day.

As for kids playing dress-up, “the custom arose of mocking the demonic realm by dressing children in costumes.” According to Jordan, celebrating All Hallows’ Eve started as “the joking mockery of heathendom by Christian people”—which many historians would take issue with, no doubt.

First Thesis

Moving beyond the date, and looking at what Luther wrote, we see that the truth of his first thesis would reverberate throughout his lifetime, even finding expression in his last words.
The first thesis reads,

When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said “Repent,” he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.

All of the Christian life is repentance. Turning from sin and trusting in the good news that Jesus saves sinners aren’t merely a one-time inaugural experience but the daily substance of Christianity. The gospel is for every day and every moment. Repentance is to be the Christian’s continual posture.

Last Words

Almost 30 years later, on February 16, 1546, Luther’s last words, written on a piece of scrap paper, echoed the humble theme of his first thesis:

We are beggars! This is true.

From first thesis to last words, Luther lived at the foot of the cross, where our rebellious condition meets with the beauty of God’s lavish grace in the gospel of his Son—a gospel deep enough to cover all the little and massive flaws of a beggar like Luther and beggars like us.

For All the Saints

Because of God’s grace in and through Luther, All Hallows’ Eve is now both an occasion to call to mind Jesus’ triumph over Satan and his minions with a bloody cross and empty tomb (see the recent "Sent" post), as well as a day to thank God especially for the Scriptures and the blessed reforms launched by imperfect saints like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and many more nameless visionaries."
 

"It was October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg. He wanted to debate the sale of indulgences with his fellow university professors. He wrote in Latin, but a nameless visionary translated the theses into German, carried them to the printing press, and enabled their dispersion far and wide.
Luther ended up with more than he bargained for, but he proved to be no coward in defending the discoveries he was making in Scripture. When the Roman church wouldn’t serve him the treat of sufficiently addressing his concerns, he was consigned to the role of sparking the now half-millennium running trick called the Protestant church.

Why Halloween?

Of course Luther wasn’t trick-or-treating when he approached the threshold of the church in Wittenberg, but it’s likely no accident he picked October 31. There’s another angle on Halloween that many are unaware of some 500 years later.
Halloween’s history is shrouded in some of the same mystery and confusion the holiday is known for celebrating. Some historians claim the origin is really in pre-Christian harvest festivals among pagans, and that the occasion was later Christianized when the gospel spread through the Roman Empire nearly two millennia ago. It may be the case that things started pagan (as with all of us!), but it may be that we Christians have let unbelieving historians cloud the true origins of observing October 31.

All Hallows’ Eve

One thing that is clear is where the name comes from—and that it is Christian. The English Halloween is short for “All Hallows’ Eve,” the night before the November 1 Christian feast of All Saints (Hallows) Day.
As for trick-or-treating, some claim that marking All Hallows’ Eve may have originated as just such an occasion to “trick” Satan, the most prideful of all creatures, by giving him what is most offensive to his arrogance: mockery. As Luther would say, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.”

Mocking the Devil

In “Concerning Halloween,” James Jordan explains the thinking behind it: “to drive Satan from us we ridicule him. This is why the custom arose of portraying Satan in a ridiculous red suit with horns and a tail. . . . [T]he idea is to ridicule him because he has lost the battle with Jesus and he no longer has power over us.” Jordan continues,

Thus, the defeat of evil and of demonic powers is associated with Halloween. For this reason, Martin Luther posted his 95 challenges to the wicked practices of the Church to the bulletin board on the door of the Wittenberg chapel on Halloween. He picked his day with care, and ever since Halloween has also been Reformation Day.

As for kids playing dress-up, “the custom arose of mocking the demonic realm by dressing children in costumes.” According to Jordan, celebrating All Hallows’ Eve started as “the joking mockery of heathendom by Christian people”—which many historians would take issue with, no doubt.

First Thesis

Moving beyond the date, and looking at what Luther wrote, we see that the truth of his first thesis would reverberate throughout his lifetime, even finding expression in his last words.
The first thesis reads,

When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said “Repent,” he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.

All of the Christian life is repentance. Turning from sin and trusting in the good news that Jesus saves sinners aren’t merely a one-time inaugural experience but the daily substance of Christianity. The gospel is for every day and every moment. Repentance is to be the Christian’s continual posture.

Last Words

Almost 30 years later, on February 16, 1546, Luther’s last words, written on a piece of scrap paper, echoed the humble theme of his first thesis:

We are beggars! This is true.

From first thesis to last words, Luther lived at the foot of the cross, where our rebellious condition meets with the beauty of God’s lavish grace in the gospel of his Son—a gospel deep enough to cover all the little and massive flaws of a beggar like Luther and beggars like us.

For All the Saints

Because of God’s grace in and through Luther, All Hallows’ Eve is now both an occasion to call to mind Jesus’ triumph over Satan and his minions with a bloody cross and empty tomb (see the recent "Sent" post), as well as a day to thank God especially for the Scriptures and the blessed reforms launched by imperfect saints like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and many more nameless visionaries."

I will leave you with pictures of the Northern lights.....

Just kidding! If you have never played with glowsticks in a bathtub, its never too late to start!

Andrew came home last night and asked about the rave party ;) What a funny guy....

 

... but he has no idea ;)

 

All for now.

Sorry this is a bit late.

I am trying to keep a regular posting of Tuesday nights going, but sometimes it is a day later.

 

Please keeping praying for Elyse as she recovers and for her eating to improve! Pray against this feeding strike so many little ones are pulling on their mommies right now.

 

And keep me in your prayers as well-- I am fighting a cold I believe. This weather is getting to me!!

 

Blessings --<3 class="separator" p="p" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">