Tomorrow is Halloween!

So tomorrow is Halloween and I can’t wait but there was a time in my life that I thought it was bad. I believed that it was an evil holiday for witches and such. I have now come to my senses. It is a fun evening to dress up in a costume and meet your neighbors. You hand out a lot of candy and you get a lot in return.

Our neighborhood has gotten into the spirit of Halloween with a neat tradition called ghosting. You get a bag of candy & goodies with a picture of a ghost and directions. Then you go to a neighbor’s house, leave the bag of candy at the front door, ring the doorbell and run away. Then after being “Ghosted” you place the picture of the ghost on your front door and go ghost 2 other neighbors in the next 2 days. It was fun to do! We also left our phone number for safety.

I looked up the History of Halloween and found it very interesting. It started out in Ireland 2000 years ago. It was the Celtic New Year. This was the time that the Celtic priests thought there was a thin line between the dead & living world so they had a bon fire. They threw vegetables & animals on the fire to appease their gods so that their crops would not fail. They dressed up in costumes, usually animal skins, to ward off evil spirits. When the festival was over they took the flame from the bon fire and re-lit their hearth fires. The name Halloween came to be after the Romans invaded the Celtic land. They had All Saints Day and then All Souls Day which coincided with the Celtic festival. They have now merged into what we have today.
For more info these are my sources:
http://www.history.com/minisites/halloween/viewPage?pageId=713
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

So let me know what do you do for Halloween? Does your neighborhood have any traditions? Or do you avoid the holiday?

A Decade Ago

Ten years ago today I gave birth to Kathryn Elizabeth Tidwell. She weighed 8 lbs and was 20 inches long. The doctor had me induced 12 days early because her big sister was 10.5 lbs and 21 ¾ inches long. Needless to say, I liked that doctor. I don’t remember the birth as vividly as I do my first and second. I do remember that when it came time to push the nurses told me not to move or laugh or do anything because the doctor would not be there for another 15 minutes. Keep in mind since I was induced it took about 9 hours to get to that point. Potocin makes the labor pains hurt 10 times worse so I had an epidural. She came out in one push. I guess giving birth gets easier the more you do it.

I think the greatest lesson I have learned from having three children is that you don’t run out of love. I felt guilty when having my second child that it would take away some of my love for the first but God increases your love with each child. It is amazing. It shows you what unconditional love is all about.

Life with Kathryn has been a blast. She is cute, vibrant, energetic, and talented. She loves being the center of attention and can cause drama to happen if she is not. She is a loyal friend and a good student. Though she can be a bratty little sister her siblings can also be bratty. So, Happy Birthday, baby! You are well loved and a great blessing!

Advice for Gamers and Their Spouses

My husband, Jay, is a computer gamer. I like to call him my geek. Most of our arguments usually are around the pc and the time he spends on it. I felt I should share with other PC Widows out there some pointers on how to live happily with a gamer and some advice for the gamers on how to keep their spouse happy.

First, to the Spouses out there, I feel your pain. It is very frustrating when you are trying to communicate with your gamer and they don’t even look up at you. When the children were younger and went to bed early I found one easy way to get Jay’s, or Draznar’s, attention. I would flash him. Then his eyes would look at me albeit not at my eyes but hey I was getting some attention!

Well, I have learned a lot since then on what works and what doesn’t. Don’t complain or nag about their computer use. This will only cause them to be on it more and avoid real life. Compliment them and say positive things to them even when you don’t want to. If they are playing a game and you need them for a moment, walk up to them, place your hand on them and have them take off their headphones and look you in the eyes. This is the only way you can be sure that they hear you. Try to sit down with them and make a schedule of when they have game time. Jay usually plays Tuesday & Thursday after 9pm and some on the weekends. (Except for that time of month when he just plays whenever he wants to avoid me. :D)

Gamers, if you want to keep your spouse happy, schedule your playing time. Schedule your family time. Show us that we are a priority in your life. I tell Jay that even though we are married I still need to be pursued! Give us some attention too. The more loved we feel and the more we feel that we are a priority over the computer and the more we will understand that you need time to do your thing.

We still have our tiffs over this subject but I think we are getting better. And I do still Love my Geek!

Winter Concerts

It is the time for rehearsals and scheduling of the Christmas plays, concerts, & musicals. This year is going to be very busy for the Tidwell household. Josh is in Chamber Choir & Men’s Choir at school and Raise the Praise at church. Rebecca is in Show choir and band at school. She is also in Raise the Praise at church. Kathryn is in Music Makers at church and she has a general “winter concert” for school.
For the most part the middle school & high school here do a mixture of secular & sacred music. The elementary & intermediate schools do not. Kathryn brought home her “winter concert” script and it covers Hanukah and Kwanza. The only mention of Christmas is in Spanish. I am glad they teach about the other celebrations and cultures because they are a part of our heritage as the melting pot. However, Christmas is a larger part of our heritage.
Our founding fathers came here to be able to practice their religious beliefs without persecution. Separation of church and state was meant to keep the government out of the church not the church out of the government. The political correctness and so called tolerance this nation is showing is causing intolerance toward Christians. I fear for this nation because the more we push God out of it the worse things are going to get. Just read the Bible. Every time Israel fell away from following God they were captured and persecuted.
I do not want to cause a big scene about this but I will write the teacher and let her know how I feel. I am grateful that we live in a country that I can still voice my opinion and I pray that does not change. I believe that God is in control and He appoints our leaders. I am praying daily for our leaders and this nation. My family and I will keep Christ the center of our “Winter” celebrations.

My daughter a racist?...WTH?

Our youngest daughter, Kathryn, is turning ten on October 28th. She wants a sleep over party. Well, given the turmoil of housework & hair combing I have had in the last two months due to our lovely lice infestation we said no. She was devastated but we talked her into a Laser tag, Mini-golf party at Fun Expeditions in Winchester, VA. She could not wait to print out the invitations and hand them out. After handing out the invitations she told me that she was not going to invite one of her friends. I asked her why and she said that her best friend, Nikki, didn’t like this girl anymore. Well, that was no excuse for me so again I asked why and she told me that this friend had called her a racist because of who we are going to vote for!

Needless to say I am somewhat befuddled because I looked up to this girl’s parents. Her father has served two tours in Iraq and they seem to be very nice people. Jay is livid and wants to know if this took place on school property.

So, I guess I just feel the need to say to all of the Obama supporters that I am voting for John McCain. Not because of his skin color but because of the issues. I am a politically conservative voter. The main issue for me is abortion. I am strongly pro-life and I will not vote for someone who is pro-choice. I do believe that Roe v. Wade can be and will eventually be overturned. I believe in a smaller government, school vouchers, a flat tax, no capital gains or inheritance tax, pro-marriage, pro-guns & that social issues are better handled by the churches and not the government. I am not totally in line with John McCain and I am upset that he was for the bailout but he is the closest match for president that I have. That does not make me or my daughter a racist. I pray that everyone votes for who they line up with best in the issues not because of their race or their eloquence or their age. Please don’t try to bombard me with email telling me who you are voting for because my mind is made up. I also disagree with some on the right who are sending out emails saying that Obama is the antichrist because that is absurd too. One of my best friends is voting for him. I don’t think any less of her. We just agree to disagree. I urge everyone to go online and read the facts about the issues and make up your own mind. Then, go and vote on Nov. 4th!

Lovely gifts from school

Don’t you love the fall? The leaves begin to change. The crisp smell in the air and the kids are back in school. Though, I have found one big draw back to the kids being back in school. The things they end up bringing home from school. Last week I found the fourth case of lice in both of my daughter’s hair. We have treated them three other times. I have done load after load of laundry. I have spent hours after hour nitpicking hair. I hate lice! I told a friend that I believe God gave us lice to teach us patience but I keep praying, “Okay, God, I get it now!” On top of the lice situation I have tried to balance my part-time professional organizing business, my taxi driving to and from dance & school, and helping my mom, who lives with us and has just had a complete right knee replacement. These are the times that if I don’t stop and find the humor in the situation I would have a meltdown. It surprises me that my hair has not turned grey or completely fallen out! As I look back on these last few weeks of our lice battle I thought about something or I should say God gave me an insight. Last Wednesday my pastor was talking about sin and confessing it to God and poof there was the picture in my head of my nitpicking. (Yes, I think in pictures and they are in Technicolor!) Lice & nits are like our sin. If it goes untouched the situation gets worse. Other people get infected or hurt by it. When confessing or nitpicking if you leave even one sin or nit untouched it can very quickly go back into a full blown mess! My pastor’s wife also added that people tend to hide their lice due to shame or embarrassment but everyone can get lice just as everyone sins! People are afraid to tell what they have done for the judgment they might get from others but if we don’t speak out on what we have done and what we are dealing with then others might feel alone. They may think this is only happening to them and no one else. Lice are to kids as fleas are to dogs. It is almost inevitable. And sin is something everyone deals with. My name is Kelly Tidwell and I have lice!