Homemade Memories

Happy Halloween from the Georgia Wolfes straight to Granma and Grampa's hearts. Although we couln't go around the neighborhood with our granddaughter, we vicariously took the trip via photos. We have thankful hearts for her patient Daddy who did the cutting on the jack-o-lantern but engaged his daughter with the seeds, and for her Mommy who brought infectious giggles to the festivities. Her Georgia grandparents joined in the fun, carrying coffee as Little Stuff sought sweeter goodies for her bag. I reran my mental camera to the days when Dave carved while Brent and Bryan decided how the teeth should look on the jack-o-lantern that year. I remember, too, the Oscar the Grouch costume Dave and I constructed; green fun fur for the head, fuzzy green pjs that we had, and a tinfoil covered trash can that had straps over the shoulder that held it in place. Happy memories!

Families solidify a society, and simple traditions strengthen family ties. Despite trendy phrases about villages that raise a child or the importance of community, Scripture talks most about family. Only in Judges does Deborah use the word village. God brings Israel into being with a call to Abram and promises to bless him through his family. Later, Rahab and her family, escape the destruction of Jericho, and she enters the lineage of Christ. Still  later, the New Testament refers to believers as the family of God. The psalmist offers this: "A father to the fatherless, defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing..."

The family traditions at your house at the end of October may include mums and corn stalk decorations, Reformation Day celebrations, face painting, pumpkin carvings, and silly costumes, or a myriad of fun activities. I hope you took the time to stockpile these memories; you'll draw strength from them in the future.