Celebrating Halloween

I am wrestling with Carissa's desire to be a witch for Halloween. She loves to pretend and is so fascinated with magic. As a Christian, I find it somewhat controversial to let her be a witch for Halloween. As a teacher, I understand that children have a healthier understanding of fantasy than most of us adults. I get stuck in the middle here. Prayer gave me peace. Reading the Bible gave me understanding. When I teach Carissa to think critically, she will be able to determine what she would like to do.

Carissa decided she will be a witch for Halloween and we discussed that she is to be a "good" witch, like Glenda in The Wizard of Oz. Some of my friends understand this concept and others do not. Since I am a people pleaser, this bothers me. I am also a strong-willed person, so I am pleased that I am not "following the crowd." Ultimately, this is a small problem in eternity's perspective. I want to be a God-pleaser and I believe that living "in" the world but not "of" the world.

As a parent, there are many decisions that bring the element of gray. I like to be black and white. I don't like relativism. This is so challenging! Parenthood...

Reality Sets In

Okay, so its true. The honeymoon is over and I miss knowing people I trust and having coffee at the Willmar spots.

Barry and I just returned from a weekend in Arkansas when we road tripped with his mom, brother, his wife for a funeral. Barry's uncle is now gone and the two seemingly "healthiest" Besonen boys are not with us. The best part of the weekend was seeing family, the sun, rolling hills full of autumn color.

Compounded to my blues is the fact that I am still not getting a rhythm of a schedule down and still need to organize the house. I am not wise with my time and get overwhelmed easily. I had to tell my principal I couldn't take on an after-school program due to our crazy family schedule.

Moving here was supposed to simplify, but life is still complicated. I just want to enjoy life, celebrate my family and instill in them the values I cherish. My faith needs to increase once again and I need to spend time in God's word. FOCUS, FOCUS!

Barry's cousins wanted to get a "prescription" for getting through the grieving process. I don't think there is such a thing. Everyone goes through grief as an individual and what causes "relapses" of tears is different for each person. The soul is a delicate part of what God placed in us and it is as individual to us as our personality. That is not comforting when we live in a "wanting answers" type of world.

Life in a Small Town

Here is our first video taken with our web cam. It is a bit "raw" but it captures the essence of our new beginning here.

Small town life can be both wonderful and frustrating at the same time. I was able to get the local bakery to make my cut-out sugar cookies for me in the shape of a train, but had to be stared at while going into the bakery by onlookers realizing I am not a familiar face in town. This is often what happens, or else people will look at me and then talk to whom they are with (they know who I am, while I have no clue about them). Its hard not be too paranoid, but I am grateful that I have birthday cookies from the bakery that we will decorate at home like Thomas the Tank Engine.