Trick or Treat

The Eve of all Saints day began with the news that another friend was heaven bound. The last post stated that Kelly past away on Saturday morning. It has a rough couple of weeks. Lisa the neighbor that died. She was 45, I believe and her husband and two children 13 and 10 are very strong. They are handing in there. Natalia, the 16 year old with leukemia, shocked us when she passed away on Wednesday and then Kelly the 35 year old with breast cancer. She was a single mother with two young children age 10 and 6. This was not a shock but it still hurt.

After getting the news about Kelly I headed over to see Linda. She was so weak and out of it on Thursday afternoon that I had no idea what to expect. As usual she greeted me with many thanks. I find it hard to believe that she would thank me for anything. I feel so blessed to be around her these days. She has a foot in the door of heaven and I feel closer to God just being around her.
I returned home to the assembled family carving pumpkins. We did not get individual ones this year, they instead carved as groups. The older kiddos helped the younger ones and barely got their own finished. Jumba wasn't too sure about the guts, yuck!

They worked hard clean out the inside as they discussed what design they would go for.



Jumba's job was clean off the top. He worked hard at this.

The pumpkins never look as cute as the kids carving them.

Moogie and Pickle are in deep debate over design.

Bear and his dad discuss the execution of a design.

Joyful smiles with the placing of the pumpkins outside.


Today means candy! Can you tell Princess is very excited about this.
Sugar wants to make sure we have some shots of her. When she is given a minute with the camera she takes some self portraits.

Our neighbor that passes away a few weeks back did not have a funeral or memorial service. Her favorite holiday was Halloween. The swim team decided to asked those that wanted to carve an extra pumpkin and drop it off in Tim's yard in honor of Lisa. This turned out to be so special. They counted over 80 pumpkins lining the yard by nightfall. It was the place to be later that night. We walked our pumpkins over earlier in the day with hopes to chat with Tim and the kiddos for a short while.

Linda has been so worried about Tim and his family. She really feels that it was such a blessing that she has had a few months to prepare her family, her children, her papers and herself. She aches for Tim, his children and Lisa 's soul. Such a reminder to me to always be prepared.

We will never know the hour that the bridegroom will come.

It was so uplifting to see all the pumpkins skirted all over the yard. Linda was so strong in wanting to make her presence known to Tim and the kiddos. We succeeded in that by somehow letting the dog loose.

That did not stop the visiting. Linda is such a joyful reminder about how wonderful life is. Each minute is a blessing and she has shared those minutes with all of us.

Troy, Linda's little one, showing off his addition to the pumpkin patch. This was a perfect thing to do for Lisa. She loved the neighborhood children and know each one was giving her a part of themselves. Too cool. I hear the yard looked so cool with all the pumpkins lit around the yard in the dark. I wasn't able to see it but I bet it would have made Lisa very happy.



It was a joyful reminder about Lisa's life. The husbands enjoyed conversing and the children eventually tracked down the dogs.

Two of my beauties playing with the camera, taking their own pictures.

Not so beautiful anymore as the creation of the family costume got underway. Moogie was not sure about the orange at this point.

Pickle tried to escape with Pooker got him. Goobers worked hard on making Princess white.

The hair covered great but they struggled with getting the paint to cover the skin in the way it was supposed to.

Bear was a yellow piece of the puzzle. The color looked far better in pictures than it did in person.

Dad knew what to do to stay out of the way and create a perfect night for all the adults. He set the fire pit up in the front yard and got a nice fire going.

Moogie looks good orange.

Jumba refused to dress but we still stuck him in the shot. The kiddos went out as a single piece of candy corn. I laugh because when they are acting silly and stupid Jason refers to that bad movie from years ago calls them children of the corn. Having never seen the movie the kiddos don't realize that he was insulting them but now they are a happier children of the candy corn.

Linda and her kiddos joined mine along with our friend C.

Linda was so happy to be out and about with her children one more Halloween.

C man was not to sure about all the children considering he is an only child. The crowd was a bit much for him.

The big kids took everyone trick-or-treating. Leaving the adults at home to enjoy the fire and some great conversations. The little ones came back for a potty break and then back out they went.

Linda was in several blankets. If we asked her how she was doing she would respond with "Fabulous". At one point she got very agitated with her husband Larry tried to move her closer to the fire. When he explained that he was just trying to make sure she was warm enough she smile and said that she didn't want to go because it was so fabulous. Over the years we have done many things with this family. This will always be one of my favorite nights. It wasn't planned, no money went into the right food or decorations. It was just fun and we all knew how special time with people we love really is.

Later in the evening I realized I never got pictures of the finished pumpkins.

Friends around the fire pit, it doesn't get better than that. Especially when candy is also involved.


Here the trick or treaters are evaluating the night.
Together they may have been a piece of candy corn but separately they looked silly in their orange, yellow and while.

As always the nights ends with the candy inspections and the trades.

Larry and Jason enjoy this part. They can sample as they inspect.

I have learned not to interrupt the serious negotiations going on here.



In the end I was pleased to be reminded to my friends on this beautiful cool Houston night. "L" for Lisa, "N" for Natalia, and "K" for Kelly. I only hope and pray that these woman were watching us from heaven.