Perfect Pairings - Luke 12:1-3

(Baloney & Neighbors)

By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other's toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus' primary concern was his disciples.

He said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed. You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day's coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.

So... don't try to be someone you are not.  Be true to yourself and to your God.  Hiding behind a mask is useless and people will eventually see through it.

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Post a picture and coordinating bible verse on your blog and then link back to here in the comments.

I promise... this is it... kinda...

I never could decide which dog to take so I let Jacob decide.

Snicker won.

Or didn't - depending on how you look at it.

In this picture, he is actually looking at me. 
You can almost hear him saying, "Really, Baloney?  REALLY?  You are really going to make me do this?"

And he did - for about 4 blocks before he walked out of his costume and left it lying on the sidewalk.
But it made Jacob happy and even got a few chuckles.

And in the end, that's all we wanted. 
If Jacob ain't happy - ain't no one happy.

Michael was indifferent throughout the whole dog debate and dressing up.  You'd think we do this kind of thing every day based on his reaction.
He was only concerned about his own costume and working on getting in to character.

I did have to tell him finally that ninjas don't hiss.  He kept hissing at the little kids trying to scare them.  It never occurred to me that he would pick a costume that he didn't understand? 
After an explanation, he stuck to walking swiftly in the shadows of the houses.  Much better.

The Doc stayed home with the Dood to pass out candy.  He was too embarrassed to be seen with a dog in costume.
He was not, however, too embarrassed to stand around in a costume of his own.  In this picture, he is offering to be Summer's personal trainer. 

Think she'll go for it?

Boo.

I've enjoyed reading your Halloween blogs. 

I'm a little late showing off my spoooooky pics this year.  Like these witches' finger cookies.

Bwaaa haaa haaaaaaaa.

Doc and I had a party for grown ups. 

If you are on my facebook page, you've already seen these.

I'm gonna show them here anyway.  So there.

Wanna see the winners?

Yup.  No joke.

That's the Octo-mom and Officer Dangle (Reno 911).

And here's a sampling of the rest.  Enjoy!

Sam Adams & his wife Twister girl

Outlets

If you don't know this one, I'm not telling.

Reaper, Witch, Vampires (duh)

Anna Nicole and Michael Jackson (R.I.P.)

Beth and Dog the Bounty Hunter

A little bit of Asia

Mrs. Claus, OctoMom, Jailbird, Pirate, Geico CaveWOman, Dr? & Anna N.

For more Halloween fun, you can read Dawn's post about the party.

Cheers!

The End

On Monday, I attended the funeral of my Great Aunt Jewel.  She was the youngest of 7 children in my grandfather's family.  She is also the mother of my cousin who is a faithful reader of this here blog.  Something brought up at the funeral was the fact that 6 of the 7 kids lived in to their 90s.  Kind of amazing, isn't it?

I've probably attended more than my fair share of funerals.  In the last year, I've been to several.  And here's the weird thing... I think funerals bring inspiration.  I cry at almost all of them.  It's not that I look forward to them.  I'm not morbid like that.  Having experienced the transition of loss myself, this part is not lost on me.  I'm still missing my dad and his parents and think of them just about daily.  There is nothing glamourous about loss.

But as I sat listening to the words shared on Monday I found myself thinking how nice funerals can be - especially for a life lived fully.  Everyone highlights your good points for at least this one day.  It is amazing the things you learn about a person at their funeral from those who shared a day to day life with them. 

From attending funerals, I have learned and been reminded that I need to make each day matter.  Each day I'm given is a gift. 

I've been reminded to hold my loved ones a little closer and prioritize a little better.
I'm reminded that part of living is dying.

Do something that matters today.

Make sure to tell your family you love them.
Take time to play with your kids, even though you are overwhelmed and busy.
Make memories that are worth sharing because what you do today does matter.

What will they be saying about you?

If You Give a 6-Year-Old a Camera...

...you might get pictures like this.

If you're really lucky, you'll get one like this...

Ha ha.

Hello, Doc.

And you might get a few like this...

Nice!

There were about 15 of these.

That's one of Doc's golfing buddies chowing on some KFC in the background.

And where are we?

Buddy baseball!

FYI - Michael is a baseball all-star when it comes to buddy baseball.

A local high school baseball team pairs up with The Autism Center to play baseball one afternoon each year.  It is a wonderful service project for a high school team to do.

See how much Michael enjoyed it?

Second

LOVE this video that was sent to me.
For anyone who doesn't know --
Sam Bradford was our beloved Heisman winning University of Oklahoma quarterback who has suffered shoulder injury this year and will be leaving us for the NFL draft. 
Colt McCoy is another outstanding individual who happens to be quarterback for the University of Texas, our rival.
What great examples of success and humanity they both are.