Corn and Pumpkins

The day we chose to go to the corn maze this year, Oct. 26th, turned out to be a ran stormy day. Once we got there, we made a decision that it would be best not to send the little kids through the very muddy, very wet, very cold corn maze (which could take who knows how long). Peter offered to stay in the bus with the littles while they watched movies and napped, while the big kids and I and our friends, the Kinneys, went through together.  Spooner Farms got rid of their cute cow bench that we've been taking the kids pictures on for years! So sad. So we got a family shot inside the kid barn. They would've gotten soaking wet sitting on the cow even if it was there to sit on.

The reason I love to go to Spooner Farms is because they choose to decorate their maze differently and elaborately every year. This year it was a circus theme. This giant clown head greeted us as we entered through his mouth and we jumped on his bouncy tongue into the corn maze. 

We encountered tigers in cages, scarecrow clowns everywhere - even a car full of them, a freak show, lots of tunnels, bridges, a lion we could tame, and all six of our hidden mailboxes although our maps we were suppose to punch got completely soaked and disintegrated within the first 10 minutes. They still gave us our cotton candy prizes at the end though.

The 27th we went to the Lakewood Fire Station to get our FREE pumpkins! We got there right as it started this year so we would be sure to not miss out like year's past. Each kid got to pick out their own pumpkin. We even stayed and did the fun little carnival type games they offered and of course candy. 

We waited until Oct. 30th to actually carve the pumpkins. I didn't want to smell rotting pumpkin in the house and I like to use them later for cooking, we also waited until Dada was able to help us out. 

I actually think the pumpkins look a lot cuter as they are naturally, without being carved, but it's a tradition the kids love and I make spiritual analogies along the way. Like how we have to let God scoop out the yucky stuff in our lives, the sin, as we scoop our pumpkins,

 and to make sure we have a smile on our faces so others can see God's love in us as we draw our faces on the pumpkins 

 and to remember to let Jesus' light shine through us with our actions and attitude just like the light shines through our pumpkins.

God the Father sometimes has to cut out our hardness in painful ways, represented by Dada, and now the big kids cutting the face out of the pumpkins, so our light can shine. When we grow closer to our Father we know we should cut some things out of our own lives too, and with His help, we can. We begin to look more and more like his Son to others. Here's where my analogy fails, because a carved pumpkin doesn't really look like Jesus to me.

But then, I don't either, I just keep trying to shine my Light and pray it doesn't smell like burnt pumpkin.