Alchemy and Treats

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . watching Joy and her fellow students in the school's annual Halloween parade.  It was fun to see the costumes kids had come up with, and I swear I saw little Anna tapping her feet to the Ghostbusters theme song.

. . . reading The Alchemist for my book group.  It's an interesting, thought-provoking book; I'm still mulling over it.  If nothing else, I'm grateful to the author for helping me recognize that I see the hand of God most clearly in my life when I face huge, discouraging obstacles and exercise the faith to climb them.

. . . taking the big kids trick-or-treating.  I was tempted to skip it, since they've already done several Halloween activities and acquired plenty of treats, but Joy and Daniel both wanted to go so I agreed to accompany them through the neighborhood.

I'm so glad that I did--it turned out to be one of the most purely joyful experiences I've had in a long time.  I love the generosity of Halloween as people cheerfully hand out treats to children they don't even know.  I love the creativity of decorations, costumes, and even an elaborate mural one man painted and hung on his porch.  And I loved hearing my kids tell so many complete strangers "Thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!"