Last Halloween Meal

We had our last Halloween Meal tonight.  I cooked the thick noodles that are very Italian and are hard to eat because they don't twirl.  I called them intestines and truly they look like it.  I was going to dye them red but Kimleighel didn't want me to and so I didn't.  We had a brain cheese ball and a bucket of bones. (rolls) There were monster eggs (donuts) and guts.(meatballs and sauce) We washed it all down with some thinned out blood. (kool-aid)  Some of the kids don't mind these names but for some I can't say them or they won't eat.  I didn't tell Parker but from the looks of his plate you might think I did.  He had a doughnut and crackers....that's all. Natalie brought a few treats that were yummy.  We enjoyed visiting with each other and it was a fun night.  Sunday meals are my favorite!  My family is my favorite!

Man and Cocoon

Shirley taught RS today and started with this story.  I really like it.  It along with her lesson has been the topic of some discussion I have had with my friends and kids lately.  So I want to save it!

A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth.  He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon.  On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go not farther. It just seemed to be stuck.  Then the man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.  The moth then emerged easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.  The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.  Neither happened!  In fact, the little moth spent the rest of it's life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.  If never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.  Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle.  By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.  If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled.  We would not be as strong as what we could have been.  Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets.