Halloween can be a lot of fun. It can also be a little controversial among Christians. When my children were little, we did a a lot of research and praying. We chose to have fun with it by attending and helping with our church’s Harvest Party each year. The kids had fun dressing up, we’d always show them off in their cute costumes to our closest neighbors, and then we’d be off for an evening of fun, fellowship, and lots of candy.

Now that the kids are grown and the grandkids are here, we have a new custom that I enjoy just as much. We order pizza and pop, sometimes get to show the grandkids off to the neighbors, and have a great time handing out lots of yummy candy along with stickers, booklets, and coloring pages that tell the children of God’s love for them.

The local Christian bookstore usually has a nice supply of cute stickers that have Bible verses, cute pictures of the Nativity scene and other Bible stories, or positive sayings about God, such as “Stop and Pray,” “Smile – God loves you,” and “One Way – Jesus.” Those are very popular with the little ones. They often have fun tracts with jokes or word searches that the older ones seem to enjoy. I always make sure to give a good amount of candy with these, and have never had any complaints. In fact, I actually get quite a few comments like, “Hey, cool! Stickers.” and “A puzzle. Looks like fun!”

If you’re not able to get out to the store, or are looking for ways to save money, you can make your own surprises. Kids coloring pages are great for the little ones. You can give them by themselves or add a crayon with them. ChristianAnswers has a wide variety of Bible coloring pages that would work nicely.

For older children, CSAHM has a cute little poem, Our Trick, God’s Treat, written by Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos. You can print out several copies, perhaps combining it with various kids coloring pages, and hand them out with Tootsie Rolls. 

One other site I discovered while researching for this article, Tons of Sons, has a cute idea for decorating their pumpkins to share God’s love. I didn’t see that in time for this year. But I’m going to save it to try next year.

Have a wonderful day tomorrow, full of God’s love, power and joy. Join me in praying for safety and salvation for our nation. And enjoy sharing God’s love with others.

Two, two, two book reports in one! Two great books for you today. One extremely encouraging during difficult times for the grownups. The second for children and grandchildren to teach them about the Bible.

RED SEA RULES

The Red Sea Rules, by Robert J. Morgan, describes itself as “10 God-given Strategies for Difficult Times.” The ten chapters each cover one rule. Some of the rules include:

Realize that God means for you to be where you are.

Be more concerned for God’s glory than for your relief.

Envision God’s enveloping presence.

Don’t forget to praise Him.

As you can see, these are great topics for everyone and especially for the Sandwich Generation – those of us caring for different generations – from senior citizens on down to grandchildren.

What he has written encouraged me greatly. On top of that, he has found wonderfully comforting passages from God’s Word along with inspiring quotes from a variety of Christians.

I underline in books as I read. It helps me find items I was interested in when I go back. I can always tell how good a book is by how much I underlined. My copy of this book has a TON underlined!

I especially loved Rule 2 – “Be more concerned for God’s glory than for your relief.” That’s something God’s been teaching me for a long time and it’s so nice to know I have company. Caregiving has difficult moments – whether because you are concerned for your loved one who is in pain, or because someone you are caring for is being a bit recalcitrant. Multigenerational caregiving can double or triple the issues you deal with. But God can use all of that to teach us, to grow us, to use us to teach others about Him. As his quote from Matthew Henry puts it, “God sometimes raises difficulties in the way of His people, that He may have the glory of subduing them, and helping His people over them.”

I have given away four copies of this book and suspect I will give away more in the future. I will also make sure to keep a copy close by for myself. The verses he selected for it are encouraging to me, in and of themselves. I highly recommend this book to all of you.

I LOVE MY BIBLE

This book is for those young ones you want to encourage in the Word. Written and illustrated by Debby Anderson, it is geared for children ages 2-6. She has done an excellent job of teaching basic concepts about the Bible in an entertaining way. She uses cute pictures liberally. She has included Bible references throughout so if you have a very patient toddler, you could have your Bible handy and show them where to look in the Bible to find the references.

The book begins by showing the difference between fairy tales, tall tales, video games, and the Bible. Ms. Anderson teaches Who wrote the Bible and how. You child will learn good reasons for memorizing the Bible and a good way to do so. When to read the Bible and how to share the Bible with others including those overseas is also covered. I was very pleased with this book and look forward to reading it many times to my grandchildren!

MORE IDEAS…

Well, there you have it. Multigenerational book reports for all you multigenerational caregivers. Have fun reading! And let me know what books you’ve read that encouraged you and your grandkids! Just leave a comment below or send an email to Kaye@SandwichINK.com