Mostly a photo "trick or treat"

 Halloween: Photos for family beholders!!!!

Our friend Annie wins the award for best candy stop--the ole put your hand in here and grab some!!! No counted out candy going on here... In my defence, I did have candy (thanks to mom and Gwyn but I figured more houses on the tour were part of the fun, and passed it on to willing candy-givers!--Dad and Rachel)

Daniel, above helping carve the pumpkin--- a bit of a goopy process.  Now I have to see if we can cook the pumpkin... we only carved it Saturday; Ugandan pumpkins are delicious!  BTW, Edith told me that we could do the same thing, cut the top off and stuff the pumpkin with spaghetti or groundnut sauce... mmmmmm, now that sounds delicious also.

Last year our neighbor had an awesome costume and it had never occurred to me that the parents should dress up so, with not all my creative forces in gear, i went with grey clothing and face paint and bunny ears!!!!The girls are in traditional Ugandan formal wear--gomezis...A car of Ugandan colleagues passed us on the road and they were most impressed with these outfits though I think even the girls were a bit at a loss with the question, "so what are you?"... will think that through a bit better for next year. ;)

This photo is a picture of Carol Dennison and Baby Jean who were both ballerinas.  I included it mostly for those of you who know Dorothy and want to see how her daughter is getting so cuuuuuuuuuuteee, as our girls say.  And Carol with her curls reminds me so much of her brother David, one of Daniel's good friends.  Carol was pretty funny---she figured out pretty quickly that when you went to someone's door you were going to leave with some candy.  And she was a quick convert to the joys of Halloween. 

Our Rachel is at the age of embarrassment (I can't ever laugh at her these days, which is a real bummer because she does plenty to make me laugh).  Anyway, this was the first year they marched around with us and half way through I was carrying 35 lb Rachel and thinking, hmm... could have left her at home with Baby Jean.   Anyway, I think she'll talk about it like it was a good ole time so probably worth it. 

This shot was just pretty cute, and a picture of the little friendships that we do have on campus for which I'm very grateful.  While at times we all struggle with the best ways to integrate culturally, I don't think there is any real harm done with some same-culture moments of Halloween, whiffle ball, hockey, etc... I recently read my friend's blog where she said that her 12 year old daughter said she wasn't having too much "culture" shock (upon their return to England) and I think there is some middle ground between total cultural immersion and keeping some cultural traditions that help ex-patriate children understand their foreignness and sameness.   Or so I think at this point in time... 

I have some other thoughts generally about Halloween, but this morning, I'm teaching a two week part of the USP class on Henri Nouwen's book "Compassion"---I'm sure I'll have a few blogs on this subject as it'll be on my mind and it is always a reminder of a deeper call to solidarity in the lives of others who we care about....