THOUGHTS

Happy Halloween! We are going to take the kids to our Fall Festival tonight at church. It should be a lot of fun. I hate to not go "trick or treating", but I think that this will be fun. I have only a few memories of trick or treating as a kid. There was always one house that was so cool. He carved wooden cars and gave those as the treats. His house was always very decorated, too. I hope that my kids will have lots of happy memories about this holiday.

Paul Harvey's Prayer

Shelly sent this to me and I love it....

ON AIR PRAYER

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of _expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!"

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called "One nation under God."

Halloween Fast Facts

The observance of Halloween, which dates back to Celtic rituals thousands of years ago, has long been associated with images of witches, ghosts, devils and hobgoblins. In the United States, the first official citywide Halloween celebration occurred in Anoka, Minn., in 1921. Over the years, Halloween customs and rituals have changed dramatically. Today, many of the young and "young-at-heart" take a more light-spirited approach. They don scary disguises or ones that may bring on smiles when they go door-to-door for treats or attend or host a Halloween party.

"Trick or Treat!"

36.1 million

The estimated number of potential "trick-or-treaters" in 2005 - 5- to 13-year-olds - across the United States, which declined by 284,000 from 2004. Of course, many other children - older than 13, and younger than age 5 - also go trick-or-treating. http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2005-sa.html

108 million

Number of occupied housing units across the nation - all potential stops for "trick-or-treaters."http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/historic/histt15.html

Jack O'Lanterns and Pumpkin Pies1.1 billion pounds Total production of major pumpkin-producing states in 2005. Illinois led the country by producing 497 million pounds of the vined orange gourd. Pumpkin patches in California, Ohio and Pennsylvania also provided lots of pumpkins: each state produced at least 100 million pounds. The value of all pumpkins produced by major pumpkin-producing states was $106 million.http://www.usda.gov/nass

Candy and Costumes

1,241

Number of U.S. manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2004, employing 43,322 people and shipping $12.5 billion worth of goods. California led the nation in the number of chocolate and cocoa manufacturing establishments, with 136, followed by Pennsylvania, with 122.http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/county_business_patterns/006985.htmland http://www.census.gov/mcd/asm-as2.html

515

Number of U.S. establishments that manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products in 2004. These establishments employed 22,234 people and shipped $7.2 billion worth of goods that year. California also led the nation in this category, with 76 establishments.http://www.census.gov/mcd/asm-as2.htmland http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/county_business_patterns/006985.html

26 Pounds per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2005; it is believed a large portion is consumed around Halloween. http://www.census.gov/industry/1/ma311d05.pdf

2,497

Number of formal wear and costume rental establishments across the nation in 2004.http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/county_business_patterns/006985.html

This data is courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/007465.html

Blessings

Today I feel blessed that I have happy healthy children that will be able to celebrate holidays like other children. I am thankful that my family will get to be together.

So that's all from this day in the life of mommysmart!