Who are the people in your neighborhood?

In preparation for Trick-or-Treating, I made up little baggies with a note and a toy in each one to be given to our neighbors, to be given to Zane in lieu of candy. Does that make sense?

The note inside reads:

"Dear Neighbor,

We are asking for your help this year with Trick-or-Treat for our son, Zane. He is on a special diet to control his seizures. The diet is very strict and he can’t have any chips, cookies, candy, etc. Of course, this makes Halloween a little challenging. Please give Zane this treat when we come around on Wednesday evening for Trick-or-Treat. It will really help him enjoy the holiday despite his restrictions.

Zane is 4 years old and will be wearing black from head to toe. He will be carrying a red light saber and may or may not be wearing a red Darth Maul mask. We plan to go door to door between 5:30 and 6:30.

If you are not planning on participating in Trick-or-Treat, please return the treat to **** Sherwood Forest or call ***-**** so we can pick it up and use it at another address.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Abe and Beth Jacquot"

Much of the note and the idea for that matter came from the book I read just before starting the diet, Keto Kid. The author said they had a good response the first year and the second year they went to even more houses and had several people buy toys on their own to give her son.

Tonight Brody and I headed out with Zane's loot in hopes of finding people at home and willing to help us out. It was an interesting journey to say the least.

Out of the 16 houses we chose on our route, 6 did not have anyone at home, 4 said they would not be participating and 6 happily accepted. I heard a couple "Oh, that's a good idea". One lady accepted but is expecting her husband home from Iraq that day (yay for her!) and still is unsure if they will be home in time to pass out to the trick-or-treaters.

One lady, when asked if she would be passing out candy on Halloween looked shocked and said "no, I'm a Christian". She then proceeded to ask me if I knew Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights. You would think living in the south for so many years I would have an answer to that question prepared by now. She also gave me an earful about two blonde-haired girls that zig-zagged their way down the street on their bikes the other day right in front of her as she drove. Apparently she rolled down her window and asked the older boy they were with where their parents were and he said "what's it to ya?". After feeling scolded for their behavior I told her I didn't know who those kids belong to. She blessed me a couple times and away we went.

At another house I noticed a fall wreath hanging on their door and thought "gee, that looks familiar". Then I thought "hey, that's mine". Then I remembered that I sold that wreath at a garage sale over a year ago. Now I know where it lives. No big deal, it was just weird seeing something I used to own hanging on a stranger's door.

And perhaps the most interesting thing I saw on my journey was this jewel...(if you are squeamish, look away)

Yep, that's right, an open-faced flattened frog sandwich. It's not so unusual to see a smooshed frog, Abe's run over a couple in the last several weeks just in our driveway. But how do you explain the white bread? Do kids have nothing better to do these days? Shouldn't they be indoors melting their brains over some X-Box 360 or something?

So tomorrow night, I will make another pass through our neighborhood and try to find some more peeps at home. I'm hoping for a less eventful time.

PS- Sorry about the frog pic, folks. Abe insisted :)