a little and her pumpkin

Anyone with a moral compass that’s barely operational knows that Hollywood’s portrayal of females – of all ages – is dangerous. Between the magazines in the grocery store check-out lanes, and a quick flipping of channels through primetime television, it’s impossible to prevent the slow destruction of our self-worth.

About three years ago, I was particularly burdened by our culture’s ruthless battle to win the souls of young girls, and the Lord was gracious to lead me to Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham. Their organizational tagline is “expanding horizons through the power of one-on-one relationships,” and as the name suggests, mentors are matched with a same-gendered child who, for one reason or another, wants a Big Brother or Big Sister to spend quality time with them, one-on-one.

There are probably a million reasons why someone might choose to volunteer with an organization like that, but for me, it was fairly simple: I wanted to be sure that at least one girl growing up in this world knew that she doesn’t have to be a size zero, or make perfect grades, or be wealthy, or have flawless skin, or have a boyfriend, or be treated like an object, or be anyone other than who God created her to be.

Little girls growing up these days have it really, really tough, and grown-up girls who have their heads on, at least a little bit straight, have to resolve to reach them with the real Truth.

Whoah, that was a soap-box, and this is me hopping down off of it.

My little sister and I get together about once or twice a month, and we just spend time together. We’ve done all kinds of things over the course of the last three years: we’ve seen movies; we’ve had hot chocolate and driven around looking for the best Christmas light displays; we’ve baked cakes together, or prepared a special dinner and pretended to run a restaurant; we’ve been to a musical, and to a ballet. We’ve had a good time, hopefully “expanding horizons” along the way.

But y’all! The pressure to do something new and different and fun every time is serious business! I remember asking my mom all the time when I was younger, “What can I do?” Translation: I’m bored, give me a fun something to do. So, kudos to my mom, and all the great moms of the world, who keep your kids entertained every day. What a job.

So, October. This is my Little’s birthday month, so it's a given that we always have a little birthday fun (i.e., she gets to open her present from me) during our October outing. But I was feeling really adventurous (and crafty and apparently confident), so I decided we should tackle a traditional fall project. Pumpkin carving was going to happen.

People who know me might raise a brow. Crafts with an almost-10-year old, the gooey mess, the sharp objects – it just doesn’t really scream “wise choice.” But I was in the mood. You know, feelin’ it.

And so, this afternoon it all went down.

SO FUN. So fun, in fact, I might consider carving a pumpkin for myself, by myself, particularly since I have all this new time on my hands, sans TV. But as I like to do, here’re the takeaways from the day:

1. Ask for tips from experienced carvers. One of my friends began his advice with “It depends on how serious you want to get. I have the stainless steel tools from Williams-Sonoma…” Thankfully, even though he was writing this to me, he didn’t have to be with me to know what my response would be (a laugh-out-loud), and subsequently offered up the next-best option, assuring me that the Wal-Mart/Target kits would serve our purpose.
 
2. The $4.00 carving kits from Target are pretty legit. Ours came with 2 saws, 1 tracing wheel, 1 drill, and the all-important scraper, plus a variety of patterns from which to choose.
 
3. Of all the tools, the scraper was the most impressive. Do you remember when you were a kid, and your dad would scrape out the goop with a serving spoon from the kitchen? This new scraper is revolutionary, y’all: hand-held and controllable, short and wide, with the perfectly spaced “teeth” for scraping that flesh down to a perfect smoothness. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. True story, true story.
 
4. I thought the variety of patterns would be great for multiple carvings, but considering 3 of the 5 tools were broken by the end of the project, that was a moot point.
 
5. My Little likes “happy” pumpkins, not scary ones. Praise be to God, the pattern for her happy pumpkin of choice was rated “Easy” by the pumpkin-carving powers that be.
 
6. The clean-as-you-go method is critical and should be employed at all times. Seriously, clean-up was less than five minutes.
 
7. Even when you’re carving in the middle of the day, you can get a sense of the finished effect in your dark closet. We did.

"Awesome” was the word the Little used to describe our project. She was excited to take home her carved pumpkin, affectionately named Jack (as in Jack O. Lantern, she clarified), but I know she really just enjoyed the time we spent together.

At the end of the day, we were made for relationships, and spending time with people is one of our deepest desires, isn’t it? In the spirit of the lesson I’m currently learning, turn off your TV sometime and try it out.

P.S. Next month will mark the one-year anniversary of our memorable trip to Chuck E. Cheese, which was a sight to behold. My head was spinning so fast after that outing that I had to write about it to bring myself back to reality. Sometime around mid-November I’ll post that recap in honor of the anniversary.