Fall is here with reminders of how quickly summer passed.

In every store Halloween candy & brightly colored costumes for princesses, witches, and fuzzy-wooly monsters of every size are found in the aisles where sand-buckets, bubbles  and swim-suits once hung.

Despite the chaos of these short-summer months there was great joy, laughter and even a few unexpected lessons enveloped into our days.

 

(Four generations from each Family Tree, “Yipee!!”)

 

 

During these 3 short months of summer, there was so much we were grateful for!

Not just for the particularly helpful reminder of changing one’s underwear each day, amidst the fast & furious pace.  But more importantly: for ‘out-ing’ the prospective monsters, (we were informed,) who were lurking around the corners of our lives!

 

 

Who knew such terrifying, hideous, pesky creatures could be roaming amongst us undetected!!!

How had we missed the potential frightening effects they were capable of instilling upon vulnerable, less-suspecting, & much smaller victims???

 

Could we find a way to detect, once and for all, the true identity of these probable ‘made-up-monsters’ in our midst; in an effort to protect ourselves (and those entrusted to our care?)

And so we were tasked, and gratefully accepted, the challenge to un-cover any alarming, dire, dreadful, fearsome, formidable, frightening, ghastly, hair-raising, horrendous, horrible, intimidating, scary, shocking, spine-chilling, terrible, fearful monsters masking themselves as family and/or friend.

 

 

“After careful examination I do believe they passed the test! No monsters here.”

The mission was daunting but we can proudly proclaim –

after looking through every size of closet,

and sorting through the darkness beneath each bed,

and in particular the branches of our family tree’s

NOT A SINGLE ONE WAS TO BE FOUND!!  

“No MEAN MONSTERS in our midst,” was proven unequivocally!

So… just HOW did we do it? Just HOW did we know??

Quite simply you see, the monster ‘tickling mitts’ were the best test of all!

 

From the book: The Tickle Monster, by Josie Bissett

(Whose monster-mission is to bring joy and laughter to Planet Earth.)

Hooray!  

Tickling is not mean – without reservation!!

Which is why…

 the one who will not giggle, is the TRUE MEANIE-MONSTER, once and for all!!!

 

*Caution: A change of underwear may be necessary, following the monster tickle test.

(Of course this may/may not be strictly age dependent.)

hugs n’ blessings for all the laughter shared past, present, and future!

“O LORD, You have searched me and known me.” Psalm 139:1

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature… for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”  1 Samuel 16:7

“…For He knows the secrets of the heart.“ Psalm 44:21

How do you detect the REAL monsters lurking in your life?

*Grant’s system is pretty cool too…