The ONLY candy for Halloween

What are you passing out for the trick or treaters this year?

Candy? Chocolates?

Slavery?

Children's Dignity?

Lost Educations?

Beatings?

Deaths?

What are you telling children is okay to accept in the world?

On a night where little children play dress up and make believe, pretending that frights and horrors are real... there is something truly scary being handed out door to door. 

"Young children. Children who should be attending school and having a childhood. And they are working for most of the mainstream chocolate providers in the USA.    A report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture about cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions.  Some of them have been taken from their families, or sold as servants.  U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations since they don't own them.  This includes Hershey, Mars, Nestle, and the US division of Cadbury . . . who collectively represent pretty much every snack-size candy bar that will be available in stores this Halloween." 1

   

Carrying Coco pods.

Using machetes in a field instead of pencils in s classroom.

A days worth of work, not to mention beatings or sexual abuse that is often reported on coco plantations.

This is the actual cost of chocolates and many candies as there are similar report of slavery used in harvesting sugar cane. 

If you would like to watch the full documentary of The Draker Side of Chocolate it is below

Green America gave a list of ways 

YOU can make a difference in this outrage:

1. Use the new "Get Child Labor Out of Your Chocolates Scorecard" athttp://www.greenamericatoday.org/pdf/2010ChocolateScorecard.PDF to shop online.  Among the "A" ranked alternatives to Hershey chocolate are Alter Eco, Coco-Zen, Divine, Equal Exchange, Shama, Sjaak's, Sweet Earth Organic and Theo Chocolate, all of which are Fair Trade. All of Hershey's competitors have some form of labor certification for their chocolate, leaving Hershey as the only company on the list without one.  Confused by what all of those certification symbols mean?  The Scorecard includes a short overview of the most widely used labels and explains what they mean.
2. Shop for Fair Trade chocolate locally.  You can find dozens of locations around the U.S. athttp://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/fairtrade/products/wheretobuy.cfm#chocolate.  
3. Fair Trade Your Halloween.  You can hand out bite-sized Fair Trade chocolates and let parents of Trick-or-Treaters know why Fair Trade matters.  In addition, thousands of families across the U.S. are taking part in local "reverse trick-or-treating" to educate other families about the abuse of children in the cocoa production.  
4. Help raise awareness by holding a screening in your home of "The Dark Side of Chocolate." Filmmakers Miki Mistrati and U. Robin Romano traveled to cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire and what they found was dark.  Few improvements have been made on the ground and egregious labor rights abuses continue, years after major chocolate companies committed to ending this exploitation.  Get more information about how to get involved athttp://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/fairtrade/MovieScreening.cfm.
5. Take Green America's new action targeting Hershey.   Don't just avoid Hershey chocolates; let this company know what you think.  Go to http://www.greenamerica.org/takeaction/hershey/ to send your message to a Hershey's executive now.
6. Take action on Facebook.   You can start by "liking" Green America's latest posts athttp://www.facebook.com/Greenamerica about Hershey, so your friends can see them.  You can also go to Hershey's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HERSHEYS and leave your own comments for them and their customers to see.  Every few days, Hershey posts a new question designed to keep up the chatter on their page, constantly exposing their brand to more eyeballs.  That's where you can add your comments about expecting Hershey to be more responsible.
7. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.   You'll find all the background information that you need for your letter to the editor by downloading the "Time to Raise the Bar" report here.  http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/whatyoucando/2010Hershey.cfm.

For more information of Green America please visit

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/is-there-child-slave-labor-in-your-childs-halloween-candy-105256258.html

What are you going to do? Today? Halloween? Everyday?

Will you make a difference?

Because together... we can. 

Look for fair trade symbols on your groceries. Coffee, sugar, rice and especially your chocolate. 

1. http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2013/10/the-inconvenient-truth-about-halloween.html#idc-container

Relationship Application

I have this problem...

Admitting it is the first step, right?

My problem is that after one failed relationship after another, my standards rise more and more as to the type of person I will even consider to date. 

My family and closest friends have told me over the years that my expectations are too high. My standards are too great. This has been such a heavy burden on my heart. 

The qualifications for those applying to fill the "boyfriend" role in my life are not earth shattering but I was starting to think that maybe they are a bit too much...

Laci's Basic Relationship Application Outline

Single female seeking single male who is a mature Christian and living a life that represents that title. 

...That's it.

I feel like the word "mature" is taken independently  rather than as meant to be- paired with the "Christian" part of that. 

I am not seeking a stuffy stick in the mud who doesn't know how to have fun because every time he opens his mouth a string of "Thou shalt not"'s flow from his holier than thou entity. 

This person needs to be able to relax and let loose and play and frankly be stupid with me. Otherwise I will drive them crazy with my child-like whims of embracing recess moments. 

The deeper meaning that that statement really embodies I found explained elsewhere  A much better description than I could ever hope to give myself even though my entire being has felt this way for years!

Christian ladies! This is the kind of relationship you should be aiming for. Christian men, not only should this be a character assessment but make sure you turn it around and that the lady of your affection would line up with this as well. 

(Disclaimer: people aren't perfect and you are doomed for a life of disappointment if you attempt to pretend that someone will be. But the individual who makes honest strides and attempts to better themselves and live by God's standards will help you grow as well and together you will be an amazingly intricate tapestry together.) 

Check out this post which is now being extended into a book for release in 2014 and see what I'm talking about:

http://thechristianpundit.org/2012/08/15/it/

Now you cannot even begin to fathom the big picture of this post without checking out that link so if you passed it over, 

go back and do it right :) 

I can only speak from my own opinion but this was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. The standards I have are not outrageous. Just because someone doesn't measure up to them doesn't mean that the standards themselves are flawed. Especially when this kind of living is one that is personally striven for as well. 

Christian kids- don't be afraid to keep your standards high- especially when it comes to the person you will potentially be with for the rest of your life. But a personal note as well- make sure YOU are the kind of person that your dream spouse will want to be with as well. It's a give and take, love. 

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:16-18 

Never give up, even when God's timing isn't 

lined up with your own.

 "Don’t marry someone whose leadership you can’t follow. 

Don’t marry someone who is not seeking to love you as Christ loved the church. Marry someone who knows and demonstrates the love of Christ."

The Great Gatsby

I have just finished The Great Gatsby 

by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

It has been on my reading list for YEARS now but I somewhat shamefully admit that my interest was due to the reference on One Tree Hill more than its astounding fame. 

You see, I've always hated the cover art.. That and I refuse to buy paper back classics. BUT if I don't care for the book at first glance then I usually assume the author didn't care enough to present his work well to the general public. But you know what they say... 

You can't judge a book by it's cover.

Never thought of actually applying that literally.

I found Fitzgerald's writing to be escapism at it's finest. It is not the easiest read and having been one of the tiny few who saw the movie first- I find that it was quite helpful to grasp what was actually taking place rather than attempting to sort out the authors way of conceiving ideas and happenings through a beautiful scenery of subtlety.

I have heard so many mixed reviews as to individual opinions of the movie and whether it was justice to the written pages, ruin to the grace and elegance or simple exaggeration of an already timeless story. My personal opinion is that you must have an appreciation for the director,Baz Luhrmann, as he tends to have a very distinctive flair to his work; but I enjoy the change of pace.

Back to the book- it is not a fast read as I would hate to advise anyone of attempting to breeze through it quickly. It is meant to be absorbed. The book can easily take hold of personal dreams and make clear the jumbled longings you've wrestled with; having no luck at actually understanding them and then all of a sudden seeing the feelings you've had for countless years appear in one simple sentence- almost summed up with a neat little bow. 

It pulls on the very nature of human longing and desire. The book seems to have a centralized theme of time.Jay Gatsby is a man with whom people know very little about; even considering how hundreds seem to end up at his glorious home every weekend and partake of his food and 

endless flow of gin and drink.

That's because Gatsby is a mystery, even at times to those who know him best. He is constantly at a pull of one life and another; the past and the present but always set on the future.

Always set on Daisy.

It is Gatsby who has spent the better part of his life creating this world of lavish and luxury for the woman whom he loved in the past and who he lives for in the present. Every thing he does is to reach further to her and recreate what they had always dreamed of. 

And leaves the understandings of reality vs fancy still undetermined to the fanciful heart.

It is a recommendation that the book is read AT LEAST once in your lifetime. It is a wonderful companion for a leisure soak in relaxation for the body but intellectual stimulating for the soul.

ENJOY