Houston Children's Museum .. Allāhu Akbar

Today we ended up at the CM because the Zoo parking lot was packed.

Dax exclaimed, "look Mommy, there's Jesus!" pointing to this picture

Then Calleigh began dancing to the blaring music over head singing "allahu akbar, allah is the only god, allah akbar, allah is the only god..." over and over again. I just kept listening trying to hear if I'd heard wrong.

Very concerned Mommy ran home and pulled out my CM newsletter to find we'd shown up on "Ramadan Lantern" day. I quickly look to find Christmas celebrations - three of them. But honestly, I'd be shocked to hear any mention of Jesus in a Christmas song let alone a song proclaiming Jesus is the only God. (As of course I do believe.) I will attend those weeks and listen carefully. But I fear the most I will hear are tales of Santa and reindeer and trees.


This is an excerpt from the www.cmhouston.org site describing the events.

Christmas Wonderweekend
"Merry Christmas from all of us at the Children's Museum of Houston! We’re celebrating this year with tons of fun activities sure to put the whole family in the holiday spirit! The Museum will be open all day on Monday, Dec. 21 and until 3 p.m. on Dec. 24. The Museum’s gift shop, Fiddle Sticks Gifts, will also be open for last minute shoppers until 3 p.m. on Dec. 24."

Ramadan Wonderweekend
"Ramadan is a major religious observance for all members of the Islamic faith. During this month-long celebration, Muslims practice a variety of activities aimed at increasing generosity and togetherness."

I am thankful to live in a country that doesn't directly prosecute prostelization. I am grateful that I can love the Lord and spread truth through my life and others can do as they believe as well. However, our children should not be bombarded by messages of faiths under the guise of "culture" in a seemingly secular(& partially tax funded)public arena by loud speakers. If a child or even adult had been singing - fine, if a person was sharing this - fine. If it had just been the display, I'd have been okay with it all. I am sad to realize that my children are growing up in a world that is intolerant to Christian statements of faith, yet loudly proclaims other faiths as culturally relevant and freedom of speech. I'll let you know if Jesus shows up on the Christmas play list alongside Rodolph the Red Nose Reindeer.


Update: Please see comment from CM Administrator. This is the house being refered to. I am glad to hear song was removed.

More Park Days

Trick or Treating

Just Pics

Park Days

Pumpkin Carving

You can see we went straight to the carving and skipped the cleaning out part until after (Which both kids thought was gross & would barely touch.)
Here is Dax's drawing of what he wanted his pumkin to look like. We got it pretty close except the two extra circle eyes which I was afraid would make it too weak.
Ok - so I just freehanded Calleigh's. Its not the best work, but I was trying to make it kind of girly.

We tried to use the hammer/nail things you see here b/c I thought the kids might be able to do it (since I wasn't handing over a knife) themselves. I got them at the after holdiday clearance last year for a dollar. They were a bust b/c they are so difficult to hammer into the pumkin. However, they came with a candle flashlight thing that flickers for the inside of the pumkin. These are awesome (worth the dollar I spent on each kit) and I feel alot better about putting them on my porch rather than a candle.

Random note: So Halloween is my favorite "fake" holiday and really the only one we celebrate. I have the strongest childhood memories of Halloween - of picking out our costumes at the special costume store, of my parents coming home early and helping us get our costumes & face paint and carving pumpkins and toasting the (not so tasty) seeds. Then there was the candy sorting & trading on the living room floor. This is a nonholiday worth doing for the kids.

Fall Baking with the kids. They LOVED it!!

*Dax started hiding from the camera - so this odd mid-blink pic is all I got.