Deflated

Friday our church had a Harvest Fest with a Trunk or Treat.

Last year, our adorable youth pastor's wife decorated her trunk and I decided we had to do that this year.

Last week was super busy so I didn't get to work on the decorations until a few hours before the event.

I decided on a Jurassic Park theme since:

 1) We had the costumes.

Ellie was babysitting and McDaniel is away at college so it was just going to be Dr. Graham and T-Rex at Trunk or Treat.

2) Monte has an orange Jeep.

3) Dinosaurs.

Duh

I vowed to not spend a dime.

Using a box from Amazon, I cut and covered the cardboard with a brown grocery sack to make the back of Monte's Jeep look like the entrance to Jurassic Park.

I taped black card stock paper to look like a torch and crumbled some orangish/red scrapbook paper to be the flames.

I just propped them up in the back of his Jeep and brought two ferns from our back yard and the Jurassic Park logo I printed out a few times and strung together to make a banner.

Other than my cardboard being a little too wide for the Jeep, everything worked out fine for the props.

It was my inflatable dinosaur costume that fell flat.

Literally.

I replaced the batteries for the fan before I left and even brought more batteries with us.

No matter what I did, I could not get the crazy dinosaur costume to inflate!

Womp womp

I could feel the air coming out of the fan but it just wouldn't blow up already!

I could hear the kids coming by excited about Monte's outfit and the decorations than there was always an,

"Oh!"

or an

"Aww…"

when they got a peek at my sad, 

anemic, 

prehistoric self, 

trying to hide by the side of the car.

I even heard a,

"He looks dehydrated!"

The inside of the suit was quite humid 

and I could've used a sip of water for sure.

One little boy, came over to me and said,

"I got you. I'm going to help!"

He held my deflated head up so I could feel around for the fan or a tear in the costume or something.

He introduced himself and his brother.

He loudly whispered to him,

"It's a girl!"

I thanked him over and over 

but told him it seemed to be broken.

He left to continue his trunk or treating.

I never saw his face.

I was so disappointed.

This T-Rex does not look well.

I had envisioned me chasing the kids around the parking lot.

Taking pictures with them.

Popping out from the side of the car to 

scare surprise them.

Instead, they all felt sorry for me.

The extinct jokes were coming fast.

We drove home in silence.

Back at the house, we looked at every square inch of the dinosaur suit for a tear but found none.

We pulled out the directions and Monte figured out that I had put the fan in the suit backwards.

There was no way for the fan to intake any air to blow up the suit.

Once the fan was flipped it inflated in seconds!

Yay!

I had Monte take a picture of me in the inflated suit so I could send it to the mom of the little boy who thought I was dehydrated.

How do you like me now?

You know, there's a lesson in this.

On my own, I'm just a dehydrated shell filled 

with hot, 

humid, 

recycled air 

that isn't even enough to lift my own head.

But when the fan is pulling air from another source,

much more powerful than me,

I'm filled right away.

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

I have come that they may have life, 

and have it to the full.

Psalm 121:1-2

I lift my eyes to the mountains--

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.