The pool was a hit!

In fact, I think they'd have opted to swim instead of any of the other things we did this weekend. Their candy was quickly forgotten with the promise of a pool.

Dominic learned to "swim" with his life jacket late this summer. We worried a bit that he'd "forget" and lose his confidence. He hasn't! He swam several lengths of the pool and tuckered himself completely out by the time we were done swimming. He was jumping solo off the edge (though he wasn't fond of going under). In short, we ended the swimming fun too early for him (in favor of bedtime).

Amara was the same story. Late this summer she finally was brave enough to put her head under water -- as long as she had her mask on. We worried her fear would return if we didn't get her back in the water, but again, thankfully she went right back to being under water! This time she even got brave enough to do it with the mask off! We also practiced her flutter kicking, and she got up the guts to go under water AND flutter kick. The technique still needs work, so she didn't get anywhere. But the fact remains: she tried it!

I knew I'd have two little swimmers eventually! They can't be my kids without being water bugs!

Swimming is in their genes.

I confess: one of the reasons we chose to go to Tulsa for Halloween is to completely avoid any Halloween parties. We can never decide on costumes to wear, and frankly, I don't really care for Halloween parties anyway (or hunting for a sitter).

However, the weekend was really fabulous, and we're all very glad that we went! The Tulsa Promenade mall held trick-or-treating beginning at 4pm. We thought that was a perfect time, because it allowed us to get it over and head back to the hotel in time to swim for a bit before bedtime!

The kids traipsed store to store asking for loot. Amara didn't even really complain about her box, which by this point had been run through the ringer! It was hardy holding together anymore. She asked, "Why are people always looking and laughing at me." I assured her it was because her costume was so cute and everyone loved it -- she got SO many comments from passersby. As did my handsome little cowboy, who was deemed "the cutest cowboy they ever saw," by a couple of people.

For younger kids especially, mall trick-or-treating was wonderful. It wasn't overly busy here, because it was GORGEOUS outside. We were done with the mall in about 45 minutes or so and ready to head to the hotel.

Or we would have been... had Jon not been sucked in by Foot Locker. :)

I figure I can make a short story long and draw out the details of our trip to Tulsa. It'll give you a few posts worth of pictures and stories anyway!

Our first stop was lunch at Dave & Busters. It was actually quite dead in there for lunch on a Saturday. We had the full attention of our waitress, who was dressed in pirates attire to celebrate Halloween.

Following our meal, we headed straight for the games. It was all we could do to keep the kids focused on their food! Jon and Dominic had fun playing all the shoot-em-up games. Dominic needs to work a bit on his gun-holding technique!

Amara was more focued on winning tickets. They won right around 600 tickets, and each were able to select a stuffed animal. Amara chose a purple kitty, Dominic a blue dolphin. Think they're satisfied with their choices?

The highlight of this trip was getting to meet my friend Reese! I actually "met" her a couple months ago through the Bloom book club. She was also in Tulsa for the weekend, so we met for lunch. She's a wonderful person on line, and even better in real life!

When we were ready to leave, Jon put the kids on the roof of the van. No idea why -- but they that that was fun!


This is just the start of our weekend. Notice the blue sky. It was that gorgeous the entire time. Love southern living!

Every year, my office does a Halloween party for our kids. Usually it's trick-or-treating around each of the offices. This year, they went all out!

Upon entering the office, there was this haybale scene set up where one of my teammates who does photography on the side was taking each family's picture. My little cowboy and little puppy enjoyed hamming it up for him!

They also had pumpking decorating in the lobby. They found some cool kits online that were foam adhesive faces. There were 6 different designs to choose from, and the kids had a blast putting together their pumpkins.


The pictures from the back of the office didn't turn out as well because all the lights had been turned off. They had a "creepy" station where the kids put their hands into vats of goo to see what was in there. I put my hand in one -- it truly was disgusting! And sticky! Dominic was hilarious when he did it -- I've never seen him move his hand so quickly as when he touched the goo that felt like eyeballs. I don't think he was a fan of that station. Amara only put her hand in one of the vats -- she's no dummy!

The party team made one of the conference rooms into a maze with black lights and paint all over black garbage bags. It was amazing to me to see how they transformed that room. Another conference room was filled with skeletons (one of them a dressed up person) holding a much too long board meeting and counting money. Strobe lights were flashing. The kids were a bit scared, but I told them it's time to dance for the strobe lights -- and the ghouls in the room knew it was little kids, so they behaved!

They also sectioned off one complete area of the office and made it into a haunted house -- even including a graveyard! They had spooks hiding in this area, too, but again, because we had little kids, they behaved and stayed put.

I think A&D were both pretty scared by the dark creepiness, so we quickly went through that area and back to the pumpkins. I, on the other hand, was completely blown away by the creativity and effort the team put into transforming the office. It was so cool!

We wrapped up the event with grilled burgers and dogs. It's great when you enjoy the people you spend so much time with on a daily basis! These parties are a lot of fun -- and it's fun to be able to show off the kiddos, too!

I have to say, I struggled more with this chapter than with Chapters 4 and 5, which were all about our shortcomings.

It's always been (too) easy for me to list my faults and chastize myself for them. I'm quick to point out reasons why I can't or shouldn't.

You see, I hate to fail.

I'm a huge people-pleaser, which means I'd rather point out my faults before someone else notices them and points them out to me. It is inevidable, after all! Unfortunately, while I'm quick to point out my shortcomings, I'm also quick to poo-poo my strengths. I compare them against others who are stronger. Or I compare them pridefully against those who are weaker -- neither alternative is particularly flattering.

Along with hating to fail, I also hate to take risks. They kind of go hand in hand. I'm more of a control freak of my well-being and success than I'd like to be. If I don't think I'll succeed, I simply won't try, or I'll laugh it off as something I don't care about (i.e. golfing).

Unfortunately, God wants risk takers, not control freaks. He doesn't want us to control our own lives, He wants us to surrender control to Him. He wants us to give our all, not just a half-hearted effort so that we can make excuses at the end saying, "Oh, but I wasn't really trying."

So the chapters about lukewarm and leftovers were not easy, but were things that I already tell myself. This chapter -- about what a sold-out Christian ought to be doing, was much harder for me. During this chapter, I was forced to acknowledge that in pretty much all of the mentioned areas, I've failed to put myself out there. I've neglected to take risks. I've set up my life to be cushy, controlled, and comfortable, not completely reliant upon God.

Don't get me wrong -- I do completely have faith in God.

Yet... in many ways I've set up my life so that I've never truly had to rely on that faith. We invest, we save, we purchase wisely, we carry no debt (other than mortgage), etc., etc., etc. We're both first borns: we're "responsible planners." ...or something like that!

This thought on page 114 struck me:
"These people were far from perfect [Samson, Moses, David, Noah Rahab], yet they had faith in a God who was able to come through in seeminly dire situations." This line of thinking went on to say that Noah spent 120 years building the ark and warning others about the impending judgement.

120 YEARS.

Yet, if I have to wait 120 minutes, a mere 2 hours, I'm incredibly impatient!

Page 116 was very humbling and eye-opening to me, "When you pray, your prayers are heard by the same God who answered Moses' prayer for water in the desert, the God who gave Abraham and his barren wife a son, and the God who made the slave Joseph second in power only to Pharaoh."

Of course, I realize that I'm praying to the same God, which is humbling. But the eye-opening part is how I limit God by my prayers. Some of the things I ask Him for must make Him say, "Come on - that's an easy one. Ask me something that requires faith. Ask me for something that will show to others that I'm at work, because it's something only I can do."

Question for you: How often do you use the word "just" when you pray? Lord, just help us to sleep well. Lord, I just ask that you be with my Grandmother.

The definition of "just" is: "only or merely." Perhaps it's our way of sounding humble... but if that's ONLY what we're asking, are we not limiting God in what we're asking? If we ask for JUST a certain thing, what if He wanted to give us abundantly more?

That question was posted to me a few years back, and I'm acutely aware of the word "just" in prayers now -- mine and others. Let God be powerful in your life -- don't restrict His might in your life by your words.

The questions on page 117 were questions that gave me pause to consider my answers. "Are you ready and willing to make yourself nothing? To take the very nature of a servant? To be obedient unto death?" I'd like to say yes to all of the questions. And I believe that in my heart, I do say yes. However, I also feel like I'm kind of sitting here waiting for God to tell me what He'd have me do, rather than seeking out opportunities to prove my actions match my words.

This line of thinking is continued on page 118 with Matthew 25:45, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." Chan goes on to say, "Basically, Christ is connecting the command to 'love God' with the command to 'love your neighbor.' By loving 'the least of these,' we are loving God Himself."

Over the past couple weeks, I had one conversation (with a couple fellow Bloomers) about serving, as well as listened to Aaron Ivey speak and sing about serving the poor and needy. In my conversation we talked about whether we should serve in church (long term) where there's a need or where God has called us. We referred to "I am the vine, you are the branches" and talked about being most fruitful and productive if we're plugged-in in places where God would have us to be. We also acknowledged that short term, sometimes there's a need that simply must be met, but for long term church service, we're most beneficial being plugged in where God wants us.

That was somewhat contrasted by Aaron Ivey, and I'm completely paraphrasing him, because I wasn't prepared to take notes that night. He was talking about their life immediately after adopting their first child. They were considering what they would do next, if the timing to adopt another was right, if they should wait until the funds were raised etc. But God plopped another adoption opportunity in their lap. As they asked Him whether they should go this way or that way, His respose was essentially, "Meet the need."

If you see a need, meet a need.

Now granted, the conversations were vastly different. One talked of serving in a church. The other spoke of meeting the needs of the poor, and in this case, specifically orphans. Yet those conversations and these verses have made me really consider (and reconsider) where and how I should be serving. I can't say that I have followed a "see a need, meet a need" model... and I feel that perhaps I've missed the mark in doing so.

While we're talking about the poor, I have another question for you. When you see a homeless person on the street, what's your thought? What runs through your mind?

I know what mine used to be: repulsion, disgust, fear, scorn, cross the street, walk quickly past, don't look (but can't avoid looking), they must be alcoholic, lazy, mentally unstable. All sorts of negative thoughts ran through my mind, none of them becoming, that's for sure.

However, when we moved here, my husband began running a homeless center. As we pass homeless people in our local area, I'll ask if he knows the person. He has known every single one. And not just their name, but their story.

It's amazing how my perception of them changed once they had a name and a story.

Yet... they all have names and stories.

Matthew 25:40, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Yeah... missed the boat again...

I think I could have underlined the whole chapter. I found challenges not just on every page, but within every paragraph. I'm guilty of giving, but on my own time, of my own strength, when it's convenient or safe or easy for me. I give to the poor, but it's the 2-seasons-old clothes I never wear any more, and it's by dropping them off at the shelter, not walking the streets to meet a need. I donate to causes, but it's through people knocking on my door or stopping by my desk to ask, not getting down in the trenches myself. My giving is of my abundance and not making a sacrifice.

Page 124 poses the question that's really a challenge, "What are you doing right now that requires faith?"

I'll say that there are many things in my life that I'd like for God to provide me. But I don't know that I can think of anything that would break me if it didn't come through. I also don't know if, currently, there's anything that would be obvious to the world around me that "Hey, that was God!" if it did come through.

I'm fortunate to be apart of a wonderful group of ladies in my Monday night Bible Study, many of whom have HUGE things going on in their life right now that require faith and are "God-only" things. And I'm blessed to be not only praying with or for them, but also rejoicing with them as prayers are answered. And seriously, some of these things scream, "Hey, God did that! Amen!"

But for myself... I need to continue with the inventory Chan has listed in the past few chapters. I need to look for opportunities to "make God greater and myself less" (John 3:30). I need to challenge myself to give sacrificially and not just when it's convenient.

In short: I need to give God what He deserves. Always.