Trick-or-Treaters

Where have all the good trick-or-treaters gone? Who is old enough to remember the good ol' days of trick-or-treating? We'd beg mom to let us get dressed by 5:00 in the evening and hit the town. Literally---we went all over town. We'd start in our neighborhood and fan out. Every light in the neighborhood was on--only scrooges (wrong holiday?) turned their lights out. Mom usually made homemade popcorn balls to give away. She made enough to last us for the rest of the week, too. There were lots of homemade things back then--but we hated getting cookies--the apples always smashed them. But seriously...who wanted an apple? There was also the little pieces of candy and gum, too. I don't remember which teacher in town did this, but she always gave out the big Hershey candy bars. We all knew where she lived and would beg dad to drive us across town to her house.
Do you remember why people quit giving the healthy stuff like apples---besides the fact that kids didn't like it? It was that first dadgum razor blade. MAN! Who did that? Then that first razor blade evolved into my kids having to take their candy through an xray machine to examine even candy!

I had both healthy and not-so-healthy treats tonight. Pretzels and the good stuff. I just had 2 twelve-ish-aged boys come to my door. I dropped the normal amount of candy & pretzels I've been giving out and they just stared down into their bag...as if to say, "That's it?" They looked back up at me and I wanted to yell, "Go trick-or-treating---door-to-door like I used to do! You are not entitled to a bag full of candy at your first street!" Kids! They don't want to work like I used to have to work for all that candy. And we didn't have the commercial costumes like they do now, either. We painted, draped, and made-do with what we had. And boy were we creative--we looked good!

What the heck has happened to good little trick-or-treaters? When did the world change? At almost 8:00, I've had a mere 25 little (and not so little) goblins show up at my door. I've had 2 adults stick their large pillowcases in my face wanting candy. Seriously?!? I can only assume they didn't have the money to go get candy for themselves and needed a chocolate fix. Why didn't they do what I did as a parent? Demand that the kids leave their candy downstairs for me to supervise so I could make sure they weren't eating at night---and pick out the good stuff for myself! I was pretty good at that even as a kid. My brothers didn't know how to guard their stash. Trust me. They didn't.

But my night was redeemed when this group showed up! Corbin and Bryson showed up with their parents. Bryson handed me his pumpkin after I'd filled it and told me he wanted to go play upstairs and wanted to know where my kids were. (Grandkids) He turned to his mom and told her he was spending the night. Don't you love his garden gnome outfit? He wasn't wearing his beard tonight like he did at the Fall Festival.

Corbin took off his mask and posed for me. He's too cool for words!

And Bryson was content playing with the toys he brought downstairs.

And Ember? Well, she gave me her Chinese pose....with the pumpkin. My lame Halloween was totally redeemed.

FCA Wreaths

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) of Borger is selling wreaths for a fund raiser. If you'd like to purchase one, just let me know!

The Classic Wreath--$20

The Victorian Wreath--$25

The New Wintergreen Wreath--$27

These are all fresh wreaths--not your old plastic stuff! They'd make GREAT gifts for those friends you never know what to give! And awesome gifts for a widow or family you just want to bless. Or husbands---surprise your wife! She'll love it--I promise! They'll also send a set of battery-operated lights you can put on yourself for $2.25. They will be delivered the 1st week of December. Must order by Tuesday morning!

Trouble remembering?

Does anyone else have this problem? Do you have families that switch holidays each year? Do you remember where you celebrated Thanksgiving last year? I'm telling you....I never remember! But this time, I referred to my photos to remember. Does this photo speak to any of my family about last Thanksgiving?

Amish Books

Beverly Lewis is the author who first piqued my interest in the Amish. This series is especially good. (It's also the 2nd book in this series) If you haven't read any of her books, you must. They're very easy to read--and you'll especially enjoy the Pennsylvania Dutch language she includes. I think almost all of her books include a "fancy" person meeting the Amish community. You'll get caught up in the courting traditions, the bans, and Mammi & Dawdi living in a room attached to their children's homes. Hopefully, your church library will have these books, but if they don't, check your local county/city library--or your favorite Christian bookstore.

Fortune tellers?

This morning in prayer time, that was the question God moved us to. Are you a fortune teller?
I didn't think I was. But I have had a picture in my mind of what I was shooting for in life. I wanted relationship. Another person wanted control--she knew what she wanted her childrens' lives to look like. Another person wanted happiness for her children and was helping them get there. We saw the target---and we were shooting for it! (Hello...tap..tap..tap. Anyone out there?) When God showed me that my goal wasn't relationship, but to love...it shifted my whole paradigm. I saw in one moment that I was shooting at the wrong target. And now that I know there's a whole new target, do you know what I see? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's as if there's a veil over this new target. I don't know what I'm shooting for. I know I'm shooting for love...but I don't know what it looks like or what the end result will be! But I do know this: "For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]." Ephesians 2:10.
God knows what the target is. It's not veiled to Him. But as long as I had a picture in my mind of what my future (or my kids' futures) looked like, I was manipulating. I was a fortune teller--looking into my own future, declaring what I saw and wanted, and then trying to make it happen. I was trying to be the god of my own life.
What we saw this morning is that we have to die to our expectations. And those expectations have been partnering with fear and assumption. We've tried to predestine our own paths--or those of our children--and our fear of it not happening the way we imagined has caused us to manipulate or control or criticize.
Do I want a happy ending? Then I have to submit. I must submit to God and His good plan for my life! I can't take matters into my own hands. I've got to dedicate these hands to God and build according to His master plan....not use them to read a crystal ball.
"Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands." Proverbs 14:1

Three things I want to do

I've been so blessed in my lifetime. I never thought when I was a young girl when I was studying about Southern Baptist missionaries that I'd ever get to travel to as many places as I have. It's amazing---and something I never really dreamed about.
But I also never enter the fall season that I don't wish I could travel to the New England states in the fall...and see things like this:

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of the year. I'd love to go somewhere where I'd be immersed in all of that color! If you live there, I hope you're soaking it in for me!

I've been privileged to go to Amish country. I absolutely loved it. But I'd like to go spend a summer with an open Amish family and learn from them.
Maybe I've read too many Amish books!

And...I'd want to go to Israel again. I'd love to go with a Bible scholar who has lived there. And someone who understands the last days. In fact, I'd like to stay there a good long while and soak up the country, the culture, the history--all in reference to the Bible. Actually, I think I'd just like to go with a very small group led by Joel Rosenberg. I really appreciate his ministry.

What would you like to do?

Girl's Night

I'd been missing my girls. They don't live that far away, but they've reached that age where they're involved in several activities, so it's just not as easy to get together anymore. But I took a chance and called them this morning to see if I could work in a visit today. So we agreed for me to come for dinner and to just hang out. (Pops stayed home with his new medicine that's making him sleepy.)

Alexis (left) chose where we ate tonight. Mr. Gattis! Why not?
Fun food, fun movie, and fun games!

Alexis rode the bumper cars by herself the first time. But then Caitlin wanted to ride with her.

They had a blast!

This was a like a roller coaster ride. At one point, Alexis put her arms over her head.

They even tried their hand at grabbing a stuffed animal. After Mr. Gattis, we went to find a book for everyone at Mardel's and then met mom & dad (who had a date) at Cold Stone for some ice cream. It was a fun girl's night! Caitlin was nervous that we'd spent so much money that she tried leaving some of her money in my car seat. LOL! I managed to get it to her dad. Two pretty sweet peas!

My unofficial survey

I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised at the results of my poll. Out of 30 people participating, 12 had not felt rejected by a parent on a consistent basis. I would have expected those numbers to be much lower.
The bad news was that 13 had. And 5 had felt rejected occasionally by parents. I expect that I have a bunch of loving families represented by my blogger friends. I also suspect if it were an official nationwide poll, the numbers of those feeling rejected on a consistent basis by a parent would be through the roof!
God doesn't give us permission to carry a grudge. In fact, he tells us to cancel the debt others owe us. And like I said in my earlier post, we're commanded to love. We're not commanded to have relationship. After all, it takes 2 people to have a relationship. God doesn't have relationship with everyone, yet he loves everyone. We're commanded to do the same.
REJECTION HURTS!! And it may take years to work through it. I think God knows that. And as long as we're in the process and our hearts are open, he graces us. Not only does he grace us, he loves us through it. He wants to heal our hearts. Actually, he loves us and graces us whether we work through it or not. But I think it breaks his heart if we choose to set up our tent in Camp Rejection.

Here's what I'm learning...

When someone hurts us, rejects us or disappoints us...our flesh wants to expose them. We want others to know how bad they are. We want others to know they are wrong and we are right.

But...love covers. "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (I Peter 4:8) I can't do this without the Spirit of God doing it through me.

Here's what God has told me to do: When I give you an idea of how to love, do it quickly. Otherwise it will be stolen and you'll lose your opportunity.

A lie I believed: To love, you must have relationship. God never commanded relationship, but He did command love. When I questioned God about this, He quietly told me in my heart, "I don't have a relationship with everyone, yet I love them all." This was totally freeing for me. I was pursuing relationship thinking it was the only way I could love. Now I'm loving whether I ever have a relationship...or not.

Come vote!

Please vote on my poll to the right. I've been doing a study on women of the Bible and rejection and would like to see what's going on out there in blogland. This will help me prepare for a retreat in Dalhart this weekend! THANKS!
And by the way....it doesn't just have to be a parent. Could be a grandparent, in-laws, or any authority figure in your life---past or present!
(By the way, it doesn't show me or anyone else who voted or how they voted---even on statcounter!)

Borger, TX??

Can you believe these colors are in Borger, TX? In my front yard? Thank you, Jesus! And look at that blue sky--it looks fake! If only you could feel the wind blowing, too.

The reason I love fall...

I love the fall. I love the colors. I love the promise it holds...a new season has come. It's so obvious with the unfolding dramatic colors. It really speaks to my heart.

Comforting

We had a death in the Living Water family this week. Terry was a client who'd been coming to LW for some time. She went to visit her daughter in Oklahoma and had a heart attack and died there. It was shocking. She'd been ill with a hernia that was infected and I'm wondering if that led to her heart attack. I don't know. But she wasn't old---she has young adult children. And they don't know what to do. They don't have money for a funeral. I checked with our county---because they do burials if the family doesn't have the money to pay for one. But because she died outside of our county--even though she lived here--they can't help. So I called the funeral home in Oklahoma that was holding her body and they told me that Oklahoma isn't set up that way---they don't do county burials. Everyone was frustrated. The funeral home wanted to know what to do, the family was desperately trying to raise the money for the most basic of help, and...it was just sad.
But there was a ray of hope in the midst of it all. This woman was a believer. There was fruit in her life. So I checked our records and found where she'd prayed to receive Christ into her heart in 2007. That was so amazing. And it gave us all such hope. And...it made me want to redouble my efforts at Living Water. It's such a mission field---and those fields are ripe!
Please be praying for Terry's family.

Faith

I'm in need of a good illustration or example of FAITH. Anyone??

Two lives redeemed

The following is a photo journal of 2 lives redeemed. Kelvin & Cyndy met at Living Water and were married this past week. It's been sweet to see what God has done. It was also amazing to see people step in and help them. You'll see some familiar faces along the way. And of course, there were those who helped whose photos weren't taken....

I'm Runnin' to the Mercy Seat

Angie Mitchell sang a song Sunday morning by Vicki Yohe called Mercy Seat. It was beautiful. And this morning, I woke up with it singing through my heart and mind. This was also the morning I met with my prayer partners, so I decided to do a quick search through biblegateway.com before they got here and see what it had to say about the mercy seat. In a nutshell, in the Old Testament, God told Moses to tell Aaron not to come in to the mercy seat except once a year. And he wasn't to come casually. He was to come with awe and respect--and a clean heart--and God's presence would meet him there. There, he made a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Then I read Romans 3:23-26 and saw where it said Jesus made a life-giving sacrifice on the mercy seat where our sins are forgiven so he could demonstrate and prove at the present time (or as the Amplified adds---and I love this---"the now season") that he is righteous and accepts those with faith as righteous.

There is a "now season" for mercy. The mercy seat is also a place of refuge. In the Old Testament, when a person accidentally killed someone else, there was a city of refuge where they could run and be safe. The mercy seat is that for us---our refuge.

I'm runnin' to the mercy seat. As I've been working through this book, I've been overcome with the sin in my heart. Sin I didn't even know was there. God has brought it to the surface--because I'm willing. I'm willing for it be exposed and I'm willing to bring it to the mercy seat and find forgiveness, righteousness. I know God is purifying the bride of Christ. And I'm trying to do my part. But I sort of feel like He's gotten out his firehose to hose me down and clean me up. No bubble bath and frou-frou creams for this daughter!!
But I'm runnin' to the mercy seat where Jesus' grace will cover me.

10 Weeks....

...until Christmas! Can you believe it? What are you doing this year? Are you simplifying? Are you shopping early? Have you gotten a huge bonus that is allowing you to splurge?

Ryan's first football game!

Ryan got to go to his first football game last night. I'd sent all of the grandkids a Borger Bulldog's tshirt and when Ryan got his, he said he wanted to go to a football game. Since Lindsey & the kids were here last night, Pops took Ryan to his first game ever. Lindsey, Addie & I had a girl's night at the house.

This is the loot Ryan brought home. I think he hit the jackpot---sitting in the reserved seat section with a bunch of adults and being the cute little kid he is, made for lots of loot!

Ryan & Pops just back from the football game. They made it through half-time.

THANKS, Pops, for taking me to the football game!

And then Ryan got the camera and was taking our picture---he even posed us. Pops was putting bunny ears behind me (unbeknownst to me) when Ryan said....

"Do three now, Pops!" (And we both lost it!)

First Video: Ryan was in rare form when he got home from the game. I think he'd had a little sugar while watching football. His mom took a sniff of him and told him he needed a bath because he smelled like a football player. The first video is of him trying to smell his arm pits. Hysterical!!!

The second video is of him and Pops playing football. He was loving it!

I WON...I WON...I WON!!!!

I won the Hope candle on Kaci Lusk's website!!!! I never win anything, but today---I won! YIPPPEEE!~