Cooper The Passionate

I live in the middle of no-where. Yes, it's a town, a class 6A school, lots of big business, but it's still in the middle of nothing. We are something close to nothing. Don't get me wrong, I live in one of the prettiest ares of Oklahoma; tall grass prairies, beautiful hills, trees lots of ponds, wildlife. It's probably one of the only places in the world with flat land prairies and hills all in the same acreage.

Being in the middle of no-where means we have to drive every time we want to get somewhere, especially shopping, restaurants and our church. All this to say, when we hop in our buggy and head to town, Matt and I have time to chat, in between us telling the older two to keep their hands in their laps and stop screaming.

While driving to Grapevine, the subject of Cooper came up. Yes, the boy is a subject of his own; Cooper Talk.  Coop just woke up from a long nap in the car and if we talk to him and he's not ready he flips out. Then if you bug him he really flips out and goes to his high pitched screaming voice, "AAAHHHHHHH!!!" It's really a priceless moment, us making him mad.

Matt and I were describing Cooper. We were trying to come up with a book cover that describes him. You know how book covers give a brief synopsis of the contents of the book? We were doing that only Cooper is the subject. We were having a hard time, but then it hit me.

PASSIONATE.

When he's happy, he's passionately happy. When he's mad, he is passionately mad. Everything he does, he goes beyond the norm. Instead of a regular fist bump, he has to blow it up.

When I say, "Smile Cooper!" He smiles with his whole body. And he does that with PASSION.

Great Wolf Lodge Pictures

 The family.

 Love them. This was the last day and the kids were checked out. ha

 So there is a bell that Dings when the bucket is fixing to dump. I'm not sure if Chloe heard it but I wanted a picture of her when the bucket dumped.

 She jumped. haha

 View of the lobby from the fourth floor.

 The fireplace in the lobby. It's massive! That's Cooper at the bottom right.

 I'm raising three fish.

Most of the lobby

Christmas at Woolaroc 2011

The town I live was built around oil. Without going into the history of Bartlesville, mainly because I don't know that much, I'll just say this: There was a man named Frank Phillips (I don't even know how to spell his name, one L or two LL's.) He found Philips 66; an oil company. It is now known as Conoco Phillips. Good ol' Frank made a very hefty living on oil. He also had a passion for collecting really cool things. Back in his day goods were traded for other goods. Some of the "goods" he got were Indian blankets. Well, when you collect as much stuff as Frank did, you need a place to put it; Woolaroc. AND when you are as wealthy as Frank, you need a ranch to take your other wealthy friends; Woolaroc. AND when you hunt wild game like zebra, giraffes, deer, elephants... you need a place to put them; Woolaroc. AND when someone gives you these...

.... fancy, legit, shrunken heads, you need a place to put them; Woolaroc.

Christmas time is such a wonderful time but Woolaroc does a fantastic job. The decorate the grounds with tons of Christmas lights, offer tractor rides, hot chocolate, cookies and you can walk through the museum. It was hard to see all the amazing paintings and learn of their history, our history, because of the kids but the little time I did get to read I learned a lot..

Colbie doesn't care much for Santa or apparently Woolaroc for that matter.

This picture was taken in pitch black. The man on the other side of the trailer couldn't see a thing. I told him just click and we'll take what we get. haha This is about right for our family. haha

I took a ton of pictures of paintings but I knew I wouldn't be able to say exactly what I learned or read on the plaques so I opted not to post them so I didn't misspeak. I'm pretty sure this is Sitting Bull. If you have not visited Woolaroc, I highly highly recommend. It is a true gem of a place.

Great Wolf Lodge

This is a view of part of the water park. I took it standing in the lobby which is on the second floor. The bucket at the top dumps tons of gallons of water below. There's a glare from the Christmas lights that were hanging above me against the window.

The last time we stayed, Chloe and Cooper were just too little and unsure in the water to play on this. It has slides that once you've climbed to the top you can slide down. Both kids this year ate this thing up. Cooper would go down the slide, climb out and 'high five' the lifeguard on duty. He did this every. single. time. That lifeguard was so awesome with Cooper.

 Matt said he saw a kid get de-pants-ed (how do you spell that word?) when the bucket dumped.  

 This was in the lobby the day we arrived. There was a huge Christmas tree behind them and to the right of the picture is the window I took the above pictures from. You can see all the hanging lights. 

I have more pictures, so I'll post those later.

Family Vacay: Great Wolf Lodge

We are on our first real family vacation since Colbie was born!

Destination: Great Wolf Lodge or Big Wolf Lodge if you are Chloe.

We've had reservations for a while, then I came across a Groupon. It was a much better deal than I got so we jumped on it. So glad I did because our room is a million times better than what I had originally reserved. Couldn't afford this room without the Groupon.

I was worried how Colbie would travel. She tends to flip out when we drive to church and that's 40 minutes away. That little booger slept from the moment we left and didn't wake until we were in Caddo, Oklahoma! That's about 3 hours. She just did so great.

The lodge is decorated like winter and Christmas. It truly is magnificent. I'll take pictures and post them. The kids are at story time right now, I'm in the room with a sleeping Colbie. Somehow they make it snow in the lobby! I haven't seen it yet, but I can only imagine how cool it is.

Colbie is a fish!! We knew she'd love it here because she goes NUTS when we take her out of the bath tub. We swam for an hour and a half when we got here. When we told Cooper it was time to get out, well he went nuts. He looks cute when he goes nuts so everyone around us was trying not to laugh. I said it's time to go, he said no and baby stepped his way back to the water while keeping his eye on me, wondering if I was going to come get him. It was really funny.

The last time we were here, Chloe had a hard time touching in the kid pool. It's amazing how much she has grown. I can let her go play and just tell her where we are sitting. She being a first born, follow the pack kind of girl, she doesn't like to play alone. Cooper on the other hand, will play all day and not care if anyone is with him.

Is it worth the cashola it costs to come here?

Every. Dime.

My Family

November 2011

Chloe (5)

Cooper (3)

Colbie (1)

Matt and Megan (older)

Betsy Gregory Photography.

Do Not Copy This Picture! You do not have permission.

Trash Can Lesson

Doing a devo with the kids a few night ago. The lesson was based on Genesis 22 where God tested Abraham by asking him to "Take your son, your only son- yes, Isaac, whom you love so much- and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you." (Genesis 22:2) The story goes on and Abraham was willing and almost sacrificed his son but an angel of the Lord stopped him. (verses 3-13)

The lesson was to "Place a small trash can with a clean liner in a corner of the room. Tell your children to get a favorite toy, then ask them to place it in the trash can. If they protest, ask them whether they trust you and know you love them. Explain that God never intended for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. (You can return your kids' toys as you say this.) God was testing Abraham's faith. He was also giving Abraham a glimpse of His plan to save humanity: God's only Son would be offered as the sacrifice for our sins. He would have thorns on His head similar to the ram caught by his horns in the thicket."

(For more info on the devo and where it came from visit www.thrivingfamiy.com/advent) I am getting this from YouVersion Bible App.

Here's how it played out when we asked the kids to put their favorite toys, Cooper his Thomas the Train and Chloe her 'dog in a purse' thing, in the trash can.

Matt asked each kid, "Do you trust me?"  They emphatically said, "Yes father." The next question Matt posed was, "Do you love me?" With which each child said, "Of course!" Then Matt asked them to put their beloved toys in the trash and they being the God fearing children they are, walked to the trash can, placed their toys in there, looked at us happily, we prayed and they loved the Lord more after that day.

Ok, so that is not entirely true. This might be a more accurate portrayal of how it played out.

They each got their favorite toys, Cooper his Thomas the Train and Chloe her 'dog in a purse' thing. Then Matt asked each kid, "Do you trust me?" While bouncing around and playing with their favorite toys said, "Yeah." The next question was, "Do you love me?" Each giggling said, "Yep." Then Matt asked them to put their toys in the trash can and all Hell broke loose.

Chloe smiled like we were joking, ran to her room and "changed her mind on her favorite toy", Cooper had a melt down and went on and on about how dirty the trash can is even though we reassured him that it was indeed clean.

Matt asked each child personally, "Chloe will you trust me and put your dog in the trash can?" She said no and offered yet another toy from her room. Matt asked Cooper, "Coop, will you put Thomas in the trash can?" His reaction was typical of most kids. He hugged his toys close to his chest and yelled, well screamed, "NOOOOO!!!"

Matt and I looked at each other and gave a "pinch poke you owe me a coke" hmmph.

While the kids were still crying and yelling about how they refused to put their toys in the trash, Cooper more loudly than Chloe, I asked Matt a question, "I wonder if there is anything in our life we are hugging close to our chest with a vice grip, refusing to trust God with like they are with their toys?"

After about 5-10 minutes of asking if they loved and trusted us and getting no where, I got an idea. I walked to the trash can and dropped my phone in it.

The kids looked at me like, "Are you serious?!" I sat down on the couch and told them that I loved their Daddy very much and I trust him with everything. It took a few more minutes of Chloe wondering where the hidden cameras were but she walked over to the can and happily put her 'dog in a purse' in the can. Cooper took a little more talking and some more explaining, but he did it. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he did it.

After a few minutes of making them wait and talking to them about Abraham (G version, leaving out the 'sacrificing his kid' part) and talking about bringing our best to God, we told the kids they could get their toys back. (Bringing our best has been an accidental theme this Christmas, but that's for another post.)

So now I pose the question to you and again to myself, "What in our life are we holding on to, not letting God touch? What are we not willing to place in the trash can?"

Sensationlized Oz

Lately, I have become just done with news in all aspects. I'm tired of reading of some "Dad" tossing his kid off of a bridge, a drunk killing a family, war, soldiers dying, how dog's have an 'Angel Tree' because and I quote "Dogs have Christmas wishes also." What?! I'm going to bubble burst here, but No. They. Don't. I will tell you there are hundreds of thousands of kids who have legitimate Christmas wishes, go help them.

A person this morning on Crackbook Facebook  posted a video of Dr. Oz and his discovery that arsenic is in apple juice, children's apple juice. I'm not going to talk about that, I'm going to rant on the comments that followed.

I watched the video. Then I commented, "Taking my general dislike for Dr Oz out of the equation, yep that's crazy!" (referencing arsenic in apple juice)


Well, my dislike of Oz opened a Can O Worms. Apparently I hate the guy. Nope, never said hate. So I commented again, "I think he sensationalizes everything. (I dont hate him just don't watch his show)"

*If someone could open that second Can O Worms on the counter that'd be great.*


This was the flow of the conversation: 

Man: "To a degree Megan he does I agree, but I'd you look at the overall health of our country it is warranted"

Megan: "I don't think showing people how to change their lifestyle based on fear is ok BUT I do think the health of our country is 'blah' for lack of a better word."

Man: "I wouldn't say fear so much as shock. When you hold a smokers lung up and compare to a healthy lung it makes the point much clearer than "you shouldn't smoke" (To which I 'liked' his comment bc I partially agree and to try and keep the stones away.)

Weird Lady: "First off, if he didn't sensationalize everything then we would not be blessed enough to be able to access him anytime we want via our living room tvs! Hello, that's what TV is about! :) However, although he is a bit of a spaz, he is clearly 150% a full advocate for anything and everything pure, healthy and beneficial and that includes endorsing anything and everything that is NOT recommended and/or regulated by the FDA (i.e. nutritional supplements that Big Pharma does not profit from) and for that I commend him. Yes, there may come a day when he gets a big head like so many and sells his soul to the devil (Big Pharma) but from what I have seen, he is all about endorsing natural and scientifically proven methods for improving the overall health of our nation. You can tell this is his passion, it's clearly what he is born to do.


With that, I quit commenting because how can you rationalize with a person who thinks it's ok to sensationlize, instill fear into people, in order to have a TV show?! Are you stupid? "That's what TV is about!" Well, I'm about truth, I'm about hope not fear. Fear is sin. You know why people love his show? FEAR! Follow me a moment:

Fear is sin. 

Me, you, people are drawn to sin, ie Adam and Eve. People are drawn to Oz because of the 'Fear Factor.' It's the sin everyone seeks, that rush of fear! I'm not saying jumping out from behind a door and scaring your husband is a sin. I'm talking about living your life based on some fear provoking TV doctor. Let's live our life based on Hope, Truth, Confidence, Grace and Jesus. Let's not turn on the TV and then go dump out all the food in our pantry because Oz said, "It's ALL bad! You will die. You will get cancer." 

Jesus doesn't base his message on fear, but of Love and Hope.
  

"And His name will be the hope of all the world." Matthew 12:21