Hello, friends! Look who arrived at our office on Monday, just in time for our Boss’s Day lunch celebration.
Our first copy of Esther is here! LifeWay always sends my mom the first one to roll off the press. It was such an exciting day! Mom brought her out while we were all there together, seated around our banqueting table and enjoying Nancy’s orange pineapple cake and Kimberly’s banana pudding. Then she had Nancy read the dedication page aloud to us. It was dedicated to my sister and me! What a surprise and what a special honor! What is so fun is that Melissa had just arrived from the airport a few minutes beforehand. It was perfect timing. (Esther’s estimated shelf date is November 15. But it could be a little earlier or a little later.)
All of us at LPM are incredibly blessed to have the WORLD’S BEST BOSSES! Beth and Sabrina, you lead us with such grace, wisdom, humility, and strength. We praise God for you!
The gift we gave our bosses was a donation made in their name to a family that has been severely affected by Hurricane Ike.
Changing topics now. Monday night our family had my birthday dinner. I had requested spaghetti and meatballs from my mom and she came through big time! It was so good! She also baked me a cake for the second year in a row. Now I’d like to rise up and call my mother blessed because look at this beauty. My mother loves me.
What? Do you not think my cake was exquisitely beautiful? The nerve! Maybe you need to see it in the gentle glow of my 29 candles. (I am getting dangerously close to more than a gentle glow.)
Still not doing it for you? Well maybe you’d like to take a look at my cake from last year.
Mom had a little icing malfunction and all she could squeeze out was “H B A,” which symbolized “Happy Birthday Amanda.” Do not be fooled by this cake’s appearance because it was the best cake of my life, only to be outdone by this year’s blue ribbon winner.
I got one present from my parents – a gift bag full of spending money which I plan to put into action this weekend. Mom is taking me on a little getaway and we are going to shop! Isn’t she the sweetest? Have a great day, girls!
Tags: Esther
Happy “late” birthday Amanda. Hope you enjoyed your weekend getaway and shopping with your Mom.
Oh, man! That is the best birthday present ever! I’m always telling Josh the best thing he can do for my birthday is give me money so I can go shopping. You don’t have to buy me a present. Just give me the money you would have spent on me and let me have a shopping spree with my girlfriends. Or a mini-spree. I know he can afford a full fledged shopping spree. Anyway, pray for me, those of you that know my situation. I am taking my driver’s test for the first time this afternoon and I’m scared to death. I’m sure I’m going to do something stupid! I want my license so bad and I’m so sure it’s going to be an impossible dream for me. I know. Such a simple thing for most of you, but I had such a fear of driving and especially of taking the test, having a stranger watching every move I make and then telling me I’m not any good. I’m pathetic, I know!
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET AMANDA. CONGRATS MY SWEET BETHIE!!! . CANT WAIT !!!!
Happy Birthday,
I have a question I am going to New Orleans to hear Beth. I need help with transportation in New Orleans. Could someone help me please?? Unsure if this was the right way to go about this.
Liz [email protected]
Love It! I’ve made a few cakes like that in my time… and then there were the doozies… which I could not even believe I made.
My very first ever, made-it-by-myself-cake, was for my Sweet 16 birthday party.
(My mom was hospitalized that week for emergency gall bladder surgery, so my dad and I did the best we could to pull off a party for my birthday.)
Mom was planning to make her special, homemade Strawberry Cake that still is a family favorite.
So, I got out the recipe and all the ingredients the morning of the party and began to mix, and scratch my head and prepare and mix, and wipe the frosting off my nose… and – Well, you get the picture.
I baked the cake at 375F for the allotted amount of time and pulled out a lovely pink cake with a slight browning around the edges. I was delighted. My dad took one look and said, “Looks great, Sug…” He was on his way out the door to buy pizzas.
I waited for what seemed like forever, but may have only been five minutes and then proceeded to turn my cake out on mom’s rectangle Tupperware(TM) cake tray.
That is when it happened.
The earthquake shook our house so violently that the cake came out in several pieces plop! plop! plop! onto the plastic surface. There was also a little cloud of crumb dust that blew by me as I sat staring in horror at the catastrophe that had just taken place before my very eyes.
Now, there was not really an earthquake, but it sure looked like my cake had been hit by one. Everyone arrived and looked at my pitifully dishevelled cake as it was pasted back together by the luscious pink frosting. Earthquake cakes… They do not look great, but they taste good just the same, Glory to God.
Now, Dad, he had the bright idea of putting the Pizza’s on the sundeck out back to “keep them warm,” and we got a little extra protein for the bargain. ANTS!
Yes, we were heard to exclaim, “Be sure to shake the ants off of your pizza before you eat it!”
A birthday I will never forget.
Redemption?
I got George Strait’s #7 cassette tape that year and it was gloriously my favorite forever!
Thanks for the Esther preview… We are so excited to get our hands on that book. Love the trendy cover! Great Anticipation all around!
Blessings.
Wow! I love the birthday comments, but what I did after I saw just the cover of the Esther series was go to Lifeway website – there is a quick video of Beth in front of The White House and then in a teaching moment – I got so excited and she talks about DESTINY! Oh, to see where God is going to take us on this Esther series is too much to take in – it is just going to be astounding how HE is going to us this study! It is very precious to me that this is the study that she dedicated to Amanda and Melissa – does that tell us what Beth thinks of this study! WOW – it is going to be awesome!
miss pamela
Guess what? I passed my driver’s test!! It was ugly, but somehow I passed. I have to say I’m scared if they considered that a passing drive. What kind of crazy people do they have out there! Of course most of the mistakes I made were from nerves, but still! It was bad. I almost hit somebody! But I passed. The DMV was closed so I couldn’t get my license today, but that’s just a matter of going in and filling out the paperwork and getting that horrid picture taken. I’ve already earned it!
wonderful! Sorry my comment is so late! Normally i comment on every post the day its posted! Life has been crazy around here and we need lots of prayer!
Those cakes look amazing! im craving cake now! LOL Love you all so much!
I love the cake your Mom made for you and Happy Birthday have fun shopping.
How exciting about the New Esther book I can’t wait to get me a copy.
Have an Awesome Night and God Bless You all.
Ok So I am a Bible Study student if ever there was one, i am so in love with the Lord and can’t get enough of His Word…well I have been so excited about what the Lord is stearing me twords as far as teaching his Word..I think all will agree that when your overflowing in the Lord it’s got to go somewhere right? Well that is me I am just spilling te Lords goodness everywhere I go refreshing to some and irritating to others. Well, today I was invited, did you hear me, INVITED, to teach a Bible Study for women at our co-op…I could just die guys for real, I let the Lord have me for His service truly submit for the past several years I have known that I was in training for ministry and it’s been tough! But His Glory right? Right! Tears,oh there has and will be tears and heart ache, but His Word sets people free and I can’t get enough of seeing people truly grasp the Word of the Living God and claim it to life! I couldn’t wait to share with you because I will facilitate Esther and I have known she was coming from the pross and it has made me giggle beyond giggle, now I have a group of precious ladies that will learn and grow and the Lord is expanding my territory not for me, but for Him! For His Glory!!! I just thought I would share as I am so excited and there isn’t really anyone that gets this excited with me about this stuff, I thought you might.. I’m doing the thing in and through Christ, I love having this group to truly get excited along side. Tiffany
Yea! It is so hard pushing that icing out! And then to do fancy writing…it takes at least 30 minutes because you have to factor in rest time for your wrist and arm! HA!
I know this is late. I havent been able to check the blog in forever! Love the cakes! My kids always had the ugliest cakes , most with strawberry juice running down the sides mingled with coolwhip, but they loved them and still, as adults , ask for them.
Hi Amanda–I thought you and your mom might get a kick out of coming (virutally) to the Friday morning Bible study I am hosting at my home this fall (Fruit of the Spirit). I would think your mom would love to come to a home study someday and just sit and marvel at what God is doing. So perhaps this is the closest thing for now!
http://breathless-expectation.blogspot.com
welcome and love,
Cathy
i am new to the blog, but certainly not new to Beth Moore Bible Studies. I have been leading them since 2001 in my church. LOVE them! My educational director just told me last week about Esther. I am so excited!! We are finishing up Stepping Up right now. I am so blessed and have learned so much. Thank you Beth for being obedient to the call God put on your life!
Beth, Melissa, LPM team,
I just moved to a new state and knew I needed to find a bible study and women in the word right quick. So I found a group who had already started Esther and I joined for the Session 4 video tonight.
In the last several weeks God’s really been bringing to my attention spiritual gifts, what mine are and why I’m not walking in them more effectively and as only God can do, he arranged for me to see THAT video tonight about fear and courage and the possibility of “protecting ourselves right out of God’s calling”
Thank you for creating studies that bring women together to study the Word and can also be used mightily in God’s perfect timing.