Archive for August, 2009

I’ve been rebuked.



It is true.
I’ve been rebuked by more than one of you for not posting a follow up on the Frivolous Friday post. By the way, you totally saw the title of this post and thought it was going to be a controversial theological post, didn’t you? Could not be further from the truth, my dear friends. Could not be further from the truth.
I had so much fun reading all of your comments. And yes, I read every single one of them and made a list of about thirty new perfumes that I had never encountered and headed to Lenox Mall & then Phipps Plaza to complete my research. These were some of my top favorites though I did not purchase them in the end. So here were the runners-up that I hope to try in the future:
Trish McEvoy #9 (Blackberry & Vanilla Musk- so soft… loved it)
Jo Malone Fragrances- I liked SEVERAL of her fragrances… a perfume junkie really should stay away from her counter. I was like a little kid in a candy store.
Viva La Juicy- This one took me by surprise. I was turned off by both the name and the bottle at first sight but I LOVED the fragrance. Very girly-girl but still so contemporary and playful.
So here are the goods:
The day I posted my blog, Roxanne Worsham, a Siesta, wrote me and told me she wanted to send me a bottle of her favorite perfume for my birthday. How could I really have resisted this…? See for yourself what was in the package she sent me:
So so fun!!! I have fallen in love with Chanel Chance. I really am not exaggerating when I say that people ask me everywhere I go what perfume I am wearing. It is the perfect fusion of sweet and spice. So, Roxanne, thank you so much for your incredible thoughtfulness and generosity. I feel like a total classic Diva wearing this stuff.
Last but not least, several of you mentioned Creed fragrances which are primarily sold at Neiman Marcus. Needless to say, Colin and I do NOT frequent Neiman Marcus but it was, after all, my birthday. So Colin and I spent about an hour with this wonderful lady who seriously must have had her doctorate in perfumeology. I’m not sure perfumeology is a word or a legitimate degree but this woman was amazing. I smelled each and every Creed fragrance and then she introduced me to Creed’s latest fragrance, Acqua Fiorentina. She explained how the top-notes were plum and green-something or other and there were apparently Renaissance roses all thrown in there …and oh yeah, she mentioned something about bergamot and cedar wood and sandal wood. Etc. Etc. I got lost right about there. I thought at first that Acqua Fiorentina was far too regal and floral for me. And did I add that the perfume itself is pink? I’m not really a pink type. But then she full on ordered me (with authority I might add) to walk around the store for a few minutes and allow it to settle in on me. And then I became obsessed. It was euphoric. But then there was that little tiny part about how 1 oz. of this stuff costs $130. So I became bitter, lost interest, and quickly shuffled off to move to my next perfume victim. Out of sight, out of mind, right??? Or, is it, “absence makes the heart grow fonder”…? In any case, I was beyond ecstatic when Colin lost his mind and bought me the little bottle of it for my birthday. He definitely splurged on me. I was so happy and felt so spoiled by my man even though I only get to wear it about once a week because every spray is about $10.
So in answer to your question this is where I’m at on my perfume journey…Chanel Chance for daily wear & Acqua Fiorentina for VERY limited use. I will say that I have gotten as many compliments on the former as I have the latter which is encouraging since Colin says he will never be buying from the Creed counter ever again. 🙂 So, Roxanne, thank you for your incredible kindness to me. I was so spoiled. It was a monumentally fragrant birthday for me!
By the way, have I mentioned that my Mom made a surprise visit to Atlanta yesterday??? She called me yesterday morning and told me she would be here around 1:00 and we took the latter part of the afternoon off from work and just relaxed, hung out, and played until she had to leave at 9:00!!! It was so good for my soul to see her! It was exactly what I needed, just a fun and lighthearted afternoon.
We played for a few minutes at H&M and both marveled at how tiny these jeans were:

Honestly, who is really supposed to wear those?
Then, I took her to eat an early dinner at Floataway Cafe’ where we had one of the top meals of our lives.
Such whimsical and dreamy interiors:
Mom, unknowingly getting ready for the Pasta of her life. What makes me laugh about this picture is that for some reason her booth was lower to the ground than my chair and I am already a good four and a half inches taller than her and so she looks so tiny here. I kept telling her all throughout dinner how cute she looked and I finally realized it was because she looked so short and sweet.
Warm Cheese Gougeres… help me, someone.

Last but not least was dessert. Warm Toffee Pudding Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream. I kid you not, this was the best dessert I’ve ever had in my life. I nearly passed out. By the way, the reason there are no pictures of our main entrees is because we scarfed them down in about thirty seconds.
About to drop my Mom off at the airport. Already getting sad but still so excited to see her!


We sure love all of you Siestas and talked about you even last night at dinner!
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10 Ticket Giveaway and One Pen Woe

Good day, my brilliant and beautiful Siestas! I am in a SIESTA MOOD! I wish we could go back and forth on here all day long. To God’s great glory and sustaining grace, I am slowly climbing out of a HUGE pile of work and can see some sun shining through a very dense forest. This sanguine is looking for a P-A-R-T-Y but it’s a tad premature and I better not jump the gun. The good news is, I only have one more chapter to write for the book on women and insecurity and, Girlfriend, to tell you my soul has profited from the process is a vast understatement. GOD HAS BEEN IN MY BUSINESS. The only two things that have ever gotten this far under my own skin were Breaking Free and When Godly People Do Ungodly Things.

Anyway, that’s another post for another time. Let me try to get back on theme here. I am writing today to ask you two questions:

1. Does anybody need a Siesta scholarship ticket to the Fargo, North Dakota Living Proof Live this weekend? We have ten tickets we’re dying to give away so, if you want to go but don’t have the money for a ticket, call LPM toll free at 1-888-700-1999 and ask for Susan or Kimberly. They’ll get you fixed up right away! By the way, North Dakota girls, I cannot WAIT to get my hands on you. We could not be happier to come your way.

2. I am going through the five stages of grief over the discontinuance of my world’s FAVORITE INK PEN. I only learned the bad news yesterday so I’m early in the process. I have cherished my slender Fine Point Blue Ink Forays for years and have gone through no less than several hundred of them. I have persevered through numerous plastic quills leaking under the air pressure on planes and have proudly worn their ink all over my hands, forearms, and face. I even glanced at the rear view mirror in my car last week on my way home from work and had a big blue spot of ink on the end of my nose. I jotted Michelle a text (yes, at a stop light and with my seat belt on) and asked her if she just happened to notice the huge navy splotch on the tip of my generous nose and she responded, “No, Ma’am, I have been too busy watching your teeth.” (That is because Kay Arthur told all of us at Deeper Still that, as you get older, your teeth collapse forward – she used that very word “collapse” – and you can get all manner of stuff caught in them. I was so disturbed that I put Michelle on watch like a bird dog on point and still could hardly sleep that night.)

Anyway, how did I get off on all that??? I’m simply trying to tell you that my favorite ink pen – the very pen I’ve been obsessed with for my entire recent ministry life – is vanishing from the face of God’s green earth. Why, I ask you? WHY???? (That’s not really the question though.)

SO, I am on the lookout for a new kind. I want it to write WELL. Slide on the page. Dance on every line. Don’t tease with me here, Siestas. I’m raw. I need to hear from you. Anybody out there in Siestaville discovered your own ultimate ink pen? Start talking.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Michelle just walked into my office with the TOP SIX SIESTA PENS for me to test drive. She researched your responses and went straight to Office Max. I will let you know my selection soon! I’m so nervous. This is big.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT UPDATE: TESTING IN PROGRESS

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Go West, Young Fam

The back to school buzz has started around these parts and it feels like summer is wrapping up. Of course, Texas has two more months of summer weather before we can even think about fall, but fall semester activities are surely not far off.

I don’t know about you, but this summer took me by surprise. I really thought it would be low-key and restful. We had a busy year with ministry and family life (hello, Annabeth!) and I looked forward to recuperating over the summer. Well, my Relaxing Summer quickly turned into Activity Central. Can you relate? We had Jackson in swim lessons twice a week for two months, Curtis taught at MetroLive on Thursday nights, and we traveled a bit. I also did our MM&L study with some girls from Sunday school. When Metro and the MM&L study ended last week, it was like the end of a marathon. (Not that I would actually know what that’s like.) What I’m trying to say is we had a great summer but we are t-i-r-e-d!

Curtis and I decided to wrap up our summer with a trip to the mountains. We have a house/dog sitter coming to our place and we’re heading up to the cabin in Wyoming for almost two weeks. We’re saying adios to schedules, commitments, wireless and high speed Internet, our cell phones, humidity, and having anyone else to hang out with but each other. We can’t wait for some milder weather, frigid night air, sleeping with the windows cracked, quiet times on the porch with a view of the mountains, and just being together in one of the most beautiful places God ever made. This will be our first time to take Jackson in the summer and of course it will be Annabeth’s first time to go. My parents are going to join us there after about a week. We’re so excited.

I may be scarce around the blog for a while, but your Siesta Mama will keep things afloat. The cabin only has dial-up Internet. Awesome, right? I guess we’re lucky to even have that in the middle of a national forest. I hope to have some neat pictures and stories to share soon. As my mom says, you can’t write about life unless you’re living it!

Enjoy what’s left of your summer, Siestas! I’ll see you soon.
Love,
Amanda

FROM BETH: Y’all, I accidentally just deleted 41 comments! It’s been a long time since I’ve done that! (It’s easier than it seems.) Please forgive me. I had a technical difficulty and had them marked to approve them and – boom – there they went! Tried to reverse it but couldn’t. We are having a terrible lightening storm and somehow the web wires may have gotten crossed. I will tell Amanda how many of you sent prayers and encouragements for their time away. You are wonderful and we love you so much!

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Dreams

I came across a blog today that asked this question: When you were 16, where did you think you would be at the age of 30? I thought it was a great question and it got me thinking but in a slightly different direction.

I have a friend who is an airline pilot. It might sound ordinary enough but you see, he has ALWAYS wanted to be a pilot. Since he had braces and a buzz cut in the fifth grade. That’s the only thing he has ever wanted to do. And now this is what he does professionally as a twenty-eight year old. How cool is that? I also have a friend who was passionate about American Sign Language in the second grade. How can you be passionate about something so noble in the second grade, you may ask of me. I honestly don’t know- she might be one of the “angels unawares” of which the KJV of Hebrews 13:2 speaks so ambiguously. But seriously the last time I checked she was studying American Sign Language at the graduate level. I marvel at these two friends of mine because of their steadfastness in one direction. There is just something so beautiful and symmetrical about people fulfilling their lifelong dreams.

I, on the other hand, cannot even remotely resonate with such continuity of life. I grew up wanting to be the first woman in the NBA. Basketball was my childhood passion and so it seemed like a reasonable dream. When the WNBA first kicked off you would have thought that I would have adapted my dreams a little. I didn’t. Instead I mocked the women thinking that the entire league was lame and that I would be vastly different- I would play out there with the boys. Yeah, didn’t so much happen. I don’t think I need to explain why that dream wasn’t fulfilled. Then I wanted to be an Interior Designer and took two years of classes at Baylor in this direction. I loved my classes and my professors and I could have easily seen myself as an Interior Designer. Until I took New Testament, that is. Then my world changed. But the truth is I never saw myself going into vocational ministry and certainly never saw myself as a book nerd. If you would have told me ten years ago that I would be doing what I do today I would have laughed shamelessly at your presumptuous foretelling (if I was in a good mood) or I might have slapped you in the face (if I was in a bad mood). Yet here I am sitting behind a desk with my face in a book most of the day and I couldn’t imagine life any other way.

So what about you? When you were a kid who or what did you want to be when you grew up? And what do you do now?

*Hey everyone! This is Amanda. Melissa asked Mom and me to write our answers in the post. When I was 16 I wanted to be a broadcast journalist like Barbara Walters. I remember spending many Friday nights of my young life at my grandparents’ house and we always watched 20/20 at 9:00 on Channel 13. I did go on to major in journalism, but I’m definitely not hosting a news magazine show on TV! Nowadays I work part-time from home as a blog administrator. I never would have imagined when I started working at LPM 7 years ago, much less when I was 16 and didn’t even know what the Internet was, that this would end up being my job. I love what I do and am very thankful for the life God has given me.

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Siesta Summer Bible Study: Final Gathering

Siesta Summer Bible Study (Weeks 5 and 6) from LPV on Vimeo.

The summer has flown by! It’s already time for our SSBS wrap up! Listen, if you can make heads or tails out of this video, you are brilliant and PATIENT! As you’ll see, I had to take you on the road with me but at least I hope it tells you that you are loved around here at LPM and never forgotten.

Let me share two things before you read the interactives. The first one is a reminder: your comments to this post are meant to follow your last gathering. The second one is something you won’t want to miss: please look at the post right before this one and take the opportunity to thank Jennifer Rothschild for her ministry to you and, if she’s like me, she’ll delight in hearing something very specific you believe God said to you through the journey. Let’s shower her with some really big SIESTA LOVE!

Here are your four interactives for your gatherings today:

First two from Week Five:

1. See pages 102-103. Book freak that I am, I loved the way Jennifer started the week with English author Huxley’s comparison of our memories to private collections of literature. Lock in on the graphic of the books on the shelf on p.103. Each person share the words they wrote on the first and last book.

2. See pages 112-113 where Jennifer talks about the unattractiveness of complaining. You might say, it’s like living our lives with rollers in our hair. Jennifer drew a very insightful connection between a complaining spirit and a sense of entitlement. In your gatherings, talk about what you think the term “entitlement” means and offer a few examples of it.

Second set from Week Six:

3. See p.126. As we wrap up our series, I want you guys to share your answers (even if you didn’t write them down) to Jennifer’s first questions: What’s the most significant thing you recognized about your self-talk so far? In other words, I’m asking you to share the biggest revelation you received through the study about your thought closet.

BTW, I loved Jennifer’s creativity in the interactive on p.130 about the colors in our closets. I like questions that really make me think and imagine. These are the kinds of question some of our personality types and learning styles love and others roll their eyes about. If you are the kind that loved it and you came up with a pretty creative color, share it! If you’re the kind that rolled your eyes, roll them one more moment while your sister shares. I love you both.

4. See the bottom of p.136. What is the most frequent song you’re singing right now to your soul to help you persevere and keep hope alive? I almost overlooked this exercise because we shared a post not too long ago concerning the songs that stir up our love for Jesus. This one’s a little different though. Jennifer is asking specifically about songs that stir us up to perseverance. Songs that make us essentially say, “March on, my soul, be strong!” What’s yours presently?

Siestas, I have loved EVERY MINUTE of this study! Thank you so much for participating! Be sure and start looking right away for the Bible study you’re going to do this Fall. We’ve got to plan for faithfulness and, to do that, we’ve got to stay in God’s Word! I will ask you late in August what you’re planning to do in September for Bible study so try to make up your mind by that time. Remember, accountability is KEY!!!

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Thank You, Jennifer!

Dear Jennifer…

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Deeper Still – Greensboro, NC

DeeperStill – Greensboro NC from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

BETH ADDING THIS NOTE: YOU CAROLINA GIRLS (COUNTING ALL OF YOU FROM THE SURROUNDING STATES WHO GATHER THERE FOR EVENTS) ARE UNBELIEVABLE. YOU BLOW MY MIND. YOU DID IT AGAIN. YOU ARE THE MOST ENGAGED PEOPLE I’VE EVER SEEN. YOU LEARN EASY, LAUGH EASY, AND, BEST OF ALL, LOVE EASY. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO GIVE YOU MORE…AND MORE…AND MORE …AND MORE OF WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE. I AM STUNNED WITH YOU. YOU HAVE WON OUR HEARTS.

Some of our Siestas in Greensboro:
Front row: Haley, Carolyn, Judy H., Lori with Liam, Susan and Judy P.
Back row: Lora, Nesha, DeAnna, Tammy and Kristi

Talking to Siesta Mama on speaker phone.

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Siesta Scripture Memory Verse 15!

Hey, Scripture Memory Buddies!

Every single month my anticipation of our January celebration doubles! Just picture all those hugs and high fives! Has this been a great support group, or what? Although I know I would have still memorized Scripture because my poor obsessive mind spins out of control without it, I cannot imagine that I would have memorized the same amount over the course of this year. Accountability and COMMUNITY are beautiful things. Of all the activities we’ve gotten to do on our LPM blog, honestly, this is one of my favorites. I hope you’re getting plenty of opportunities to put your memory verses to practice. Just in case you haven’t found them all that practical, you ought to try mine from our last segment. It was on the tongue. Let me simply say that, for some unknown reason, my verse came to my mind about 25 times a day.

I’m also excited about the selection God has impressed on my heart for this round.

“I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me.” Psalm 57:2 NIV

Here’s what God is using that verse to say to me right now: When I’m in a really hard and hurtful situation, somehow the present difficulty of it overrides my conscious thought that God is going to use it in my life and then through my life. Not one time in my entire tenure on this planet has He ever failed to turn around and use the hardship for good. NOT ONCE. Not when I gave Him enough time and cooperation. Yet, in the midst of it, I often can only hang onto Him for dear life while we ride the wave to shore and then stand there in the aftershock and look like I’ve just been on the spin cycle of a washing machine. Afterward, when He invariably turns it into some kind of maturity, intimacy, insight or ministry, I think, “Why didn’t I just trust Him for that at the time??? Why did I have to take it so personally and injuriously?” I want to learn to CONSISTENTLY claim the victory right there in the worst of the pain or crisis. At the very moment that I’m crying out to God Most High for help, as the psalmist says, I want to proclaim that He’s smack in the middle of fulfilling His purpose for me. Challenging stuff.

But that’s one of the things that keeps us so interested and engaged with Christ. We can never get this thing conquered.

I am so honored to take this journey with you. He is everything, Sweet Thing. He is absolutely EVERYTHING! Savor His Presence today.

OK, let’s hear your first name, city, verse and translation!

I love you,

Beth

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