Hey, My Darling Siestas! How’s your weekend been? You guys that keep up pretty well know that I blogged last on Wednesday while we were on our way six hours northwest to our acreage in the middle of nowhere. We are now heading back to Houston so once again I’m writing you from Keith’s truck. My man of 31 years is driving next to me, singing to 60’s music and our two dogs are snoozing in the back seat. (He just stopped me and held my hand for a minute because the song was so sweet that he felt romantic.) We got to be away for four nights. The perfect amount of time! I wish I could say it was vacation but I had to take a ton of work with me. That’s ok. At least it was from a different venue and that can help a lot.
(I just got a text from Travis with a picture on it of his youngest son who just lost two teeth. Just living a little life here. Had to stop and text back and tell Levi how cool he looks.)
My heart is full where you are concerned and full with the last four days of life out in the country with Keith. And that’s why I’m going to share a little of it with you: because I love you and love how we can share so many parts of our lives with one another. This is going to be one of those posts when the girls (Amanda or Melissa) might say, “Are you sure you want to share that? You might get hit by somebody for that.” We, the girls and I, provide checks and balances for one another. If we’ve written anything at all besides your garden variety kind of post, we usually run it by one another. Sometimes we talk each other out of an entire post because we’re afraid someone will get offended or out of sorts or just take the opportunity to be ugly or critical. It happens in the blog world which many of you know from your own blogs.
Other times we just talk each other out of a few sentences or a paragraph or two. Most of you should wish you’d seen Melissa’s original Song of Songs Valentine post before I talked her out of a whole chunk. (Yes, we did have a few little words over it. Not a fuss. Just a good, healthy discussion. All four of us are strong willed and opinionated. We just speak our minds back and forth, work through our differences, and, a whole lot of the time, end up making a private family joke out of it.) Those who wouldn’t have wished to see Melissa’s original post are the reason none of you did. (Laughing and with much love.) There was nothing wrong with it. It was just extra colorful – kind of PG13 – because the Scripts happen to be extra colorful – kind of PG14 – in that particular book.
I’m not complaining one iota. To tell you the truth, we get so little ugliness from our commenters. You guys really are so loving and encouraging and patient and understanding and leave ample room for several generations to express themselves here in very different ways. We think we have the most amazing community in bloggerville but we’re not immune, of course. Sometimes we just flat out ask for it and don’t even realize it. Other times we expect somebody may take exception but we just decide it’s worth the risk.
This is one of those times. I’m about to show you guys some pictures – poor quality ones just off my i-phone – to give you a small taste of Moore life out at the acreage our family has. I know in advance that I’m setting myself up for someone to say sarcastically “Must be nice” but I’ll just sigh when I get it and, if it doesn’t get too ugly from there, post the comment anyway and wish she hadn’t misunderstood. The thing is, I love biographies. Glimpses of people’s real lives. Parts of their stories. For instance, every time I talk to Georgia Jan, I wish I could see her surroundings so I could picture her better. Know her in her own world. Every time Mom of Eleven (actually has 12 now, we learned at the SSMT celebration) comments I wish I could see a picture of all of them. It’s one way we, scattered all over the place, take a virtual stroll through a mile or two of one another’s worlds.
Actually, the world I’m about to share with you really isn’t my world. It’s my man’s. But once a couple has been married over 25 years, you really can’t know the one without knowing the other. You can no longer tell for sure where one stops and the other starts. This isn’t land I would have chosen in a thousand years but it’s what my man chose and I chose him. SO, when I talk about us heading to what I call our cactus land, this is the kind of place I’m talking about. I’ll describe it a tad first then I’ll stroll with you through some shots.
It’s a place where your cell phone won’t work and your land line is likely not to.
It’s the kind of place where Keith and I use (or misuse) English in a way we’d never do it at home. We don’t do it to make fun. We, for those few days, say it like we mean it. Like that’s who we are. Like, for instance, just this morning on an early ride with Keith in the old jeep, I heard myself say, “We ain’t seen deer one.”
It’s a place where men are not limited to inside facilities…but I’ll not elaborate on that.
It’s a place where our favorite show is “The Duck Commander.” We laugh our heads off…and, perhaps most worrisome to some of you, totally get it.
It’s the kind of place with a VERY small town nearby that I have fallen head over heels in love with. It has one real grocery story, a “Super S,” and just yesterday while I was picking up a few items, as I live and breathe and without one hint of exaggeration, the woman at check-out got on the microphone for the store and said over the loud speaker, “Mr. Brown, your wife called and wants you to pick up a bag of potatoes.” Ain’t no doubt in my mind he got some. I was so happy I nearly got some, too.
It’s a place with a LOT of these, hence the name:
It’s a place where a woman (even a non-hunter like yours truly) sometimes dresses like this on an early morning ice-cold jeep ride (with no windows in it) with no make-up on:
It’s a place where, if the temperature’s right, a woman would be wise to wear snake boots like mine:
It’s a place where your man’s taller than usual and where manliness can sometimes be gaged by how old and beat up your vehicle is: (For those of you who can’t fathom it, that’s a corn feeder on the front of the jeep for feeding wild life. You guys just have no idea what my life is like at times. Or his, because of mine.)
It’s a place where your man’s favorite hot rod looks like this:
It’s a place where the gate might latch with a horse shoe:
It’s a place where that tiny one hundred year-old German farm house that I told you about in So Long Insecurity resides. My man went to great pains to restore this thing back to its original look. Every window and door in it is a century old.
It’s a place where the sunrise this morning from my little porch looked like this and this one’s not even an especially good one:
It’s a place with, I reckon, my favorite place of all tucked right in it. I swing here and think about all sorts of things and sing hymns and pet Star:
It’s a place where a woman can take her spirals and practice them loud without a single soul hearing or caring:
It’s a place I wish all of you who wish you had one, did. Maybe one day, when you’re older like Keith and me, you will. It’s a place others of you might be bored out of your mind. Maybe your wish list would be a tiny little bay house instead. It’s just all a matter of taste. Sometimes not your own.
It’s a place where my man seems to love me a lot.
So it’s a place I love to go.
Penny 
I feel cherished, Beth, with your letting me see your special place. What a treat! 😉
Beth, I loved your post! Thanks for sharing a little of yourself and Keith and your cactus ranch.
We have a lakehouse in East Texas….it's at a not so pretty fishing lake, but it's my husband's happy place…he just smiles from the time we leave our "big city" until we get there…..love that he loves it…and I love it "cause he does".
Thanks for sharing! It's so fun to see the Texas sky–maybe because I'm a native? So so pretty.
Priceless post – and a blessing to see it . . . thank you for sharing! Blessed Sabbath.
Thanks for the glimpse into something so special in your life! I, like you, love biographies and appreciate you sharing!
"I thank my God upon every rememberance of you!" Phil 1:3
God bless you and I hope your time away was very refreshing!
I love this post- and your place! Thank you for sharing it. I would love to have one and God willing one day we will. I love you Beth!
Blessings! 🙂
What an awesome place! I'm a SUCKER for old homes, so I'm pretty sure I would study every knot in the wood at that precious house.
Our little piece of heaven down here in Alabama is the beach – specifically the Gulf of Mexico – even more specifically Gulf Shores. I grew up going there every summer and it hasn't changed much since then. In the hectic world of 3 small children, I can't imagine any place more peaceful than sitting on the beach as the sun rises while the hubs and kids sleep inside. I'm pretty sure my heavenly mansion will have a beach view from the front porch (as well as a Starbucks and all of my best Siesta friends living in the same cul-de-sac – right?) 🙂
Love you to pieces. Come back to Birmingham soon!
Robyn
Made me miss you guys so much. Love you Mom & Dad!!!
"It's a place where my man seems to loves me a lot.
So it's a place I love to go."
And that's all that really matters! I think my place would be on the bay somewhere and luckily I think my man would agree. In the meantime we stay knee deep in Fisher Price and dirty diapers 🙂 Oh, but maybe one day…Thank you so much for sharing! Have a blessed week!
Hmmm, sounds like it's a place my man would love.
I have snake chaps, but no boots. I'm envious. Those look like mighty fine boots to me. Only thing you did not show us is the gun you tote to fend off the rattlers. Gotta show us the gun, Beth!
and that swing….oooohhhh, I love it. I'd love to swing and swing in it, all the while reading a good book.
Beth, thank you for sharing your life. I love to know peoples lives and see a glimpse into them. I also loved your pink rattlesnake boots:-) Very stylish!!
Oh! How I would love a place like that. My man's dearly afraid of snakes, so chances are I'll have to live vicariously through your pictures. Thank you so much for the glimpse.
I love this!! I am a southern girl through and through and that just looks like a little piece of heaven!! Glad you had a great time!!
Mrs. Beth,
The first words that would echo in my heart and mind after seeing this post were "Be Still…" Psalm 46:10, yes, with the final words of "and know that I am GOD" The love, solitude, and silence that beautiful piece of land must provide, I am sure, is absolutely overwhelming. It made me ask myself, do I "let go" for God? Am I being still for God? Just as you mentioned in your post about saying things you normally wouldn't say, (like the word 'ain't'), do I reveal that side of me to my Father? Your post in all its simplicity, challenged me to "let my hair down" in front of my Savior who created this beautiful scenery we take in. Just this weekend I have wanted to read and study God's word so much and it becomes overwhelming for me sometimes to balance my life. I started occupational therapy school last August, and its so tough to study school things when I have God's word, dictionaries, books and commentaries, it just seems I can't get enough of the Holy Spirit working in my life lately. I am thankful for the desire to know more…
Tearfully, I thank you for providing this post to us today. It allowed me the chance to stop working on research papers, learning theories, and studying for school and gave me a chance to be still after reading your post and reflect on the intimacy God desires of me! Thank you..
Devin
So sweet! Thank you for sharing! What a great reason to enjoy it!!! PLUS it looks so peaceful!!! Glad you got to enjoy some special time with your man, even tho you had to do some work!
I so want my husband and myself to meet you and Keith, because you sound like our kind of folk. However, I am hesitant in that dream because I am certain that, if we did meet, our husbands would take off to that there ranch of yours and you and I wouldn't see our men in the light of day again, but we'd have more than enough deer, turkey, hog, and the like to fill our freezers for a year.
*sigh*
The hazards of being in the Wives of Hunters Club.
BUT, then again, it has it great rewards, such as you've shown us here. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
Now, where are my snake boots?
I love it! My grandparents have a ranch in West Texas as well…with rattle snakes and everything. I love to go out there…your post reminded me of that! Thanks for sharing!
Mama Beth,
It's always a special time to log onto the LPM blog and see what your family and Siestaville is up to!
Thank you for sharing! Looks like the "place out West" is a gift of Peace from your Father!!
Have a safe ride home!
kate in Charlottesville
Beth,
Thanks so much for sharing! There is something renewing about getting away from the everyday routine and chaos with your husband. Someday my husband and I hope to have a little place – woods/water are his request and a toilet that flushes is mine : ). I never thought I would be an outdoor girl – but the change in my husband when we get away with our little pop-up camper makes me love those trips!
Aww, I LOVE these little glimpses into your life, and the way you write about them in a way that makes us laugh, smile and wish we lived next door. And I love that you shared pictures!! Priceless! 🙂 Thank you for including us in your life…you are precious to us.
I know I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Thank you so much for sharing your lives with us and for being so real and open and honest! I loved seeing all your pictures of that special place and love the fact that you and your man can escape there together! My man loves John Deere too, and we have lots of farming in our background, so I can definitely relate. You inspire the rest of us to love our man just a little bit more today!
I think it is fantastic that you & Keith have this getaway. Sometimes people are too quick to judge & want what you have, without ever wanting to go where you've been in life. Blessings look different at lots of different stages.
So may God be praised. Funny – as I read your last post, I kept hoping you would post some pictures for us. So thanks.
Love you Beth
Everyone needs a place to escape to once in a while. I love your place it looks so quiet!! Mine seems to be wherever "my man" is, and sometimes that place is really noisy!!
I stinkin LOVE It!
You are just the most adorable woman…I love the cute scarf you wore with the camo outfit (I am sure the outfit has an official name)…
You and your family give so much to others… Iam glad you have a place to go to get away from it all…
I always love your "realness", Beth. Thank you, again, for sharing your life with us. I'm thrilled for you and yours!
Beth, I love you so much! Thank you for your authenticity and being so open – I am so thankful we are free and forgiven!!!
OMGosh!!!!! Love it, love it, love it!!! I just wish I'd taken a reciprocal picture of my man and man-boy (our son of almost 17) and dog-boy (our year and a half old bulldog)as they rode off in my man's 67 chevy pickup!!! He drives around in that thing like the cat that ate the canary…even our son and his friends absolutely covet that truck! old trucks, jeeps and farm equipment – such guy things, gotta love em!!!!!
Beth, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you and your girls feel free to share your lives! Our family has a little ol' place on Lake Granbury (bought long, long before things got so expensive out there)…we girls wouldn't in a bazillion years take pictures of each other out there (and we LOVE to take pictures of ourselves everywhere else!)…I LOVE that you can look so adorable in camo coveralls with no makeup! Ain't life grand?! Yep, and that's a saying I only say at the lakehouse, I know just what you mean! Love you and yours!!!!!
Keep sharing, don't let your insecurities of what others will think rob those of us who do enjoy your stories/pictures!
This is fabulous. My man has his preference as well….I go along with him because I love that he wants me along.
Beth–thank you for sharing this with us! I think this place is just absolutely GREAT!!
We are buried under several feet of snow here in Des Moines, Iowa and have been since early December; so to see dry ground is a feast for the eyes!
Have a great ride home.
And your hair even looks beautiful while you're wearing camo. You're the cutest thing ever! I adore that little restored house. (And I'm hoping I get to see you "in the flesh" when you come to Lexington, KY in August.) 🙂
Looks like a little taste of heaven to me! So glad you get to "get away" with your man to this abode. I love the farm house and especially the sunrise, but I think my favorite is your boots…..are those "pink" or do they just look that color in the pic.
love you lots!
Sharron
Looks like a little taste of heaven to me! So glad you get to "get away" with your man to this abode. I love the farm house and especially the sunrise, but I think my favorite is your boots…..are those "pink" or do they just look that color in the pic.
love you lots!
Sharron
That was really beautiful…thank you so much for sharing that with us. We live in DC…I'm a self proclaimed "city slicker." My husband – to put it gently – he dispises it here:). But today is his kind of day. 14 trees went down in our backyard during the last snow storm. He has secured the world's biggest chain saw and is merrily ripping apart wood. He's a very happy man…and like you…that's enough to make me happy too.
Thanks for sharing this part of your life with us, Beth. So glad you enjoyed your days away — and so love it that you think of us as friends. Love you back!
I think it's great…any place where you can get away is your place. myabe I'd pick somwhere without catcus but maybe not…
On this beautiful day in the Oa rksI am still sufering froma shulder injury getting very very very discouraged it's not healing. It's been months…
Thanks for sharing a bit of your life and Have a great week
We're right behind ya! My sweet man just bought me my first fishin' pole– and it's pink!! It's not so bad being included in "man world" from time to time, is it!
Thanks for sharing! I'm from Midland so I can appreciate the dry rugged beauty that not many understand- looks like a great retreat!
Thanks for sharing…. brought tears to my eyes….. Every time you speak of Keith, I think of my man, his name is Dave…. and he is just plain WONDERFUL!
Blessings to you!
Nicki
NC
What a treat to allow us to "invade" your respite. Thank you….that is what we love most about you…always willing to encourage us with a bit of your life. Thank you, too, for sharing that the 4 of you are strong willed and opinionated….I so needed to hear that today as the mom of a very strong willed and opinionated 4 1/2 year old daughter whom I know the Lord has a plan for. Great to see how this can be harnessed and used for His glory in adult life.
That should be Ozarks…not sure what happned there….where is the spell check
Thanks for sharing Beth! Your farm house is adorable (I hope Keith won't be offended, it's very manly too.) The pics were so beautiful! We've been snowed over in my part of Ohio, it's so nice to see that blue sky still exist.
Have a great week :o)
love the comment, "It's a place where my man seems to love me alot – so it's a place I love to go"
precious ~
thank you for sharing –
many blessings –
Allison
Beautiful! 🙂 Looked like heaven to me…especially if we added a coastline off in the distance. I'm hard to please!
My favorite picture (cuz it made me giggle) was your spiral because the first thing I noticed was how pretty your nail looks against the notepad and dry Texas grass & "trees" – heeehee!
I am so jealous! In a godly way of course!:) Thank you for sharing something that means so much to you with us. I love it when you guys post pictures!!!!! Blessings!
I am so jealous! In a godly way of course!:) Thank you for sharing something that means so much to you with us. I love it when you guys post pictures!!!!! Blessings!
I am so jealous! In a godly way of course!:) Thank you for sharing something that means so much to you with us. I love it when you guys post pictures!!!!! Blessings!
Beth,
You make us feel so special, letting us into an intimate, treasured part of your life. I'm grateful from the bottom of my heart!
LOVE IT… I bet you even talk slow out there.
1 happy husband = future grace for wife
Blessings,
Happy Heart