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.
Dionna 
You are amazing. I am blown away with your wisdom, honesty, humor and love! It really blows my mind how much Christ is changing me because of your teachings! It cracked me up how you described your blog "edit" discussions that you and your beloved girls have. Going through your Esther study (session 5) and last night I literally had the tv screen paused and sat and meditated on your wisdom of "WAITING for GODTIME"! YOU ROCK! Thank you Jesus for giving mama Beth such WISDOM! I love you so much!
Katie
Sherrill NY
I'm from South Carolina and my family can so appreciate those wide open spaces, and the encompassing silence those spaces provide! I think with four kids, a husband who's family owns restaurants and a real estate company of my own, I'd go bonkers without those silent places and beautiful spaces that God so willingly shares with us! Thank you for sharing the one He gave you and yours, Beth!
p.s. I have to admit, I covet that swing! My sweet husband would covet the jeep… lol
Thank you so much Beth for sharing with us! Through the blog and Bible studies I feel like I know you so well. When you were here for the book signing it seemed like we should have gone to dinner and had a chat with Starbucks for dessert. This blog is such a blessing to my life.
Oh Beth — This is Wonderful! Thank you for sharing something so intimiate with all of us. My grandfather built a cabin in the Adirondacks when I was small, and I miss it so much. My husband and I have toyed with this very idea — a kind of a runaway place if you will — minus the rattlesnakes, cuz neither of us can shoot. lol We've agreed to start saving up, and in a few years, we'll be there. Blessings, Deana
Hello 7:46am March 1st.
Wow. Thanks so much for sharing. I don't know if anyone will read my post, but if you do, pls scroll back and read the post at the above time. It's a priceless warning/admonition from a dear Siesta.
Thank you for sharing.
Warm in Alaska.
Thank you Beth, for trusting us enough to share a special place with us. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look more adorable in chamo – I bet Keith agrees. 🙂
So – if a snake bites you when in your boots – it won't go through? Just wondering. 🙂
I could not love you or your daughters more.. Its one of the reasons i study with you and allow the voice of our amazing God and Creator speak to me thru you.. sometimes in Love sometimes in direction and somtimes in "firmness"..
Its what makes you real. thank yoiu for loving us Beth and making us a part of your family. even if we never meet here on earth.. i am so happy i got to know you…
I have learned so much from you! Not only do you share your journeys with Jesus with us, you share your life, which is what endears you to us and makes it easier to learn the tough lessons with you. We recently moved to a tiny Texas town, and I've started a ladies Bible study group. I had shared some get to know me, where I've been stuff, but it was surface stuff. Just last week I debated whether or not to share some of what I have struggled with for years. I thought "I have a fresh start, and they don't have to know the garbage I've been through." But being real with people (to a degree–you know what I mean), makes a group more intimate and personal. So I shared the good and the bad. And I learned that lesson from you too. Love you, Siesta Momma! Thanks for sharing your life with us. Your place looks like a wonderful get away–just right for you and Keith!
Sounds like a neat place to escape to, potential rattlesnakes aside! Love the little house! The story about the grocery store cashier made me laugh hysterically. LOVE IT!
Thank you for sharing! I love old homes and the thought of preserving them. One thing I related to: I love things simply because my man does. I'd never choose them, but I love them because of the life it gives him. For example: he is a camper – grew up camping. I prefer to not have to go outside at night to find a place to go to the bathroom. But we camp, and I go happily…even suggest it. Why? Because we camp in a trailer…with a bathroom. It was his compromise so that we both enjoy it. It's an getaway from a crazy life in ministry that fills him with new life. I'll jump on board with that any day!
Beth, I loved this post!! 🙂 🙂 You are one special lady, Siesta Mama!
I love your place and thank you for sharing it will us. Ours is a Gold Wing Honda Trike (never would have in a million yrs thought I would be on a motorcycle) 30 years of marriage and we are having the time of our lives!
Tammy
Brentwood Tn
Beth, I think that you are so very precious. When I began reading the "So Long Insecurity" book, it was like listening to you talk!! I thought to myself 'you can tell she wrote this to the women that she ministers to all the time.' And it was comfortable. I keep telling my friends in Ohio that I'm going to move to Texas so I can go to church with Beth!!
Tracie from Ohio!
Dearest Friend,
SMILE! Oh how I am so thankful for Jesus in you. I'm also thankful for your flesh. Hope you know what I mean; I know you do. I love your realness, your graciousness to us. Your love to us that I know only our God could perform. It's hard to love all kinds of people, but that is just another evidence of Jesus in you. I love your land and all that it represents. I love your ranch house (I think that's what you call it). I know that I have been one of those who in the past would make comments like "must be nice". So, thankful that God has given me a different heart and different eyes to see others.
It's really quite interesting when I have had friends come to my home for the first time after knowing them for a while and watch the different responses. Some comment, "Oh what a beautiful home! This is so nice." And the expression on their faces really show awe and admiration. Then their are others who walk in and (given the gift/ burden of discernment) their expression -cause there's no spoken comment – says "Oh my, I really pictured you living some where much nicer than this!" hahaha. We are a funny lot.There's been so many times I've struggled with wanting someone else's blessings or talents. I have to praise God that, for the most part, He has brought me close enough to Him that I realize He has made me for Him just exactly what He needs me to be. Contentment and a thankful heart is a blessing and proof of a God who is always at work in me.
I love you Beth, Amanda and Melissa. I have tasted just a little bit of what you have had to lay down in order to serve us in the sweet name of Jesus. I just want you to know that you have done a BIG THING in our Jesus name!
Mamma Beth:
It's a glorious place for you, your man and your God…and of coarse your dogs… can't forget them. 🙂
Sometimes we just need that a place that God can just fill you up so and then because you love us so, you come back and work on filling us up with all the words and wisdom your God and your cactus can give. lol… gotta love the tractor… best hot rod here in Texas my daddy would say.
Thanks for sharing your world with us… you are so real and I feel like family…
Love ya like crazy,
Lichelle
My kind of place! I would be
completely happy there! I grew
up in South GA & now live near
ATL! It looks like HOME to me! This "Country Girl" (or some might call us Ga Rednecks) can put ourselves in your very "snake boots"!!! Thank you for sharing
these pics & thoughts. Loved them
all!
We have two of those placesone would be of my choice the other just came with the man. Florida's Gulf of Mexico any walking beach that lets us walk for miles with our little dog.(I get to pick this sometimes), and one on the edge of a river that his family has owned forever. But they got indoor plumbing the year he married me a straight up city girl who had no clue what an outhouse looked like.I go because they make him so very happy and that in turn makes me happy, I want to be his loudest cheerleader cause there are many who would glady fill my shoes, if I do not tend this marriage with all the love and attention it requires. Just cause we live in a world like that, my life with my man is a very good and blessed life.
I have never loved you more, Ms. Moore.
My man and your man would so like each other,(no communication mind you, but many manly grunts).
Dear Beth,
How fun! I LOVED seeing a slice of your life. It will help me picture you and Keith when you say you're going out to your ranch. I'm so grateful for you and how you share your life with us!
Karen in Yorba Linda, CA
Hooray! Thanks for sharing with us! I've been trying to imagine just what it looks like while reading SLI, and I feel honored to know that you'd share pictures with us. I was tempted to ask, but didn't want to impose. 🙂
Thanks again, sweet Beth!
I appreciate you allowing us "in" to see your life when you are "just you" ~ Beth, the woman Keith married, mother of two, grandmother of two, living your life. Thank you for your post!
You mentioned you would enjoy knowing where we live so while I don't have the tech knowledge to post a picture of our place at the "end of the road" where my man and I live on the Umpqua river's edge ~ I'll try to briefly describe it in word pictures.
In a word, our world is GREEN . .. its spring in Oregon so its supernaturally green right now. In contrast to your picture of your darling tree swing hung over all those rocks, we have brilliantly green moss growing on rocks and even on our concrete steps. We live out of cell phone range where there are so many stars at night that we sit in our evening hot tub dazzled by God's creation.
Thank God for his generosity in sparing nothing in creating nature . . .He didn't need to give us this beauty (whether desert or verdant river banks) to wonder at. Thanks be to God also for a place where you (and Keith) can get away, recharge and enjoy a bit slower pace ~ I selfishly want you to continue for a long long time so I can enjoy continuing blessings from your ministry so, praise God that you have that cute little place amidst the cactus.
Lynne, on the Umpqua riverbank
I love it all! Thanks for sharing about yourself. It makes me think about what is a getaway for us? Being in ministry 19 years has me thinking alot lately about getting away from everything for short breaks.
We need to take control of our schedule and enjoy some time.
Thanks Beth for letting us see your life. Dj
Thank you for sharing this part of your life with us. There are a million reasons you don't have to and we're all blessed that you overlooked those reasons. I'm such a visual person. Now when you talk about your cactus land I can picture you in your camo, without makeup on, sitting in your swing, reading your scriptures out loud, with perfectly manicured fingernails, may I note!
Beth: Thanks so much for sharing a little piece of your life. It isnt too much longer before my hubby will be at retirement age and he wants to sell it all and be snowbirds. The idea of not really having any roots scares me a bit but I do like a good adventure. He is a photographer and wants to take pictures of our beautiful Country. Again, like you and many others have said. He loves the idea, and I love it because he does. It still is a few years away so God may have other plans but knowing our God and how much He loves us, I think my husband will get his hearts desire. He doesnt ask for much and I know God will honor what he does ask for.
Love to get glimpes of your life! Thank you for sharing. And love to get glimpses of Melissa and Amanda's lives as well! Thankful for all of you.
Marcia,
Mpls, MN
Beth,Amanda,Melissa
Thank you so much for all the times you take the risk to share your lives in blog world. I love the different flavors you each bring to the blog It is a privilege and an honor to be a part of your world. (I hope I say this right) – the more real you are, the more I am encouraged to just be real.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing and I'm so glad that God has given you and Keith such a place. Enjoyed the pictures.
Beth,
Thank you so much for showing us your special place! The house is adorble! I ALWAYS try to picture you wherever you are in your posts. For instance, I've known for a long time that you spent alot of time on your back porch – so I loved the pictures you posted some time ago of it and your yard. I love being outside to – and like Georgia Jan, I'm from South Central Georgia. I'm actually wondering if I live only 20 min from her from something I read on her blog. I'll have to find out. It would be great fun to make a friend who is also a fellow Siesta! From what I've read on her blog, she would be a great encourager!
I do freelance writing (hope to write full time one day) and I'd love to have a special place to go to get away from all the distractions. Maybe one day 🙂
Take care and God bless you! You are so special to me!
Lynn
Beth, One thing I'm curious about. Since y'all opted to keep the place original, does that mean you kept the outhouse as well? Or did Keith have to use his past plumbing skills to fit a little extra room inside the house? 🙂
Elaine
Mama Beth,
Thank you for including pictures. I love it! And I can imagine the peace, solitude and beauty without even being there.
I grew up in a really small town, probalby like the one you wrote about. My mom was always calling the store to add to our list. Would embarass my brother to no end. Ha! But I figured it was better than having to make another trip.
Thank you for sharing your weekend.
elaine
Thank you for sharing about your "special place." My husband& I just returned form Gatlinburg. We rent a cabin for 3-4 days in the mountains, alone…without our 5 beautiful children:). It is so important for us to take time out of our busy lives to just be alone together. We do this every year & it is so refreshing. I just came on here for the first time because I feel so drawn to your ministry. I am doing the "believing God" Study with girls at my church & it is amazing. When I finish one of your studies, I feel like I miss my friend that I have my cup of hot tea with each morning. Thank you for what you do. Gold bless you.
Hey, your verse is the same as my verse for this week!! It's one of my very favorite El Elyon verses. I can't even begin to describe the peace that comes over me with this one. It's good, real good!!
I just read about your German cottage a couple hours ago. How fitting that your post should include a picture of it. Thanks. I'm so happy you have a little piece of heaven for you and your hubby.
Beth, I am so thrilled that God has blessed you with a place just to get away! You spend so much of your time pouring out yourself for others, I'm so thankful you have a place just to relax, refresh and get away from it all. Don't you love how God loves us!!
Blessings ~ Lisa
Love it Beth! May you and your man have many more wonderful "get aways" together! (I am confident more adventures are forthcoming!!)
Beth thanks for sharing me and my husband have a special place too, he just smiles real big all the way there. We have a lake home in Ga. I am a city girl and he's a country boy sometimes we have to escape to get refreshed. Hoping to go with my man there soon. Its also a place that I can draw so close to God with out any distractions. Glad you had a great time there. Thanks again Beth that God is using you to help and minister to all of us. To dig into Gods word and memeorize scripture!
Love ya dearly
Lisa B. In Ga.
Beth, I'm so glad you decided to share. This is one of my favorite posts. I, too, love getting a window into someone's real life. I love the picture of you in camo, and I nearly laughed my head off at the thought of you saying "ain't seen deer one." One question though – what exactly is your dog doing in the sunset photo? 😉
Love this, Beth. Thanks for sharing. 🙂 If you had a window into my world, you would see a hammock in my back yard between two huge trees that I love to read and nap and snuggle with my dog. It isn't much, but it sure is great!
Sweet Beth,
Thank you so much for sharing and God bless anyone who isn't just flat-out happy for you! This is just what I imagined it might be like- thank you for being vulnerable enough to share and for just being REAL. Such a huge blessing! I'm so thankful for Jesus and so thankful that He would choose to use you to minister to women- thrilled for you that you have this place!
Liz
Beth,
From one outdoorsman's wife to another – there is nothing like seeing your husband at "home":) I love the South Dakota country life, but sometimes I want to go crazy with isolation. But I cannot imagine Jarod any place else.
Thank you for sharing a part of your life!
Tessa
Have you ever considered a career as a scarecrow? The camo picture is GREAT! I, too, sported camo and sat in a deer blind to show my man how much I loved him no matter where we were…..nearly froze to death, but wouldn't trade that memory for anything. Thank you for sharing life with us!
Beth,
Thank you for letting us know you so personally! That means a lot!! I feel like your my best friend or next to kin, and that helps me to trust you! xoxoxo ~Syna'~
I grew up on a ranch in Big Bend Country. I could hardly wait to get to the city. But now I really miss the stars and the mountains. Guess the grass is always greener….
Beth, I live on a big ranch in the middle of nowhere, so I completely understand your husband's love of the land. I grew up in Chicago, of all places, and followed my man here and here is where my family and I love to be!
Katie
The part about the grocery store made me laugh because I know how true that can be. We lived an hour from town at the end of the road before you come to the Peace River in Alberta. In the days before cell phones my husband seemed to be able to track me down somewhere in that town to get me to call home. Most likely needed parts for some machinery repair so something like that. I was amazed at how he could phone all over town until he found me!! Many stores I went into would say did you call home yet, J is trying to find you!!Sometimes I just long for those days back before brain tumors and widowhood and my life in the city. Enjoy your cactus land and the man you share it with.
Dearest Beth,
Thank you for sharing your life with me. I'm praising God and weeping because of His faithfulness to you. Praise Him for providing this place for you and your man. May He continue to use you for His glory. Thanks for all you have taught me through the years. Your faithful work has drawn me closer to our Precious Savior. Glory to the Worthy One!
love ya,
dustalyn
Is your dog going to the bathroom in that sunrise shot? HIL. AR. I. OUS!
Beth- Thank you for sharing your world with us. I love the pictures….love the red and green color scheme…I have that in my family room and kitchen and LOVE IT…it's so cheery! Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your home away from home.
Thank you for sharing with us. It really means alot for you to share your life with us.
My husband, 2 year old daughter, and I live on a farm in Northeast Georgia. There is something special about having a place where your manly man can be a man and you can share it with him!
Beth –
Cool! That was soooo Cool!
I love those pics. First of all…
I always wanted a jeep like that, just w/o the corn feeder thingie. and I would need windows.
2nd…I didn't know they made boots for that, but I Thank the Lord you have a pair, and not an ugly pair either might I add.
3. I love a swing, maybe one day I will get the porch swing I've been asking for for the past, oh I don't know, twenty five yrs. Beth, Sweetie, I can see why you love it there. Thanks for sharing.