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.
Melissa 
I was born in West Texas, (cactus and sand hills), grew up in the rolling hills of northeast Oklahoma, got married in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and now reside in the Central Hudson Valley of New York state. Phew, that just made me tired and a little home sick for the west!
Thank you for sharing with us. This girl from the heartlands has been feeling like an alien for ten years now. It was fun to see your pictures and dream a little of what my own get away might look like (or my man's for that matter). Love you to pieces for sharing with us your life from all facets.
Oh Beth I LOVE it! And I know that little town that's close by. The small-townness and sweetness of it makes me glad I live where I live. We have a similarly "landscaped" place out east of San Angelo, kind of on the edge of the beginning of the start of the Hill Country. And I totally agree with you — if someone figures out what to do with prickly pear and mesquite — we are millionaires !!! 🙂
I love seeing these pictures. So glad you have a place to escape and just "be". Thanks for sharing.
Gwyn Rosser at The Pink Tractor
http://www.gwynrosser.blogspot.com
These are the reasons you are so grounded. Thought you might appreciate that pun. I love that by going with him it continually gives a perspective on life that only a early morning ride, camo and a 100 year old house can do. The second to last line is one I am holding close.
"It's a place where my man seems to love me alot" This young wife of only 7 years needs to hear those kind of things. I want to know what would make my man happy and want to love me more. It may not look anything like the fairy tale but boy is it where he is truly the MAN.
Have fun in the hot rod!
Love you Siesta!
Charlotte
ATL
Thank you for sharing those photos with us!
I, too, love to see where people live.
And I'm so glad you included your German farmhouse.
Looks like a lil piece of heaven.
Well I'm crying. I've been giving my man a hard time about rabbit hunting and getting a new rifle. Now I feel bad. I guess if it makes him happy…I should be happy for him.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing! It is actually more civilized looking than I pictured. But I am a country girl from my past…
My husband wants a lakeside cabin in the mountains someday which could be my place of retreat. Not exactly the setting I would choose, but nice anyway. We live in the mountains all the time so some place different would be a little more of an escape. (Plus I have a fear of water, but won't get into that right now.)
I am glad you have this place. Just catching a glimpse of your life during the SMT Celebration I can see how you would need a place to just relax and breathe.
Melissa
Asheville, NC
Thank you so much for showing us where you two spend your time away. It looks amazing. I feel relaxed just looking at the pictures.
Carlene
Beth,
Thanks for sharing so much of yourself. I just found out about your new book at the Focus on your Marriage Simulcast. I bought your book there and have started reading it today. I have also started the weekly study on here. I am a few weeks late but hopefully I can get caught up. I am so looking forward to seeing you on the simulcast. May God continue to bless you and your work and your family.
As a girl who has been led away from Texas, your pictures have a new beauty to me. Who would have thought I'd get weepy over cactus, mesquite, and caliche?
I heard you on AFR Friday morning. It is fun to see "where" you were talking. 🙂
I completely understand your love for that place! We were in San Angelo for five years … lived in a rural area, just like that … but best of all, had the state park right next to us. It was a dream come true for five years … the walks, deer in our yard, snakes, and rumors of mountain lions! I SO get you! Once I was sitting, swinging on my front porch swing, talking on the phone, barefoot, and a snake went right under me and headed to the shrubs. So used to seeing them, I jumped up and tried to find it!! A little bit of fear, but more excitement!
Everyone needs a little piece, or big piece, of their own!!
God bless you, Beth.
Shelli
planted in Fort Worth now!!
I love the last part when you said this is where Keith loves me…sometimes, I think we need to go places we really don't care to go to please and then blessing….
Thank you for sharing that. I do understand. I also understand that some folks won't get it, but having family land is such a huge blessing. Make sure you set up how the family is going to enjoy it and manage it after you are in heaven. (I hate even saying that, but it is a part of having something like this – the responsibility and the legacy)
My husband's family owns a bit of land in Sherman Texas (hit Dallas, turn north, drive for 1 hour, turn west) and we get out there whenever we can. I always feel badly going out there without the dogs though, so the times we enjoy it most are when we have the time to make the drive from Atlanta all the way out to Texas to let the dogs run for a week. Ah, now I'm missing the land again. and the wind, and the tromps through the Texas hill country.
I think I'm gonna have to call my man and arrange for another trip to Texas soon.
hugs to you and yours,
Deirdre
Can you describe for us how you decorated the inside of the little cottage? It's so cute!
Aside from the fact that 100 percent of this post warmed my heart, I would be less than fulfilled if I did not add that I will pray a heap of blessings over the chains on your precious swing…because if one of those suckers break, girl, you are going to have one sore tush.
And that's just how easy it is.
I love you, Beth Moore. And I love how, despite years of your own personal agony, you've learned how to love your man so much. That is a HUGE undertaking. (And for those of you who read that and don't understand why I would say something like that…..well……then I call you blessed.)
I love you my sisters. One more thing: I was at a beautiful conference this weekend with Priscilla Shirer and several thousand women. Woman after woman came down to pray at the alter–so many just rocked on their knees crying and crying out to a God they SO DESPERATELY needed to hear them. A few times, I could not restrain and got myself up from my seat to sit along-side them and pray. One time, in a particularly heartfelt moment, I sat next to a beautiful woman who was pleading and pleading with God. I couldn't stop the tears from pouring down my face. A sweet prayer team woman finally came beside me and whispered "It's alright, honey, whatever you are crying over–we will go to God in prayer with." I said, "Oh, I am so totally happy–I am just overwhelmed with love and agony for this woman beside me…and since I am not on your prayer team, I didn't want to lay hands on her. I was just sitting here praying for whatever it is SHE is praying for."
That poor sweet prayer support woman just kind of stared at me.
Then, we both laid hands on this beautiful woman beside me and held her as she cried and cried and cried. To this moment, I do not know what hurt her so deeply….but to you, sweet woman (who had especially beautiful boots), I am still praying for you, loving you, speaking peace and claiming a healing of heart for you. May God grant you such deep, abiding mercy.
I love you all so much. Beth, thank you for an amazing post. Good grief, girl, watch out for snakes. That dangerous! Majestic, but dangerous. Sounds like life, eh?
Blessings from our Father in Heaven,
Becky
I love it! That post reminded me of the customary Jewish wedding bands that have the inscription "I am my beloved's, and he is mine" and the other band says, "I am my beloved's, and she is mine". Yeah, that's what it's all about.
Oh, Beth! I love your cactus land and am feeling a bit jealous. We had to sell our brush country place in Live Oak County this year. I miss it so much…the solitude, the Super S in George West, nature in the raw every day! And a place where a man can just be a man and work his land. God was generous to allow us to enjoy each other, working side by side clearing land and feeding wildlife, and to enjoy His creation in an unspoiled way. I'm living on those memories right now! Thank you for the pictures!
After years of a cold and distant relationship, my father recently built a beautiful lakehouse "for the grandkids." It's complete with all the "toys" one might want at the lake, and it has restored our relationship. Not because of the $$ spent, because of why he spent it. He anxiously awaits our visits and my brother and I look at it as his way of saying "I'm sorry" for all those wasted years.
Spiritmom
Just moved to the Texas Panhandle….from Colorado. Sigh. Not finding God's beauty in cactus and mesquite and ALOT of refineries. Thanks for making it look a little bit sweeter to me though. 🙂 I definitely think I need a cool jalopy to roll in, that might make things better.
Heather
I just love this post and how real you are and so giving to share with us!! I'd love a place like that–I'm sure I'll never have it but I am so happy you do. Enjoy!
I am so happy for you, your place, and your man. A picture of my place right now would be varying "shades" of white on a constantly snowy mountaintop – operative phrase –
'with my man'- we don't take that for granted, do we, or the fact that we are content? God is good.
My kind of place. It's soooo needed sometimes just to get away and smell the great outdoors. Glad to see there is more like me. The beauty of God's creation up close and personal. Thank you for sharing.
This is one of my favorite posts ever!! It's so real! Your beautiful no matter where you are or what your doing!!
Beth, Thanks so much for sharing your life with us. What a blessing. Hey what is the reference to that verse you showed?? Or was that a verse?
Lisette
Beth,
Thanks so much for sharing your life with us. It means so much to me.
I can get so overwhelmed with life that I just want to quit. But, I won't because of all you wonderful siestas out there who encourage me to keep on keeping on. Through Christ I can do all things who strengthens me.
Love you
Lyn
Thanks so much for the pictures. I love being able to visualize where you are when you talk about your land out in the country. I know only God knows how much you and Keith have sacrificed to share your lives with us for His glory, so He's blessed you with a place to just be yourselves!
This is a beautiful post that makes me so homesick for Texas. We lived north of San Antonio for 17 years on a place that originally was out in the country. Now it's "northern San Antonio". I think what my husband misses the most is his John Deere tractor (sans enclosed cab). He spent hours on that thing, thinking. It was his favorite thing to do. There is something so wonderful about the Hill Country. Thanks for sharing some of it with this homesick girl. Makes me think this is how I long for heaven! Maybe heaven will be like the Hill Country….now there's a thought.
Those pictures are so neat. That is a place I would love to go all the time. Growing up on a farm, some desires in life will always be the same. Thank you for sharing and Praise God for his blessings!!!
Beth, thank you for sharing a little part of your private life with the Siestas. It just makes you so special. I live a a VERY small town probably not too far from your cactus ranch and we also have a "Super S" I can see that happening here and no one would think a thing about it. My man likes to fish and several years ago (and so many years younger) we had a fishing lease on the Pecos River, between Pandale & Langtry(the home of Judge Roy Bean)Out in the middle of nowhere. We had a tin shack and absolutely NO indoor conveniences…just some beds and a place for dishes, etc. We did everything outside…cooked and ate under the "lean-to" porch and you can use your imagination on all the rest. The river was good for bathing :-)We had no cell phones then, so, no phone, no T.V. This was my man's element and he became a different person while there…probably as you describe Keith. I loved being there because he loved being there. I walked many a mile with him up and down the cliffs to the river bed and walked the river to fish beside him. Those were special days. Now, his son takes him to Alaska fishing and I get some very special "alone" time. I hope and pray that no one makes any "ugly" comments about your post…you are just too precious for that. Love to all of you….
Hi Beth,
Thank you for the pictures, it is nice to have seen the place that means so much to you. I smiled when I saw your swing, as my husband made me a porch swing and it is also my favorite place. 🙂
Have a great day,
karen
I love it! I grew up in a place something like that, where you can't even see a street light at night. Now that I live in the city, I long for the peace of that place.
On an unrelated note, I have seen a LOT of camo in my life (my Dad is a Game Warden), but I don't believe I have ever seen camo ear muffs. Impressive 🙂
Thank you for sharing your special place! It is wonderful to get a glimpse of sweet bliss in the style you and your man enjoy. Communing with the Lord is the best in those spaces where the air is clear and crisp and noise free! Beautiful!
Now for me – I would enjoy the same doggone thing! We live in the country on a farm and we truly enjoy the simple life. It is grand beyond all grandeur and our door is always open to anyone who stops by. After all – if you come by to see a clean house and not me then you are out of luck! haha
Thanks again for sharing your little peace {play on words! ;)} of heaven!
Blessings
Kelli in Colorado
Thank you so much for sharing your life with us! I love it! It does help me visualize where you are. I love seeing where people live and work. We go to my husbands office frequently not just to love on him but to know where he works where we can see it. I want my girls to be able to visualize where daddy is during the dad. It just makes it more real and not just an imagination. I pray you and the girls never have to fear criticism from this community! Also wanted to say it was an honor to meet you at your book signing. I was the one with an Anna Beth (like you would remember ha). Much love, Crissy, Nashville
Ms. Beth,
Thanks for making yourself vulnerable and sharing something private of yourself.
I loved every picture- and admire that someone as well put together as you are, can accessorize cammo with a great scarf! You are so precious! The simpicity of you is so refreshing. Someone who is so "out there" for all to see, could easily become so full of herself…but I continue to be refreshed by your real-ness. Thanks again for giving us a glimpse into your special place with your man.
What a wonderful post. I love the pictures…especially of you in your camouflage! Too cute. I love that you said it is a place you love because it’s a place your man seems to love you a lot. How true that is for most of us married ladies. I know that golf may not be the best sport for me to attempt but it a time for my husband and I to connect and some of the courses are just breathtaking. If driving him around in the cart lets me be close to him then I will do it. Thank you for letting all of us into your world.
We all need a special place – some are small and some are big. No matter the size; just so we can meet God there. In the cold winter months, I go to the extra bedroom, which used to be my daughter's room. I remember rocking in the rocking chair in the corner, waiting for her to come and join our family. Now she is grown up and out on her own. I love praying for her there and pouring my heart out to God. In the summer the back patio will due just fine. Thank you for sharing part of your life.
As I read SLI I pictured your hundred year old farmhouse. AND I pictured it white and red :). Absolutely precious. Our little bit of history is a 1852 home in rural IN outside of Indy. Great history.
Your post made me appreciate our home and its history so much more! We are in the middle of a major remodel of kitchen and master bath and I wasn't feeling the love. Thanks for the jolt!
Our small town has a grocery store just like you described – the owner is a girlfriend of mine and I too call to tell them to tell Chris to add something to the list 🙂
Have to share a funny with you – when we got married my husband worked for Compaq (now works for HP). As a manager we just knew one of these days he would get promoted and have to move to corporate which would require a move to Houston. I told him right before we got married – "Honey I will follow you to the end of the world but Houston is beyond the end of the world. Everytime I have had to go to Houston it has either been in July or August and it is the hottest, most humid place on the face of the earth. No thanks!"
Since then we have spent some time out in the middle of nowhere, TX….Now I pray he doesn't have to move to Corp HP (Bay Area of CA) but that he gets asked to move to the Houston campus HP kept –
I could get used to cactus…Rattlesnakes – not so much!
Thanks for sharing your world with me today – it made my heart sing.
What a special treat to glimpse into your life. Thank you for sharing. God has blessed you and uses you to pass His blessings on to others. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I just love your property. I grew up in AZ and it looks a little like home. It's just the cuttiest little cozy home I have ever seen. Keith did an awesome job at restoring it-that is no small task. You are such a breath of fresh air! Thanks for being real and letting all of us experience your life.
Thanks so much for sharing! Loved the pictures….maybe sometime we can see some of the inside?? I can't even imagine how you would decorate such a neat, old home.
How precious you posted a picture of Psalm 57:2. It was one of my memory verses too and really something I needed to read this morning.
Thank you so much for sharing! I have loved reading your description of the place for a while now, but a picture is worth a thousand words, you know. 🙂
I'm pretty sure my man and your man were separated at birth. Just years apart. My man's dreamland would look very similiar to that…jeep, tractor, and all. Except the cactus. You don't see too much of that in Arkansas…as you know.
Your post gave me the most profound case of homesickness. Amazing how photos can do that. I grew up in South Texas – snakes and all – but moved to the big city (Dallas) for my man. I'm looking forward to a trip down South for Spring Break in a few weeks. I can't wait to see the cactus and sunrises and sunsets and stars, but mostly, my parents. Incidentally, my great-grandfather invented the original pear burner, which was used to burn the thorns off of cactus so the cattle had something to eat in the lean months. We have one that was made into a lamp in my parents' den. Just a little trivia for you!
I just can't tell you how much you have helped me understand my man by the way you talk about your man. It sounds like they have so much in common. And I love your cactus land, and your swing and your beautiful farmhouse with century old windows and doors….so much character to be observed and admired. What a wonderful retreat….
And yes, one day, I would love to have a cactus land of my own with my man. A place where we can feed the wildlife, ride the tractor, where I can dress in camo and earmuffs with pretty striped scarves and be just as beautiful to my man like that, if not more. A place to shout from my spirals the Words of God that He is speaking in my life… MY FAVORITE PIC OF YOURS! It was a tough decision between your fashion camo pic and that one. *grin*
Thank you for sharing a part of your life from cactus land. I too love biographies and I love seeing glimpses of others lives. THANK YOU for those glimpses of you and your man in Cactus Land.
In His Grip~
Shanna
Beth,
I am so glad Daddy gave you that space. They who refresh others will they themselves be refreshed…
I too love to see, really see how other people live.
You just made me homesick, Beth! My parents (West Texas Girl Siesta) live near your area. So, my sister (Anna Siesta – that has a nice ring to it!) and I can identify with every single part of your post!
Well, almost. We have a "Mule" instead of a "Jeep". And we take daily rides to look for deer and feed the goats!
Love it! Reminds me of my grandparents place just outside of Arkadelphia, AR. OK no catus but the quaint feel and the peaceful no rush life style.
Thanks for sharing and helping me to walk down memory lane of our families own "home place".
Aw, thanks for sharing this part of your life! I love it!
Sigh. That looks like a piece of heaven. Especially the sunrise, the swing, and the restored house. Peaceful.
Thanks for sharing.
The Journey Continues ~
Beautiful Beth & Kernel Keith (named for carrying kernels,grains on the front of his jeep),
Dave and I enjoyed seeing Moore of the life of you two. 🙂
Thank you for sharing with the Siesta community!!
We have had many experiences with rattlesnakes. At our old home, Dave killed a rattler & cooked & ate it. Didn't tell me what it was and offered me a bite. GROSSSsssss!!!!!
Well, my weekend wasn't filled with dogs,camouflage (is that spelled right?),rattleboots,etc..
but it was filled with deciding on paint colors, wood floors, carpets,etc. My husband is making ALL the moldings and chair rail, crown, for our home. It is spectacular! I look forward to sharing it with my Siesta's in the future. Thanks for asking what I did this weekend! 🙂
Come out to our "neck of the woods" homes and we will show you a great time with huntin,fishin,hikin,kayakin,talkin,eatin,restin,and laughin!!
(((( HUGS )))) dear friend!!
With "Heaven Bound" blessings,
Kim
ps Georgia Jan, ((((Hugs))) to you ~ hey lets talk later!!
You're just precious! Thank you for sharing. I completely understand this!! Although, I am learning from you (as usual). My man has a place just like this about 25 minutes from our house (and you have to cross a mountain to get there). He loves it, and instead of wild game and rattlers' there are cows and coyotes , but it is complete with an old truck (about 14 different colors) and with holes in the floorboard 🙂 However, instead of me loving this place because he loves it, I generally find myself competing with it for his time. I think I'll try your approach for a while, and see if I can serve and submit a little better…at least with a better attitude 🙂 Thanks for your encouragement!
ps. we do shoot guns there, but I don't think he'd let me carry one LOL
Beth,
I just downloaded Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight a few days ago.
Your post made me think of the one line in there…"I'd rather live in his world than live without him in mine".
I'm mostly a lurker, but love this post, love So Long Insecurity, and love you and all you do!