**Siesta Celebration is January 20-21, 2012**
Hey, Sweet Things!
Finally, August 1st! I’m always so glad to see it come so that it can GO. But it’s not just the end of a long, hot summer for everybody. It’s also the last couple of weeks of summer vacation. Those of you with school-age children will soon find yourself back in carpool lines and going over spelling words. In just a couple of weeks, Jackson will start kindergarten and will catch our whole family by surprise even though we’ve known it was coming for five and a half years. We just cannot fathom it. We have a picture framed in our bedroom that I see everyday with Keith and I cuddling him between us when he was just a few hours old, and we brand-spanking-new grandparents are kissing over his head. Something was reborn in that couple of 25+ years that day. Our interests have always tended to be different and were getting increasingly so, but, that cold February afternoon in Dallas, Texas, we somersaulted right back into one another and tumbled into a well of love with a seven pound man-child.
Keith and I got to have Jackson and Annabeth Friday night while Curtis and Amanda went to dinner and a movie. They’d been gone for 10 days to Wyoming and, even though we’d seen them at a Mexican food restaurant the day they got home, we’d not had them to ourselves yet. We made a date right away. They delight us to no end and cause us to laugh until our sides split. Don’t get the idea there’s no work involved but investments don’t get better than this one. We have real, live conversation over dinner these days and, when you’re grandparents, not a single word gets wasted on you. All of it’s solid gold. Jackson told us at the dinner table Friday night while stuffing a piece of warm French bread into his mouth that butter is his “temptutation.” And, sure enough, it was dripping off of his chin and looked so good that we all shared that same temptutation and gave right on in to it.
We have an empty room in our house right now because we wanted Melissa and Colin to have her bedroom furniture and it’s turned into the perfect playroom. Nothing like an empty room to fire up the imagination. Jackson and I built an obstacle course Friday night that ended with a dizzying spin in my swiveling desk chair. It was so much fun. Amanda and Curtis walked through the door at 10:15 and we were all four still up in the kitchen, Paw Paw popping popcorn on the stove. It’s so good to have the Jones’s home. Melissa and Colin have been out of town for a week, too, and I can hardly wait to get my hands on them. They’re flying home from California this very moment. Most of the time they were out of cell phone range so we’ll have plenty to catch up on.
On to the business at hand! Our year is flying by! It’s time to check in with our fifteenth verses for our Siesta Scripture Memory Team. For some reason I’ve seen the word “gentleness” turn up a number of times in my Scripture reading lately so I’ve decided to choose a memory verse that makes especially important use of it. Here goes:
Beth, Houston. “Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.” Galatians 6:1 The NET Bible
Restoration is one of the most powerful, intentional works of the Cross of Christ. Let’s never refuse anyone his or her right to be restored. Here’s to a little gentleness in a harsh world. Everyone could use some.
Stay in the Word, Siestas! You are so loved here!
“for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Luke 1:49 ESV
Jeri B., Battlefield, MO
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.
Zephaniah 2:3 NIV 1984
Decatur, Alabama: “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ dies for us.” Romans 5:8 ESV
Molly, Macon
“I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord,who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:3 NASB)
Nicole
Keller
Job 12:13 “True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live, and also what to live for.” MSG
… you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord. Walk as children of the Light.. Ephesians 5:8 NASB
jenny
white hall, ar
dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? for instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “good morning, friend! be clothed in Christ! be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
james 2:14-17 (message)
Diana, Nacogdoches, TX
Romans 8: 9-10 (NKJV)
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. “
Jenell, Springfield, MO “Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.” Galatians 6:1 The NET Bible
Pamela Bishop, Ca.
Psalm 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to your glory. ESV
Janice from Abbeville, AL
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleasne us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9 (NKJV)
Meggie, Colorado Springs, CO
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 NASB “And He said to me (paul) My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I rather boast about my weakneness, so that the power of Christ may dwell on me.9 Therefore I am well content with weakness with insults with distress, with persecutions, with dificulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Susan, Ellensburg
“For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6 NASB
Jean, Carlisle PA
“But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love, forever and ever. I will praise you for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.” NIV
Psalm 119:29-30, NLT
Keep me from lying to myself;
give me the privilege of knowing your instructions.
I have chosen to be faithful;
I have determined to live by your regulations.
Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)
“My thoughts are completely different from yours, says the Lord, and my ways are far beyond anything you could ever imagine.”
katie g
Knoxville, TN
“But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV
Julie, Sheffield, UK
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16, NKJV
Federal Way, WA
The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake te work of Your hands. Psalms 138:8 ESV
Just gotta say that I am still smiling over Jackson’s butter temptutation…
Sacramento, CA
Great is our Lord
and mighty in power;
his understanding
has no limit.
Psalm 147:5 (NIV)
Donnicia /Raleigh, NC
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Kim, Advance, NC ” And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
~ Colossians 1:17 ESV
Cassandra, Crawfordsville, Indiana, “Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.” 1Timothy 3:11
Vicki
Chehalis, WA
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.
Hebrews 4:12-13 The Message
Melissa, Scarborough, ME: “You hem me in, behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5 ESV
*My birthday was Saturday and while reading Psalm 139 (tradition), this verse struck a chord with me. 🙂
LeAnne, Albertville, “[He is]the blessed and only Sovereign,the King of kings,and the Lord of lords” 1 Timothy 6:15 HCSB
Lisa, Olympia, Wa
“the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.” (NIV) Psalm 147:11
Richelle, Kingston, TN
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. Isaiah 58:13-14 (NIV)
Diane, Littleton, CO
No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
they will not be found there.
Isaiah 35:9 NIV
Central, SC: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” ~ II Peter 3:9, NIV 1984 Edition.
Phyllis
Gilmer, Tx
Psalm 37:8 NIV
“Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil.”
Sandra Stamey, China Grove, NC
” Casting the whole of my care [all my anxieties, all my worries, all my concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for me affectionately and cares about me watchfully. 1 Peter 5:7 (Amp.)
Ramona, Pasadena, TX:
A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.
Proverbs 28:13 The Living Bible
Paula, Lake Charles, LA – “The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He delivers those who are discouraged.” Psalm 34:18 (NET)
Caitlin, McKinney, TX
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart, and examine the mind…” Jeremiah 17:9-10, NIV
Lynn
Red Deer, Ab
Galatians 5:1 NIV
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Heather Tallahassee I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:11 NIV
Lora, Florissant, CO. “Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.” Psalm 31:5, NIV
Sally
Columbus,OH
“My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.”
Psalm 139:15
NIV
Tanya, Warren, PA
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday.
Psalm 37:5-6 (NIV)
Peggy Peace River, Canada
Phillipians 4:6
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
NLT
Kyndra, Houston, TX “Though the fig tree does not bud and there ane no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fials and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV)
“You must fear the Lord your God and worship Him and CLING TO HIM…He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who had done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen.”
Deut 10: 20-21 NLT
Heather G
Charlotte NC
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Philippians 4: 4-5 (NIV)
Leslie
Clinton, Utah
Molly, Wilmington, DE:
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:21 (NIV)
Mildred, Fayetteville, AR
As the scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” 1 Cor 1:31 also 2 Cor 10:17 (NLT)
Vickie, Baytown, TX
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NIV
Starting Breaking Free tomorrow! 🙂
Cindy,
Newton Tony, England
“Then Peter began to speak, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” ”
Acts 10:34 NIV
Lisa Curtis, Jackson, MO
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world; but to save the world through Him. John 3:16-17 NIV