**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!
Erika, Chester VA
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, 2 Corithians 1:8-10 (NAS)
Cindy, DIberville, MS
For He will deliver the needy when he cries for help, The afflicted also, and him who has no helper.
Psalm 72:12 (NASB)
Heather, Whittier, CA
Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
NIV
Marceil, Cedar Rapids, IA “For it was the Father’a good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him.” Col. 1:19 NASB
Matthew 7:7 NIV
Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Joyce, Exeter,RI
“Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice.”
Phillipians 4:4 (KJV)
Susan, Cumberland, RI
“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice.”
Phillipians 4:4 (KJV)
And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. Phillipians 1:6 NLV
Martha Pine Bluff,Ar Late but still in!
“Now stand here and see the great thing the Lord is about to do. 1Samuel 12:16 NLT
Melisa, Roanoke, Virginia
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. – 1 Peter 2:9 HCSB
Dearest Beth. I thank you each day for your love and Godliness. I Have never felt a love like that of being a Grandmother. I am a Hospice nurse by trade and each day am faced with the terrible things that can affect families.Each moment with my family I cherish. God is good. In Christ Love . Pat.
Melanie, Arkansas
“The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. Psalm 145:17 NLT
Bath, PA
“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endured forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.”
Psalm 138:8, ESV
Wendy and daughters Faith (15) and Naomi Hope (11), Eden Prairie, MN
Romans 12:12 (NIV), “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Salt is good, but if it loses its salty taste, you cannot make it salty again. Luke 14:34
marrissa Orlando
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
NIV
Avayd Ann, Merriam,KS
“See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:19
Meredith, Trabuco Canyon, CA
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion, therefore I will wait for Him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him;
Lamentations 3:21-25 (NIV)
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
Pat
Crawfordsville, IN
Lisa, Rainbow City, Alabama. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself or you may also be tempted.” Galatians 6:1 NIV
Nicole, Ocean Springs, MS – “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does he require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” ~Micah 6:8 NASB
Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 NASB
Delight yourself in the Lord and. He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 NIV
Gal. 5:22
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self- control. Against such things there is no law.”
Angela, Amarillo, TX
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NIV
Lindsay, Wenatchee
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:6-7, NIV
From Hazlehurst: Blessed is the man who endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. James 1:12 KJV
Lori Newman
Fort Campbell, KY
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Vevay, IN
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Psalm 86:11 (HCSB)
Teach me Your way, LORD, and I will live by Your truth.
Give me an undivided mind to fear your name.
Allison, Ruston
Psalms 5:3
“In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”
Sherry in Marietta GA
2 Timothy 4:18
New International Version (NIV)
18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Ashley Beth, Baton Rouge, LA
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Ps. 51:10 NIV
Cheryl, Everett, Phil 2:14 Niv
“Do everything without complaining or arguing.”
Beth you really spoke truth to me about a critical spirit. Thank you for the reminder about how important our attitude is.
And we pray this in order that you may live life worthy of the Lord, and please him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:10 (NIV)
Mildred,Mer Rouge, LA, Proverbs 16:3 NIV
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
Rebecca, Portland, TX
Adele, Fresno
How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
Who walk in the law of the LORD.
Psalm 119:1
Tanya, Valley Center, KS
“That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!”
Ephesians 3:18-19, Amplified
Annabel, Valley Center, KS
“Don’t let any evil talk come out of your mouths. Say only what will help to build others up and meet their needs. Then what you say will help those who listen.”
Ephesians 4:29, NIrV
Lee Ann, Wewahitchka, FL
“Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways.” –Psalm 119:37
Lisa Elmhurst, IL
I John 4:7 NIV
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
Dyane, Edmond, OK “Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22 NIV
Anne, Simpsonville, SC “But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to obey His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.” Joshua 22:5 NIV
Tracey, Knightdale, NC:
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Philippians 3:20
Ashley, Atlanta, GA
“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.”
Isaiah 43:18-19a, the Message
Stephanie, Queen City: 6)”Be anxious for nothing,but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7)and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
Joni, Littleton, CO
Jeremiah 15:16 NIV
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, LORD God Almighty.”
Evanston, IL
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.
Psalm 13:5-6
Katie, NYC And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists
and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 NIV
Maggie, Mesilla Park, NM
“How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,
before the sons of men!” – Psalm 31:19, NASB