*I’m so sorry that the blog has looked wonky for the last couple of days. I wasn’t sure what happened to it, but I tried removing all the bold sentences from this post and that fixed it. Thanks for your patience, sweet siestas!*

Top ten reasons to ditch Houston in August and head to Jackson Hole, Wyoming

1. There are days when the temperature will make you wonder if it’s December. And you will start singing Christmas carols without realizing it.

2. Instead of dead armadillos on the road, they’ve got these guys.

3. There are no billboards, no skyscrapers, and no sidewalks so hot you can fry eggs on them.

4. Your man might go for a hike and come back with something like this.

5. You won’t have to wait until February to go to the rodeo.

That is my son drinking hot chocolate in August.

My future cowgirl and me.

6. There are good burgers to be had beyond our state’s borders.

Oh, Billy’s Burgers, how we heart you.

7. When life slows down, funny things happen.

That’s a bagel in Jackson’s mouth.

Annabeth’s thumb sucking + our occasional heater use in the cabin + much drier air than we’re used to = a very raw hand. Bless her heart, we had to put ointment on it and cover it with a sock at night.

She fell backwards and landed right in her brother’s lap. He was so tickled.

Annabeth fell asleep while we were at a cookout. She had to have her thumb, of course.

8. Your hair may go bump-it in the night.

You are looking at God-given bump-it, siestas.

9. You might see a grizzly bear. Preferably from your car.

(This is zoomed in – we would never get that close.)

10. Yellowstone National Park is like the Disney World of Nature. You cannot believe how much cool stuff is in one place.

We got there early in the morning in hopes of seeing more animals.

Behind Curtis and Jackson you can see everyone waiting to watch Old Faithful.

And there it is.

I’m not sure what this is. Maybe Jackson was excited about the dirt on his hands.

Jackson and Curtis with the Upper Falls in the background (I think).

Can you see the rainbow?

River water going over the Lower Falls.

This picture makes the bottom of my feet hurt. Does that happen to anyone else when they look down from up high?

After seeing it from close up, we drove down the road and saw the Lower Falls from a distance.

Top ten songs from our vacation playlist

1. “Just Wanna Say” by Israel Houghton
2. “My Brightness” by Charlie Hall
3. “Glorified” by New Life Worship
4. “You’ll Come” by Hillsong Live
5. “Light of the World” by Watermark
6. “A Grateful People/Bless the Lord” by Watermark
7. “Glory to God Forever” by Fee
8. “Since the World Began” by Matt Maher, Amy Grant, Ed Cash, and Mac Powell from Glory Revealed 2
9. “He Will Rejoice” by Trevor Morgan from Glory Revealed 1
10. “Waters Gone By” by Shawn Lewis from Glory Revealed 1

*More pictures than you ever wanted to see coming soon!

Well, it happened. Jackson came home with an assignment on his first day of preschool. The directions were attached to a large piece of white construction paper. I was supposed to help Jackson make a banner using our family name. We could trace our hand prints, glue things on it, use pictures, or do whatever we wanted to tell our family’s story. They kids would get to present their banners to the class. Having just been on a great vacation to Wyoming that produced tons of fun pictures, I thought we should put them to good use. I’ve always loved making collages, so this would be fun.

Then the questions started bombarding my mind. Does this need to look like a child did it, or do they really want me to do it? The directions said it would go on the wall, so maybe it’s supposed to be part of the room decor and it needs to look nice.

Being a first-time preschool parent, I’d never been faced with this dilemma before. BigMama’s stories about Caroline’s Fiesta float came to mind. If I err, do I want to err on the side of not good enough or too good? My perfectionist tendencies overtook my willingness to submit myself to my three-year-old’s creative genius and it came out like this.

I’m so ashamed. I did let Jackson pick out the pictures, though. And he sat beside me and cut scraps of paper while I did the work. Not that that makes it okay.

Curtis is the one who takes Jackson to school, so I called him just minutes after I knew he would have dropped him off. “Did you see the other posters?” I begged him to tell me they all looked like ours. He’d only glimpsed a corner of one and couldn’t tell. “The teacher said it looked nice.”

Nice. Is that good or bad?

As I entered the wing of classrooms to pick him up yesterday afternoon, I was faced with the humiliation of my life. There on the wall of the hallway – not inside the classroom as I had thought – the children’s artwork was prominently displayed. It took .5 seconds for me to realize that one of these things is not like the others. Every other poster had hand prints. Every other poster had evidence of a three-year-old’s art skills. Every other poster was right and ours was wrong! Wrong in big, bold letters, with brightly colored polkadot scrap paper and obnoxious Disney pictures. Wrong with our named spelled out for everyone to see! Wrong with the faces of our family, so that the horrible mother who is too OCD to do crafts with her son can be easily identified! Oh the horror!

Seriously, I’ve never been more embarrassed. All I could say to the teachers was a mild thank you as they returned my boy to me. I didn’t dare make eye contact in case I was about to get in big trouble and have to go to the principal’s office. I scurried away as fast as one can with a baby on the right hip and a leaping, bounding child holding the left hand.

I have no idea how long those posters are going to greet every single person who passes through the hallway, but I am praying to our merciful Lord that He will see that I’ve learned my lesson and let them come down soon. I don’t know how long I can bear to face my public shame!

Please, someone, comfort me in my time of trouble and tell me I’m not alone. Did you do something really dumb when your kid was in school?

I called my mom as soon as I got in the car. She was both embarrassed for me and pleased to have been given such a great laugh at my expense. I had just been to my first Motherwise meeting that morning and she said, “Honey, one day when your kids are grown and you’re helping lead something like Motherwise, that’s the story you’re going to share.” She’s probably right. But if anyone would like to go ahead and learn my lesson now, then be my guest.

This will be our last post about the simulcast; we certainly don’t want to drive off everyone who wasn’t there! I do have good news though. We’ve decided to offer the videos from last weekend as digital downloads! After the messages have gone through the whole production process, “The Heart of Our Desires” will be available in our online store. I don’t know how long it will take, but I will let you know as soon as the videos are available.

Living Proof Live – Simulcast – Green Bay WI from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Thanks, Rich, for another great recap video!

*Just a reminder that we would be happy to help with the questions and requests you have, but please send them to us through our contact page instead of leaving them in the comments. There’s a permanent link to it on our left sidebar. Thank you so much!*

My Dear Sister
God has not overlooked you
He has not ignored you
He hears every petition
And intimately knows
The heart beneath it.
Give Him full access
To all your longings
Pray every single day
To become a person who delights in Him.
When it seems to disappear
Remember to check your JAW
Are you jealous?
Are you angry?
Are you worried?
Roll it all on Jesus
He’s strong enough to carry it
Big enough to handle it.
Trust God with all your heart
Now leave this place
And go into the world
And do some GOOD.

I just got home from the simulcast a few minutes ago. Wow. What an awesome time in the Word! I didn’t realize Beth would be mentioning the blog until right before we got started last night. Now I wish I would’ve spruced up the place a bit for our first time visitors! Well, at least we can serve them some cake. If this is your first time here, welcome to The LPM Blog!

One of my favorite things that my mom said today was “Speak faith to one another.” I just love that statement and I think it encapsulates the purpose of this blog. *Siestas old and new, let’s continue to speak faith to one another as long as God has us on this blog.

I’ll try to have the commissioning posted for you within the next couple of days. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, ladies! I’m going to take a real siesta now.

*Look at the top right corner of the blog to find out why we call each other “Siestas.”

Here’s the recipe from the simulcast.

Texas Sheet Cake

Grease a 9 x 13 sheet cake pan.

Sift:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar

Bring to a boil:
2 sticks butter
1 cup water
4 tbsp. cocoa

Pour over dry mixture and mix in:
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

Bake at 400 degrees, 20-25 minutes.

Icing
Heat:
1 stick butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
6 tbsp. milk

Add anywhere from 1/2 to 1 box of powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency (Beth prefers close to 1 box) and 1 cup pecans. Spread on cake while it’s hot.

Fargo Girls, I’m sorry this is so late! Rich sent it to me right away but we were still on vacation at the time.

Enjoy!

Living Proof Live – Fargo ND from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

This weekend is the Living Proof Live Simulcast from Green Bay, Wisconsin. What in the world is a simulcast, you ask? Here’s how it works. Beth, Travis and the praise team will be at the live conference location in Green Bay while hundreds of host churches across the country will be linked to it through satellite technology. The schedule will be the same as a regular LPL event with one session on Friday night and two sessions on Saturday morning.

My family’s home church happens to be a host site. So on Friday night I will go there along with my co-workers and we will take part in the event. We will get to experience worship and Bible study as though we are right there in Green Bay, only our trip home will be much shorter and we’ll get to sleep in our own beds!

I’ve been to one other simulcast event and while I was a little skeptical about it at first, I was pleasantly surprised that I lost the sense that my mom wasn’t actually on the stage right in front of me. I felt completely engaged in everything that was going on and it was like we were in the same room with the host group.

If this isn’t the year for you to get to travel to a Living Proof Live event and stay in a hotel with a bunch of your girlfriends, this is a great option to look into. Or even if you have been to a conference this year, who couldn’t use another weekend in the Word? You can visit this page on LifeWay’s web site for more information and to search for a satellite location near you.

I’d love to invite anyone in the Houston area to be a part of the simulcast at my church, Houston’s First Baptist. You can click here to see the schedule, get directions, etc. Tickets are $10 and you can either buy them online or at the door. The event will take place in the sanctuary.

And finally, bless my mom’s heart, here is a little video she made for the event. I hope she doesn’t have to wear the cheese hat this weekend because it will seriously flatten out her bangs. I heard that a certain miesta was supposed to be cheesin’ it up with her on the video, but rumor has it he accidentally overslept and missed the filming.

An Important Message from Beth Moore from LWEvents on Vimeo.

P.S. Mom just said I could tell you that she’s teaching out of Psalm 37 and the theme will be “The Heart of Our Desires.”

Happy Monday, Siestas! I’ve missed you! I have a long to-do list for today, and one of the most important things on it is “Blog!”

We had an amazing time in Wyoming. I have so much to say about it and a hundred pictures to share, but something else is pressing on my heart right now.

Back to School Day varies from district to district, but today’s the big day around these parts. I can’t get my sweet teacher friends off my mind. And don’t even get me started about our dear co-worker, Jenn, who sent her firstborn to kindergarten this morning. Weren’t we all crowded together in her hospital room holding that sweet baby boy just yesterday? Don’t think I haven’t imagined what this day will be like for me just two years from now.

I would love it if we could pray for all of our school teachers who are returning or preparing to return to the classroom. If you are a teacher, please chime in and let us know how we can pray for you. If you are a homeschooling parent or a college professor, please let us hear from you, too!

And, in honor of our Jenn and Nathan, I’d love it if we could also pray for our kiddos who are starting the year at new schools. Mamas, let’s not mention school names, but do let us know if your son or daughter is entering a new school environment and could use some prayer.

Oh, I just can’t stand the thought of leaving anyone out! If your student needs prayer for any other reason, I want us to pray for them, too.

Lord, thank You for the men and women who dedicate their lives to educating children. I ask You to bless them with strength, joy, favor with students and parents, and a strong sense of purpose. Make them fruitful in every way. Give them wisdom, creativity, patience, insight, and endurance. Give them Your supernatural love for each student, so much so that those kids go home each day with a keen sense of being loved by You. Use these teachers to make an eternal difference in the lives of their students. I pray that their families will have an easy and peaceful transition into the school year.

Thank You in advance for the work You’re going to do in our teachers and students’ lives this year, Lord. I pray all of these things in the strong and mighty name of Jesus. Amen!

The back to school buzz has started around these parts and it feels like summer is wrapping up. Of course, Texas has two more months of summer weather before we can even think about fall, but fall semester activities are surely not far off.

I don’t know about you, but this summer took me by surprise. I really thought it would be low-key and restful. We had a busy year with ministry and family life (hello, Annabeth!) and I looked forward to recuperating over the summer. Well, my Relaxing Summer quickly turned into Activity Central. Can you relate? We had Jackson in swim lessons twice a week for two months, Curtis taught at MetroLive on Thursday nights, and we traveled a bit. I also did our MM&L study with some girls from Sunday school. When Metro and the MM&L study ended last week, it was like the end of a marathon. (Not that I would actually know what that’s like.) What I’m trying to say is we had a great summer but we are t-i-r-e-d!

Curtis and I decided to wrap up our summer with a trip to the mountains. We have a house/dog sitter coming to our place and we’re heading up to the cabin in Wyoming for almost two weeks. We’re saying adios to schedules, commitments, wireless and high speed Internet, our cell phones, humidity, and having anyone else to hang out with but each other. We can’t wait for some milder weather, frigid night air, sleeping with the windows cracked, quiet times on the porch with a view of the mountains, and just being together in one of the most beautiful places God ever made. This will be our first time to take Jackson in the summer and of course it will be Annabeth’s first time to go. My parents are going to join us there after about a week. We’re so excited.

I may be scarce around the blog for a while, but your Siesta Mama will keep things afloat. The cabin only has dial-up Internet. Awesome, right? I guess we’re lucky to even have that in the middle of a national forest. I hope to have some neat pictures and stories to share soon. As my mom says, you can’t write about life unless you’re living it!

Enjoy what’s left of your summer, Siestas! I’ll see you soon.
Love,
Amanda

FROM BETH: Y’all, I accidentally just deleted 41 comments! It’s been a long time since I’ve done that! (It’s easier than it seems.) Please forgive me. I had a technical difficulty and had them marked to approve them and – boom – there they went! Tried to reverse it but couldn’t. We are having a terrible lightening storm and somehow the web wires may have gotten crossed. I will tell Amanda how many of you sent prayers and encouragements for their time away. You are wonderful and we love you so much!