I need to do a little survey if that’s okay. Please use this post to tell me if you have been leaving comments that never show up. I approve 99.9% of the comments, so if you’re having trouble with it, it’s got to be something else. Unless you said something tacky. And I’m sure you didn’t.

Ladies, the Lord is answering your prayers! Day two was a success. They were able to film 5 out of 7 sets of intros and outros for Psalms of Ascent. It was huge that they were able to knock so much out. It will give them some breathing room in case something unexpected happens later. It was also important because the Sabbath began at sundown. Pretty much everything shuts down until it’s over. When I went to Israel with my mom ten years ago, I saw that the elevators in the hotel stopped on every floor so that you wouldn’t have to press a button and do work on the Sabbath. So yeah, the Sabbath is serious business.

Day three will be spent outside of Jerusalem where they will be able to get more done. They will start filming for Esther at the start of the the Feast of Purim (sunset March 3 – nightfall March 5). I didn’t realize it, but they planned the trip for this exact time so they could be in Israel during this feast.

Their guide is actually an important and very well-loved person in the Israeli army. Mom said being in his company makes people think they are diplomats, which is very amusing to me. Do diplomats carry twelve pink lipsticks in their purses?

One cool answer to prayer is that my very claustrophobic dad did well when he had to go with the crew into some kind of ancient tunnel. When I was a kid he took me to the Sonora Caverns in West Texas and, bless his heart, he had to leave halfway through. So this was no small feat! You would not have known to pray for that, but the Holy Spirit did!

Mom asked me to tell you that she loves you very much and she thanks you for your intercession. It has been several hours since we spoke and I can’t remember the exact words she used, but I think they included sweet, darlin, precious, and beloved. Know that you are loved!

By the way, there are 2,000 of you praying for this trip. What an army! What does God have in store that He enlisted so many people to pray?

I was so excited to get to talk to my mom today. Those of you who have been to Israel know that the security setup at Ben Gurion Airport is rather challenging after a long flight. My parents hadn’t slept and sadly looked upon the long line they were going to have to wait in to have their bags searched. Then they noticed someone who was there to escort some lucky person out of the line into a private security area. The escort was holding a sign and before long they realized it said “Keith and Beth Moore.” Want He more praise? They were thrilled, to say the least.

The slept briefly and then headed out for a day of work. I think they did more preparation than actual filming. They ran into several Bible study sisters who were on pilgrimage in Jerusalem. That was probably a lot of fun. When I talked to her she was getting ready to get a good night’s sleep. They should be waking up about 10 p.m. our time to get ready for a day of filming. She does not have a female assistant with her to make sure she has every piece of her wardrobe, hairdo equipment, and other necessary things, so please pray that God causes her to remember to bring everything she needs without packing the whole hotel room. Maybe the anointing for that will fall upon my dad.

I wish I had more details for you, but we spent a lot of the time talking about the fact that today was Jackson’s first day at Mother’s Day Out! He’s in a class with children who are a little older than him, so we were eager to discuss how he would do with them. I mean, they sit in little chairs to eat their lunch and they take naps on the floor! My baby has never done those things! But his teachers said he did great and was happy the whole time. There was a little note in his bag telling me what all he had done today. (Even what time he’d had a dirty diaper. That is thorough, people!) I was ridiculously proud and happy reading that he’d had a great day. That’s going in the baby book for sure!

I spoke to my mom today while they were on a layover in Newark. She seemed to be in good spirits. They had kind of a crazy morning. Their first flight started speeding down the runway and the pilot suddenly slammed on the breaks and came to a complete stop! They thought it was to miss another plane. Scary! It was actually because some kind of warning light came on as the pilot was accelerating. They had to wait an hour to make sure the warning didn’t come on again and then they took off without any problems.

Later, while they were waiting at their gate in Newark to board the Israel-bound plane, it was suddenly prayer time for the Jewish passengers. Mom said all the men in their black hats stood facing Jerusalem and began rocking and praying. In that moment I think the excitement hit them that they were indeed going to Jerusalem!

Melissa and I got one last text message from our parents that said “Will talk to you next from the Land Beautiful! Wish you both were with us!” Oh, me too!

Thank you so much for your sweet prayers and words of encouragement. It is a very great comfort knowing that you all are praying. What a gift!

I just talked to my mom and it turns out they won’t leave for the airport until 5:15 a.m. I don’t know how we got so mixed up to think it would be 2:30, but at least it made them excited about 5:15!

Please excuse my emotional outburst earlier. I finished weaning Jackson two days ago and my feelings are kind of exaggerated. Please more Spirit, Lord!

Sometimes people ask me, “Is it ever hard to be Beth Moore’s daughter?” Well, this is one of those times. My mom is teaching Bible study tonight and then around 2:30 in the morning she and my dad will get picked up to go to the airport. They are flying to Israel to tape some segments for the Psalms of Ascent study. It is painful for me to think about how tired she is going to be as she boards that flight. And then to have jet lag on top of that once she arrives in Israel. So here I am asking you all to please pray for my parents, especially my mom. I hope I don’t sound whiny. My heart is just very tender because I love her so much and I know that she is coming off a very exhausting month. Tears are welling up in my eyes right now. Do you remember having that feeling as a child when the babysitter arrived and your mom was getting to walk out the door and you cried, “Mommy, don’t go!” That is the feeling I have right now. And yes, I am 27 years old! Alright, now that I’ve cried about it I feel better. I know that I can trust the Lord with my parents. He will show Himself faithful as He always has.

There is a prayer sign up on our LPM home page if you’re interested. We won’t hear much from Beth for the next week, but I promise to keep you updated as I get the opportunity to talk to her on the phone. In the meantime, I’d love to hear if any of you have been to the Holy Land and, if so, what was the one thing that you’d like to see or do again? If you haven’t been yet, tell me what you would like to see or do one day.

I just got word that Travis Cottrell’s web site has crashed from all the post-simulcast traffic! The number of visitors to his site yesterday was more than 300% the average. If you’ve been trying to visit his web site, don’t give up! It should be up and running by Monday afternoon.

By the way, wasn’t the praise team incredible? Praise God for giving them such amazing gifts to lead us to the throne in worship!

I know a lot of us have been getting ready in various ways for tomorrow’s simulcast. My church has been buzzing with activity and excitement all week. Mom has been intense and constantly in the Word for the last few days. She’s already safe and sound in Tyler and ready to go.

My own preparation as one of the hostesses at my site has been pretty intense, too. I bought some Velcro rollers and root lifting spray so that I can have Beth Moore-worthy big hair tomorrow. You know, because I want to be recognizable to our visitors as the daughter. So every day for the past week I’ve swapped my hair minimizer (the Chi) for my new hair maximizers so that on the big day I will be proficient at creating my adequately large do. I realized almost too late that my roots were completely unacceptable for standing in front of a crowd and making announcements. But the Lord kindly provided an open spot with my stylist to correct the problem. I know my sisters are relieved for me.

In all seriousness, I am speechless at the amount of people that my mom is going to speak to tomorrow. If I really let my mind think about it, I get a stomach ache. It is a huge, huge blessing to all of us to know that y’all are interceding. May it not be our hair, but our Savior – the One who is able to deliver anyone from any pit – who is high and lifted up tomorrow.

Read about Living Proof Live – Detroit here.

Click here for the video.

I love you now

‘Cause you’re my friend.

We had an amazing birthday weekend! Thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes. It could not have been more perfect!

Friday:
Curt’s parents arrived and we went to dinner together. Curt and I stole away to a movie while they put Jackson to bed. Later I realized I wouldn’t be putting my baby to bed on the last night before his birthday! Panic! At 11:40 I crept into his room and pulled him out of his crib. He never woke up, but I rocked him until midnight. It was the sweetest time together. I held him close and I told him everything on my heart. At midnight I wished him a happy birthday, gave lots of kisses, and put him back in bed a few minutes later. That for me was the highlight of the weekend.

Saturday:
When I opened my eyes that morning and realized Jackson wasn’t awake or crying yet, I summoned Curtis so we could wake him up together. We opened the nursery door and he was standing up smiling. We sang Happy Birthday and had a very happy, cheerful morning together.

Curt’s parents and sister’s family came over and we decided to go to the zoo. It was the most perfect day – gorgeous, blue, cool, and sunny. I had always wanted to take Jackson to the zoo and our first time did not disappoint. A lot of the animals were being really lazy, so I kept praying things like Lord, please make the kangaroo get up and bounce across the field. Please wake up the otters and tell them to swim. Lord, please cause the cheetah to run for us. Lord, make the gorilla wake up from his nap. Lord, please cause the baboon to show us his face and not just his ugly bald bee-hind. We did get to see the baboon’s face and it was rather creepy.

So after all that praying we walked up on a cage with nothing in it. I did not even know what was supposed to be in the cage, but a male lion suddenly emerged from a cave. He stood right in front of us and sized us up. He climbed up on a big rock and stood there. I was holding Jackson on my hip and we were both in awe. Then the king of the jungle sneezed and we all jumped. We felt pretty dumb…it was just a sneeze, but such a loud sound coming from such a mighty animal commanded a response. Then he started staring us down and opened his mouth and began growling. It was so freaky and so amazing. I jumped several times and held Jackson close – a completely involuntary response. But after seeing all those lazy animals, God provided the mightiest of all to show off for us.

My parents arrived late that afternoon. It was such an answer to prayer that my mom’s flight was not delayed and she made it easily from her conference in Detroit.

I made it all the way to that night without crying. And then I decided to read through some of your comments and they definitely induced some tears. This sweet one below was the main culprit:

Happy Birthday Jackson. Amanda, cherish every moment because they fly faster than the speed of light. I know because in 76 days, my firstborn is going to meet his bride at the altar. It seems like only last week when I brought him home from the hospital.

*There’s a slight possibility that the lion’s growling was actually his attempt to cough up a massive hairball. We’ll never really know. But for dramatic effect we will assume it was actual growling.

Sunday:
Can I just say that my son was the ultimate birthday boy? He LOVED his party. He smiled the entire time and was very enthusiastic about everything. The only time he cried was when the instructor had us put away the maracas. Jackson made it known that he was very unhappy with the arrangement, so he got to keep his for the duration of the party. We had an absolute blast! I will let the pictures tell you about it. We had so much fun that I had a really hard time falling asleep last night because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Welcome, everyone!

Climbing this slide is my life’s work