We start A Heart Like His tonight! Are any of our Houston Siestas attending?

Your prayers for a smooth and God-honoring semester of Bible study are appreciated.

Please visit the Houston Connection page on our web site for more information.

Hello, ladies! I hope everyone made it home safely and happily from the Siesta SMT Celebration. For those of you who were unable to join us, please know that we missed you and thought of you a million times. I don’t know when or where, but I feel certain there will be a “next time.”

Yesterday would have been a great day for me to write a recap of the event, with it being so fresh on my mind and heart, but I was so tired I could barely string two sentences together. Did anyone else feel like that? Thanks for your patience as I spent the last 48 hours recuperating and tending to my family. I know Mom would be on here right now except that we start our new semester of Bible study tomorrow (yippee!) and she’s got her sweet little head in her books today. So here is my feeble attempt to recap a weekend that was too wonderful for words. Please forgive my lack of pictures. I will work on those tomorrow.

Dressed in my black and green SSMTC t-shirt, I set out from the house on Friday afternoon and headed to The Omni. Hillsong United was playing loudly in the car and it was one of those times when I probably embarrassed myself in front of other drivers but didn’t care. My heart was so full! I got to the hotel and drove to the back to find the “free” parking garage, which I knew about thanks to a comment I read from one of you. As soon as I got out of my car I saw a group of Siestas who were leaving to have dinner at Pappasito’s. It was such a fun encounter – the first of many! I made my way into the lobby to check in to my room and there were Siestas and pink feathers everywhere. My first thought was, “They came! They really came!” What a wonderful sight! I got to see Tiffany, Adrienne/Fuzzytop, and Melana/Moose Mama as well as many other beautiful ladies in pink boas. (That was such a great idea, y’all.)

I dropped everything off in my room and looked out the window to see some of our Siestas (I think) hanging out by the pool. They weren’t actually swimming, but I was so glad they got to enjoy the beautiful warm day. Next I went up to 1123 to check out the hospitality room the hotel had given us. It was so pretty! I felt like I was in a palace. I got to visit with some more sweet Siestas and then it was time to head to the church.

It was not long before our ladies started to arrive. In fact, I think some of y’all beat me there. I was stationed at one of the name tag tables, which is where I met Kelly Jo from Kentucky and my bloggy friend Charity who brought me a box of tea from the UK. We had never met face-to-face but I felt like I knew her. I’m sure you can relate. Melanie/Big Mama was there (in a very cute jacket) bearing cookies from her favorite bakery in San Antonio. Siesta Tiffany brought the Moore girls two boxes of cookies from JD’s Chippery – our favorite place in Dallas. Are you kidding me? Could we be any more blessed? My friend Marla Taviano came in from Ohio and it was such a gift to have her there. She made her own boa out of fun scraps of pink fabric. It was so adorable!

Wow, this is already so long and the conference hasn’t even started. Sorry!

Soon it was time to begin. Mom came in and Melissa and I went on stage to help her welcome everyone. I immediately got a hundred massive butterflies in my stomach when I got up there and saw all 507 ladies. It was very exciting to see everyone though! We shared some fun statistics about who was there and where they came from (even Alaska and Hawaii!) and then it was time for worship. Travis Cottrell led us with a Houston-based praise team (which included our own LPM sister, Kimberly McMahon/KMac, and our Tuesday night worship leader, Lisa Pierre) and the iPod band. They were awesome. We were on the front row and could hear everyone in the room singing so loudly. It seemed like the group didn’t even need a warm-up – we were at a “10” from the start. During worship it struck me that in Siestaville, Jesus is truly the first and deepest bond that we all share. Our love for Him is the Reason for all of this.

(Please allow me to interject that I just heard from a Siesta who discovered on Saturday morning that her 4-year-old son had unpacked all of her unmentionables to “play a trick on mommy.” That deserves both an “LOL” and a “bless her heart!”)

Beth brought a great message from Psalm 119. She had her own little trick planned in which she tried to tell us that we’d be memorizing all 176 verses in 17 hours. I just looked for my notes to share some of the points I wrote down, but I can’t find them anywhere! Oh no! Y’all will have to help me out.

After the session, we all had Siesta Mama’s Texas sheet cake and mingled in the church foyer. Can you believe she was able to bake that much cake and teach the conference? Neither can I! We have Chefs Paul and Katherine to thank for our yummy dessert. Lots of fun pictures and hugs later, it was time to say goodnight.

Melanie/Big Mama and I took Marla to have a traditional Texas Aggie dinner at none other than Freebird’s. Melanie is about the size of my pinky and she attempted to eat a monster size burrito. The monster won out in the end. I’m not sure if Marla was a fan of the Freebird, but she was a good sport about it. We finally headed back to the hotel and then Marla and I went to the hospitality room to hang out. It was after 11 at that point and there were only two Siestas up there. I was so sad to have missed the party! But more ladies trickled in and we pulled up chairs in a circle. That was a neat time. Two ladies were having a little issue with their room, and all of a sudden one of the Omni workers walked through the door and called out their names. He said, “You are now the Mistresses of the suite.” Then he swung open a door and revealed their beautiful new room that adjoined the hospitality suite. Everyone was squealing and laughing because it was just so cool to see God loving on them.

By this time I think we were all about to drop. Marla and I went back to the room and crashed. I slept until about 3:40, at which point I woke up never to drift back into blessed dreamland. It was a combination of being too excited and the room being too quiet. Oh, the irony of being unable to sleep in a quiet room! The good news is I was pretty much ready by 6 a.m.

We made it back to the church and grabbed some food. I think some of our ladies got to try breakfast tacos for the first time. (One of my faves!) After prayer time with the team, it was time to begin. Morning worship was tremendous and Travis had us ready to receive our word from the Lord. Mom brought the second half of her message and the Lord was moving in our hearts. She got really hyper toward the end and Melissa and I couldn’t stop laughing in amazement. She’d told us (and demonstrated) that she got so excited while listening to a Chris Tomlin song on her walk that she stopped, did a knee lift and played the air guitar. In the middle of the neighborhood. Oh my word, my parents are going to have to move now!

After Mom finished teaching, we broke up into pairs and said our memory verses to one another. Everyone spread out throughout the church and courtyard, which was a sight to see. Mom and I said our verses to each other while Melissa went out and took some pictures of our girls doing their thing.

Thirty minutes later we met back up in the fellowship hall where the event took place. It just happened to be in the room where Mom’s Sunday school class used to be, which was really special for her. We gave away some door prizes like $25 gift certificates to our LPM store, some Wising Up DVD’s, and a few So Long Insecurity books. We also had the ladies vote for their favorite blog name or screen name. Spicy Magnolia/Meghan came in second place and Lopsidedhalo/Brittney came in first! They came on stage to explain why they chose those names and then we gave them copies of SLI. They were both so adorable!

We did a little question and answer session with the time we had left. It was kind of like the one at the Siesta Fiesta in 2008, but shorter. Those are fun to do with Mom and Melissa but later on I always wonder if I said something dumb. That’s why writing is so much better! I can always go back and edit this post but once you speak something outloud, that’s it. That freaks me out a little bit.

Travis and the team closed us out with worship and I think we would have stayed there all day if we could have. Melissa, Mom and I hated for it to be over, so we decided to go out in the foyer and see everyone off. We got to hug a lot of necks, take some pictures, and say “See you next time!” It was bittersweet!

I want to end by telling you what WONDERFUL, AMAZING, GODLY, BEAUTIFUL, HILARIOUS, SMART, WARM, LOVING, GRACE-FILLED women you all are. We love you ladies so very much. I’m not just talking about the ones we got to meet, but also you sitting on the other side of the screen who didn’t get to come this time. You ladies are jewels and we love getting to journey with you. Thanks for everything you add to our lives and for how you enrich this ministry.

And thank you for coming to the Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration! We had a blast!

Okay, I’m going to try something new. If you would like to share your own SSMTC recap and/or pictures from your blog, you can link to it here. Copy and paste the link that goes directly to the specific post you have written (not just to your blog in general). If this goes well we might be able to use it for future events, which could be fun! If you just want to leave a comment, you can still do that. Just look below the McLinky and you’ll see where to do it.

Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration Recaps

Welcome to Houston, where it’s already spring!

Friday
Partly sunny
High – 74
Low – 58
Rain – 0%

Saturday
Cloudy
High – 74
Low – 54
Rain – 20%

Sunday
Partly sunny
High – 68
Low – 43
Rain – 0%

When we suggested various activities for this weekend, I never dreamed we could have included “Lay out at the beach or the hotel pool.” Seriously! It will definitely be warm outside, but you might still want to wear layers in case it’s chilly inside the church.

Siesta Audrey sent me a little itinerary of where some Siestas will be at various times during the weekend. If you would like to eat and shop in places where you’ll probably bump into other pink feather boa-clad ladies, this list is for you!

Thursday 5pm–Tiny Boxwood’s
Friday 3-5:30pm–Pappasito’s or Cyclone Anaya’s (Mexican)
Saturday 1:30pm–Cafe Express
Saturday 5pm–The Galleria
Saturday 5-7pm–Collina’s (Italian)
Saturday 7-8pm–The Chocolate Bar or Dessert Gallery
Sunday 9:30–Church at HFBC (there is another service at 11:00)
Sunday 12pm–Benjy’s

*Note that Audrey has NOT reserved a party room in each of these places. These are just suggestions of where you could show up and try to sit together or, if that doesn’t work out, just enjoy being in the same place. The times listed may not be exact. Your best option may be to simply talk to other Siestas around you and see what their plans are. Let’s also keep an eye out for Siestas who may be traveling alone and try to include them in what we’re doing.

Ladies, we’re so excited! We’ll see you TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS – Expect to encounter rush hour traffic on Friday afternoon/evening.

The Chocolate Bar
1835 W. Alabama
Houston, TX 77098
713-520-8599
www.theoriginalchocolatebar.com

Dessert Gallery
1616 Post Oak Blvd
713.622.0007
www.dessertgallery.com

Cafe Express
6570 Woodway St.
Houston, TX 77057
713.935.9222
www.cafe-express.com

Collina’s Memorial
8800 Katy Fwy.
(Ste. 109)
Houston, TX 77024
713-365-9497
www.collinas.com

Pappasito’s
10409 Katy Fwy.
Houston, TX 77024
713-468-1913
www.pappasitos.com(click on the I-10 location)

Cyclone Anaya’s
5761 Woodway Drive
Houston, TX 77057
713-339-4552
http://www.cycloneanaya.com

Tiny Boxwood’s Cafe
3614 W Alabama St.
Houston, TX 77027
713-622-4224
www.thompsonhanson.com
(Click on cafe down at the bottom)

benjy’s
2424 Dunstan
Houston, TX 77005
713-522-7602
www.benjys.com

We’re just days away from our big celebration, ladies! I can’t believe it’s almost here. There are about 500 of you coming, which is going to make for a really fun group. I’d like to share a few last minute things with you.

1) Siesta Anne told us that some Siestas have decided to wear pink feather boas while they’re traveling and once they’re in Houston so that they can easily recognize each other. They asked me to let all the Siestas know so that everyone can join in the fun. We’ve heard that Michaels and Hobby Lobby might be good places to look for those. Siesta Teri even came up with a verse to support the boas. (If anyone needs an extra verse to memorize last minute, here you go!)

“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” (Psalm 91:4)

Love it!

2) We sent out an email earlier this month with information on how to order a Siesta SMT Celebration t-shirt. We know that some of you did not get this email because it was caught in your spam filter and we’re so sorry about that. It is too late to order a t-shirt, but we will have a few extras available for purchase at the resource table on Friday evening.

3) Beth will be dressing casually this weekend and she welcomes you to do the same.

4) The most frequently asked question we’ve had is where to eat Mexican food. That makes me laugh so hard, y’all!

Here are my picks for Tex-Mex close-ish to the church.
Pappasito’s
Escalante’s
Guadalajara
Ninfa’s on Post Oak

Houston girls, am I leaving something out?

If you love fine Chinese food and you happen to be at the Galleria, my current favorite is Gigi’s Asian Bistro, which is located in the mall.

Oh my word, I am so hungry right now!

If you’re here on Thursday night and want to splurge on a great steak, we have a great restaurant called Taste of Texas. If you go on a weekend night you’ll have a very long wait, which is why Thursday night might be best.

5) Don’t forget your Scripture spirals!

6) Here’s a link to our Siesta SMT Celebration FAQ page in case anyone has a question.

Friday can’t come soon enough!
Love,
Amanda

Hello friends. I just got home from a fun morning with the LPM crew. Beth was interviewed on Great Day Houston at the CBS studios. Her segment is about the new book, So Long Insecurity. Mom’s portion won’t air for a few weeks, but most of my wonderful co-workers were there in the audience for today’s live show. You may have even seen them! Several of our girls were made to sit on the platform, front and center. When we were on our way there, Sabrina sent us a text message saying they had been moved to the stage and were feeling insecure. It made us laugh really hard. Our dear sisters who just happen to like being in the background were the ones who ended up on camera the most. Oh, the irony! Debra Duncan was a gracious host and we were thankful for the opportunity to get the word out about the new book. We are praying for God to use this message to free many women from insecurity. Some may even be introduced to Jesus for the first time.

I’m switching gears now. This is going to be one of those random posts that I’m known for.

Jackson has had a double ear infection this week. We’ve been very blessed not to have to deal with a lot of these, thank You Lord. But early yesterday evening I began to feel some pain and pressure in my own ear. We went over to my parents’ house for dinner and by the end of our time there, my ear was stopped up and hurting pretty bad. It gave me a lot of sympathy for my boy.

When we got home Curtis pulled out that infamous little watering can slash tea pot that some of you know and love. Yes, it was the neti pot. If you weren’t here for our previous discussion of the neti pot, you should read this. Did he even ask me? No. He just started mixing the saline solution and giving me instructions.

“What? I am not doing that!”

“Yes you are.” He spoke with authority.

For some reason I lost my will to fight.

I made him leave the room and shut the door behind him. I know he wanted to watch but it was too weird.

So I did it. I wish I could say it wasn’t awful, but it totally was. I felt like I had just taken a ride through the ocean with Flipper, but without the amusement of being best friends with a dolphin.

Afterward I found out you’re not supposed to use the neti pot when you have ear pain. Awesome. It was in that moment that I humbled myself even further and poured Similasan Children’s Ear Ache Relief into my ear. It helped!

In the neti Pot’s defense, I should say that my sinuses felt much better this morning. However, if I were actually speaking to you and not writing, my voice would be unusually loud because I can barely hear a thing out of the right side.

Alright, enough of that.

I have some news that I have been putting off sharing. I’m just going to blurt it out, like pulling off a bandaid quickly. We are not doing the Siesta Scripture Memory Team in 2010.

*Cringe*

Are you still there? I hope so. We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately and we knew we needed to get you up to speed. Forgive us for taking so long. We’re still just getting back on our feet around here. First let me say that we’re so sorry to those of you who are disappointed. If you were hoping to join in this year, you might want to consider rounding up a group of girlfriends to do it together. Mom says she learned years ago that specific (and challenging!) commitments like those need a beginning date and an ending date or people tend to drop out or lose interest. Most people have a hard time keeping something like that up indefinitely. She says we’ll probably do it again in 2011 if we still have significant interest but, since we’d committed to exactly one year on the blog, we needed to take time to celebrate it with our original team, let everyone have time to fulfill other commitments, then get back to it next year. Thank you for your cooperation!

Finally, isn’t our new blog design adorable? Kelly from Fabulous K Creative did it for us as a gift. Wasn’t that sweet of her? She asked if she could surprise us with the design and I said yes. I’m so glad I did! I love how cheerful it is. Kelly, thank you for blessing us!

Have a great Friday, everyone!

A certain question has been running through my mind since before Christmas. What would it be like to know that you sinned but there was no way to be forgiven?

A couple of months after Annabeth was born I was trying to get back into aerobics. One evening I jumped in my Jeep with a smile on my face and a hop in my step and headed to the gym. I took a shortcut through my neighborhood, but I immediately realized I’d made the wrong decision when I saw about ten kids playing in a yard next to the street. If I’d seen them I would have taken a different route. I drove very slowly until I passed them and then I picked up speed (although I did not even reach the speed limit). All of a sudden a little dog came running down a driveway toward my car, barking all the way. I slammed on my brakes but I couldn’t avoid him. To my horror, I hit the dog. A terrible chorus of ten children screaming – including those of the dog owners – filled the street. It was one of the worst moments of my life.

One of the boys who lived there went running through the front door that had accidentally been left open and got his parents. They came out and got the dog who was still alive but was writhing in pain and crying. The other little boy was in hysterics. I stood in their driveway trying to apologize and explain but no one could speak to me.

“What can I do?” I begged.

“Nothing.”

I was completely devastated. Not only had I hurt and possibly killed this dog, but I had hurt this family and traumatized all of these kids. They would be able to look down a long street and see my car – the instrument of destruction – parked in our driveway. I was convinced that we’d need to move because I would be known as the wicked witch of the neighborhood.

It felt like my life was over. I went to the store and bought a card. I wrote a note about how sorry I was and how I would be praying for the dog and their family. I included my phone number in case they wanted to call and yell at me or to tell me how the dog was doing. I couldn’t bear to show my face there again, so Curtis took it over. I wanted him to tell them how sorry I was. They weren’t home, so he left the card on their doorstep.

Later I called my friend who lives near that family. I told her what had happened. “That was you?” Word had traveled fast. She’d heard that the dog was in rough shape. I felt sick.

I know in my mind that there was nothing I could have done to avoid the dog. I wasn’t speeding and I wasn’t being careless. As my friend suggested, maybe the Lord would use it to teach the children to be careful around the street. Even so, my heart desperately craved forgiveness.

It never came. We never heard from the family. Thankfully, I did hear from my friend that the dog was going to make a full recovery. That was such beautiful news to my ears. We have even seen the dog being walked down our street. I’ve wondered if they recognize my car in the driveway. Are they still mad at me? Were they ever mad? I know it’s selfish to think of my own emotional needs in a situation like that. I have chosen to release it to God and move on. Although I promise you I do not take that shortcut anymore.

Last week at Passion we heard the story of 30,000 children in Uganda who were kidnapped by a rebel army and turned into soldiers. They were forced to torture and kill others, sometimes starting with their own family members. These are the “Invisible Children” you may have heard about. Many of them returned to their homes upon release and found that their parents were dead.

A husband and wife named Gary and Marilyn Skinner have taken in some of these children and put them in homes with a loving mother. They found these child soldiers wandering the streets with blood on their hands. There was no one to wash it off. They had nowhere to bring their guilt. The Skinners knew better than that. They are teaching them about the hope of Jesus Christ. These boys and girls who have carried the guilt of violent bloodshed have been told the good news that Jesus can forgive them. God loves them. They can be made into new creatures and they can stand righteous before God. They can be justified and renewed.

Is there anything more glorious? Imagine that you are eight years old and you have been made to kill a little baby with a stick by some sick man standing over you. Your life feels like it is ruined forever. You feel worthless and guilty. But a Savior reaches out to you. You are rescued from guilt, condemnation and despair.

Without the birth of Christ, without His sinless life, without the horrible death He suffered on the cross, without God’s wrath toward our sin that He endured, without His resurrection from the dead, we would remain in our iniquity and guilt. We would stand guilty before Almighty God with no way to be forgiven. But WITH these things there is grace, forgiveness, life, beauty, wholeness, restoration, and innocence.

Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Lord who has rescued us from our sin and guilt. He has made peace between us and the Father by His own blood. When our faith is in Jesus, we are justified in the sight of God. Instead of our sin, the Father sees Christ’s righteousness.

I don’t know where you’re at right now. Maybe your heart is overwhelmed with guilt and shame over something in your past. Or in your present. I’ve been there. The Bible says that we’ve all sinned. No one is exempt from the corruption that is born into the human heart. The good news is that anyone can receive forgiveness through faith in Christ. You can have it right now. He delights to give it to you.

We were told that one of the head soldiers in charge of training these children to kill and destroy has given his life to Jesus.

Redemption.

Time and time again I am struck by how divine the story of the Gospel is. It did not originate in the human mind. No man could invent something so beautiful.

Christmas vacation started yesterday after our annual LPM Christmas party. Our whole staff gathered around the big table in the board room and we celebrated with Mexican food and a Secret Santa gift exchange. We have a dollar limit on what each person can spend and every single one of us was accused of going over it. There were many excuses, such as “I had a coupon!” or “It was on sale!” Only the Lord knows the truth.

We were all given beautiful scarves and “I love my job” mouse pads from Beth. My sister arranged her scarf in a perfect display of elegance while the rest of us begged her to give a demonstration. Most Texans sorely lack the skill set needed for elegant scarf wearing. Melissa has a clear advantage because she spent so many years in Chicago and Wheaton, IL.

Today was my favorite day in a long time. Curtis blessed me to spend it at my parents’ house while he kept the kids. I picked up some Chickfila – which would surely be Jesus’ favorite food if He lived on the earth in 2009 – and Melissa and I had lunch together while Mom took a nap. Dad made some baked potato soup for her and of course we had to sample some of that, too.

When Mom started to wake up, Melissa and I climbed in bed with her and we laid there forever laughing and looking at all the recent pictures on Melissa’s laptop. She just got a new lens for her camera, which is what she used to take those pretty pictures of “Baking with Bibby.”

Mom, who is clearly the nurturer and caretaker of our whole clan, is having an interesting time being the one who is served. Frankly, she hates it. Today, in her most dramatic voice, she said, “I am sucking the life out of this whole family! Just call me Hoover!” She was dead serious, but I just fell out laughing because that has got to be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. We have had to do very, very little for her, especially when you think about all the energy it has taken her to care for this handful of a family for 31 years!

Later Melissa and I ran some errands together. We were nearly run over two times in the parking lot because apparently my sister hasn’t mastered the skill of looking both ways before she crosses the street. I naively trusted her to guide me across. Pray for her! We made a quick stop in a video game store for a family member who shall not be named and Melissa came extremely close to buying an old Nintendo set. I’m talking about the one from 1989 that we used to play Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt on. Get this, it was fifty dollars! That is craziness! Curt’s grandparents still have one at their house and we always play when we visit. I actually have a date with Dr. Mario in a few days. How many of us still remember the secret code to Contra?

Next we went to Best Buy, where we spotted a Bump-It of all things! Never fear, it left the store with us thanks to Melissa. I think she was trying to fill the hole in her heart from leaving that Nintendo in the video game store. Each Bump-It box contains three sizes and my sister immediately put the biggest one in her hair when we got home. Dad, who is never shy with his fashion commentary, said “Lissy, do you have an Ostrich egg coming out of your head?” Unfortunately, Melissa would not allow herself to be photographed in that moment.

Soon everyone wanted some hot tea. I don’t know how to make the simplest cup of coffee, but I’m the official Moore Family Tea Fixer. Everyone has jumped on the tea bandwagon since Mom’s surgery – it seems to be easier on her system. While I was making our tea, our friendly neighborhood UPS man delivered a key lime bundt cake from We Take the Cake. Is that not perfect timing? It came in the most adorable box ever. We pulled it out and everyone agreed it should have a small potted plant in the middle of it, a la My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We opened the card to find that Curtis’ family had sent the cake. How sweet of them and how sweet of the Lord to let me be there when it came! Melissa was in charge of icing the thing and let’s just say that a huge glob of it fell to one side and ruined any chance of a picture appearing on the blog. (Glob and blog are spelled similarly!) The cake was the perfect thing to have with our afternoon tea. It was a tasty ending to one of my favorite days ever.

Thanks for sticking through this very random post. To make it even more random, I’m going to add our family’s Christmas pictures. These were taken the day before Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad didn’t get a chance to send out cards this year, so I know they won’t mind me sharing them.

Siestas, I pray that you will have many moments of laughter and joy with your loved ones in the days to come. May the love of Christ fill your hearts and homes as you celebrate the wonder of His birth. Merry Christmas to you!

1) We’ve been working with Jackson on staying in his seat while he eats instead of getting up and down incessantly. This has involved teaching him to say “May I be excused from the table?” when he’s finished eating. Somehow this question got twisted in his sweet little mind and it came out as, “May I be burped?” After several days of this and many laughs, we finally realized that he’s confusing this with saying “excuse me” after he burps.

2) Annabeth pulled up for the first time on Monday.

She also climbed a few stairs last night. (This wasn’t the moment, but now you can picture it.)

3) I finished my Christmas shopping with no in-mall meltdowns from the children…or myself.

Speaking of meltdowns, I tried taking a Big Pink Bear picture with Annabeth this week and she had a big one. She almost threw herself off the chair twice.

So we moved into the crib for a side-by-side picture.

4) Jackson was in his first school performance. He was so cute on stage! He seemed a little overwhelmed by the audience and distracted by the large screens, but eventually he sang the songs and and did the motions. This picture is terrible, but he’s on the right side in the gray sweater with red stripes. I’m happy to tell you there was no nasal passage exploration.

Annabeth clapped through every song.

5) I bought Annabeth’s “Baby’s First Christmas Ornament” and we added several new Jackson-made ornaments to our tree.

6) Jackson and I baked and decorated gingerbread men.

I gave one to Annabeth, who is very lucky to be the second born child.

I obviously share my mother’s talent for decorating with icing.

Remember her HBA (Happy Birthday Amanda) cake?

7) Last night we went to my mom’s house to eat with her and help decorate the tree. While Curtis and I were searching the attic for the stockings, I found a trunk of old stuffed animals. One of them was My Pet Monster. Anyone remember those? I brought it down for Jackson and he thought it was the coolest thing ever.

8) Jackson watched Mary Poppins for the first time. I noticed that Mary didn’t look very old anymore. Upon researching it, I discovered that I am now one year older than Julie Andrews was in the movie.

9) Annabeth finally got a second tooth.

10) Jackson got to help Bibby decorate her Christmas tree. This was his first time to get to help, so it was very special.

He handled the ornaments very gently and told a story with each one. For instance, these were “last year’s birthday grapes.” Hmmmmmm….

That’s all for now! Have a great weekend, Siestas!

Good morning, Siestas! It’s Amanda checking in to do your very last Scripture memory post – number 24!

Our very dear friend Mary Ann Bridgwater called me a few days before the surgery to ask about my mom’s favorite Bible verse. She said she wanted to have the verse put into a frame so that we could set it at her bedside in the hospital. Mom’s favorite verse is Psalm 27:4.

Look at what she had made. Isn’t that gorgeous?

It brought me a lot of comfort during some of our intense moments.

If you’re checking in this morning without a specific verse on your heart to memorize, I invite you to do this one with me.

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4

Congratulations on completing 24 memory verses in one year. Way to go, Siestas! You made it to the end.

By the way, Jackson is in his very first musical program tonight. It’s highly possible that I could have some good stories for you tomorrow. Enjoy your Tuesday!

ADDED NOTE FROM BETH: Siestas, I AM SO STINKING PROUD OF YOU I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO! This has been one of the most exhilarating, soul-building projects we’ve ever done on this blog. COME TO HOUSTON TO CELEBRATE in January! The week after the event we are going to work on a special download of the gathering just for those of you who completed your requirements but were unable to attend. We are so proud of all of you. May God blow your mind with the power of His Word. Feel His pleasure, Sweet Things. He highly esteems what you’ve just accomplished. Amanda, my Darling, thank you for coming through for me on this final post of 24. I had just about enough energy to write this brief hello. I am joining you on this verse. It’s the perfect way to wrap up what we’ve been doing for a year.

Sometimes when the blog is quiet we start getting comments and emails asking if everything is okay. Usually we’ve just been quiet because life is happening and we haven’t had a chance to write. This week has been a little different.

Let me say right up front that my mom is totally fine. We are praising God for that.

About six weeks ago it became apparent that Mom was headed for surgery. (I’m going to keep the details minimal at this time for her privacy.) Those six weeks were quite a journey for our family. Mom is a very strong woman and she lives life at a pace that makes my head spin. Seeing her physically weakened for the last six weeks by this health issue as well as by the back problems she’s been having (the two are unrelated) has rocked me. It has definitely been an emotionally and spiritually challenging time.

Mom was admitted to the hospital for surgery early Monday morning. I was there with my dad, another couple who are my parents’ closest friends, and two of my LPM sisters. Melissa, Colin and Curtis were in constant contact with us. Her surgery began at 8:30. We all sat in a waiting room and waited for news from the doctors on how she was doing. After several hours we finally got word that the surgery had gone well. There had been one complication that would require more time in the hospital than they’d originally thought, but otherwise she did beautifully.

Our friends went back to work and dad and I waited hours and hours and hours to finally be able to see Mom. When they finally let us into her room, Mom was in rough shape. She was having a reaction to either the anesthesia or the pain medicine and she was terribly nauseated. I’ve never seen anyone in my immediate family that sick in my life. Dad and I were shocked.

It was a very long first night in the hospital. We had hoped mom would wake up in better shape, but whatever was making her sick took a long time to leave her system. We had another long day battling nausea. By the next night, and especially by Wednesday morning, Mom was doing better.

She was very eager to eat something. Bless her heart, she hadn’t eaten anything since Sunday at lunch and it was now Wednesday! She was allowed to try a liquid diet at first, then late in the afternoon she got to eat a baked potato. You would have thought she was eating the finest cuisine in all of Houston by the way her face lit up while she ate that little baked potato. It had nothing on it but salt and a tiny bit of butter.

That night we had some setbacks when the veins holding her IV’s began collapsing. A specialist had to come in and help her out. We’d had a relatively great day and were hoping that she could go home on Thursday morning, so this setback was very discouraging. Some other weird issues happened simultaneously and we started wondering if a spiritual battle was taking place in our room. I started praying outloud, mom called on our LPM Village to pray, and we turned on worship music in our room. At that point I had no shame. If I made everyone think we were weirder than they originally thought, I did not care one bit! The Lord did bring us peace. Everything that had gone wrong was brought back under control.

The next morning Mom woke up with nausea again, but thankfully it was not so bad that it hindered her release from the hospital. The doctor came in at 5:30 a.m. and gave us the great news that she was going home! God bless doctors and their families for the crazy hours they have to work. We were in the car and heading home by 11:00 a.m. Praise His name!

After three nights in the hospital with mom, I was barely fit to drive the car, but we made it home. I’m sure I had an angel holding my eyelids open. My Aunt Sandra arrived soon after to stay at my parents’ house and help Mom recover. At that point I went home to my babies and to my amazing husband who had been holding down the fort.

Annabeth was so sweet when I got her up from her nap that afternoon. She smiled so big and held onto me tightly when I walked her downstairs. It hadn’t been very long since I’d seen her, but she already seemed bigger and her hair looked longer. Jackson played it cool with me until this morning. I woke up to his sweet little self giggling and climbing into my bed. He pulled the covers over him and snuggled up to me. I said, “Jacks, are you glad your mommy is here this morning?” He said, “Yeah.” And that was that. He’s such a little man.

I’m really attached to my mom right now and couldn’t bear to stay away long. Annabeth and I took a few groceries over to her house this morning. It made her happy to see the baby for a few minutes, and vice versa. Mom’s very tired and still having some pain and slight nausea, but she’s on the mend. She’s forbidden to turn on her computer for the next week and she’s keeping her ringer off. Our LPM sisters are taking care of meals, which is a great blessing. There was a huge bowl of banana pudding in her fridge and I immediately recognized it as Kimberly Meyer’s. Kimberly’s banana pudding is famous around these parts. Let’s just say it’s a ministry in itself.

For those of you who attended the Deeper Still event in Oklahoma City, I want you to know how much it meant to my mom that you all prayed for her health. During the question and answer segment someone asked what Kay, Priscilla and Beth wanted for Christmas. My mom said she’d been dealing with back pain and would love to wake up on Christmas morning and realize the pain is gone. Kay and Priscilla suggested they stop right then and pray for her. None of you knew that my mom would fly home from that event and immediately have surgery, but Mom was greatly encouraged to have your prayers for her healing. She trusted that God knew what else she needed them for.

I “randomly” heard from a number of my friends over the last six weeks who had no idea what was going on. (We’d kept this very quiet.) They simply said they were thinking about our family and praying for us. I love how our Father works. It’s such a reminder that when we can’t get someone off our minds, we should pray for them!

I’m sure Bethie will want to write or talk about this in the future, but she asked me to go ahead and let you all know what was going on. The thought of writing in complete sentences is currently overwhelming to her.

Finally, if any of the amazing nurses and doctors who ministered to us happen to be reading this right now, I’d like to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We were blown away by your compassion, kindness and excellence. God bless each one of you.