I just got home from Seattle and I am so full of praise and thanksgiving to our God who mercifully met with us. I walked in the door and got face down on the floor and thanked Him. If anything of value happens, it is all Him. If He doesn’t come, it’s a miserable waste of time. I absolutely LOVED the group. Totally loved them!!! So engaged and so anxious to throw themselves on the pages of Scripture. What more on the earth could I ask??? I will tell you more about it in a few days. I just got home from a LONG flight and a time change and I am about to jump through the tub and fall in the bed. HOWEVER, Amanda told me I’d want to check your comments after she posted the celebrity “look alikes” (seriously??) and trust me when I say it was not a disappointment. I am so poured-out from the conference that I was either going to cry really hard when I got home or laugh really hard. When I read Salty Sister’s comment about Howard Dean coming up on her search, I did both. (I’m about to do it again.) I laughed so hard, the tears were squirting out of my eyes. All I could do is squeak when Keith asked me what I was so tickled about. I’m not kidding. Y’all make my day. What a wonderful homecoming. Maybe now I’ll just cry. What mercy God has had on this poor, pitiful mess. I love you guys. Don’t worry. I won’t forget to let you know what I used those ridiculous lookalikes for. I’ll let you guess for a day or two and if you were there, don’t let the cat out of the bag!

I thought I’d share a visual aid that my mom used at Tuesday night Bible study and in Seattle this weekend. Any guesses as to the application?

I must say, I’ve never looked at my mother and thought of Paris Hilton. She has been mistaken for Judith Light a time or two, which is funny because when I did my celebrity look-alike collage it gave me the one and only Tony Danza! (Don’t get the connection? Think Who’s the Boss.) I’ve always admired Avril Lavigne’s hair, so way to go on that one, Mom! She’ll be posting another visual aid for your amusement in the next couple of days. If you were in Seattle I’m sure you know what it is.

I just got home from work and Keith and I were just sitting here laughing our heads off at you silly things. Every one of your entries bring me joy and touch my heart. That one on the group that made the lifesize picture out of their Bible study teacher for the group shot then accidentally left her (me) in the car nearly killed Keith and me. You could have heard us howl all over the Lonestar State. I think Linda summed us blog-sisters up best: “a whole new big, wonderful, delicously ditzy family has opened up” to us! See? It’s not just Blonder Than She Pays To Be. You guys bring your own ditz to this mix. Oh, Jesus is so good to us, isn’t He? Isn’t He a Wonder? Such a blast? The more we love Him the better we’ll love one another.

I’m off before dawn to Seattle. I’m looking so forward to the handpicked group God has invited to meet Him there. I know He has a word for me, too. Pray for God to fall on us like crazy. I’ll let you know how it goes. Amanda will keep an eye on you till I get back. Isn’t she precious? She and Melissa make me so much cooler than I’d be. Love you!

You guys are the most fun. Thank you for all the sweet and funny notes you wrote in response to the pics of my man and his two best home-girls. I loved every single one of them and will share with Keith what the intercession I mentioned in Patriarchs has meant to many of you. If you didn’t read Lucy’s comment (I think it was the 11th one or so), take another look because it is so funny. I’m sure that has happened to me, too, at one time or another, particularly since Beanie sleeps right next to me. And we have a similar profile. I LOVE OUR BLOGGING! By all means, let’s celebrate our blog with a new up-do! Be looking for that over the coming weeks. Great idea, Darlin’ Child of mine.

The blog and the blog readers have been going strong for a month and a half now. I’m so happy that my mom has been able to write so much and that you have participated in this with us. I was going through the comments and looking at some of your blogs when I came upon this lovely web wonder. Isn’t it cool? I was immediately inspired to get a makeover for our LPM blog. We currently have a standard blogspot template. I think Bethie deserves a little upgrade for her hard work! So thank you, BooMama, for mentoring us in looking our bloggity-best. The ball is already rolling, but I’m not sure how long it will take to present you with the finished product. I hope it’s not too long because I’m beyond excited!

Hey, you sweet things! It occurred to me that I’ve posted pictures of everyone in my family but my man. Here he is with his two best girls. Of course, he really has four best girls because you’ll never meet a man crazier about his daughters but these are his day-to-day, live-in best girls. I am one blessed woman because that man loves me dang-near as much as he loves that birddog. They are inseparable. While I’m showing Keith off, allow me to say that he is one big handful but God picked that maverick just for me so that I would not be insufferably self-righteous (and go explain THAT tendency with a stinking past like mine). Keith is uncontrollable. Utterly untamable. And he is wonderful. My man. My miracle. To God’s great glory, NO ONE on earth has had more impact on this ministry than Keith. He has zero tolerance for pretense, pride, and false piety. As he often says, “A Texan can smell a varmint a mile off.” Because of Keith and the inconceivable patience and diligent work of my Christ, I no longer smell like much of a varmint. With Keith, it’s real or no deal. He holds me to an excruciating standard of authenticity. How blessed could a woman be???

(Amanda writing now. My dad actually wrote the foreword for Get Out of that Pit. Melissa and I were so proud!)

Hey, Sisters! I hope you’ve had such a fun weekend (or maybe restful was more of what you needed) and that God’s done something particularly sweet in your behalf. We’ve had such an unexpected blast. Amanda’s husband, Curt, has been scheduled for some time to speak this weekend in St. Louis, so Amanda and Jackson decided to drive down from the Dallas area and spend the time he was away with us. When I told Melissa on Friday that her sister and nephew (and Golden Retriever, Beckham) were on their way, she hopped online to see if she could get a cheap airline ticket from Chicago and come, too. God provided one of the lowest fares we’ve ever gotten and for a flight within about 18 hours. We were so excited. Melissa’s never come spontaneously like that because she always has too much school work to do. We couldn’t believe she threw caution to the wind and did it. We’ve had the whole weekend together and eaten everything under the sun. (Amanda speaking now. I came having lost 3 of my 5 pounds but it looks like I will be working extra hard next week!) My den is gloriously strewn with all sorts of baby toys and you can’t take a step without a dog under your feet. It’s the next best thing to heaven. Earlier I noticed that I have a bruise on one knee from playing crawling-chase with Jackson. I bear the marks of a happy granny! Both girls will head out in the morning but, boy, has it ever been fun while it lasted. I hope God filled your life with some abundant relationships this weekend…and then we’ll all go back to work on Monday and get some rest! I love you guys!

Hey, Dear Ones! Thank you so much for praying for the launching of our Houston Spring Bible study! God brought us a fabulous group of women and, even more vital than that, He brought us Himself. We sensed Him there from the time we arrived to pray over the empty sanctuary. God constantly reminds me when I’m so tempted to beg Him to show up that He is the initiator of all things faith. He is the One who invites us to Bible study. Not the other way around. Our part is to, in turn, invite Him to come in power and do whatever He pleases.

I love my Houston home girls like crazy and last night, to our great delight, God further blessed us with at least 500+ newbies. I asked those who’d never been to Bible study with us before to raise their hands and God took our breath away with their response. We were ecstatic. I’ve told our group before that if we don’t have new women come and join us, we need to ask ourselves why our love for Christ and His Word is not more contagious. Our Tuesday night group is the neatest mixture of women. Extremely varied. Every denomination. Every kind of background. Young to old. Getting increasingly colorful which means so much to us. I love them so much, just as I’d have the joy of loving you all the more if I got to study with you face to face every week.

We are thrilled about the new series God is giving us. “Wising Up” is a topical lecture series on the Book of Proverbs. We hope to hear from God about all sorts of themes over the next eleven weeks like friendship, marriage, business, managing money, parenting, and the like. We launched last night with inspired words from Proverbs 4:7 – “Wisdom is supreme! Therefore get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding.” We established that we are not coming on Tuesday nights to study wisdom. We’re coming to GET IT. And God’s the Only One who is giving it. We have been asked a number of times if this will be taped and released publically and the answer we believe is yes. We are taping this series in house this time and it will be published through Living Proof Ministries because it doesn’t have any written work with it like those we do with my buddies at LifeWay. LPM will prepare a study guide for it but this one will intentionally not have homework. (The next homework I’ll write is for the study of Esther over the course of the next year.) I hope a convenient thing about the Proverbs series on wisdom will be that the audio tapes and DVD sessions will be released individually as well as in compilations of similar themes. I think the target time to begin releasing the earliest sessions is early summer but I’m not sure. Keep posted for updates there. My staff is in charge of that part of it. And, of course, every single bit of this is a ministry plan based on our best understanding thus far. Only God can bring it to pass and we only want Him to do that if the series glorifies and pleases Him.

You guys are so sweet for caring and praying about our local Bible study. We wish so much we could be under the same roof with you, worship before God’s Throne with you, seek the heart of Christ as one, and serve you face to face. Oh, how blessed we’d be! But the relationship we have with you even at this long distance is delightful and tremendously satisfying. We are truly sisters. I’m just crazy about you. Jesus is everything, Beloved Ones. Let’s follow hard after Him.

My staff’s pretty funny, posting my second office, now aren’t they??? IT’S TRUE! I ADMIT IT! I check to see if there are any ministry opportunities in the Starbucks near our office every single morning. Grin. And I might add, I never fail to be ministered unto. Never underestimate what God can do through a grande non-fat cappuccino. He leadeth me beside the Starbucks and my cup overflows.