Hey, Sweet Things! I am back to my desk for the first time in almost a week and a half! It was called “Time Off” and I savored it like I do the last foamy sip of a grande dry cappuccino while I’m patting on the bottom of the cup. At first I was just going to stay home for the whole week since Keith couldn’t leave town right then and neither could my main running buddies, AJ and Melissa. Then, my coworkers, Sabrina and K-Mac, conspired on some possible flight arrangements, hotels and even show times if I were willing to take a jaunt to New York City. Last Tuesday, I mentioned it almost in passing to Keith and Lis and both of them said, “GO!!!!” So, I did! I couldn’t even believe it myself. I had plenty of frequent flier miles so the flight didn’t cost one red cent. I called a friend whose daughter happened to be at church camp and she was able to drop her schedule like a hot potato and meet me there. We landed within an hour of one another on Thursday afternoon and hit the ground running. I bet we walked 12 miles in Central Park over our 3 day/2 night stay and talked a hundred miles an hour. It was such an immense treat.

THEN, I flew home on Saturday evening in time to spend the last few days of my vacation with my family. We had our Bayou City Fellowship core-group church service Sunday evening (we open to the public September 11th!!! So exciting!) THEN the biggest thing of all happened: JACKSON STARTED KINDERGARTEN YESTERDAY. Amanda and I had planned for the last several weeks to spend that day together so I headed over yesterday morning and stayed until he got home from school. We made memories that I will treasure in my heart forever and replay in my mind about a zillion times. I am not going to go overboard on it right now because I’m hoping AJ will send me some pictures so I can share them with you. If you’re like me, you don’t just want to hear about a big occasion. You want to see it. SO, hopefully I’ll be able to pitch you a few pictures really soon.

OK, so change tracks with me because I’d love to hear from you about a subject. I’ve been thinking about what a gift a fresh humbling can be. Needless to say, I don’t like one any more than you do. In fact, I can’t think of many things I like less but, if we’re Biblical thinkers, we can have a whole different perspective when a humbling comes. In fact, if we really assimilated what the Scriptures say about it into our belief systems, we wouldn’t wait to be humbled. We’d go right ahead and humble ourselves as fast as we could. Why? Well, for starters…

Luke 1:48 says that God is mindful of the humble state of His servant, so we’re especially full in His mind in our humble condition.

Matthew 11:29 says that Jesus was humble in heart so, with fresh humility, we’re vastly more reflective of the Savior. And, at the end of the day, that’s what we’re doing here.

1 Peter 5:5 says that God opposes the proud but He gives grace to the humble, so, fresh humility not only puts us on the same side of the situation as God (note to self: never a good idea to invite God to oppose you), it also drops open the invisible hatch over our heads till we’re buried alive in grace.

1 Peter 5:6 tells us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and trust that He will exalt us at the proper time. Of course, seeking to humble ourselves so that we’ll be exalted is just pride playing dress-ups but here’s the bright side of the proper vantage point: Sometimes when God humbles us, it’s because He is preparing to exalt His Name through us in some elevated capacity. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)

So, I was just wondering: When was the last time God really humbled you? Second question: Has enough time passed for you to get some insight from Him regarding His purpose for it? If so, let’s hear it. Limit your responses to a good, meaty paragraph so we can read as many of them as possible.

I’ve missed hearing from you! Testify, Girlfriends! You are so loved and appreciated here.

**UPDATE 8/12/11**  Hey Siestas!  Our 20 scholarship tickets are now gone.  If you are able, tickets can be purchased at the door.  The event will be held at the Ohio State University Value City Arena at Jerome Schottenstein Center.  The doors open tonight around 5:00pm, and the Conference begins at 7:00pm.

Hey Siestas!
Who is coming to Columbus, OH this weekend?  Your Siesta Mama is preparing to head that way and can’t wait to see each one of you!

Thanks to the Siesta Scholarship Fund, we are able to offer 20 scholarship tickets for this weekend. We understand times are tough, and these scholarships are for those that want so badly to go, but just cannot afford the ticket.

We will offer them to the first 20 of you who call during regular business hours at Living Proof (8:30-4:30 Central time).  Ask for Kimberly at 1-888-700-1999.  If you call over the lunch hour, or you go straight to voice mail, just leave a message with your phone number and she will get back in touch with you just as soon as possible.

May God sovereignly hand them out just as He sees fit.

KMac

Checking In! from LPV on Vimeo.

Hey Siestas!
Is anyone heading to Charlotte, NC this weekend?  Your Siesta Mama is anxious to see each one of you!

Is there a Siesta out there that wants so badly to go but just cannot afford the ticket?  We understand times are tough, but thanks to the Siesta Scholarship Fund, we have set aside 20 scholarships for this weekend for the first 20 of you who call during regular business hours at Living Proof.

Call Kimberly between 8:30-4:30 (CST) using our toll free number: 1-888-700-1999. If you call over the lunch hour, or you go straight to voice mail, just leave a message with your phone number and they will get back in touch with you just as soon as possible.

We are THRILLED that we can partner with Christ and with one another to offer these scholarships to you. May God sovereignly hand them out just as He sees fit.

KMac
**UPDATE 7/22/11**  Hey Siestas!  Our 20 scholarship tickets are now gone.  If you are able, tickets can be purchased at the door.  The event will be held at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.  The doors open tonight around 5:00pm, and the Conference begins at 7:00pm.

Hey, Sweet Things! I miss being on here with you! I’ll need extra patience from you for another four weeks. But, I’ll tell you what I told some of you who are on Twitter. When it seems like I’m really quiet, it’s because I’m talking my head off to you through writing. Believe you me, you are on my mind continually as I write straight to you in every segment of this curriculum. Melissa would say the same thing. Bless her heart. She worked all weekend because she needs to be finished with her excerpts a tad before I do. It’s best not to glamorize writing because it is a very demanding assignment but, if God calls you to it, receive it with joy and with the open-mindedness of a student rather than a teacher, with much self-discipline, and with relentless prayer.

Melissa said something to me yesterday that I’ve thought about a lot. She said, “You and Daddy and [insert Amanda’s nickname] are pretty much my social life right now outside of home because I can’t be a dependable friend.” Whoa. Have I ever been there. People ask often how I’ve “balanced” (me balanced???) ministry with family and I’ve said the same thing over and over: I dumped practically everything else. If you have the updated version of David: A Heart Like His, it’s dedicated to my friend, Johnnie Haines, because she stuck with this on-again-off-again friend for 30 years. I’d drop out of communication for weeks at a time. I’m not suggesting anybody out there dump their social life. It’s not healthy. It’s just what I had to do for long stretches of time in order to fulfill my responsibilities to family and calling. These days I have my fellow sojourners at LPM and YOU and I am inexpressibly grateful. Truly, it’s one reason why I love blogging so much. It’s the way I get outside without ever leaving my home or office.

Well, that was a rabbit trail. I meant to just get on here and tell you quickly what I’ve been doing for the last few days. Friday was my wildman’s birthday (I first wrote girthday! It just so happens that his girth is not a bit bigger than it was when I met him.) I asked him several days earlier where he wanted to go eat for his celebration and he said, “I just want to get to-go food so that we can have the babies, too. It wouldn’t be as fun without them.” I agreed but I stressed about him not having something special to eat for his birthday and then it hit me that I should do what most wives might do: bite the bullet and cook. That would have been a quicker decision if I’d been able to take the day off but I didn’t have the luxury. So, what to cook?? Then it hit me: Christmas dinner.

(Side bar: I tweeted that the first person who guessed what I was making for his birthday dinner would receive the book of her choice and I purely laughed out loud as it took several hours and several hundred responses for someone to guess it. FINALLY, after about 25 shots at it – ministerially speaking –  our own long-time Siesta – on Twitter as @Micheledidasko – got it. What made it so hilarious and so GOD is that she hadn’t ever done Breaking Free. Well, she took her win as a sure sign and that’s what she requested. We love you, Michele! You’re a great sport! And I hope your care package makes it there soon!)

Good heavens, you guys. You’re the worst things on earth about getting me off on a tangent. Back to Christmas dinner. It’s my man’s favorite meal on earth and, six months after the holidays, it was sure to taste so good that we’d want to slap something. So, I went to the freezer section of Kroger for a turkey, made cornbread for traditional dressing, then broccoli and rice casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy and Sister Schubert’s Homemade Rolls. AND, drum roll please, WHITE WEDDING CAKE!!!! I know you were expecting Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake but I’d just baked one on the 4th of July. Keith’s mother always makes him a scratch German Chocolate Cake so I had to come up with something different. The 4-Moores LOVE white wedding-type cake. My cake portion was really good but you should have tasted my homemade cream cheese frosting. Honestly, I could have fluffed it up like a pillow that night and slept on it. Oh, for the sweet dreams!

We had the whole family over, stretching from Keith’s Dad, “Big Pops,” to Annabeth Ellen Jones, who, by the way, is the potty-trained princess. We had the best time even amid the chaos that is my cooking. (I made this whole gorgeous meal then threw Chinet and plastic forks at them. When someone arrived and saw the dining table barren of dishes and asked if I needed help setting the table, I may even ever-so-slightly-recall saying something like, “I worked all day long before slaving over this meal.” Servant-fail! Blast it all!)

Even so, we had a great party and I ate Christmas dinner again the next day all by myself. Then Amanda and Melissa came over yesterday late afternoon and we four original Moores heated up the leftovers and ate it AGAIN, cranberry sauce and all. Then I threw the rest away…because, by then, we were on our way to celebrating our girthday.

Yesterday both girls looked shocked when they walked in the door and saw their Daddy and me dressed alike. It was an accident. I guess I got the subliminal idea for purple in my head when I saw him dressed and ready to take me to breakfast at the BBQ place. (Yes, you read that right. You can get ribs right alongside your flapjacks.) When we were on our way in the car, he looked over at me and said, “We’re dressed alike.” (Kinda horrified. Then I was, too.) So I said, “No, we’re not! These are clearly two distinct shades of purple!” Then I kind of made that “puh” sound, like “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that.” Then we got to the BBQ restaurant where you slide your tray all the way down a cafeteria-style line and the young woman at the cash register had the gall to say, “You are dressed alike.” I said, “Well, it was an accident…” to which she said, “Oh. I thought maybe y’all were on a team of some kind.”

To which Keith said (in that slightly irritable way that Keith says things when he’s exasperated), “Well, we ARE on the same team. We’ve been married over 30 years!”

That’s the story of our lives. We never do anything simple.

After both girls made ample fun of us, Melissa clicked this picture with her cell phone. So, here we are. Team Moore.

I love you guys.

OK, Siestas, remember two posts ago when I told you about finding those old Scripture cards in that desk drawer? Eureka! Old girl struck gold again! To appreciate this particular brand of gold, you have to think in broad terms. In my family, amusement is a fist full of gold. Absurdity is a brick of  gold. And a belly laugh is a ton of gold. To my dear friend Sophie (Boomama) and me, the national reserve of gold would be anything that makes us lean back in our chairs and clap our hands with glee. I’m not saying you’re going to get one of those. I’m just helping you sort out various levels of gold so that you know when you’ve struck the mama load.

I was three drawers down this time, looking for a set of immunization records which, incidentally, I never found. Since this is the second discovery I’m sharing with you from this old desk, I’ll provide a proper visual.

I love, love, LOVE that piece of stained glass above it. Keith’s youngest sister, Mary, salvaged it – with permission – from an old Methodist church under reconstruction. Our friend had it framed for us and we’ll keep it forever.

Back to the desk. So, this time it wasn’t Scripture cards from the family altar that I found in those bottomless drawers. It was speaking notes from the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Honestly, I sat in the floor slack-jawed, looking from message to message and laughed so hard that I could have cried. And sometimes I felt like crying so hard that I could have laughed. I wish you could tell from this picture how thick the stack is. (Every bit of three or four inches.)  Some of the messages are on typing paper from my first word processor but many of them are handwritten on notebook paper.

How about a closer look?

Could you possibly have  missed that I used HOT ROLLERS (I think you’re supposed to say it really loud) as an illustration?? I bet you anything it was to explain how we need to plug in to the Holy Spirit. Bless my sweet heart. I can hardly sit up to type. The worst part is that I am still using hair-related illustrations. One would so hope she’d grown in 25 years. Below is one of my favorite smatterings of messages. Please behold the broad stretch of topics. Can you make out the one at the top about “Table Manners and Table Settings”?

Talking was all I ever could do. My brothers and sisters were musical and theatrical. I simply talked. As you can see, it took me a few years to figure out what I was actually called to talk about. There were innumerable messages about Christian fitness in the stack. I may keep some of them. After all, Jane Fonda made an aerobic come-back. Here’s another one. The part that nearly sent me over to my side, kicking my legs, was the “POEM, end.” (It is of such importance that, lo, it is in my notes twice.) Well, of course, say a poem then end. That’s what speakers and even preachers did in those days. Please note my commitment to cultural relevance as the inclusion of a story about Rosanne Barr clearly illustrates. (Correct spelling of her name is actually Roseanne but I didn’t know that at the time nor did anyone ever whisper in my ear, “You’ll be showing these notes to a LOT of people in 20 something years.”) Oh, what I would give to know what story I was telling about her. As you might note, my source was the Enquirer.

No doubt, you are on pins and needles by now over this riveting post but, alas, the fleeting clock permits me, yea, only one more brick of gold. But it’s a doozy. This is a list of my seminar topics that I included in my “packet” to anyone who showed interest in asking me to speak.

Perhaps my favorite of all is “The Many Hats of God.” (I can no longer sit up to type for laughing. Lord, I am so sorry that I helped these innocent audiences of God-fearing women picture You wearing all manner of head gear.) My mind is eased only by the clear remembrance of often receiving a potted plant as honorarium. And, if you care an iota about accuracy, please picture me giving most of these messages wearing a corsage pinned over my bosom by the pastor’s wife. (That is not a bad word. Check your hymnbook.)

In closing, permit me to say that, if you think the (looooooooong) life of a Christian communicator is easy, you have clearly been set straight today. My son-in-law Curtis, is presently going through a stack of old cassette tapes of my earliest Sunday school lessons and messages to see what needs to be kept and what can be tossed. I can hardly look him in the eye right now. And he’s my pastor. Oh, the gifts that keep on giving.

Well. There you have it. Surely somewhere in those notes you’d find this saying: “Be patient. God is not finished with me yet.”

And, Lord knows, He’s still not.

Hey Siestas!
Beth is getting ready to head out to Lincoln, NE for Living Proof Live this weekend and she is so anxious to get there and see what God has in store!

She asked me to hop on here and let you know that, thanks to the Siesta Scholarship Fund, we have set aside 20 scholarships for this weekend for the first 20 of you who call during regular business hours at Living Proof. It is our joy to offer these to some of you that would like to go but you just can’t afford the ticket. We so get that! Call Kimberly or Susan between 8:30-4:30 (CST) using our toll free number: 1-888-700-1999. If you call over the lunch hour, or you go straight to voice mail, just leave a message with your phone number and they will get back in touch with you just as soon as possible.

As Beth has said: We are THRILLED that we can partner with Christ and with one another to offer these scholarships to you. May God sovereignly hand them out just as He sees fit.

KMac