I would like to take a moment to apologize to all of you for the fact that when my sister called to get my favorite quote last week, all I could come up with was something my 3-year-old says about skunks. It went something like this:

Melissa: “Hey, Mand! I need to know your favorite quote for a blog post.”

Me: Looks down at the baby pool she’s sitting in while she watches her son play in the sand box. Laughs.

Melissa: “Why are you laughing?”

Me: “I’ve got nothing. Call me back in an hour and I’ll have thought of something.”

An hour later, I still had nothing. What I did have was a pathetic case of mommy mush brain. I wish I could say that I’m thinking about or even reading lofty and inspirational words when I’m hanging out with my kids day in and day out. It just isn’t true. But I have enough little kid quotes to sink a ship. For instance, this morning Curtis sat down with Jackson and me at the breakfast table to pray with us before he left for work. (This doesn’t happen every day, but we’re trying.) He said, “Okay, Jackson, what do you want Daddy to pray for you about?” Jackson said, “Ummmmm, sprinkled donuts!”

Lofty quotes I have not, but that which I have, I give to thee!

How about some pictures?

These are from our recent trip to Disney World.

These are from Annabeth’s dedication service at church.

Janelle and Ella came down for the weekend. (Janelle actually made that pink tutu for Annabeth.)

These are from Memorial Day, which we spent at Lake Conroe with some generous friends.

Curtis was trying out Jackson’s first fishing pole.

Here’s Jackson with the worm he named “Clumsy.”

Annabeth thought it was too loud at Marble Slab.

And here’s my almost-four-month-old in her robe after bathtime.

Mom, I think she looks just like me and Melissa here!

Oops.

I am not sure how a basically intelligent, sound-thinking un-isolated woman could miss a couple of thousand people she’s mostly never met face-to-face but, man, I wish we were having a Siesta-fest this afternoon. I’d pour the coffee and get Two Belles to send the pound cake. I have a yearning for you guys. Some of our most active and delightful Siestas were at the Laramie, Wyoming LPL this weekend but I didn’t get to talk to them one on one. I love that a number of you guys get to often meet up at the events but my hands are so full with the large group that I hardly ever get to connect. You’re always on my mind though and I surely do wish I could.

I’ve been hanging out with my man all day at church then here at home but, now that he’s caught up in the old classic “Bridge Over the River Kwai,” I thought I’d take the opportunity to catch up with my sisters. So, brace yourself. This will be random.

So, how did you like the men’s post on insecurity? Wasn’t it insightful? I loved it. It was just what I was looking for. There was only one that made me want to kick him in the shin with my pointy-toed cowboy boots on but, God-fearing woman that I am, I will refrain from identifying his anonymous, pompous self with an excerpt. And if you were in Laramie where I tanked him, shhhhhhhhhhh. Seriously, thank you so much for getting your guys on here. It was a huge help. I was raised in a home with two brothers and two sisters so I get as big a kick out of the guys as the girls, it’s just that girls are who I’m called to serve. Thank your guys for helping me serve you. I’ve got all their answers on one file and I’m going to print them out and put them in a notebook just like I catalogued all of yours. Then I’ll go through them carefully and see which ones I want to quote. When the book comes out, you’re going to see what a big part of it you are. Actually, what a big part of my ministry life you are.

I absolutely loved our group in Laramie! We met right there on the campus of the University of Wyoming. We were ecstatic to top off at over 2800 people. Our theme this weekend was pulled from Psalm 66 out of The Message: “He trained them first.” We talked about the priority of strict training to run our races effectively. Being willing to pay the price to be mighty in Christ. In the last session I knew we were going to bring up the Titus 2:4 concept of the older women training the younger women so God prompted me to have all the women and girls between 10 and 29 sit on the floor level for that session and everyone else sit in the upper level. It was such an incredible sight. Watching those young women worship before that last session built up my faith for what the church has ahead. I saw young women who truly have hearts and lives set apart to Christ. Later in the session after introducing the Titus concept, all of us 30 and over stood up and stretched out our hands to them as if to lay hands on them and told them that we pledged to be there for them. Don’t get freaky on me. We weren’t up to any hocus pocus or channeling. We were just doing something symbolic to represent a Biblical concept. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that sight. (P.S. to Laramie LPL girls: #8: He trains us to trust Him deeper. So sorry!! I taught it, just never said it! Ever a work in progress.)

I have loved these recent posts! I totally dug Melissa’s quote post. One of the things I like about working with Melissa is that she calls me on my cell phone to read me excerpts like the one she shared with you guys. I reminded her of Rabbi Heschel’s quote and that’s when we came up with the idea to ask for your favorites. I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed having that child home for the better part of last week. She is a huge part of the Moore family dynamic. We miss her so much. And speaking of recent posts, I also thought Curtis Jones ought to danged-well start an Ask-Curtis column! I loved his answers! He is really the most incredible young man. Keith and I have often said that Curtis honestly cannot know what all he knows as young as he is. It is a God-given gift. I love him like my own flesh and blood.

Speaking of Curtis, the Jones’s left right after church today to go to a lake house with several other families. Since I’d been out of town four days, I was about to split in-two to see my grandbabies. I did get to smooch all over them after church and help them get to the car. I cannot express to you the joy I have when a certain little 3 year-old boy sees me down the church corridor and yells at the top of his lungs, “Bibby!!!!!!” Oh, I’m so drunk on them. AJ said she’d bring them to me at the first opportunity after they get home tomorrow afternoon so I bet I get to have them Tuesday evening. And, anyway, I miss their mommy, too. I’m so proud of her. Amanda will often say that she was not one of those little girls that played dolls all the time (she preferred stuffed animals) and was obsessed with having children but, once she did it, (my words now, not hers) she took to it like a duck to water. She is a darling mother and she and CJ are doing their best to raise children that love Jesus and love His Church.

Oh, I forgot to say that we are keeping Beckham, the Jones’s Golden Retriever, while they’re away. He is the sweetest guy. Huge and sweet. He does just fine with Geli, our birddog, but Star drives him to distraction. You know how OCD border collies are. Every time he sits down, she sits in front of him and dead-locks him in a stare. It makes him so nervous. She’s so in love with him, she can’t stand it. He’s a British blond and I think Star thinks he’s a sheep. She wants to herd him in the worst way.

We had the BEST EVER Memorial Day Service at our church today! Pastor Gregg invited Houston’s Mayor Bill White to address our congregation and I was amazed by his openness about Christ. I’d never had the pleasure to meet him. Pastor also issued a special invitation to every family on record in the Houston area that had lost a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan. I could not believe how many responded to his invitation and, at one point, he had them stand so that we could honor them. In all my years at HFBC, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a longer standing ovation. It was tremendously moving. Pastor asked one of our ministers (Arthur Craig, head of our HFBC campus for the hearing impaired) to share the story of the loss of his son 7 years ago in Afghanistan. It was incredibly powerful. As God alone would have it, his son wrote him a letter only 7 days before he was killed and it arrived about 12 days after. In it, he shared how he was growing in Christ and he told his dad and mom how much he loved them and what good parents they were. Can you imagine having a treasure like that? We do not understand why such suffering comes but God goes out of His way to show those who are willing to see how much He cares for them. Pastor Gregg finished off the service with a wonderful sermon on the most appropriate Scripture: no greater love has a man than this: than that he lay down his life for his friends. It was a great day for this Army brat and for every single person in our congregation. I deeply appreciate Pastor Gregg for never one time coming before our church body without utmost preparation. I’ve come to love him and his wife, Kelly, so much. I’ve never had a pastor younger than me before and, in this case, substantially younger! It’s a new experience. And, as it turns out, a wonderful one.

I’ve got a new assistant! Don’t worry, my dear Susan that I’ve talked so much about and worked alongside for ten solid years is still with me at Living Proof. Are you kidding me? No one is loved more at this ministry than Susan Kirby. She does a wide variety of things but none more important than providing timely counsel to her own staff. She is my very trusted com padre and the only person on staff I’d have to have kidnapped and gagged if she turned on me. For a while she’s understandably wanted to go to a four-day work week. Once we moved to the new building, her drive lengthened to nearly an hour each way. We were able to arrange a shorter work-week for her here recently but with some alterations to her responsibilities, leaving the hyper administrative slot open. (Apparently I am a full-time job) About a month ago we welcomed a 29-year old young woman to LPM that I’ve loved and admired for several years. Her name is Michelle Parrozzo and she’s a good friend of Amanda’s from their days at Texas A&M. If you are familiar with Get Out of That Pit and remember anything about the story I told about the Kennedy Center symphony, perhaps you’d be amused to know that Michelle is the one that took AJ and me. I was in D.C. to speak and Michelle worked at the White House (yes, really, and for much of that administration) and, at her invitation and escort, we actually got to sit in the President’s box. It was one of the most exciting and ultimately most hilarious moments AJ and I have had together. Michelle is not only among the best executive assistants you could ever imagine. She is also hysterical. I have already gotten a huge kick out of her.

And perhaps, on occasion, she me. But not in the best way, since I seem to have no end to a knack for blunders. Hence, one final random story. Yesterday she and I were flying home from Denver where Rich (driver, photographer, and all-around LPL extraordinaire) and Ron (security – please hear that in proper Bon Qui Qui) had driven us after the Laramie event ended. The plane was packed and we were in seats 8D and 8E, aisle and middle. The dude behind us put his pillow in between our two seats the last hour where we could hardly see each other. It was so annoying. Then, when we began to make our final descent into the Houston area, we were told to bring our seat backs and tray tables into their upright and locked positions which I promptly began to obey since I’m a rule keeper. But my seat wouldn’t pop up because the pillow was stuck between our two chairs. So, instead of moving the pillow and risking the offense of a fellow passenger, I decided to do what I’ve seen flight attendants do a trillion times. I’d just push the button with my right hand while reaching behind the seat and pulling it forward with my left. So, I reached behind me and got a good, firm grip and jerked forward. Then something twitched.

And I realized that I had not grabbed the seat. I’d grabbed the dude’s knee. Right on the back fold of his knee, as a matter of fact, where I got a firm grip on his upper shin and pulled briskly forward. And with the force of a woman half my age. Is it my fault that the seats are so close together that his knee was practically impaled in my chair-back? Huh? Huh? Is it my fault that his pants felt like the same polyester as the airplane seat?? Huh? Huh? Is it my fault that the maneuver was even necessary since he’d stuck his pillow between our seats? Huh? Huh?

I was mortified. I was so undone that all I could do was slap Michelle on the knee like thirty times. Then, I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get out of my mouth what I had done. She got tickled before she even knew what had happened. Suffice it to say, I told Michelle that she’d have to get my brief case out of the overhead compartment (but to be careful when unloading it as bags may have a tendency to shift during flight) after we reached the gate because I was bolting off that plane without looking back. And that’s exactly what I did.

As Melissa sometimes says, “Mom, it’s hard to be you.” Heck yes, it is.

PS. Did one of you make the mistake of saying that it had been too long since you’ve seen a picture of the grandbabies? Alrighty then!

Thanks for all the great questions ladies! Obviously, since there were so many questions, I won’t be able to answer them all. So we will stick to those most frequently asked. Which means we will start with the question I hear most often.

What’s it like to be Beth Moore’s son-in-law?

It is everything you think it would be and then a thousand times better. In her Mother’s Day card I wrote that I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world, except maybe more hair. But the truth is I wouldn’t even trade her for more hair (and if you knew how much hair I had when I met her and how little I have now, you would know that means I love her a lot). Beth would be an amazing mother-in-law even if she was just “Beth” and not “Beth Moore.” The great spiritual conversations and Bible trivia matches are just the cherries on top. She is my favorite teacher, a gifted author, but an even better mother. And I’m incredibly proud to be her son.

How can I help my husband grow in his relationship with God and step up as the spiritual leader?

This is difficult to answer since each question was asked by a specific woman with a specific husband who has a specific personality and history. How you encourage your husband will depend a lot on your relationship history. I told Amanda last night that if for some reason I spiritually relaxed to the point of deadness that she should confront me quickly and harshly. Loudly. With weapons. Why? Because that’s who I am. That’s who I told her I was when we met and were married. If you have seen your husband have a passion for Christ, but is now colder than a penguin with a popsicle, confront him. Don’t worry about offending him. He needs to be offended.

However, if your husband has never shown the kind of faith you are praying for, be gentle. First Peter 3:1-3 says “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.” Peter was specifically writing to women with unbelieving husbands, but I think the principle applies to this situation. You will never win him over with an argument, and deep faith is not the result of well-reasoned rhetoric. Continue to pray, be respectful, and be faithful.

With those things said, here are a couple of things to remember:

1) Show him that being a Christian is something you “do,” not just something “you are.” In our current church culture it is very easy to believe the main point of Christianity is to (a) be in church, and (c) behave. Help him see there is action to be a part of. Find a mission trip where he can build stuff. Is there a widow in your church who needs a handy man for a few projects? A fatherless boy in the youth ministry who could use a fishing trip? Men aren’t drawn to deep faith because they feel like being “men” is something you have to do outside of church and not inside. Show him differently.

2) Make sure that your vision of a spiritual leader is not too narrow. He may never look like your pastor or Bible study leader. He’s probably not wired the same way. Don’t confuse helping him be everything God wants him to be with helping him be everything you want him to be. Be encouraged. God is at work in your husband. It may just progress a little slower than you would like.

I’m having a difficult time with my teenage son. He doesn’t want to go to church. What should I do?

Ask yourself three questions:
1) Does he pay the mortgage?
2) Does he buy the groceries?
3) Does he pay for his own health insurance?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” then you make him go. I myself was a church kid who at age 15 did not want to go to church. I thank God everyday that my parents made me go. Just like skipping school was not an option, skipping church was not either. I think most teenagers go through a stage where going to church is not their favorite thing. Had my parents given me the option to stay home, I would have not been in the place where God began to draw me toward him.

Hey! What about all the single ladies? Why does it seem like we have to do all the work in starting the relationship?

When it comes to dating, men are delicate creatures. It’s true. Men fear two things: (1) being alone, and (2) failure. He risks both with dating. At some point in every man’s life he has pursued a woman and she has rejected him. Thus, like the caveman he is, he learns that being pursued is easier than pursuing. Therefore, many men are content to let the woman do all the work because it’s less risky.

Think of the pursuit like a dance. He will take a step and you respond with a step. This encourages him and rewards his bold first move. He will take another step and you again respond to his step. That, my friends, is a dance. If he asks you to “grab a coffee” with him and you say you can’t because you have to feed your sister’s birds, he’ll quit the dance. Or, if he sees you are willing to make all the first steps, he may be content to let you drag him all over the dance floor. That may sound alright at first, but it will leave you both empty a month later.

Why are men so bad at communication?

We’re not. We just do it differently. Next time you’re in a social setting, notice how the men have no trouble talking with other men and the women have no trouble talking to other women. I think men express themselves more easily in “doing” and women express themselves in “saying.” Going to work, mowing the yard, and taking the family out to dinner are “I love you” from him. I think you’ll find that you and your husband are often saying the same thing. You are just speaking a different language.

What Bible Studies do you recommend for men?

If you are looking for an in-depth Bible study similar to Beth’s, I recommend Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. It is the same size as Beth’s and takes about as long each day to do. I think that may be a little more than most men are ready or willing to chew. If your man is at the beginning stages of a consistent Bible study time, he is who I had in mind when we put out Drive Thru the Bible and Deepening a Father’s Heart. (Amanda adds: I can’t link directly to anything in our online store for some reason, but you can find both of them there.) Finally, I always recommend John Eldredge’s resources for men. God has used his writing to help and heal broken parts of me over the last few years. Plus, he’s the person I would most like to spend an afternoon fly fishing with.

Thanks for all the questions. Sorry we didn’t have time to get to all of them. Now, go kiss your man and give him a gift certificate to Bass Pro Shop.

-Curtis

You all are amazing, you know that!?!  We had 104 people apply for a scholarship to sponsor a child in East India through Compassion in a one hour period of time.  That is incredible.

So, here it goes.  Our winners were chosen by Random.org:

8- Sara @ 2:46

15- Lindsay @ 2:49

75- Laurie @ 3:23

58- KrisPT @ 3:12

48- Melody @ 3:07

44- MiMi @ 3:05

103- Tera @ 3:42

17- Living in His Arms/Jennifer Dayton @ 2:50

76- Laura @ 3:24

37- Stef Layton @ 3:00

Congratulations, Ladies.  And thank you for your willingness to write and to love a child in East India.  Now please send your full name, physical address, home and cell phone number, along with your email address to [email protected] and we will get this ball rolling! 

Since we are talking about India and Compassion right now, I thought I’d leave you with a few final memories of mine.  Patricia Jones, one of my fellow India-bloggers, told us on our last day in Calcutta to walk away with one “snapshot” from the trip.  One very vivid picture that could sum up our experience. Well, I need to have two.  I know, I’m overly verbose if not just downright rebellious. You should have seen me in Middle School.  It wasn’t pretty.  I’ve always gotta walk over the line, just a little bit.  Sorry, Patricia. By the way, I miss you.  And everyone else from the trip. 

Deep breath.

So here are my two snapshots: 

Here I am at one of the Compassion projects hanging over a little boy reading a passage from the Gospel of Matthew in Bengali.  

*Comments now closed*

Many of you graciously walked along with me as I journeyed with Compassion International through Calcutta, India. You were right alongside me so I know that you will rejoice when I tell you that as of today Compassion International has officially sponsored its 1,000,000th child! 

Hey Siestas! Do you have a question for Curtis? I’ve been thinking it would be fun to do a Q&A with him. If you want to ask him something – about men, ministry, marriage, family, the Bible, etc. – leave your question in a comment and we’ll get him blogging!

WOMEN: Want to help me out? Get as many men as you can to (anonymously!) answer this survey! Since I am studying our culture as a whole, I’ll welcome any man’s comments regardless of his religious affiliation. All I ask is that they respect the nature of this blog and watch their mouths a tad just like I’d want you to do. By now you’ve probably figured out that I am researching and writing on the hot button of women and insecurity. Many months ago when I surveyed you on the topic, I told you there would come a time when I’d want to ask the men some questions. The time has come. Perhaps you’ll be a little more motivated by the fact that I am actually going to post their answers (anonymous ones only). If they shoot straight with us, it should be pretty insightful. I only need to say this to a very few of you so the rest of you overlook this statement:IT WOULD BE THE LAMEST THING EVER TO POSE AS A MAN AND POST ANSWERS TO THIS SURVEY JUST TO GET A KICK OUT OF YOURSELF. Totally dumb. Refrain. (I’m no longer blogly naive.) That aside, thank you so much for your help! I can’t wait to see what we learn!

MEN: For the last 6 months I’ve been researching the topic of women and insecurity for a book I’m feeling prompted by God to write. Though I know that men have as many insecurities as women, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist (male or female) to know that they differ, and often dramatically. I’m hoping in the book to offer a little insight to women concerning those differences and, of course, any similarities where they exist. Here’s the most important part before we ever get to the survey:

You need to know that my expressed purpose is to gather research for writing and speaking. By giving answers you are giving me complete permission to quote you in full or in part in any format that I find helpful. Due to the survey-nature of this blog and the way I need to use the material, ONLY ANONYMOUS POSTS CAN AND WILL BE POSTED. I would, however, love to have your age if you don’t mind putting that in your answers. That’s optional though.

If you’re still game, this is all I ask: that you’ll be completely honest and tell us anything you wish you could say if you could stay anonymous. Say as much as you can without crossing a line into something blatantly inappropriate for a blog like this. I’m so grateful, guys. OK, here are the two questions. Try to keep your answers limited to one average length paragraph each. You stand to be a really great help to us. I commit to you that I will try my best to be fair as I represent your gender in the material that results from your answers.

1. What are your primary areas of insecurity and how do they tend to act on you? (In other words, how do you normally act when you’re feeling insecure?)

2. What is the most common way you notice insecurity in women?

That’s all there is to it!

PS. Don’t expect the answers to get posted right away because I’ll need to read through them pretty carefully and I’ll also let them stack up a while so that I can post them in chunks. I appreciate all of you so much and don’t take lightly that I have access to this kind of information. If you’re willing, please say a prayer for me as I write this book. It is a topic I feel very strongly about and I want so much for people to be significantly helped and for God to be pleased.

Hey, Sweet Things! It’s been several days since I posted this but I have to get back on here and tell you how PROUD I am of you! I see some fresh fire in your Scripture memory! Our sign-ins had dipped just a tad and now they’re heading back up. I know that also means we have newbies and I’m just as thrilled about that. I know this is HARD but, Girlfriends, we will do few things with greater personal impact than plastering Scripture on the walls of our minds. I am so proud of you. Let’s see this through!

Original Post:
Hey, my dear Siestas! I’ve just been thinking about the power that resides in a personal testimony and how our stories with God are meant to be told. And not just one single encounter shared over and over, as beautiful as that can be, but a lifetime of experiences lived out with a living, breathing ever-faithful Redeemer. One of the things God warns us about often in His Word is not forgetting what He’s done: what we’ve seen with our own eyes, what we’ve experienced with our own hearts. Nobody and nothing gets to take those things from us. My memory verse this time talks about that very thing. It’s Deuteronomy 4:9 out of the New International Version.

“Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

Keep telling your stories, Sweet Siestas. Don’t decide it wasn’t that big a deal after all…or that maybe you made it up, or that maybe it was just a coincidence. It was GOD. Revelation 12:11 says we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimonies! Let’s open our mouths wide and tell it.

Okay, now let’s hear yours! Name, city, and verse!
____________________________________

Here are some answers to commonly asked questions about our celebration event in January of 2010.

Siesta Scripture Memory Celebration FAQ’s

When and where can I register?
Registration will take place through our Living Proof web site and will begin in October. We will definitely let you know when it starts.

Where will the event be held?
The conference will be held at Houston’s First Baptist Church (7401 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77024). You can find maps and turn-by-turn directions on their website: http://www.hfbc.org/Location

When does the event begin?
The conference begins Friday, January 22, at 7 pm and will conclude Saturday, January 23, at noon.

What airport do I fly into?
There are two main airports located within 30 minutes of the church. Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is Continental Airlines’ hub and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) is one of Southwest Airlines’ largest hubs.

Where can I stay?
Hotels located close to Houston’s First Baptist Church:

Holiday Inn Express
713-688-2800
7625 Katy Freeway 77024

Hilton Garden Inn (near Galleria)
713-212-1503
3201 Sage Road 77056

Omni Hotel
713-871-8181
Four Riverway @ Woodway 77056

Drury Inn & Suites
713-963-0700
1615 West Loop South 77027

Hampton Inn
713-871-9911
4500 Post Oak Parkway 77027

Sheraton Houston Brookhollow
713-613-0648
3000 North Loop West 77092

Courtyard by Marriott Houston
713-688-7711
2504 North Loop West 77092

La Quinta
713-355-3440
1625 West Loop South 77027

Marriott by the Galleria
713-960-0111
1750 West Loop South 77027

Embassy Suites
713-626-5444
2911 Sage Road 77056

The Houstonian
713-680-2626
111 North Post Oak Lane 77024