Bon Appetit Siestas, from Melissa

Siestas, since I love you so, here are the recipes as promised. I am typing my own words in blue so that you can differentiate between the inspired cook-book author and my lowly uninspired self. The first recipe is by far the easier of the two, and nearly as good. P.S. The pictures above are related to the second recipe, not the first. You don't need anything special for the first recipe- and it will bless your heart.

Tarte Fine Aux Pommes

(rough translation “thin apple tart”; note: native Texans should not attempt to pronounce the French title, and you know what? Neither should Georgians. Exception: Our Siesta Susan from Savannah, who lived in France for 15 years)

Recipe by Nigella Lawson in “Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast”

Ingredients:
2 large Granny Smith apples (or 3 smaller ones)
Juice of 1 Lemon
One half (1 sheet) of a 17.2 oz package all-butter storebought puff pastry, measuring 9 ½ x 9 ½ inches
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon butter
Crème Fraiche for serving, if wished

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425.

2. Core the apples, and cut them in half. Pour the lemon juice into a wide shallow dish and fill it with some cold water. Immerse the apple halves in the lemony water; this will stop them from turning brown.

3. Lay the sheet of puff pastry onto a large baking sheet, and either using the back of a large carving knife or a steel ruler mark a ½ inch border all the way around the edge of the rectangle. You need to score the lines on the pastry rather than cutting all the way through it. This will allow a frame to rise above the apple filling.

4. Pat the apples dry and cut each half into quarters, then slice each quarter as thinly as you possibly can: think segment wafers.

5. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the base. Working from the inside edge, place the apple slices closely overlapping within the border of the frame. Create neat lines of apple slices until the pastry is covered.

6. Heat the butter with the remaining tablespoon of sugar in a small pan, and let both bubble for a few minutes until a light caramel color appears. Dribble this syrup over the apples and put the tart in the oven.

7. Cook for 20-25 minutes, by which time a puff pastry border will have risen around the apples and the fruit will be soft and slightly colored. Cut into squares or slices and serve with crème fraiche if desired.

Serves 6-8 normal people and 2 Fitzpatricks.


Melissa’s Notes:
Um, since my maiden name is “Moore”, I did feel the need to add another tablespoon of brown sugar in addition to the 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar (some for the base and some for the syrup). I also snuck more butter in so that there would be more syrup to cover the pastry. Also, if you have a Whole Foods nearby they sell a brand of Frozen Puff Pastry that will rock your world. It is from Dufour Pastry Kitchens, and I think it is to die for. But seriously, I am sure any frozen puff pastry brand would work. I couldn’t find it in the sheet size that this recipe calls for but the wonderful thing about puff pastry is that you can manipulate it and cut it into whatever shape or size you want. The last time I made this recipe, I made them into small little free form round tarts. Puff Pastry is seriously wonderful. Here is an analogy for those of you who want me to work Bible Study into this post:

Frozen Puff Pastry: Baking as Colored Pens: Bible Study

Just like colored pens make Bible Study way more fun, so puff pastry makes cooking way more fun. Oh and forget the crème fraiche, because to me, nothing gets better than whipped cream from a spray bottle. And yes, our family even gets more undignified than this, for I have actually seen my Mom spray whipped cream into the back of her mouth straight from the bottle while hiding behind the refrigerator door. Sorry Mom, that was for the “cooking cult” comment.


Fancy Fresh Fruit Tart

For all of my brave siesta-chefs out there! Think of this recipe in four parts:

1) Tart shell
2) Pastry cream filling
3) Fresh fruit topping
4) Final fruit glaze

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

Life will be most easy for you if you own a 9-10 inch nonstick tart pan with a removable bottom. It sounds fancy, but it isn’t fancy or expensive at all. I got mine at Williams-Sonoma for $18. Keep in mind that the recipe is for a 10-inch round, so adjust accordingly. Mine was only 9 inches so I had to adjust the dough a bit. My guess is that the removable bottom is pretty key since the tart shell is fairly delicate. If you do not own pie weights, then you can absolutely use dried beans or rice- but do use something! I bought my pie weights at Williams-Sonoma and they are ceramic and reusable and come in a cute little jar. And you’ve gotta love “cute”.

PART ONE:

Shortbread Tart Shell by Ina Garten in “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook” (pg. 183)

Ingredients:

¾ cup unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¾ all-purpose flour
Pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on a low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Press the dough into a 10-inch round or 9-inch-square false bottom tart pan, making sure that the finished edge is flat. Chill until firm.

Butter one side of a square aluminum foil to fit inside the tart and place it, buttered side down, on the pastry. Fill with beans or rice (or pie weights). Bake for twenty minutes. .. Remove the foil and beans, prick the tart all over with the tines of a fork, and bake again for 20-25 minutes more, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool at room temperature.

Siestas, at this point if you think your tart shell is ugly, do not despair, for it is going to have fruit spread all over it in the long run. I mean, don’t use it if it is completely burnt, but don’t freak out if it doesn’t look perfect. Also, I hope that you noticed that you are NOT to roll out this dough; you are not supposed to roll shortbread dough. You simply press it into the pan and use your thumbs. See, this recipe could have been much harder, if I would have given you a tart shell that you had to use a food processor and rolling pin with.


PART 2- The Pastry Cream (Adapted by Deb from smittenkitchen.com from Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan)

(you can, of course, prepare the pastry cream while the tart shell is baking, but for the sake of simplicity and pedagogy, I thought the steps were helpful)

1 1/4 cups (300 grams) whole milk
1/2 moist, plump vanilla bean, split and scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
3 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Bring the milk and vanilla bean (pulp and pod) to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cover the pan, turn off the heat, and set aside for 10 minutes. Or, if you are using vanilla extract, just bring the milk to a boil and proceed with the recipe, adding the extract before you add the butter to the hot pastry cream.

2. Working in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, whisk the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together until thick and pale. Whisking all the while, very slowly drizzle a quarter of the hot milk onto the yolks. Then, still whisking, pour the rest of the liquid in a steady stream over the tempered yolks. Remove and discard the vanilla pod.

3. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously and without stop, bring the mixture to the boil. Keep the mixture at the boil, whisking energetically, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and scrape the party cream into a clean bowl. Allow the pastry cream to cool on the counter for about 3 minutes.

4. Cut the butter into chunks and stir the chunks into the hot pastry cream, continuing to stir until the butter is melted and incorporated. (Here I also added about a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream: again, I am a “Moore”; some non-Southern Baptist recipes also call for about a teaspoon of Cognac, Grand Marnier, or Brandy during this step). At this point, the cream needs to be thoroughly chilled. You can either set the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and, to ensure even cooling, stir the cream from time to time, or refrigerate the cream, in which case you should press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal.

(The cream can be kept tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or packed airtight and frozen for 1 month. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and whip before using to return it to its smooth consistency.)

Siestas, please do follow the directions and chill the pastry cream because you want it to be a firm enough spread so that when you place the fresh fruit on it, it doesn’t turn into a glob. The consistency of the pastry cream should remind you more of custard than cream. When the tart shell has cooled off and the pastry cream is chilled, add the pastry cream to the tart shell and spread evenly.

Part 3: Fresh Fruit

Okay, so at this point you can choose whatever fresh fruit to add to the tart. I was sort of on steroids that day, and so I choose like every fruit I could lay my hands on. However, a plain strawberry tart is absolutely beautiful in its simplicity. The next time I make one, I am going to use just halved strawberries and whole blueberries. The oranges and kiwis are great for color, though. Ina Garten gives the following tip when arranging the fruit, “Place the larger fruit first and then spill the berries into the spaces to fill in. Use one strong color, such as halved strawberries or a small bunch of grapes, near the middle to give the design focus and height” (The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, 185). Really though, siestas, please do not be dogmatic about this- we are not being theological- we are exercising our creativity! You’re an artist! Make it look pretty! One tip I would give is that I would wash the fruit and let it dry for a little while so that you make sure you aren’t putting soggy fruit on the pastry cream. You certainly don’t want to go to all this work to have a soggy fruit tart.


Part 4: Final Fruit Glaze (my adaptation)

1/4 cup of apricot jam/jelly
1-2 teaspoons of water

Melt the apricot jam/jelly with a little water (1-2 teaspoons) and brush the fruit with a pastry brush (or any brush, just not a hair brush) to give it an amazingly shiny look. This final step really makes a difference, as the fruit can tend to look dry and pale without it. Susan, our siesta who lived in France for 15 years, recommended using raspberry or strawberry jam. I am sure either would work great, and honestly, I just microwaved the jam/water until it was melted and it worked fine for me, but I am sure it would be more sophisticated to melt it over a saucepan.

Concluding Remarks:
Siestas, while the fruit tart is better the first day, it will still be pretty good the next day, as long as you do not refrigerate it! The best thing to do is to keep all the various parts separate until a few hours before you want to serve it. Be blessed!

Love,
Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick

The Passing of a Wonderful Dog

My Dear Siestas,

I’ve been needing to tell you something but it paled so dreadfully in comparison to the trials of those around us that I wouldn’t have dared share it when it happened. The mention of it would have been an insult. I’ve been looking for a time when we weren’t as mindful of terrible suffering, but the truth is, we daily become aware of astonishing hurts. Only yesterday someone shared another person’s loss in a blog comment that caused me to bawl my head off and get off my chair and onto the floor. This is embarrassingly minute in comparison. It’s just a Moore family thing but since you’ve been so involved in ongoing Sunny sagas, I feel like I should let you know.

On Wednesday, May 21st, I said good-bye to my beloved, faithful shadow and best friend of many years, Sunny. She was an unimpressive medium-size mixed-breed stray when she took up on my porch a jillion years ago but she has been my constant companion ever since and a source of much company and joy through some very lonely times. To tell you that I miss her is an understatement. It has yet to leave my mind.

Right around the time she got lost, she’d started getting really sick. At first, we thought it was an isolated thing but then she continued to have bouts. She got to where she cried much of the time so we knew she had to be in pain. After three different doctors and finally a referral to a specialty vet, we learned that she had a tumor on her spleen and that her liver was already “mottled,” indicating that disease had already spread to that organ. She was only comfortable when heavily medicated by a pain reliever and, if she was awake, she was nauseated. To let her suffer so was no way to treat such a lively, faithful pet.

I got to be with my girl, holding her gray face in my hands and telling her, through sobs, what a great job she’d done when she died. I still can’t recount it without crying. Keith buried her in my favorite place in my garden, right by my bench and surrounded by beautiful flowers. I can’t imagine ever having another little canine companion that will love me like that one did but, to be sure, one day down the road we’ll get another puppy. And she’ll have a hard act to follow.

I just wanted you to know what happened. You’ve been so sweet to care about all our dog drama. I have lots of perspective and am not even asking for prayer. Please spend that energy on people who are desperate to make it through this day. I'm doing fine, Sweet Sisters. Just a tad sad.

Thank you so much for your wonderful company on this pilgrimage with Christ Jesus. He is IT, isn’t He??

I love you like crazy.
beth

Sweet Tarts

Siestas! Mom has me worked silly today, so if my writing is that of a four-year-old, please do forgive me. As of today, to the praise of His glory, I will begin my very last chapter of research for the upcoming Esther bible study. I can’t wait to see what the final chapter has in store for me over the next few weeks.

Well, on a darker note, bless your hearts for having to read the previous post about spilled animal entrails. I didn’t even know what “entrails” meant, but after consulting dictionary.com, I was, like you, completely and utterly grossed out. To redeem our blog, I thought it would be timely to post something blissful, yes, something heavenly, and yes, so visually stimulating that you may never think of animal entrails ever again.

Well, in light of the wonderful summer weather, I have been making it my duty to learn everything I can about fresh fruit tarts. Yes, my compulsion for research goes beyond biblical studies to simple, everyday tasks. I am sort of like my mom, I can find joy in reading the label on a ketchup bottle. I have always been in awe of the fresh fruit tarts at places like La Madeleine and Whole Foods, not to mention Paris herself. Has it ever bothered you that the French totally monopolize all the amazing looking desserts? Well, I will stop the banter and take you on a little photo journey of my culinary dealings as of late. The picture below records the very place where my cooking obsession was born.

The Fitzpatricks' humble kitchen/dining room.



This was my very first tart - fresh chunky apples glazed on a puff pastry. Served with whipped cream, this thing was wonderful. My husband sort of stared at it like Smeagol stared at “the precious” in Lord of the Rings.



This was my second tart- a fresh mixed fruit tart on a homemade shortbread crust with vanilla bean pastry cream.





It was so fun to actually buy a real vanilla pod and scrape all the vanilla pulp out of it- I finally learned why vanilla bean ice cream has those little black specks in it! Oh the joys of learning! I have to say, this was not the easiest thing I have ever done but if you are looking for something fun and challenging to do on a quiet Saturday morning, then this fruit tart is a blast. I coincidentally took the fruit tart with me to dinner at one of Colin’s co-worker’s homes that evening…almost like I just happened to have a homemade fruit tart lying around my kitchen. Oh come on, please cut me some slack because after the two hours (standing I might add) it took to prepare it and the additional hour it took to clean the flour from the ceiling, I so needed the affirmation!

If any of you Siestas are interested in these recipes, then send me a shout out and if there is enough demand, I will try to get my head out of the book of Esther and post them up!

Only in Texas

Keith just called me into the den to watch a TV clip from the Houston morning news. He'd paused it on the screen so I could really take it in. It seems that an eighteen wheeler carrying "animal entrails" overturned under one of our major freeways. 4000 gallons spilled all over the road causing a considerable traffic jam. Not only am I praying for the truckdriver's well-being (he does not appear to be in serious condition, praise God), I am praying for him to get a new job. You just never know what kind of load people are carrying.

You'll be glad to know that we have another post coming quickly so you don't have to deal with this one for long.

I love you.

Summer Bible Study Anyone?

Hey, Siestas! Thank you so much for your compassionate and diligent prayers for the Chapman family. It will be the difference between day and night for them. If you keep a prayer journal like I do, let’s write their names intermittently in the blank pages ahead of us so that we’ll have reminders to pray for them off and on for the next year. What seemed like random timing to us when we jotted the reminder to pray will be used by God as perfect timing for them.

OK, Girls, so what’s the plan for V-I-C-T-O-R-Y this summer? A more leisurely pace is terrific for the summer months if you have the kind of job (in or outside the home) where your schedule loosens up. Goodness knows, all of us could a huge let-up on the schedule and the stress. We need a vacation in the worst way. BUT, if you’re like me, 3 months outside the Word is roughly 2½ months inside a pit. I’ve found that if I’m going to live in victory, I’ve got to plan for it. Summer brings a whole new set of demands to many women’s lives so here’s a little encouragement to keep our heads covered with the Word.

If you’ve already got a Bible study planned for the summer, let us know in a comment what it is and where you’re participating…or if you’re just doing it solo. Our blog could offer some fun accountability. If you don’t have a plan, however, I’d like to propose one. This summer I’m going to facilitate an 8-week Siesta summer Bible study on:

No Other Gods by Kelly Minter

I’ve told you before that I consistently do other authors’ Bible studies so that I can receive spontaneous words from God through other teachers. I have no idea how many I’ve done through the years, but for the last month I’ve been doing Kelly’s “No Other Gods.” I’ve gotten a ton out of it and have really enjoyed her writing style. The homework is not long and drawn out like other authors we know (let’s not mention names) and we won’t involve lecture-driven sessions, so it may be just the thing for some of you for summer. Not too much. Not too little. Kelly’s emphasis is on discussion, spending some really meaningful girl time together, and how about sharing some good food? Here’s my vision for how we could implement her study in Siestaville:

*We will launch on Tuesday, June 17th and “meet” EVERY OTHER TUESDAY (July 1st, 15th, 29th, August 12th) until we conclude our eight weeks of homework and accountability on Tuesday, August 12th.

*We will each need to get our own copies of the workbook (not the regular trade book version but the workbook!) “No Other Gods” by Kelly Minter and have it well in your possession by the time we launch. (We aren’t able to get it for you through Living Proof but I wish we could.) Please don’t wait till the last minute to get it or you may not be able to start on time! If you have a LifeWay Christian Store, you should be able to find it on the shelf but the easiest way may be on line through the LifeWay Website. Here’s the link: http://www.lifeway.com/e2/shop/?R=797560

*You can participate solo but since such an important part of Kelly’s purpose through the study is fellowship, try as hard as you can to enlist three or four other women to meet with you in one of your homes every other Tuesday night as scheduled. Five meetings this summer shouldn’t be too overwhelming and we can rotate houses if we like. Make sure that the women you invite to participate know that the evenings will be low on stress and high on much needed fellowship and rich discussion. Kelly calls this approach “The Living Room Series” because of its emphasis on a relaxed and refreshing atmosphere where we can develop some wonderful relationships in Christ. In this superficial culture that surrounds us, where friendship take place through text message (I’m guilty, too!), we have a huge deficit of pure depth in women’s relationships. Let’s make this real. The goal is to have those two weeks of Bible study finished each time you meet (after the launch) but the fellowship will still be worth your while if you couldn’t get all your homework accomplished. Let’s have lots of encouragement without loads of condemnation.

*On each of our meeting days (every other week starting Tuesday, June 17th to Tuesday, August 12th), I will “facilitate” by posting discussion questions or activities I’ve come up with based on our previous two weeks of study. You will then implement them into your gathering. (I will make sure the post is up first thing on those Tuesday mornings in case your meeting times are morning or noon rather than evening.) Your way of checking back in with me will be by telling me something about your gathering afterward in a comment to that same post. It will be left up all day Wednesday for your feedback.

(For those of you not participating, it is important to know that we will not hog the blog all summer with this Bible study activity. It will only require a post or two every other week. We will have plenty of other things going for all our Siestas.)

*Several days before our every-other-Tuesday meetings, we will post a recommended recipe (of our own – probably from Melissa) for a dish to be prepared by one of you and served at that gathering. THOSE OF YOU NOT PARTICIPATING IN THE SUMMER SIESTA STUDY WILL STILL ENJOY HAVING A RECIPE IDEA. Recent posts and comments have been proof to me of that. For those who will participate, one of the really fun elements of Kelly’s series is great food. Talk about Biblical! Much New Testament community took place around the table in a long, leisurely meal. You’ll love the recipes Kelly’s included in the Bible study even if we pitch you some of our own ideas. Inviting all the participants to have a common dish every other Tuesday night will be just another way to fellowship as a large on-line Bible study group. It’s the beauty of the common table.

So, what do you think? I’m really pumped about it! It’s kind of experimental but I think it has great possibilities! Here’s what comes next regarding our summer Bible study: I’m going to give you till Tuesday, June 10th to decide if you want to participate and also see if you can pull together a small group. (Remember, you can do it solo but the goal is for us girls to have some meaningful fellowship and accountability. Try thinking outside the box on participants!) On the 10th I’ll make a post for sign-ups and the only comments that day will be the names and locations and proposed groups of those who will be participating. It will be so much fun to see all the different locales our Siesta Tuesday Summer Bible Study will include. I can’t wait!

Got your own plan for summer Bible study? Then let’s hear it! Let’s plan some victories, Sweet Things. Let’s have our souls refreshed and our minds renewed. God has a word for us this summer. Let’s go get it!
I love you to pieces and I’m so honored to be your servant.
beth

For the Chapman Family

Dearest Siestas,

The Living Proof Ministries blog will go dark for three days as a representation of silent mourners sitting beside our friends and co-laborers in the Gospel, Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman and their children. We pray that this small effort will serve as a reminder to all who visit here to go face down and intercede for this dear and loving family at this terrible time of loss. We have chosen three days as a symbol of resurrection as we plead with God to comfort them, tend deeply to each one of them, and raise them in the months and years to come from this place of unimaginable grief.

Faithful family of God, our deepest thoughts, love, and prayers are with you and will remain with you for many months to come.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'" Revelation 21:1-4

Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.


Comments closed.

Simulcast - August 1-2, 2008

My mom has had a lot of interesting phone calls in her life. I used to sit at the bottom of the stairs and listen to her talk on the phone when I was a kid. I wasn't hearing both sides of the conversation, mind you. And if it was important mom would go talk in her room. Even so, there was some interesting stuff to listen to!

Yesterday's phone call beat all. Mom got to have a conference call with well over 300 host site leaders for the August 1-2 Living Proof Live Simulcast. I can't even wrap my mind around that! Over 300 people on their own phones, all connected at once! I'm amazed! I wasn't listening in this time because I thought it would be awful to have Jackson squawking about his Cars! Fast cars! and Monster trucks! in the background.

The conference call reminded me that I should let all of our blog readers know about this simulcast opportunity. If there's not a Living Proof Live event in your region this year, or if you can't attend the one near you for whatever reason, you may have another chance to experience Living Proof Live.

The LPL event in Louisville, Kentucky, (August 1-2) will be simulcast to host sites throughout the country. That means there may be a church in your area where you can go to watch the live broadcast of the conference. I hesitate to say "watch" because it is much more than that. You are actually a participant. My church in Irving hosted the Get Out of That Pit simulcast in 2007 and it didn't take long for me to forget that we weren't actually at the main site. Hosting the simulcast was a great experience for our church. We loved getting to bring women together from sister churches all around our community. If you can't find a satellite site in your area, it's not too late to become one!

If you'd like to know more about the simulcast, here are two helpful links for you:

How to find a simulcast host site near you.

How to become a simulcast host site.

Is anyone already planning to attend the simulcast?

LPL Boise Recap

Thank you again, Rich!

Something's Got Me Thinking

Hey, Girlfriends! It’s Sunday and I’m writing you from an airplane seat on my way home from Boise, Idaho, where God threw a party of His Presence for 5,000 of us gathered there. They were a phenomenal group and, for me, it was love at first sight. My whole team and I really dig serving off the beaten path, so we were very anxious to get there but wondered if we should prepare ourselves for a fairly quiet group. Let me be clear. That is not what we got. I named them Noisy Boise within the first five minutes. They wanted Jesus and were willing to practically jump out of their seats to grab a word out of thin air from Him. Oh, man, I am so grateful to God for allowing me to worship shoulder-to-shoulder with such an incredible group. I will remember them (you, if you were there) for a very long time.

This weekend I did something I almost never do. I stayed over on Saturday night to have a retreat with my LifeWay team. To tell you that I’m crazy about them is a gross understatement. Through the years we’ve become a team in every sense of the word from the guys that do the set-up, sound, lighting…to the computer technicians that do the graphics for praise and worship and the power point for the messages…to the event team that actually puts on the conference and mans (or womans) it…to the entire platform team who walks into a very well prepared-for environment. Everybody does their part and, incidentally, nobody’s part is for sissies. We work our tails off. As I told Noisy Boise, we aren’t very slick but we aren’t minimalists either. We don’t give a group the least we can get away with. We drag our nearly dead bodies out of that auditorium on Saturday afternoon. The members of the team are as different as our roles and, joyously (and even unexpectedly), everybody from the truck drivers to the artists have become family. The down side for me is that the most sanguine of the siblings, yours truly, is one of the very few who lives outside of Nashville. They get to spend a ton of travel time together while I go solo. They often send me texts and cell pics from the airport and it makes me so jealous I can hardly stand it. This time we decided we’d all stay after the event, eat pizza together, play games (Travis hosted a rousing round of Fish Bowl and the card game Pit) and, my personal request, learn to do the Cha-Cha Slide. Play that funky music, white girl. It was hilarious. (And modest. Don’t mess with me here. It was just plain fun.) We had the best time ever! I laughed myself silly and dropped in my hotel bed last night thoroughly exhausted and deliriously happy. Full. God is so good. So fun. I think He had a blast last night. Maybe even laughed out loud.

But now for the primary reason I’m writing to you. Early this morning I realized that I had an all-day plane trip (HOURS!) in front of me with no extra reading material for a poor, exhausted mind. For an obsessive reader like me, that’s not a flight. That’s a train wreck. I’d studied all the way up so I hadn’t thought about the oversight till it was time to go home. Adding to the annoyance was some excellent reading material sitting on my back porch that I’m in the happy middle of right now. (I think I’ve told you before that, at almost all times, I have two books going that are totally separate from my research books: a Christian inspirational book of some kind and a novel. Forgot both.) I resorted to the magazine rack, grabbed three decent looking selections, slapped a fortune on the counter, and headed for the plane. One was Time’s 40 Anniversary Special, another was a Vanity Fair edition that looked more interesting this time than inappropriate and the third was a magazine my personal assistant really loves. It’s kind of a health and fashion thing with an over-40 flair to it. The cover looked pretty hip so I pitched it in the mix with a “What the heck.” Thumbing through it, I happened on an article that was not only well written. It was one of the most thought provoking secular articles I’ve read in a good while. (“More,” May 2008 Issue, p.90)

In the article entitled “My So-Called Genius” author Laura Fraser recounts her remarkable journey from whiz-kid-dom to an adulthood of unmet expectations and fairly ordinary life. Don’t let my crude synopsis keep you from reading the article for yourself because I won’t do it justice. I’d like to recap enough, however, to explain why I found it significant. By the time she was five she’d already been labeled “precocious” and told repeatedly how special she was. The next years did not disappoint. She was brilliant and darling and surpassed her peers impressively, drawing the attention of adults who conveyed to her in a myriad of ways that she was destined for greatness. Then came college where she entered an academic world of peers who, not coincidentally, were told the same thing. By her late forties, she’d accomplished many good things but the expectation of greatness and the sense that she’d never quite achieved it (despite a best seller) haunted her with feelings of failure. All the well-meaning forecasts had done nothing but cast a pall of perfectionism upon her and, as her consultant so aptly pointed out, “Perfectionists always lose.” The consultant confronted her with a very important challenge that I’ll paraphrase: “Must you write a great book? How about writing a good book?” Fraser describes how age and time had become precious gifts and how she’d come to reconcile the unreasonable expectations with her reasonable success. In doing so she really made me think about some things. Here are a few:

How careful we need to be – as parents, teachers, relatives, leaders, or observers – about telling gifted children how great they are going to be. It is a trap and a forecast Fraser claims rarely pans out. She points out the monumental difference between talent and having a clue what to do with it and (again paraphrasing) how genius rarely exempts people from having to work hard just like everybody else who wants to make it. I’m a big believer in encouraging young people and imitating the Apostle Paul with Timothy by telling them that they are extraordinarily gifted. BUT, as we learned this weekend in Boise, every gift is a trust placed in human hands by a holy God and it is up to each individual to develop the integrity, humility, and work-ethic to know what on earth to do with it. A gift never guarantees success. In the long run as well as the routine day-in and day-out, those with the grit to just keep doing the hard thing will often prove more effective. Gift without grit is a dang waste.

How profoundly wise God’s way is. If we’re willing to follow His paradoxical path on the winding roadmap of Scripture, we have the joy of side-stepping this ankle-breaking trap. So will a few children we’re privileged to train. Living just to be great will prove at least empty and at most unbearable. Spending ourselves for something infinitely greater, however, still fans our parched souls with the God-given need to matter, but relieves us of the relentless pain of being the “It” Person at the center of it. To live for the greatness of God IS to live the great life. Oh, I know we’ve heard it before but what if something in us clicked all the sudden? What if we all at once awakened to what a dream-killer perfectionism is? And to how pitifully small and unworthy a goal personal greatness is? We were meant for so much more. Every one of us who embraces the glory of God as our lofty purpose for living will end up doing great things precisely because we end up doing God-things. His holy hand rested on the least act renders the ordinary extraordinary. Far from the least but sadly uncelebrated, spooning soup into the mouth of the weak and bed-bound or manning the church nursery so a tired mom can go to Sunday School are acts of highest worship when offered in the Name of Christ. Though the arrogant and ignorant minimize and miss it, Christ beholds the sight like a breathtaking work of art, tilting His head and squinting His eyes to study each subtle detail. “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6).

Christ, the very One who called us to abundant, effective life and commanded us to splash in the cool springs of joy while living it, announced the secret to the great life without a hint of contradiction:

Pour it out lavishly, sacrificially for the glory of God and the good of man. Those with presence of mind and semblance of health are called to pour out the drink offering of their lives until the cup is turned completely over and every last drop of energy slips - perhaps unnoticed, uncelebrated – into the vast ocean of earthly need. The last imperceptible drop of your well-lived life will sound like a tidal wave hitting the floor of the Grand Canyon to the hosts of Heaven.

“I’m already great enough for both of us,” Christ says in effect, relieving the willing of their woeful burden. “Just follow Me.” For “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).

You might be a redneck

We had a fish fry at my mom and dad's house last night. I just thought I'd share this heartwarming picture with you ladies.



If you serve your family ice cream with a garden spade because you couldn't find the ice cream scoop - say it with me now - you might be a redneck! (Note from Beth: The weirdest part of this is that Keith wasn't even trying to be funny. He was simply being practical. I saw his handiwork on the counter, motioned for AJ to look as fast as she could and she just happened to have her camera. I'm not sure he ever knew what the big deal was. Welcome to my home.)

Behold Him There - A Post from Melissa

Siestas! Greetings from Atlanta!
First and foremost, I want to say a big thank-you to the many of you who took the time to submit your tried and true recipes to this greedy siesta! They were all wonderful, and I can honestly say that I have tried more than a few already. I believe it was “Warm in Alaska” who submitted the recipe for the roasted sweet potatoes, please correct me if I am wrong. Wow! Who would ever believe that fresh rosemary and crushed red pepper could transform a sweet potato into something heavenly??!!! They were unreal…and to be true to myself, I also had to add a few garlic cloves in the mix. Wonderful, I really could go on and on, but I will stop, for all of your sakes.

I am not sure if I informed you siestas that since I moved to Atlanta, I now work from home. This has brought about quite a few challenges, not the least of which is that I really miss the camaraderie that I have in my co-workers at Living Proof. Well, I have embraced this season of change from the hand of the living God and so have my mind set on staying positive about the minor difficulties. This has been quite difficult since about a month ago, not one but two of my computers were stolen, and then after losing an entire month of work, my brand new printer completely broke down. Now you can see why I am attracted to the kitchen as of late, since apparently my home office has some kind of demon.  I am seriously not exaggerating and this morning I woke up with such intense ambition to tackle my work day with both hands. Well, my BRAND NEW AND PRICEY computer apparently was not ready to wake up, because it honestly took an hour and a half to start the stupid thing. Well, as you can see, I did finally get the computer working, but as for my good attitude, it was completely shot out the window. I realized, after calling my Mom and vomiting my discouragement all over her at 8:30 in the morning, that something was going to have to happen or I was going to be a foul person to be around today.

The good news is that I know what almost always obliterates my bad attitude. This may sound silly, but when I know that I am inconsolable, I listen to the song “Before the Throne of God Above” about three or four times, or however many times it takes to change my bad attitude. I happen to listen to Selah’s version from the album “Hiding Place” but I am sure that there are many good versions of it since it was written in the mid-late 1800’s (written by Charitie Less Bancroft).
To use South Beach Diet jargon, these lyrics are not just white bread; these lyrics contain whole, unprocessed oats. I am humiliated by the metaphor I carved, but I mean seriously these lyrics are heavily saturated with great theological truths. Take a minute to read through them if you will:

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there! The risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless, Righteousness
The Great unchangeable I AM
The King of Glory and of Grace
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God

By the time I get to the third verse in this blessed song (“Behold Him there! The risen Lamb”), I can barely fight the tears back. My mind is always drawn immediately back to the vision that John sees in the book of Revelation of the risen Christ! If I could, I would take all day to break down the many wonderful theological truths that are offered in this song, but since we don’t have all day, I just want to record three of my favorite ones. To begin, the first verse presents Jesus very similarly to the way the book of Hebrews does, as our great high priest who is ever interceding for us. What could be better than that, I ask you? Next, the second verse reminds us of the great doctrine of imputed righteousness- namely, that when sinful man truly acknowledges Christ’s lordship and places faith in Him, that immediately the righteousness of Christ is transferred to his or her account. Truly, one of the major scandals of the gospel message is that just as Adam’s sin is imputed to every human being, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to every believer and subsequently they are being changed into his likeness (Rom. 5:12; 2 Cor. 3:18). What great news! Especially when I have been cursing the computer all morning long!

Lastly, the third verse lifts our eyes to focus once again on the unchangeable I AM, who is equated with the person of Jesus Christ, I might add. Okay, now that we’ve gotten to end of this, there is just one more theological truth I have to mention- our union with Christ Himself! This is one of my favorite doctrines ever! Romans chapter 6 is one of the main biblical sources that we derive this doctrine. I encourage you to read it today, it is just awesome. Our lives are hidden with Christ on high, and we have the privilege of identifying with Him in His life, death, and His resurrection. In a very real way, ladies, we not only died with Christ but the text says we were raised with Him in His glorious resurrection. Our lives are hidden with Him until the future age when we will reign with Him forever in the new creation.

Oh Siestas, take a moment with me to forget about flawed computers and broken printers and behold Him there! The risen Lamb! Our perfect spotless Righteousness! The Great Unchangeable I AM! THE KING OF GLORY AND OF GRACE!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I hope you girls feel loved because as soon as I post this, my secret is out! I teased my gourmet chef sister about this having all kinds of exotic ingredients that I couldn't pronounce. Does "crescent" qualify as a hard-to-pronounce word? This is a really simple, yummy recipe that is more impressive than it should be. It's a favorite fellowship dinner dessert from First Baptist Irving. Thanks, Janelle, for supplying me with the recipe! In fact, she may be making this tonight for her bunco group.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese
2 (8 oz) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (combine about 1/2 cup sugar with 1 TBS cinnamon)

1) Using a 9x13 baking pan, unroll one package of refrigerated crescent rolls and line the bottom of the pan.
2) Flatten.
3) Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and extract.
4) Spread over the crescent rolls.
5) Unroll the other can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture.
6) Pour one stick of melted butter or margarine over the top and sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
7) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Makes 12-20 servings. My recipe provides the fat and calorie content, but I promise you don't want to know! Enjoy, ladies!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey, Dear Ones! I’ve been meaning to hop on the blog all weekend long to say Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms but I’ve been so busy being one, I haven’t had a solitary second! Melissa flew in on Wednesday and worked at LPM the rest of the week so she could be here for Mom’s Day. She’d missed her coworkers so much and they’d missed her, too. She also needed to hang pictures in her office and put her own personal touches on it. She’s got taste none of us around there can really emulate. An interior design major turned Bible exegete creates a curious mix. Amanda worked in the office several days this week while Lis was here so it was a particularly wonderful atmosphere around the ministry for me. Colin flew in, then, late Thursday night and hadn’t been home since they’d moved to Atlanta. He is so darling. We all enjoyed having him like crazy.

Since Melissa and Colin had to leave pretty early today, we had our Mother’s Day celebration yesterday. Curtis graciously babysat our little guy while Amanda, Melissa and I did our Mother-Daughter thing at the greatest mall in Texas: The Houston Galleria. We were there when it opened. My idea of a good time is to give my girls a tad of shopping money and tell them they only have that one spree to spend it. The offer ends in four hours. With great glee, then, I watch them go into a frenzy to try to spend it. They balked at first because it was Mother’s Day but 1) they’d already spent plenty on me and 2) that’s what I wanted for my gift anyway. As young adult daughters often are, both of them are on a tighter budget than me so it’s such a blast to watch them get something they wouldn’t afford for themselves. We all three tried on one thing after another in three consecutive dressing rooms and sometimes Lis and I just shared one so we could see each other’s outfits. (Amanda’s more modest than we are but we always try to peek at her to make her mad.) We laughed like crazy and talked about everybody we had anything nice to say about and tried to bite our tongues over anyone we didn’t. Sometimes more successfully than others. JK. We behave pretty well. As long as nobody’s been ugly to one of my girls at which point I can seem suddenly overtaken by invisible powers and principalities.

We ate at Kona Grill there at the Galleria for lunch and it was really good. The hostess at the restaurant was a sister in Christ we’d never met and we really hugged. She was just adorable. Tiny little thing. Me and both girls all had on heels so we looked like the Jolly Green Giant’s twin sister and two daughters. We’d have loved for her to have sat down with us but I think she thought she might have needed a high chair. We piled our shopping bags in the booth, sat down with joyful sighs and ordered Sushi for appetizers. AJ’s liked it for a while but I’m just beginning to develop a taste for it. My buddy and one of my God-daughters, Amy Hodge, has been teaching me to eat it and even with chopsticks. I let her order for me because she knows some safe stuff I like. If I’m not with her I just order California Rolls unless they have deep-fried sushi on the menu because I know I like that. Whatever kind I get, I drown the first one in soy sauce and enough wasabi to make me cry then as soon as the waiter gives me CPR, I eat another one. Really fun. Melissa was so proud of me for trying something new. She said, “Right about now, Mom, I’m picturing you on the Texas Cyclone (the terrifying, rickety roller coaster at the old Texas icon, Astroworld), with your hands straight up in the air, practically free falling down the steepest part, screaming happily like me and Dad instead of riding The Serpent with all the five year olds.” I looked at her dryly and said, “It’s just Sushi. I’m not even sure I like it.” I hate roller coasters. I liked the Serpent. The one at Astroworld anyway. Not the one in the Garden. Nor the one in my business. After loading up the car and making one last stop at Anthropologie (and me griping about the price-tags), we headed home because we had lots of preparation to do.

The girls and I threw a Mexican Fiesta at my house for Mother’s Day Eve with Keith’s parents, our dear forever friends, Johnnie and David Haines (we raised our kids together), both sons-in-law and, of course, the Master of Ceremonies, the Little Mister. We ordered fajitas from a really terrific place by Curtis and Amanda’s then made all the fixings around it. Melissa made the best queso from scratch that you have ever tasted in your life. I’ve never seen so many things go into queso. Whatever happened to Velveeta and Rotel, for crying out loud?? She also made guacamole from scratch with an equal number of ingredients. I never saw so much chopping in my life. I just cleaned up behind her. Didn’t know what else to do. Amanda made a sopapilla cheese cake that was honestly one of the best desserts I’ve ever tasted. She left it at my house last night late and, after I ate nearly half of it, explained that she didn’t take it home because “you would not believe all the fat that went into that thing!” She said, “I knew I didn’t want it at my house!” Thank you, Amanda.

We had the best time, laughing and talking, and playing with Mr. Center of Attention. Lis and Colin had gotten him a ton of toys. One of them was a big bubble maker. By the time the evening was over, we all needed a “Slippery When Wet” sign hung around our necks. We were all suds but no duds. (I'm proofreading this now and realizing that I might need to explain that by "duds" I don't mean clothes. I mean party poopers.) Everybody got into the action. It was only about 95 degrees in the shade. Houston is just perfect for eating outside if you can avoid encephalitis from twenty-five mosquito bites per leg. It was a terrific evening. Really.

I love the fact that our blog is for anybody who will give us the privilege to serve her, whether single, married, divorced, or widowed. I try not to overdo the wife and mother thing because our single siestas bring something so important to this mix but on this day everybody understands. So with your permission, I just want to say that I love being a mother. I’ve never had a harder job but I have never done anything in the human realm that gave me more sustained joy. My parenting days won’t be over until my days are completely over but here are a few things I’ve learned along the way – and many of them from making mistakes and getting to try again:

*Kids are pretty danged resilient. Ours survived some rough times but knew their struggling parents – fighting so hard for wholeness – loved them like crazy (and sometimes just loved them crazy) and were steadily trying to get healthier and healthier. When Keith and I each came to conclusions that we were messed up enough to mess them up, we went to counseling. The girls knew it and respected it.

*They don’t expect their parents to be perfect but they sure as heck expect them to be real. They despise hypocrisy and disrespect what is disrespectful even if they’re too scared to say so. They respond well to genuine apologies and, in fact, don’t learn to extend them otherwise.

*They need lots and lots of hugs and kisses even if they act like they don’t. They need to be told “I love you so much” over and over even if they don’t seem to be listening. They are. Don’t just give in to a sullen child and become sullen with him/her. Some kids have everything to lose if you let them win. Keep fighting for a relationship and try to take interest in their interests and sooner or later, they’ll cave in and smile. I respect few parents on earth more than Dr. James McDonald (pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicago area) and his wife, Kathy. When one of his kids became a teenager, he felt an unfamiliar distance grow between them. He became so worried when it persisted that he told his church he was going to need to take some time off and wasn’t sure how long. With Kathy’s blessing, he told the teenager to pack a bag and get in the car with him. He drove out of the driveway, and took off on a road trip, explaining to the child that they’d return when their relationship was mended. Needless to say, after some very awkward hours, they ended up talking, crying, laughing, and making memories that they’ll have for a lifetime. Now, that’s some fine parenting.

*They need to laugh a ton with their parents and be silly. There need to be lots of private jokes that only family understands. When both girls married, those were the things they recalled to their daddy and me most.

*They need to know that God is not just the Boss. He’s the biggest blast in all of life. They love to learn the wonders of God in creation. Things like how He made a bumble bee to fly even though it’s aerodynamically impossible and how animals exist in Africa and Asia that we’ve never even seen in a zoo. They long to be taught simple pleasures that cost nothing more than a moment of time away from the TV, computer or cell phone – like marveling at a sunset or applauding God over a sunrise and clipping roses from a bush and putting them in a vase. Or watching roly-polies. Digging up earthworms. Fishing for a perch. Beholding a lady bug on a tree trunk. That all of these things are wonders of God and that He’s worth jumping up and down over.

*They need to know the beauty of Christ when they’ve done something wrong and feel guilty. They need to know that they have a destiny; that Christ planned their lives for this exact time in history and has given them gifts to discover and develop as they grow up. That they are important because He’s so important. That nothing so bad can happen to them that He can’t use for good. That Mommy and Daddy can’t make them Christians. They have to accept His free gift of grace and invite Him into their hearts. That we think nothing is worthier of celebration than that and we’ll risk throwing out backs out to do cartwheels when they let Christ do something wonderful in their lives.

*They need their parents to follow through. To say “no” when “no” needs to be said. They need their parents to be parents at the risk of being very unpopular. They need parents to intervene in an unhealthy relationship with the opposite sex. They need not to be given so many material things (even if we can afford it) that they grow into discontented, narcissistic adults. Nothing is less pleasant than a thirty year-old brat.

*And when they become parents, they don’t need their parents to turn their noses up at them and act all pious like they never lost patience with their kids. They know better anyway. They don’t need parents to forget how hard having preschoolers was and tell them, “These are the best years of your life!” No, these are the most exhausting years of your life. Wonderful! But exhausting! They need us to maybe chip in and pay for them to get their houses cleaned from top to bottom every now and then rather acting like we wish they were better housekeepers.

*Their friendships with their siblings need to be high priority. This one I blew so I share it with you as a regret. I regret allowing them to bring friends along so often on family outings. Yes, they begged but I wish I’d more often said “no.” Yes, they’d have pouted. But they also would have gotten over it and turned to each other. We always had their friends around and I think it may have kept my girls from making good friends of each other for a very long time. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I think it’s also really weird when parents severely restrict the home to family and don’t encourage their kids to make friends and get involved at school. Me? I think they’re hiding something. There’s something really freaky and cultish about sequestered homes. (NOT in your wildest dreams talking about home-schoolers! I'm talking about homes where virtually no one but the family members who live there are allowed. I think that's weird but what do I know??) At the very least, kids don’t end up developing social skills and, instead, become really bizarre adults that can’t get a normal job. Sorry. My point is, I think there should be a pretty steady dose of activity just for family so kids have to play with each other instead of ganging up on each other with their peers. I believe in having a revolving door to my children’s friends and having tons of spend-overs but I am convinced that I allowed it so often that my kids made better friends than each other. Our best memories are from family vacations where Amanda and Melissa were all they had. Joyfully, they are best of friends today but it’s because, when they moved to different cities, they learned that nobody is like your sister. Take it from me. I have one sister that I never lay eyes on. Don’t even know for certain where she is. Doesn’t sober up enough to have a conversation. Let alone a relationship. I miss her so much. We were inseparable growing up. You feel incomplete when you’re out of sorts with a sibling. They’re too much a part of who you are. No one should be a better friend than your sister.

*God gives lots of grace to parents. Good thing, huh? Let me offer you some encouragement based not only on my experience but that of many other people I’ve known. If you give a rip and try a flip, this whole parenting thing often turns out so much better than you thought it would. Sometimes you can’t even believe that’s you your kids are talking about. You realize they forgot some things. And now you need to, too. Praise You, Lord, for parenting mercies.

Amanda and Melissa, you are the greatest daughters God ever could have given me. So witty. So funny. So loving. You make me think. You make me laugh my head off. You make me spend. And you make me pray. Boy, do you make me pray. Amanda, Happy Mother’s Day yourself. Oh, my word, you are a fabulous mom. Melissa, Amanda and I can only imagine the fun mom you will be one day. What a blessed child that will be. Never a dull moment.

Oh, wow, Siestas. I went on longer than I meant to. So, instead of closing, I’ll go on a minute longer. I thought if you wouldn’t mind humoring me, Mother’s Day might be a sweet day to share a poem God gave me many years ago when I was sitting in a hotel room in a city where I was speaking. It was a rare occasion when I left on a Thursday instead of a Friday and I was miserable thinking about how my children would have to get ready for school without me. I was so homesick I could hardly stand it. I’ve read it here and there along the way so you may have heard it before but it’s dear to me, especially today, so handle it. It’s the only poem I ever memorized. No, it’s not a sacred one…unless you think parenting is sacred. And I do.

It happened just exactly like this:

I called to check on home last night
To see if all was going right
My man assured me all was well
And it was true...I could tell.

I felt so far away from home
So by myself, so all alone
No noise here, no bouncing balls
No fussing kids, no endless calls.

I asked if everything was set
I didn’t want him to forget
To take care of the “mother things”
To hang their shirts and crease their jeans.

He said, “Your oldest set her clock
She’ll get us up right on the dot
Don’t worry now, they’ll get to school
We love you much, we’ll see you soon!”

The phone went dead. I wasn’t through…
I barely said, “I love you, too.”
I sat and stared down at the floor
“She’s never set her clock before.”

She’s just a kid, not old enough
To wake without a mother’s touch
What chance is there at school they’ll say,
“You’re one great kid! You’re loved today!”

Kids need to hear those words first thing
Before a careless clock can ring
And furthermore, they like, I frowned,
Hot cocoa when they first come down!

“Dads,” I thought, and fell in bed
Then after while to myself said,
“He’s probably right, give them a break
She is fifteen, for heaven’s sake.”

“Fifteen,” I sighed, “Where has it gone?
Since that first day before the dawn
When she and I told secrets dear
And her first bath was in my tears?”

I’d held her close with just one arm
Reached for the phone to call my mom
“Oh, Mom,” I sobbed, “I love her so!”
She cried as well and said, “I know.”

The years are mean...they rush on by
The kite string slips into the sky
She’s nearly grown, yes, plenty old
To wake up when the clock says so.

I felt so sudden like a fool
It won’t take Mom to get to school
How silly…they will all be fine
Just go to sleep and rest your mind!

I tried to let the dawn go by
Without a call to check and pry
To see how everyone had fared
Got your lunch? Homework prepared?

I finally grabbed the phone and dialed
It seemed to ring a country mile
My heart sunk swift…they must be gone
Dad’s out the door…dog’s on the lawn.

I started to hang up the phone
Until I heard a voice on
The other end as up he leapt
“For heaven’s sake, we’ve overslept!”

Suddenly the house lit up
He threw the phone, said, “Kids, get up!”
I heard each voice at a time
They were mad, but they were mine!

I cheered them on from miles away
I heard them readied for their day
And just before they slammed the door
She yelled, “Thanks, Mom!”

That’s what I’m for.

The Deeper Still Blog

Look! The Deeper Still Blog is back in action for the 2008 events! We would love for you to check it out and say hi to LifeWay's Deeper Still blogger, Michelle Hicks. Here's a little hint for you. The April 29th post contains some big news about one of the speakers. You won't want to miss it.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Hey, You Darling Siestas! I am beside myself with joy over all of you who will be able to join us for what I hope will be the First Annual Siesta Fiesta and I'm so sad to miss all of you who won't. Every single one of you is dear to us. We'll make sure you who are attending have all the information you need regarding pertinent events. At the same time, we won't let the blog become all about that until then. We have some fun blog themes planned for the summer that will include all of us.

Just thought I'd share with you a bit before I leave work today. I've had a very busy week and weekend and my poor blonde brain has had it for today. I thought I'd set aside the research and just spend this last little while chatting with my very favorite blog-folks over a few of my favorite things that happened over the last week:

1. National Day of Prayer in D.C. was incredible. So profound. What could be more important than praying for our nation? My task was to shadow Dr. Zacharias so that I could learn the ropes. I bet Keith and I don't have to tell you how meaningful our time was with him and his family. I fell in love with his wife, Margie. I had the unspeakable privilege with a number of others to get to attend a reception in the State dining room at the White House. (I drank coffee out of the most beautiful cream colored china cups with gold edges. It tasted extra good somehow). I also got to be part of a group that gathered there in a press room to hear the President give a very warm, endearing address about God and the vitality of prayer. We may or may not have the opportunity to visit the White House next year as an official part of NDOP because we'll be under a new administration so I was extra thankful for the joy.

2. After hearing from President Bush, Keith and I jumped in the car with the Zachariases and headed to the Pentagon where Dr. Zacharias spoke at an NDOP chapel service there. This was one of my favorite parts for many reasons, but perhaps most understandably because of my Army heritage. Oh, how Major Dad would have loved that visit! We, then, went to the Cannon Building where the major event took place including messages, incredible music, and powerful intercessory prayer. During the service we sang all the patriotic songs that mean so much to us, not the least of which was the National Anthem. We closed with Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be An American" and I nearly bawled all the way through it. I've got a lump in my throat just thinking about it.

3. Now that I've told you some of the serious and profound things, let me rewind to my induction to the NDOP observances and tell you something funny. Keith and I were invited to a private dinner the first night we arrived consisting of about 20 people involved in NDOP. The FIRST THING that happened was the presentation of a gift to me from a darling woman who was attending this dinner. The gift was tucked inside a leopard print gift bag that had pink fur around the edges. Inside were...no, not White House mementos...no, not NDOP leatherbound daytimers (there were no such things)...inside the decorative bag were HAIR PRODUCTS. Yep, shampoo and what was famed to be the best gel in the whole U.S. of A. I'm proud to be an American. (I've got to admit, good hair products could be something to put your hand over your heart about.) I had two questions immediately overwhelm me: A) Was Dr. Zacharias awarded with a matching set of hair products? I conjectured not. B) Could I trust a woman from the dry, cold North to know how to hold hair in the wet, hot South??? I had the biggest laugh ever. Ellie May had come to D.C. yet again...but this time she was not leaving empty-handed. I wanted to beg Dr. Dobson's and Dr. Zacharias' forgiveness for bringing my reputation with me to NDOP but, alas, I believe I got away with the awards under their radar. Could they not tell from my hair though, I ask???

4. After all the observances for NDOP ended, we flew straight to Colorado Springs for the Living Proof Live event. On Friday, several hours before the event, I met a woman who told me about someone she and her group had encountered while checking into their hotel. As the woman checked in their sizable group, she asked why they'd come to town. When they explained, her face became radiant with joy and surprise as she testified of taking one of the Bible studies in prison and receiving Christ Jesus as her personal Savior. I was beside myself. I asked my buddy, Rich, to take me straightaway to the hotel so that I could meet her. She was not working the desk at that exact time but I was able to write her a letter and invite her to come as our guest. She had to work that night but we saw her bright and early Saturday morning for the second and third sessions and we gave her and her friend seats right up front. We hugged like old friends who hadn't seen each other in way too long. She and I were two captives set free and not one more than the other. I could see her face the entire time I taught and, in doing so, strangely saw my own. I loved her so much. In fact, more than is possible for strangers. I knew it was the love of Jesus using my simple frame as a momentary conduit. As I felt the smallest hint of His love for her, I also got the oddest feeling that He loved me, too. After all, He came for people just like us. All 9,000 of us. None needier than the next. All saved by grace. Freed by grace. Oh, for grace to love Him more!

I cherish all of you so much. Allow me to voice special gratitude and affection to all of you who attended the Living Proof Live event in Colorado Springs. We are so grateful for the privilege to serve you. Let's you and I give it up so we can live it up! Matthew 16:24-27

LPL - Colorado Springs

Siesta Fiesta FAQ

Hi ladies! I just want to touch on a few things this morning since some very good questions have come up regarding the Siesta Fiesta. If you missed Wednesday's announcement, check it out here.

-The registration for the actual Living Proof Live event is completely separate from the Siesta Fiesta registration. Anyone attending the Siesta Fiesta needs to register for both. (The Siesta Fiesta is free, by the way.) Please note that there were no problems with the LifeWay event registration and if you have already registered for the conference itself, you do not need to do it again. The only problem was with the contact info we had compiled from our bloggers for the Siesta Fiesta.

-If you are attending the conference with a group, it is totally up to you whether you sit with your group during the conference or whether you sit in the reserved Siesta section. Regardless of where you sit, if you have an arm band you are welcome to attend the reception after the conference.

-If you would like your mom or sister or best friend to sit with you in the reserved Siesta section and attend the reception, please make sure they register for the Siesta Fiesta so they can get an arm band. However, if you would like to register a group of additional people who aren't familiar with the blog, please consider that we would like to keep the size of the reception manageable and the activities specific to our blog readers. That's why we are not advertising the Siesta Fiesta to everyone at the event. Thank you in advance!

-There will be an hour break between the end of the conference and the start of the Siesta Fiesta reception. Beth will need that time to decompress and scarf down some lunch. Kim and Patty are looking into pre-ordering some box lunches for anyone interested. You would be able to pay for them online using PayPal. Aren't those girls awesome? That is a good reason to stay tuned to their blog.

-For your convenience, I have provided a permanent link on our blog's side bar to the Siesta Fiesta registration post and to Kim and Patty's blog.

-The reserved seating section will have some wheelchair accessibility. If possible, please let me know of your need beforehand so that we can be sure to accommodate everyone.

-I'm so sorry for those of you who won't be able to make it! Know that while we can't do an official blog meetup at every event, you ladies can arrange your own meetups at any time. I know from just reading your comments that this has happened a number of times at different events. Would anyone like to share?

If you have any other questions, please send them to us at blog@lproof.org. We are working on some answers to other questions we received and I will update on those as soon as I can. Thanks, ladies! We can't wait!

National Day of Prayer

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Today is the National Day of Prayer. My mom and dad are in Washington D.C. right now participating in the events. I would like to open up comments for anyone who feels led to post a brief prayer for our nation. Dr. Ravi Zacharias is this year's Honorary Chairman for the National Day of Prayer Task Force. You can read his prayer for our nation here.