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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Siesta Fiesta August 2008


Amanda Moore Jones!

The Original Moores at Living Proof Live San Antonio, TX 08/23/08



Siesta Fiesta was a gathering of Beth Moore's blog people aka Siestas (the name comes from the spell check suggesting siesta instead of sista) in San Antonio, TX after a Living Proof Ministries Conference.

Trying to remember the fiesta before I write about the other fun trips with Siestas...

I really wanted to go to Siesta Fiesta, but I knew there was no way my parents would let me go. Going to Siesta Fiesta would mean missing my first two days of classes as a college senior (what!? I never skip classes... well, time with God is worth skipping class). I had only flown once when I was 10 years old. Anyway, so I went looking on the blog post about Siesta Fiesta. I came across a couple people from South Carolina. The first one lived kind of far away from me and the second one, Emily, lived only 30 minutes from where I went to college. I looked at her blog- she was a stranger at this point so I was like hmmm... I don't want to be one of those weird internet murder stories. But then I figured since I was seeking her out, through email, that she would probably be more at my mercy. So I looked at her blog. She seemed (and is) super sweet and had the cutest kids. So I emailed her and she said it'd be great to have a travel buddy. Since I hadn't flown before, it was very hard to convince my parents to let me go. But after a fun girls' day my mom told me at lunch that I could go since I'm 21 and old enough to do what I want. I was so happy and couldn't believe I could actually go.

So not so early on a Thursday morning (I totally would've gotten up at 5am if I had needed to), I met Emily at her house. Reflecting back on it, she was very brave to let me in... haha. Well, we'd talked a lot through email and on the phone. And she knew that I was a nursing student at the University of South Carolina- so that probably helped (random: a lady let me cut her in line recently since I had one item because I had on my scrubs). Anyway, we listened to Hannah Montana Live and some Christian music on the way to the Atlanta Airport. We almost lost the keys at the gas station- whoops! I looked in the place they actually were and didn't see them. I hate it when you look at something and don't see it! The Atlanta airport is so huge. We had to take a monorail to get to our gate. I really am so glad I had a travel buddy at this point (even more than before). We had some Wendys and then flew to San Antonio. I thought I saw a siesta I hadn't met, Shelly, on the plane but didn't try to talk to her because I wasn't sure. Looking back now, I'm pretty positive it was her. After takeoff, my first in 11 years- I loved it, I listened to Spiritual Mapping, a Beth Moore conference. I talked to the 18 year old guy next to me, John from San Antonio. I even asked him if he knew Jesus, which I've never asked a stranger before that I can remember- must've been the conference in my ears. He said yes. When I got off the plane, I immediately knew I was somewhere different, like a "We're not in Kansas anymore" moment. There was a desert mosaic in the airport and it was just different. Emily had arranged to meet with a couple of Siestas to take a taxi to our hotel (thanks Emily!). That's when I met Stephanie and Teri. We had a lady taxi driver (she pointed out several ladies drive in San Antonio bc it's safe and clean).

We got to the hotel and went up to the hallway where our rooms were near several Siestas. A whole bunch of Siestas were standing outside talking it up. I went to put my stuff inside real quick and then come out and talk but that's when I noticed I'd spilt the chocolate milk from Wendy's all in my brown purse. So the plan was to clean it up (which I did) and then go talk to everyone. Well, by the time I finished everyone had gone from the hallway back to their rooms. Bummer. Somehow, I did end up meeting Jenny Hope, Fran, and Bev at the hotel. And I definitely remember meeting Holly! I bought a cookbook from her immediately (I used it several times for the recipe I put in there... was always studying too much to try out other ones and now I can't find it! Oh no... I did actually cook a little my last year of college). I remember telling her that I made spaghetti for the first time by myself the night before. We thought that was funny. I miss my cookbook! I hope I find it one day. I'm scared I left it at the house I lived in senior year, but I thought for sure that I had gotten everything. Maybe it'll turn up.

That night Emily and I went with some other Siestas (hope I get this right since it's been over a year), Jenny Hope, Stephanie, Teri, and Fran to the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is so long and pretty... many trees on the sides and restaurants. Our hotel was right near it, as well as the mall. We waved at a group of Siestas taking a boat tour on the river. We ended up going to some Italian place. It ended up costing more than it was worth. Oh well. It was fun to talk to the ladies. :) We met up with some more, many more, Siestas at the Rainforest Cafe. I sat at the end of the table. I ended up talking the most to Kathy from Arkansas, now known as kathypinkbicyclearkansas on the blog. It was the first of many meetings. The Rainforest Cafe was really cute. I don't really remember anything after that. I do remember watching Just Married and then falling asleep to Pretty Woman that night.

The next morning I woke up and didn't see Emily. I was wondering where she went. Housekeeping wanted to clean the room and I didn't know exactly where to go. So I wandered around a little bit. I thought maybe she'd be in Stephanie's room. So I went down the hall and knocked on the door. No response. So I just went back to the hotel. Turned on the TV and there was my favorite actress and her old TV flame at 12:00. I was confused! I used to watch Guiding Light (3pm Eastern) everday since the 6th grade (little did I know I would stop recording it with the VCR forever when I went to Texas... I decided not having enough tape didn't really matter anymore- going to see Beth Moore was much more important). Anyway, my favorite actress from Guiding Light followed her friend who used to work on Guiding Light to All My Children. Well, that comes on at 1pm Eastern but 12 Central. Idk, I thought it was pretty cool to see my favorite TV people on my trip at such a random time. Well, just in case you're wondering, I never got into All My Children. I still watch CBS soaps every now and then but I am healed from my addiction- yay! I started doing No Other Gods with my God being TV. Well, I only did about a week of the study. Turns out I was able to get rid of it anyway. So later Emily came back to the hotel room and I asked where she was. She was in Stephanie's room but they had switched room to the above floor. Their room on our floor had ants in it! No wonder I couldn't find them. So after that I got her cell phone number. Just in case- I'd been calling her home phone before then. Reading what I just wrote makes me sound very clingy, but she was the only person I really knew so far!

Later that day, Emily's friend Rachel that she knew from when they lived in NC came. I wanted to give them some time to themselves so when Jenny Hope said something about going to the mall I jumped. And Jenny's cool so of course I wanted to go anyway. I ended up at Cinnabon bc I hadn't had breakfast. I ended up seeing Kathy again. I saw her sitting by herself so I went to say hi. Then I met up with Jenny again. She needed a new makeup bag so we went looking. I think eventually she ended up getting one from Icing. I knew they had some in there. We also stopped in Aeropostale and Jenny got this pretty green hoodie (I call them hoodies- some other people call them sweatshirts). We kept walking around and then I saw the ultimate store: Primarily Purple! I had never seen a purple store before in my life! Was so excited. I walked in and remember Jenny saying something like I didn't know people were this into purple. :) I felt so normal in that store. I didn't know people liked it as much as I do either! Yay! So I was walking around looking at all the stuff- getting so excited. I wanted a shirt so I started browsing. And then I gasped! There was a shirt that said Purplelicious. I couldn't believe it was spelled the way I spell it. The lady standing next to me stared at me when I gasped. I told her this shirt has my email on it, which I'm sure she didn't understand. But yes, my email is purplelicious@bellsouth.net. So of course I was excited. I ended up getting that, a purple pen that says I love purple, a bumper sticker (which is NOT on my car- it's on my memoboard) that says Purple Rocks!, and some purple cowboy boot earrings for my roommate. I even had a fun conversation with the lady working the counter and took a business card and stuck it in my wallet (I still have it and have even since added another purple store card from Myrtle Beach). Well, once again Kathy ended up in the purple store. I remember she and Jenny talking about Medical Transcription. I took their picture in front of the purple store. The picture is on facebook.

I met Rachel and Emily for lunch. They really wanted Mexican, I'm not a fan but I don't think I said anything. So we went to a Mexican place on the Riverwalk. I remember the hostess asking if we wanted to eat outside. We said "definitely inside." It was so hot! We went inside and a mariachi band was playing all over the restaurant. So we payed the $10 and got them to play for us. Super fun! We figured how many chances would we have to get a mariachi band to play for us? It was a fun little lunch. I had tacos. I wish I could remember what we talked about!
That day around the hotel I remember seeing 3 ladies around my age hugging and talking. I didn't know it at the time, but it was Lindsee, Shelly, and Abby! I love how they are such good friends from all over the U.S.. I wanted to meet them since they are closer to my age, but I still haven't met them yet.

Next thing, I remember Emily, Rachel, and I were walking to the arena. Seemed like a long walk. But that was fine with me. We went to a specific entrance where the Siestas were checking in. We got these cute little nametags that said our first name and where we were from, a Siesta wrist band, and a colored index card. I even saw Amanda Jones and got so excited. Amanda is so sweet! I had never heard her voice before so I couldn't wait to talk to her. I was surprised that she came out to meet us. I guess I didn't realize how much she wanted to meet us too. So I got in line to meet her. I happened to be behind, Melana aka Moose Mama, and she had the moose! I remember thinking, what's the deal with the moose? They took a picture and then it was my turn. I told Amanda "it is so cool to hear your voice, I had no idea what it sounded like." And she said "I think my voice sounds like a mouse." I said "no, I like it." I was so nervous when I took my picture with her. I don't think I'm smiling big enough bc I was nervous. She's so cool I should be smiling so big! Then I ran into Kathy again (we were so destined to become friends). So I invited her to sit with Emily, Rachel, and myself. The Siestas sat outside the doors and I walked around to say hi. I saw Georgia Jan again- she was one of the first 3 Siestas I met in Jacksonville, FL at a LPL conference. We finally went in for the conference. Unfortunately, we were in the back, which made me sad. I was hoping we'd be closer. I'm not a fan of looking at the screen bc then I feel like I'm watching Beth Moore on TV. But it was fun to sit by all my new friends. I kept hoping she would mention the Siestas. Well she never said Siestas during the conference... but I found out later she wanted to make every lady there feel special. Awww... that's so sweet. No wonder she didn't mention us. She did pray for us indirectly though when she said she knew people had come from all over to be in San Antonio=us!

The conference was about our Inheritance (can't help but wonder if that inspired the study- I would think so). Since it's been so long I grabbed my notes from the conference. I wrote down:

Psalm 16:5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
Galations 3:8, Exodus 32:13, Joshua 13:16, Romans 8:16-17
Inheritance from God Always Involves:
1. Presence- Genesis 26:23, Joshua 1:9
2. People- Genesis 12:3, 22:17-18, Deuteronomy 4:20, Psalm 16:3, Revelation 7:9
3. Property-Numbers 26:52 and 26, Matthew 25:34
---
1 Chronicles 28:8,20
Joshua 1:9
1. I am an heir of God. My life is not left to chance.
2. I am an heir of God. I am inheriting a kindgom.
Inheritance: Old Covenant: Genesis 22:17-18; New Covenant:Revelation 21:7
Colossians 1:12
Daniel 7:18
3. I am an heir of God. He is my portion... and I am his.
Deuteronomy 10:8-9
Psalm 73:25-26
Deuteronomy 4:20, 32:9
Ephesians 1:18

After the first session, Emily, Rachel, and I went to get some Chilis take-out. We sat outside in front of a pond near the mall. It was so pretty. I love being out in the heat at night in front of water. I remember Rachel giving me advice. She was so funny. She said I don't know why, but I just feel like I need to give you advice! Haha. I thought it was sweet. Too bad I can't remember what it was. I must've taken it to heart and it's ingrained in me, right Rachel? Rachel also told me that she was kind of nervous about sharing a hotel room with me at first but now that she met me she was completely fine with me. So much fun to make new friends. :) We were talking about fame and how Rachel said she didn't understand why people got so obsessed with celebrities. She said they poop too! I was like, oh my gosh, I say that too! I still get excited about famous people, though. I just couldn't believe she said that. Ha!

The next morning I got up early to get some breakfast. I walked over with the ladies to the arena. I had given Kathy my number in case she wanted to meet up. Somehow I ended up finding her without her even needing to call me. Of course! So we sat together and did the Comission together! This is what Beth taught:
Revelation 22:4
4. I am an heir of God. The down-payment has been made.
5. I am an heir of God. My boundary lines form a pleasing place.
1 Corinthians 12:7
Ephesians 4:27
6. I am an heir of God. The will has been activated.
Hebrews 9:16-17
7. I am an heir of God. I can be secure.
Out of brokenness comes the perfume of Christ... Colossians 3:23
8. I am an heir of God. I have a beautiful inheritance.
2 Timothy 4:6-7
Hebrews 11:16, 39-40

After the conference was over, which is usually when I'm super sad, I got so excited! It was time for Siesta Fiesta! Yay! I wanted to grab something to eat really quick bc I knew I'd enjoy the Fiesta more if I had something in my stomach. Since there was nothing I liked really, Kathy and I just grabbed salads. I don't like salad dressing, so that's probably why I don't like salads very much. And then we ran down to the 2nd row and grabbed some seats. Next thing we knew, we were being grouped by the color of our index cards. I had a yellow card and Kathy didn't but she ended up joining my group. It was one of the smaller ones anyway. So we all were in these huge groups- there were about 1000 siestas there- waiting for Beth, Amanda, and Melissa to come take pictures with us. I was impressed at the organization. Beth didn't have very long to spend with us so I thought it was very clever of them to organize it the way they did. The yellow group was on the end on the left side. Next thing we know, Beth comes around the corner right by our group. So our group was the first she saw. I didn't even know she was there. Well, I was sitting on the floor and she came up and gave me a sweet little pat on my leg. She also said hi to some of the other Siestas at the same time. I was so nervous! Then she took a picture with us. I was right behind her in the picture. At first, she was blocking me with her big hair (ha!!) and then she kneeled down some more so I could see. Perfect! I couldn't imagine asking her to do that. So I'm so glad she did it on her own. Cracked me up that her hair was blocking me. Then after the picture Kathy gave her some tissues and said "for your hair." And she was confused (I was too)... like why do I need to put these tissues in my hair? And then we realized (bc I didn't know Kathy was going to give them to her) that the tissues had a picture of a lady with big hair on it. Pretty cute! And then she moved on to the next pictures. After all that, they gave away prizes. Prizes to the one with the closest birthday, married the longest, lady with the baby due date closest to Amanda's, one with the most kids, etc. It was really fun! And some of the ladies (sorry can't remember who) gave Amanda a yellow blanket that said "Shhh... I'm taking a siesta" on it. How cute! That was before we knew she was having a girl. Amanda said it was her first gift for the baby. Wising Up was one of the gifts and Beth said a married woman should be the one to win. Apparently one DVD is "Beth Moore uncut." :) I think a married Siesta did win it. There was one point where Amanda was going to give something to someone who came close to the qualification for winning and Melissa said you can't just give away everything so easily. And they had a little tiff. Their mom just sat back and said see- they are so different! It was pretty funny. They really are different but both so gorgeous and smart. After that, we had a light question and answer time. I know one question was about her morning routine- which she said involves an early quiet time, of course! My travel buddy, Emily, asked her if she realizes how much she positively impacts people? And told her she's been such an inspiration and that she felt like the inheritance message was for her (since she had recently lost her mom). I was so excited Emily got to talk with her. Emily is so cool. She is very sweet and wants God! She was my travel buddy- not yours! Haha. I wish I could remember some more, but the only other thing I really remember was the girl from Tokyo or Taiwan... I think it was Tokyo... got a Beth hug for coming so far. I can totally understand why she'd come so far! We were so sad they had to leave- a van came to pick them up and they drove off.

After the fiesta (oh no- it's over!), I spent some time with Kathy. Luckily, she was super smart and brought an umbrella. It rained pretty hard. She let me share it with her. I laughed bc she is quite a few inches shorter than me so my head was stuck right on the inside of the umbrella. It actually worked out pretty well for me. I didn't have to worry about my head being hit with rain at all from the sides or anything. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do next. So when she asked me if I wanted to go to the Alamo I said sure! Earlier that day in the arena, I stood in line to get Kathy some water and some ladies I met in line from Texas couldn't believe I had been there since Thursday and hadn't seen the Alamo. I asked them about the Alamo without hinting I knew something about it and they said I can't believe you don't know about the Alamo- I guess we do bc they make a big deal about it in Texas. Well, I knew about the Alamo but I wanted to hear about it from their perspective. They didn't really tell me anything. We took the trolley to the Alamo and it was so much larger than I expected. I thought all that was left was a rock! There are buildings. We walked through and looked at everything. As we were walking through Kathy and I talked about the No Other Gods study the Siestas did. She told me her God was shopping. So when we went to the gift shop and she said she wanted to buy something, I was like noooo! Haha. She only bought like one little thing.


Then we ended up at the mall because she was going to the Pajama Party some siestas had planned that night. I was lucky Emily had found out about it. Kathy wasn't originally going to go but her roommate who couldn't come to San Antonio at all was so she took her place. So we set out for some pajamas. We found these cute green with polka dots pair that I convinced her to get at Macy's. Well, when we went down the elevator in the same store she saw some loungewear that she said she'd wear more and some slippers that matched pretty well. So she returned the cute polka dot pajamas I liked so much and got that. I still give her a hard time about it. But later when we went to LPL in Memphis in October 2009 she said she did wear her loungewear often.

The Pajama Party was downstairs in a room in the hotel. There was even pizza on these fancy tray-like things. I was like, wow, I feel like an adult. Adult parties are fun! We had a blast. We divided into groups and I was the runner bc I was the youngest. One of the things we did was whoever finds their index card the fastest. I know there were some more that were more exciting than that but all I remember was have someone from your group do the worm. Everyone looked at me, I guess bc I was the youngest and I was like no way. I am not flexible and do not want to smash myself on the floor. Well, Rachel, who was in another group, did the worm! She was fantastic. :) And then later some Siestas gave their testimonies. Our Siestas really are amazing.

The next morning Rachel had to leave early- sad. Emily's mom's best friend and her husband drove quite a distance from their house in Texas to take Emily to breakfast. I was lucky to be able to join. Breakfast was great and we even saw Amy from MinistrySoFabulous at Denny's. They took us to the airport and then we flew back to Atlanta.

We stopped at McDonalds outside of Atlanta. That is the first time I remember seeing TVs in a McDonalds. Seems normal now. It was on the news. I don't like the news but Emily does so that was good for her. On the drive back home, I tried to savor my time with Emily. We had so much fun that I was sad we would be separating. Once we got to her house, I got to meet her boys. They are so cute!

So it was an amazing trip! I had so much fun I was sad it was over. So I went back to my house (I only lived in my senior year) and slept there for the 2nd time ever. I had moved in the day before my trip! I couldn't find the cowboy boot earrings I got for my roommate- sad day. I'm still hoping they'll turn up! Anyway, it was totally worth skipping the first two days of my last year of college to go on my amazing trip! Loved it and loved meeting my new friends. :)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Simulcast/Recruitment/Nephew/RN


Beth Moore's simulcast from Wisconsin was awesome! I went by myself to a church about 20 minutes away from my house. I would have much rather been there in person of course... made me really want to go to Memphis. I don't know if I'll be able to make it, though. I can't wait until I really do get to go to a Living Proof Live in person!!

From Wednesday to Saturday I spent time with my sorority sisters! It was so much fun. I stayed with another Sigma Alpha Omega Alumni Wednesday night aka Cowgirl night at recruitment. Thursday was pajama game night with my girls. I managed to play Catch Phrase the whole time. I very much enjoyed the night. I ended up staying at Amanda and Maggie's apartment who also live with two of the new ChiCs (or sorority candidates). They watch Golden Girls! How much fun is that? I love the Golden Girls. And they have this super cute Gamecock football field rug that Maggie brought to the apartment. Maggie the Clemson fan... haha. They had to go to class the next day (bummer- I don't have to do that anymore) so I was like... hmm... what shall I do. Fortunately, my former :( roommate was in town. Hooray! I met her at Starbucks for about 30 minutes. So wonderful to see my Sammy. Then I shopped in 5 points until I met Audrey for lunch. We went to Yesterdays and a few other places. The drive thru guy at McDonalds was cool. She even played the original "What Ya Say" song for me- way cool! I like the original too. :) We just had a bunch of random fun! Audrey is so sweet- had a great time with her! She made dirt cake for the cocktail party (which didn't have cocktails but pretty dresses). Everyone devoured the dirt cake! The sisters and I ended up staying up until at least 4:00 that night. I started to ache- I go to sleep much earlier than they do. I stayed with Kristin, another one of my favorite people. On Saturday, I had lunch with Catherine at Flightdeck. Then we went to Target- I have never stayed so long in the book aisle there in my life. Also, I loved that she spent much time with me in the toy aisles (we kept smiling at this cute little girl) and Halloween aisles. She stuck her hand in a cauldron and the skeleton hand reached for her. She jumped! Then we saw I Can Do Bad All By Myself. I cried. I don't usually cry at movies, but at the same time I cried I heard other people crying too. So sad. Madea was funny as usual though. After my lovely Catherine and I went to McDonalds, I went home. I was sad to leave- my time with my sisters was wonderful. :)

My nephew was born on 09/09/09! I'm an aunt!

I studied all last month and took the NCLEX on September 3rd. A couple days later, I paid to find out if I passed or not. My heart was pounding so hard as I was typing in my numbers. I was so excited when I found out I passed the test!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Beth Moore

Women of Faith Preconference "A Day with Beth Moore" Atlanta, GA 8/10/07

Living Proof Live Jacksonville, FL 3/29/08

Siestas in Jacksonville


I used to think blogs were weird. Only, they were something I didn't quite understand. One day, I typed Beth Moore into Google images. Bc she's gorgeous. I wanted to see her pictures! Well, I came across this cute picture of her in this pretty dress at a Starbucks:
I followed the link and started reading. I automatically loved it.

In January of 2007, I went to my first Bible study at First Baptist of Columbia. They told me we were doing Beth Moore's Breaking Free. That was fine by me. I didn't know who she was. A month or so later they said she was coming to Columbia. Unfortunately, it was the same night as Relay for Life. I would've loved to have been able to do both, but I was a captain so I couldn't leave. As the weeks went on, I fell in the love with the Bible study and Beth Moore of course. The study was so good! I joke that I don't want anyone to read my studies because it'd be like reading my diary! So personal. After the night she came to Columbia, I was really sad I didn't get to go. And now it's one of my biggest regrets! She was literally 2 streets over and I couldn't be there!!! Ah... so I convinced my mom to take me to Atlanta to the Women of Faith preconference. We would've gone to Boone, NC but it was sold out. The preconference was a blast. We ended up being able to sit on the front row. I specifically remember Beth Moore shaking someone 5 seats down from me. I wanted to be that person! You may ask, why do I think so much of her? Well, first of all she is very entertaining, funny, and so much fun! But the best thing about her is her witness! She has this infectious love for God. I want the passion she has!!

I found the Living Proof Ministries blog in Novemeber of 2007 and have been reading it ever since. I highly recommend it. The ladies, Siestas, who read the blog are some great people. They make you laugh and lift you up. We all love our Mama Beth!

In March of 2008, Mom and I attended our first Living Proof Live conference in Jacksonville, FL. It was so much fun. I felt like Mama Beth was more comfortable being her fun self. There was even some jumping up and down. That Saturday morning I met my first LPM blog peeps in the flesh! Little Steps of Faith, Georgia Jan, and Grand Canyon Mom and I all took a picture. Unfortunately, I didn't take any good notes from that weekend but Angie aka Little Steps of Faith did.
The weekend was amazing! I cannot express how much I loved the conference. I didn't even care that we got stuck in traffic that made our 3 hour drive turn into 6 because I was on cloud nine! Really an amazing time.