Wake up at 6:25 a.m. to my son telling me he’s “scared,” AKA ready to get up. Nudge his daddy to spring into action.

Alarm goes off at 6:45. Go for a run. Realize I don’t feel very good. Walk home.

Make toast for the kids and me. Appreciate that Annabeth can feed herself.

Have “quiet” time. Hide in dining room for a few minutes to pray.

Kiss Curtis goodbye. Thankful that Jackson doesn’t cry today.

Repeatedly send Jackson in the backyard to play. He’s operating at a 10 out of 10.

Put Annabeth down for a nap. Try to keep the house quiet.

Realize I either forgot to moderate blog comments yesterday or a bunch just suddenly appeared in the moderating queue. Yikes.

Comments from last summer and fall keep showing back up. Weird.

Annabeth wakes up happy.

Get the urge for Papa John’s pizza. Order the $10 large, any toppings pizza.

Twenty minutes later it shows up.

Drop the pizza and watch Canadian bacon and pineapple spill all over the entry way and splatter on the delivery man.

Despite my protests, he generously leaves to get us another one.

Sit on the couch and wonder if that really happened. Embarrassed. Frustrated.

Yell at Jackson for climbing on me. Receive imaginary bad mom of the day award. Apologize to my boy.

New pizza arrives. Give a good tip.

Jackson says, “I want to share with my pizza. With Annabeth. That’s what Jesus likes.”

Wonder if that’s a ploy not to have to eat. He eats all his pizza. He meant it. Sweet boy.

Encourage Annabeth to walk toward Jackson. She claps her hands, calls him “Dat dat” for the first time, and takes a few steps toward her brother.

Heart is happy.

Kids get a bath. In the chaos afterward, Annabeth dumps out the wipes. Towel falls into the water. Jackson sucks toothpaste out of tube.

Annabeth takes 9 steps toward her brother. A new record.

She hits her mouth on her rocking chair. Cries.

Naptime #2.

Try to read Where the Wild Things Are to Jackson before his rest time. He says it’s too long. Not gonna argue with that. Pick a shorter book.

Bribe him with candy if he’ll sleep today. Probably should be ashamed but I’m desperate for the stillness.

Quiet now.

And all is well in the Jones home.

Good morning, Siestas! I hope everyone is doing well today. We are often asked about Bible study materials for men, so I thought I would take a minute to let you know about a new one available from Curtis Jones, AKA my husband. Most of you know that Curtis’ role at LPM is to create resources with your men in mind (whether your husbands, sons, fathers, grandfathers, or friends). This new resource is called Drive Thru the Bible Volume Two: The Holy Spirit and the Acts of the Apostles. It’s a CD set consisting of twenty-five 7-10 minute messages that your guy can listen to on the way to work or school or wherever he may go. This is basically a 25-day supply of on-the-road devotionals.

You can also find Curtis’ Drive Thru the Bible Volume One: The Life of Elijah and his Turbulent Times 3-CD set in our online store. The Turbulent Times CD set would be great for the young adult in your life.

Just scroll through the CD Studies section of our online store and you’ll see them there.

Tomorrow we’ll have our fourth So Long Insecurity discussion post. I’m really excited about this one because Beth made a video for us. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of those! Be sure to come back tomorrow for a word from your Siesta Mama. Have a great day!

Help Haiti February 27th – HelpHaitiLive.com from Compassion International on Vimeo.

See it online tonight (for free) at 7:30 CST at HelpHaitiLive.com.

Tickets are still available for those of you who are in the Nashville area.

Performances by Big Kenny, Alison Krause with Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Jars of Clay, Matt Kearney, Jon Foreman, Brandon Heath, Matt Wertz, NEEDTOBREATHE, and Dave Barnes.

Please watch, pray, and give.

Hey, Girls!

I am sitting in the passenger seat of my man’s blue Ford truck with a bird dog’s head on my shoulder heading west to cactus country for a few days. Do you remember that place I told you about where I have to hike with a shotgun because of all the rattlesnakes? Yep, that’s where we’re headed. I don’t think I told you that Keith only lets me have one shotgun shell (thanks, Adrienne!) per walk so I only get to run into one snake at a time. For those of you who have been around for a while and are wondering, yes, we have Star, our Border Collie with us, too. She’s too busy looking out the window trying to herd the traffic to snuggle with me though. It would be tough to type with both on them on top of me anyway.

I’ve been thinking about you every single day. I have no idea how many of your comments I’ve read. Tons. Because we get the whole week to finish the assignments, I can read a certain amount almost every single day. I’m getting to keep up even better than I’d hoped. I really thought this would be a neat experience but you have surpassed my expectation in your answers and insights. The transparency is so incredibly refreshing. So many wonderful things have hit me in the last two weeks as we’ve gone through the first four chapters together. There’s one eye-opening and troubling thing I want to talk to you about before we proceed to our assignments. I’ve been touched by how many of you (thankfully) confessed that you even feel insecure about your comments and about whether or not the other women participating will think you’ve said something lame. Others mentioned being scared they’d misspell a word. As we seek freedom from God, let’s not let the enemy mess with us that way. Let’s not give over one inch of extra ground to the very issue we’re trying to escape.

What do you say we make this discussion stream a NO INTIMIDATION ZONE? What do you say we make a conscious choice not to compete with one another? Not to judge one another? Not to try to measure up to one another or feel less or more than the other? We have to put up with all that trash almost everywhere else a group of women meets up. We can make up our minds not to have to put up with that here. We are smart women. We can determine to share our struggles, challenges, and victories over insecurity without feeling insecure about them. Talk about double indemnity! In Jesus’ Name, let’s make up our minds to treat one another with respect but not give a rip about trying to keep up or compete. Even while we’re on our journey to freedom, let’s make this community a microcosm of what we hope, when it’s behind us, to find and to become. I can’t think of a better place for us to practice making up our minds not to let circumstances or people draw out our insecurities.

I esteem you highly and find you so entirely interesting. What I’ve learned from you already can’t be overstated. I have become increasingly certain over the last two weeks that God is up to something BIG among us. Bigger than I first thought. In fact, I can tell you this. There’s no way we came up with this. God is pursuing us. He’s setting us up to get sick and tired of our insecurity and to do anything we must in order to find wholeness in Him. Let’s not stop Him in any way.

Oops, I got distracted for a minute. We just stopped at a Valero’s near Llano, Texas, for a bathroom break and Star started barking her head off at a man minding his own business and walking into the store. “What on earth is the matter with you?” I asked. (To Star, of course. Not the man.) Then I saw what he was wearing. Short shorts with winter white legs and black socks. I think Star is terrified by black socks against bright legs. Somebody tell me why that dude didn’t feel insecure. Not really. Don’t get off on that. But admit it. It’s a mystery.

OK, so let’s get to this week’s assignments. We’ve reached a very important point in our journey. We’re about to dig up eight deep roots of insecurity. No, we’re not looking for excuses but a little understanding can go a mighty long way. Haven’t you ever wondered why it dogs you so? You may be about to find out. This week I’d like for you to give special attention to Chapters FIVE and SIX. Here are the two questions I want you to answer here on the blog:

1. After reading these two chapters, what do you believe to be the TWO primary roots of your struggle with insecurity? Keep in mind that more may apply but try to lock in on two that you believe to be most impactful.

2. What, if any, insight did you gain about the roots of insecurity and did you sense that God was trying to speak to you in any specific way through it? (This answer does not need to be limited to the two roots you identified in the previous response.)

These may sound like simple questions but I promise you we will have some interesting reading this week. Go to it, Girlfriends! I can’t wait to hear from you. Remember, you have until next Thursday morning to make your comment. By the way, a number of you have asked if women can jump in late with us. Absolutely! Any time. Everybody’s welcome.

Here’s a special challenge this week: Let’s still hear from all of you who’ve been commenting over the last two weeks but let’s ALSO hear from at least one hundred of you who have never posted before. Remember, this is a NO INTIMIDATION ZONE. Get in there and learn how to make a comment and if you find it posted later and see that you misspelled a word, who cares? This journey will mean ten times more to you if you get all the way into it. Come on in and participate. This is a really cool group of women.

Come, Lord Jesus, and minister to us. Open our eyes. Open our hearts. Grant us signs of great freedom and healing even this week as we discover where our insecurities may be coming from. We know, Lord, that no flesh and blood can bring us what we need. If we come out of this with liberty, all glory will go to You alone. I love You, Father. Do Your Thing.

Here are the random winners of Monday’s pop quiz. Congrats, ladies! You will receive a $20 gift certificate to our Living Proof online store. Email us at [email protected] and we will get you all set up.

Rachel – Columbus, MS, 9:17 AM
Barb – Gainesville, FL, 9:49 AM
Debbie – Milton, FL, 10:05 AM
Candace – Kentucky, 10:13 AM
Aimee – Regina, Saskatchewan, 10:49 AM
Janice – Canastota, NY, 10:53 AM
Rebekah – Yuma, AZ, 11:54 AM
Pam – Campbellsburg, IN, 12:27 PM
Karen – Yorba Linda, CA, 1:11 PM
Terri – Waxhaw, NC, 2:50 PM
Melanie – Bellingham, WA, 3:54 PM
Fran – Jackson, TN, 6:15 PM
Brittney Thomas – Lexington, KY, 10:05 PM
Kate – Baker City, OR, 9:52 PM
Kristi – Glendora, CA, 12:22 AM

And in case anyone needs a little cheer in their day, here are some of Annabeth’s recent hairdos.

This was yesterdays’ post-nap bed head.

And here’s my boy. We were enjoying some leftover birthday cake with milk to wash it down, hence the mustache.

Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday! We’ll be spending ours at church. Does anyone else go to church on Wednesday nights? We go to fellowship supper and then Curtis teaches a Bible study class. What do you do?

I can hardly believe a month has gone by since the Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration here in Houston. We had a blast studying, worshipping, and fellowshipping with the 500 ladies who attended. We promised to make the messages available to all the SSMT participants who weren’t able to join us. The downloads were ready last week but we were just getting the SLI discussion group off the ground and I wanted to let it take root before I buried the posts. Thanks so much for your patience! I hope you will enjoy listening to the sessions this weekend.

Session One

Session Two

Commissioning Audio

Commissioning Document

UPDATE 2/17 – I went ahead and opened comments back up since I don’t know when this process will be finished. I’m sorry about all this!

Hey Siestas! The web guys are working to get our blog moved over to the new platform. I temporarily closed comments so that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. It’s taking a bit longer than expected but I’m hoping we’ll be back in business tomorrow. Until then, please keep the prayers coming! Have a great day, everyone.

Our family had such a delightful weekend together. I hope yours did too! It started on Friday evening when we picked up some Mexican food from Chuy’s and took it over to my parents’ house. I think we’d spent a grand total of one hour with them in the last week, so it was a fun reunion.

We had a couple of things to celebrate. The first was Valentine’s Day. Annabeth arrived in her red tutu. Can you tell she loved herself in it? Or maybe she was glad to see her Bibby. I think it was both.

Jackson and I had made strawberry cupcakes to bring with us.

Annabeth is looking very interested in the cupcakes. Bibby does not suspect that a plan is hatching in Annabeth’s mind.

Cupcake overboard!

I’m not really supposed to talk about the other thing we were celebrating. (Mom doesn’t want to wear y’all out with the new book.) Technically, I’m not talking about it. Just showing you pictures.

Like I said, lots to celebrate. God is awesome.

On Saturday the sun finally came out and we were compelled to go outside. We decided to get Jackson an early birthday present – his first bike! Then we found an empty parking lot and let him go for it.

This was his first wipe out. It wasn’t too bad.

He was thrilled to ride through this puddle.

I was trying to take a creative picture of Annabeth but she crawled away. Oh well, her outfit clashed with the trash can anyway. (What a weird sentence to type.)

AB and I cheered Jackson on from the Suburban.

When it got too chilly we sought shelter in a pizza joint.

On Sunday morning we went to church. The Holy Spirit was speaking to me through the sermon on Genesis 17 and I could not take notes fast enough. What a great thing.

We took some pictures to mark the day. Before I show them to you, I’d like you to see the brother-sister pic from last year.

Here are my little Valentines a year later.

Poor Jackson. I can’t look at these without laughing hysterically.

Last night we had a really nice date at a steakhouse with our best friends, Kay and Jerrell. The boys planned everything a couple of weeks ago, even down to the babysitters. Kay and I were spoiled!

Something weird is going on with my dress in this picture. Before anyone asks, it is NOT maternity. And, yes, I’m insecure.

If you’ll allow me to pack one more thing into this post, I have some important blog-related news. We have been working on getting the LPM blog moved over to a different platform. Blogger can’t really handle the volume of comments we get over here and it has been extremely frustrating. We are finally moving over to WordPress, where I believe we’ll be able to serve you better. Our web designers have been hard at work and the new blog could go live as early as today. Yeah! We would appreciate your prayers, patience, and support as we make this transition. I’m nervous – perhaps needlessly – but very excited. All of our old posts and comments will still be accessible. I will have more details and instructions when it actually happens. Until then, just proceed as usual and say a prayer that the move will be smooth and wonderful. Thanks, Siestas! We love blogging with you!

I’m having one of those mornings. Annabeth is determined not to take a nap for the second day in a row. I forgot that the pest control man was coming this morning and when he arrived, we were all in our pajamas and the house was a mess. We still have all the party decorations up and it must have looked like a freak show. Jackson and I both woke up feeling very strong-willed. Earlier I told him to go play with his trains and he looked at me and yelled “FINE!” Is there a space in the baby book for that?

Thankfully, today is no reflection on how wonderful Annabeth’s birthday was!

As I was driving to the church for Bible study on Tuesday afternoon, I passed my OB’s office and realized that at that exact moment a year ago, I was getting the news that I was in the early stages of labor and that my baby would be coming soon. That was such a great moment to relive. I had been so happily shocked.

I came home from Bible study pretty late and began getting the house set up for Annabeth’s party. Right after midnight I went up to her room and plucked the sleeping princess out of her crib. We spent the next few minutes snuggling in her soft pink rocking chair as I whispered my happy birthday wishes. She slept right through it.

The next morning, Curtis, Jackson and I went into Annabeth’s room together to get her up for the day. Jackson ran in and yelled, “It’s your birfday, Annabeff! It’s your birfday!” He was so excited for her. We sang and clapped and she loved it.

Then we took some quick pictures with the Big Pink Bear. I was still half asleep and didn’t notice that her shirt was wonky. My bad.

I told her to give the bear a kiss.

Twelve months later, she gets out of the chair herself. It’s boggles my mind how much they change in a year!

The rest of the morning was spent getting ready for her little party. All of Annabeth’s LPM aunties were coming over at noon to celebrate with us. In hindsight, I should have cooked the night before, but I was too tired after Bible study. Mom and Nancy came over early to help. I would not have been ready on time if they hadn’t come! In the midst of the pre-party choas, Nancy asked me what time Annabeth was born. I answered 11:38 and looked at my watch. Unbelievably, it was 11:38 right at that moment! We all stopped and I got to give Annabeth some kisses and take it in.

“The Village,” as we like to call ourselves, arrived at noon and the fun began. We had enchiladas and a great salad that my mom made. I served sparkling blackberry and sparkling pomegranate Izze’s because they went with my color scheme. Then we had birthday cake and frozen cappuccino punch and opened presents. I’ll let the pictures fill in the rest of the details.

Memaw brought a present for the big brother, too. So thoughtful!

Annabeth with Auntie Nancy. This was before she rejected her bow.

Memaw, me, Mom, and Annabeth – four generations of “Moore” girls.

Mom making her salad.

Very little evidence exists that I know how to use my oven, but here you go.

Auntie Kimberly McMahon/KMac helping me with the punch.

My grandma let me borrow her beautiful punch bowl and that gave me so much joy.

I imagined this looking cuter. The water bottles ruined it.

Auntie Kimberly Meyer showing the candy bracelet napkin rings.

Curtis and I simultaneously spilled our red drinks all over the table cloth. I nearly died but it just beaded up instead of soaking in! We just wiped it away! Is that not crazy?

My handsome man.

Kristy, KMac, Jenn, and Michelle.

Linda, Sabrina, Susan, Memaw, Nancy, and Kimberly

Annabeth with Auntie Sabrina

Second only to the guest of honor – the cake!

Bring it on, people!

Contrary to how this looks, she could not reach the candle.

Annabeth loves to throw her head back.

Warming up to it.

Meanwhile, Jackson was downing a piece.

Mom and Nancy did such a good job slicing it. The first few pieces were as big as our heads, but at least they were generous.

I put a photo book of Annabeth’s first year in my office for everyone to see. Curtis gave it to me for Christmas.

Icing’s pretty good, y’all!

Making very good progress on the smash cake.

The invitation specifically said, “No gifts please,” but do you think anyone listened? I told them they were lucky they didn’t have to sit on the time out step. Annabeth was blessed with some adorable spring outfits from her aunties and a few little toys, which we will definitely enjoy.

She was very interested in what she was getting.

Annabeth wanted to share some cake with KMac.

Auntie Michelle, Mom, Nancy, and AB.

Playing with some new toys after the party was over.

These are the beautiful roses that Aunt Melissa and Uncle Colin sent. Her dress was actually their Christmas present to her. We missed them but they were with us in presents if not presence!

These things were so fun! I would have left them up for days but they started falling down that night.

I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to eat all of these.

The perfect use for a silver bowl, don’t you think?

These little pennants came with the banners I had made.

The banners say, “Happy Birthday Annabeth.” I love them and plan on hanging them up every year.

This was right before the birthday nap. She had a hard time falling asleep after all that sugar.

The night before her first birthday I finally got the nursery like I wanted it. So here are some pictures.

Happy birthday, sweet Annabeth! The last twelve months have been amazing. I love you so much!

Frozen Cappuccino Punch
(Thank you Annalee!)

1/2 C sugar
1/4 C instant coffee granules
1 C boiling water
8 C milk
1 qt vanilla ice cream, softened
1 qt chocolate ice cream, softened

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and coffee. Stir in boiling water until dissolved. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Just before serving, pour coffee mixture into a 1 gallon punch bowl. Stir in milk. Add scoops of ice cream. Stir until melted.

I love February. I love walking into just about any store and seeing pink and red decorations. I love all the balloons and glittery, red heart stickers. I love seeing Valentine’s candy and racks of Hallmark cards. I love all the festive melamine plates at Target. These things make me smile, but perhaps not for the obvious reason. All of these things mean February and, for me, February means babies! In this month is buried a treasure chest of my most precious memories and emotions, namely anticipation, desperation, excitement, fear, pain, longings fulfilled, relief, insecurity, overwhelming love, exhaustion, and joy.

Both of my children will celebrate their birthdays this month. Annabeth turns one THIS WEDNESDAY. *Tear* And Jackson will turn four on the 17th. He can hardly wait. I told him this morning that it’s his birthday month and I totally confused him. He keeps asking me if his birthday is here yet and wondering where his presents are!

Jackson has changed so much over the last few months. I’m loving the stage we’re in and I think age four is going to be a blast. Age two was a huge struggle. Age three was better but still pretty challenging. As we approach age four I’m enjoying motherhood more than ever.

There were many times in the last two years that I wondered why on earth I ever thought I had what it takes to be a mom. I loved my kids but felt totally inadequate for the job. I could cry thinking about it. Those difficult times when I felt like I did nothing but discipline Jackson all day long are starting to pay off. Those times aren’t fun for anyone. No one has kids because they want to boss them around all day long, do they? But I kept hearing that consistency bears fruit. In this moment we’re getting to enjoy some of that fruit. I’m not trying to give parenting advice, but I do want to encourage moms who are feeling like I did. This sounds so trite and it didn’t help much when people said this to me either, but hang in there and know that it gets better!

I got on here to talk about February and I obviously got a little off course!

Tell me, Siestas, what is your favorite month and why?

I’m making my friend Sunni’s wonderful enchiladas for Annabeth’s birthday party. I thought you might like to have the recipe.

Sunni’s Cheesy Enchiladas

Ingredients:
(I always half this recipe)
24 flour tortillas
2 lbs. ground beef
2 lbs. Velveeta, cubed
2 cans Rotel tomatoes
4 (8-oz.) cartons sour cream
¼ cup butter
2 med. onions, chopped
1 dash garlic salt
Salt & pepper to taste

Brown meat with one chopped onion. Add garlic salt and salt and pepper. Drain. Coat large sauce pan with non-stick spray. Add sour cream and tomatoes, mix well. Add butter and heat on medium heat. Add Velveeta, stirring constantly. Add the remaining chopped onion. Turn heat to low and simmer for about 5 min. The cheese/butter should be melted by this point. Add a portion of the sauce to meat. Spoon meat mixture into tortillas. Lay in casserole dish, seam down. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas. Cover and bake for 15 min. at 350 degrees.

*I like to save a little bit of the cheese sauce to have with tortilla chips. Yum!
-AJ