Hi ladies! Mom just sent me the commissioning statement to post on the blog. She also wanted me to tell you that you’re the teachers pets. We love you! -Amanda

My Dear Sister

If Christ is Your Savior

You are the dwelling place

Of His own Spirit

You have it IN YOU

to be secure.

Every day of your life

You have a choice to make

You can live in your old defeat

Or you can turn from your unbelief

And choose life

Make up your mind

To put off the old you

And put on the new you.

Never, ever, ever forget

That the Lord is your security.

He will keep your foot

From being caught in a trap.

He will take care of you

To your very last breath.

Now, leave this place

And go out into the world

And act like a person

Who knows she’s dearly loved.

You were born to be exceptional.

So, Girlfriend, go forth

And walk worthy of your calling.

You are clothed in strength and dignity!

Now unto Him

Who can keep you from falling

Be glory and majesty

Power and authority

Through Jesus Christ our Lord

Now and forever more

Amen.

So Long, Insecurity!

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UPDATE from Amanda: SIESTA MEET-UP INFO
Ladies, I’ve been told that there’s a Siesta meet-up on Saturday night called “Connecting the Dots” at Latimer Hall at Woodstock United Methodist Church. It lasts from 6-9 and the cost is $10 to cover food and festivities. The organizers have lots of room left for Siestas who would like to join them. You can get more details on their Facebook page.

OK, Sisters, let’s hear it! If you’re attending Saturday’s simulcast, sign in with your first name and your host location (church/school name and city) . Not only will this heighten our sense of community that day, it will also let each of us know if we have fellow bloggers at our same location. (I hesitated to use the word “Siesta” on this particular post because I don’t want a newcomer to think I’m referring only to those who have somehow “joined” our community like a club. Remember, it’s just our term of endearment for sisters in Christ here on this site. If you’re reading this blog and you’re attending on Saturday, you are just the person I’m talking about.) Maybe some of us can meet face-to-face!

If I may ask your gracious cooperation, let’s please limit the comments on this post to those attending on Saturday so that the list will be easier to peruse for common sites. We’ll move forward to plenty of other things very shortly.

I love you guys so much. My heart is huge toward you right now. For one thing, this message (SLI) was birthed out of this community. For the other thing, it has to be love when so many of you said that you could well get a spiritual application out of “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.” Now, THAT’S sisterhood.

Here is my one intention on Saturday: that Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is clearly identified and glorified as our ONE and ONLY means of steadfast, soul-deep security. Pray with me to that glorious end.

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Praise our gracious God, Curtis Jones is home! Thank you so much for copious prayers! His parents did make it safely to Houston and his wife is one happy and exhausted woman. We so appreciate the privilege to live life with you. I’ll keep this post short because I need to get to the roll call straightaway.

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Thank you for your prayers, my dear sisters! No news yet on whether or not Curtis might be able to come home tomorrow. We’re so hoping he will. His parents have already begun their long trek south from Missouri. They will drive late into the night, check into a hotel, then get up early in the morning and drive the rest of the way into Houston. AJ just walked through the door of her house and I’m about to pack up my car and head home to my man. Yes, he’s back. Jackson got to have a blast with him tonight. He needed some man time in the worst way.

I got a little more preparation for Saturday’s simulcast done during nap/rest time today and will turn my attentions to it completely first thing in the morning. Thank goodness, it doesn’t start on Friday night like a regular LPL would. You’ll know I didn’t get all my preparation accomplished if I resort to reading “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” as an illustration. Please have my back on it though. Turn to the woman sitting next to you, nod, and say, “Inspired!” I could also run through all the animal sounds I’ve perfected into an art form in order to keep Annabeth awake in the car until we made it home for naptime.

OK, signing off and heading home! Btw, did you guys know that Travis will be joining us this weekend? You don’t really think I’d try serving you without him, did you?

I’ll talk to you soon!

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Sisters, I just thought I’d better shoot you a quick update. I told you earlier today (see previous post) that CJ was getting better but he’s back up to 103 degrees with an elevating white count. They’ve just put in a call to his doctor. Thank you so much for your concern. We are humbled that you’d join us on this journey and expend the extra energy for intercession. I’ll let you know something some time tomorrow.

And, since so many of you mentioned the simulcast, please know that I, too, am super excited about Saturday and counting on God to come through for us. Your anticipation fuels mine! I trust Him to settle my mind about the Joneses in time to have at least forty-eight hours of solitude leading up to the event. I got in a couple of hours of study today while AB was napping and Jackson was at Mother’s Day Out. If, for any reason, we’re still turned upside down around here, I also trust God to show His strength in our weakness. He’s preparing for Saturday even while I’m keeping these babies. Their Nana will be on her way Thursday and God willing (and I know that He is), I’ll see you then! It’s by no means up in the air.

You are precious to us.

 We’ll do a roll call on Friday to see which Siestas are attending and from which locations. I guess you know by now that I love roll calls! I dearly love to imagine you in all your walks of life and all your cities and towns around the country doing the same kind of thing on the same day in Jesus’ great Name. Most of all, I think He loves it. (Which reminds me, it’s almost time for Siesta Summer Bible Study III! Stay tuned for more information. Yes, I’ve already chosen a specific series. I’ll tell you which one in May.)

OK, both kids are in bed and the dishwasher’s going. I’m going to set my broken toe up for a while. Grin. I love you. (Btw, an adult son of one of our Siestas got word to me recently that his mother swears and declares that I really do love her. And she’s right.)

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Remember me, anyone??? Your very own Siesta Mama??? BOY, are we busy around here! You know by now that Curtis Jones, the King of Pain, dropped Amanda and the kids off at home after teaching Sunday School and drove himself to the emergency room only to learn that his appendix had not just burst. In the words of the surgeon that I heard with my own ears, “It went off like a grenade.” I immediately moved to Amanda’s with Jackson and Annabeth and she immediately moved to the hospital with her man. Several days later, this is still our arrangement as we wait for Curtis to successfully fight that infection and lose that fever. He has been one sick dude. He seems to have turned a corner today. We appreciate your prayers and could still use them until we get him all the way through this storm. If his temperature doesn’t climb back up today, we are hoping they will release him to come home tomorrow.  His mom arrives on Thursday and I know he will be so glad to have her. I’ll also be relieved for Amanda. As many of you know, because a number of us have a date this weekend (SLI simulcast), I’ll be in Atlanta and so thankful to know that her wonderful mother-in-law will be here lending a hand.

Here are a few random tidbits I’ll share from my last few days as a single mother of preschoolers (yes, Keith was out of town):

1. I never had my quiet time yesterday. Nope. Not one word of it. Never even opened my Bible. In fact, I did not know where it was. (Turned out to be in my car which I had traded off with AJ so that I could have her car with both of the kid seats.) My day started at 6:20 AM with Jackson, who had slept with (on) me all night, getting one inch from my puffy face and saying, “Bibby, it’s morning time. Mr. Sun is coming up!” Oh, really? It was pitch black (the same color as I, minutes later, chose to have my coffee). But the boy’s darling face was as bright as the sun and who could resist?? So, up we came. The day was action packed. He didn’t go to sleep that night until pretty late at which time we both fell in the bed. He has such a fabulous personality. 100% sanguine. The only way I’ve been able to tell that he is having a hard time processing his Daddy being in the hospital is that he is having a hard time sleeping. He adores Curtis. And Annabeth? She adores her MOMMY! The first morning she woke up to me, she had the strangest look on her face like, “Would someone fetch me the younger version of this woman?” Don’t get me wrong. She knows her Bibby well but I’m not usually the first face she sees in the morning.

2. Any eavesdropping neighbors overheard Jackson and me on the swingset yesterday having a preschool-level conversation about how his mommy got in my tummy. (No, of course, I did NOT bring up the subject. He did. ) He wanted to know if they tied off her belly button with a stick like Annabeth’s. I assured him they did.

3. Annabeth has missed her mother sorely but her hair has never looked better. I’ve experimented on a few hair products while I’ve been here and in charge (what every grandmother loves on occasion to be). I feel we’ve made great progress.

4. I broke my little toe. I don’t want to talk about it. But I apparently really do not cuss.

5. The LPM staff brought us chicken spaghetti for supper. We’re so excited. They also brought us a Ding Dong cake for dessert. Yep. A cake that looks and tastes like a gigantic Hostess Ding Dong. We are pumped.

6. Mommy is taking Jackson to see his Daddy at the hospital. She’s been here visiting us for the last little while which is the only reason I got to jump on the blog and say hello. SO Bibby’s got to say good-bye for now and get back to her job.

And her great joy.

This is family. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything…unless we could have saved CJ some considerable discomfort.

Oh, one last thing. Jackson just overheard his mom telling a friend that Curtis was getting so much better and, as of today, is feeling like a new person. “What new person, Mommy? What new person is Daddy?” He was very disturbed. When you’re four years-old, you just want your Daddy to be the same old person.

I love and miss you guys so much! I’ll say hi again before I head to Atlanta.

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Good morning, Siestas! How has your week been? Ours has been good. We had our last night of Bible study on Tuesday and it was a strong finish. In fact, I think it may have been my favorite lesson I’ve ever heard my mom teach. At the end there was a very special display of affection for Beth from our attendees and I teared up at least three times thinking about it. Lots of our buddies from LifeWay were visiting from Nashville and we loved having them there.

Afterward we had a little ice cream party for everyone who worked so hard to make Bible study possible this semester. It was catered by Tasti D-lite, which I knew nothing about until this week. I only let myself have two bites because I’ve been on a diet since March. Come to find out, the ice cream was really low in fat and calories and now I’m kicking myself for not eating the whole thing! I’m just going to have to pay their store a visit soon.

All this diet business came about because of some very stubborn baby weight that would not come off – even when I was running several mornings a week! I was determined not to have to change my eating habits, but I finally got desperate. Making these changes has been difficult, but it’s actually been a lot easier than feeling bad about the extra weight. As of yesterday I had lost ten pounds. I really can’t believe I did it, y’all! If anyone else out there is working on something similar, know that you are not alone and that you and the Lord can do it. (I’ve been doing Weight Watchers and have been very pleased with it. For my WW friends, that ice cream was only 2 points!)

We’ve been planning a picture-filled post to recap our trip to the Dallas, but your blog administrator (that’s me) hasn’t yet gotten the hang of posting pictures and text simultaneously. WordPress is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. Thankfully, I have a helper and she is going to give me a tutorial soon.

When I was in school – from about fourth grade until college graduation – I hated math. Most other subjects came pretty easily to me if I studied, but when I looked at fractions or graphs or equations, it was like my eyes bugged out. I would constantly say to my friends, “I’m failing math!” Actually, I usually had a B, but it felt like failure. This is a very unfortunate character trait (flaw) that I have, but I just hate doing anything that I’m not reasonably good at. Since we moved the blog to WordPress, I feel like I’m constantly walking around saying, “I’m failing math! I’m failing math!” It all boils down to pride, pride, pride. When this is all said and done, I pray the fruit will be a more professional blog and a more humble me.

Well, I started this post with the intention of doing a giveaway, but we’ll just wait until next week. My sweet baby is under the weather, so I’m going to go minister the Tylenol and take advantage of her snuggliness. Have a great weekend, Siestas!

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