Not much has ruled in 07 like BATL. Mom and I are still here- I refuse to end BATL.

Last night was hard core- we ate at the Dillard House. KTB didn’t even know what was coming. She was overwhelmed. We couldn’t take one picture, we were too focused on the meal at hand. The amount of meat? You wouldn’t believe. Fried chicken. Grilled chicken. Country ham. Pork. It was unreal. We took one picture afterwards, but there is nothing flattering about a post-DH photo, so it will remain locked securely in iPhoto.

This morning, against ALL of our better judgements, we went after the DH leftovers. KTB was feeling so brave that she went after the dressing without even heating it up. Oh, you don’t believe me? Fine.Booyah. Get on it, B. Nice job. More proof that we defeated the Dillard? Ok, got it.Caroline went totally King Arthur on some fried chicken. She was doing the classic “one bite chicken-one bite ham” combo. Genius. Marie, though she had experienced the joy of Dillard before, somehow the leftovers made a serious impact on her life. See for yourself.I know. It’s shocking. But good leftovers can do that to you. I’m pretty sure she had just eaten a yeast roll and some country ham. Folks, don’t even be surprised. This is what happens.

And THIS is what happens to a Gabriel’s red velvet cake on BATL. If cutting a cake like this is wrong, I don’t want to be right.This trip has been fun. Real fun. And as Marie mentioned in her blog, a quote from Caroline, we have some serious “generational bud-ness” going on. Age apparently doesn’t really matter to us- we just hang and laugh. And we do it well. And I guess we aren’t really gender-biased either, being that we did have a Prince of BATL. All jokes aside, I recognize I’m very blessed- in friends and family. BATL reminded me of that. I seriously love these people.

My plan now? Well, I’m gonna watch “Stranger Than Fiction” and probably have some sort of weird thought/revelation that you are going to have to read about tomorrow. Movies tend to do that to me. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

It’s 1:06pm. Most of us are still in our pajamas, though some have abandoned the pjs and put on regular clothes in order to leave. Jarrett, Haley, and Molly will be leaving us now…. their BATL was short, but lovely.

Here’s some photos of our good times this morning.

Molly is pondering a recipe. KTB does not love that I’m photoing this early in the morning. But she looks so good, who even cares.

Haley is playing one of Jarrett’s favorite games- “SO BIG!”. He’s cracking up.
Molly’s tired. Or dead. I’m going to go with “tired” since she’s eating pimento cheese and chicken salad for lunch. And this picture was taken before lunch.
Haley is good at making Jarrett laugh. She’s also good at making me and Molly laugh.
Please bow in the presence of the Prince of BATL.
Or don’t…. he’s sleeping now. He won’t even notice if you don’t bow.
This is what we do at BATL.
He’s the cutest man in the world. I mean it. Every time he does something, we all grab our cameras and shoot the mess out of the moment.That’s all for now. We’re going down to the lake. It’s gonna be so good. Peace out.

Here’s something you need to know. It’s spring break. And we are at BATL- Break At The Lake. You may wonder why the comments on my blog are less. That’s mainly due to the fact that those that comment the most are sitting in the living room with me.

The BATLers? Pam, Annie, Molly, Caroline, Katie B, Marie Claire, Haley, and Jarrett. It’s a good, solid crowd of people who love each other and don’t even care what we do. It’s BATL.

Let me give you a glimpse into what is happening right now. Caroline is loving Jarrett (the J man, as you probably know him) so much that he is giggling. I think the bubbles at his mouth are joy bubbles from being over loved. We call him “The Prince of BATL”.

Mama is eating chicken salad. It’s so good. It’s not even right.

Haley is chillin’ after a long morning at the dock with Jarrett and his cabana. What? A baby doesn’t deserve his own cabana? Who are you, even, to think like that? Of course he needs it. And he looks good in it. I’ll post a picture as soon as we figure out wireless at the lakehouse.

Molly, well she’s reading my blog over my shoulder. It’s sweet, I guess, to have a friend so near and dear, but I can also smell the pimento cheese and olive oil/black pepper triscuits on her breath, and it’s kinda making me queasy.

KTB and Marie, I’m afraid to say they have already busted out the guitar hero. And that is where I’m headed now. I love that game. Mostly because I rule at it. Oh…. Marie says it’s not working….. probably better. I hate ruling.

And thank you, Mac, that my mom won’t listen to any other CD on the house system except “Glory Revealed”. I was taking a good solid nap until the volume got away from her and “By His Wounds” blasted through the home. I love the CD….. as you know….. but I also love taking naps on BATL.

We do what we want on BATL. Slice the red velvet cake weirdly so we get more icing. Read magazines for 2 hours. Sleep until 10am. Watch Anchorman. Watch Lady In The Water. Laugh with Jarrett. Quote Dave Barnes. We don’t even care.

Pictures coming soon.

Just remember…. we do what we want. It’s BATL.

I was laying in my bed yesterday, windows open, hair still wet from a shower (after I worked in the yard and cleaned out my car, thank you very much), listening to Phil Wickham.

As I listened to a song called “Yours Alone”, I started thinking through the last six months or so and what the Lord and I have walked through together. (You know my temptation right now it to put the lyrics on here, but I’m not giving in……yet.)

And the moment was like this- God started revealing glimpses of situations where He has shown His profound favor towards me. I was so covered in sorrow and hurt at the time He was doing it, that I can honestly say had He shown me that in the fall/winter, I wouldn’t have been NEARLY as amazed as I was yesterday.

For example, when we had the alarm system put in, the guy put it in the kitchen by the garage. It was a dumb location at the time because no one parks in the garage, so we had to set the alarm, hustle through the kitchen, dining room, and living room, and make it out the front door in 60 seconds. Now, if you’ve been to my small house, you know that’s not a problem. But compared to putting it by the front door (which made more sense to me), it was a lot more difficult.

Let me high speed you up to date- my roommates move out today and a friend of mine GAVE me a garage door opener and is installing it for me. So soon, I will be entering and leaving through the garage. Which would stink if the alarm key pad was by the front door instead of the garage door.

Do you see Him in that? Isn’t it wild? Such a little detail, but such a “Here I am” for me from Him. And that is just one example of what was brought back to my memory yesterday. It was beautiful and so sweet of the Lord. Because I’m about to enter a season of living alone and handling those finances alone (as well as other new situations), it was a deep heart reminder that He is full of LOVE for me and that He is going to take care of me. My life looks like it does today because of Him, so I trust that He is going to be in control of the details. I just get to live it without worry.

He pruned me, like the vine in John 15, that’s for sure. To be real honest, it was the most severe pruning of my life. Everything, literally, was cut back, until nothing remained except this. Which ended up, as you know, being VERY good for me. Why should I be surprised about that? And as I sat there yesterday, walking down the path of His favor, this idea came to mind-

“The pruning is done. Now it is time to bloom.”

And I believe it. I can feel it on the inside. I can see little buds of hope and future on the outside. No, I don’t know what this season is going to look like, I have no idea the fruit that is going to come from this, but I KNOW that He’s doing it. And it was all worth it. IT WAS ALL WORTH IT. I promise. Because of how I know Him now. Because of the depth of His LOVE that I could not have known outside the walls of the pain. If not a one thing comes from this pruning, if the blessing/blooming is more of Him, IT WAS ALL WORTH IT.

A sweet friend of mine that I teach with stopped me in the hall the other day and said, “Annie, you just look like you are glowing recently.” I wanted to laugh because I know it is the peace and LOVE of Him in me. It’s the blooming. All the junk, all my “hard work” and worry and toiling were covering the peace of Him in my heart AND in my face. IT WAS ALL WORTH IT.

Here’s why I’m telling you all of this- because I want my life to be a love song to Him (thank you, Jason Morant, for such a brilliant lyric). So my true hope is that while you read this little blog, what you really hear is me singing my LOVE to Him at the top of my lungs. And I hope you see Him, how good He is, how REAL He is, and how much He LOVES. You.