[Hi.  If you are reading this in an RSS feed, then you're going to want to click over for the video.  This is the last time I'll make you do this for a while.  Sincerest apologies.]

When Nanny McAnnie took it to the streets… actually, to Monkey Joe’s and Moe’s.  Cause we had what one might call some “pent up energy”.

[If you are reading from an RSS feed, click on over for the video.]

When our collective sanity began to unravel.

[If you are reading from an RSS feed, click on over for the 3rd video in this ridiculous series.]

This baby belongs to our tribe.  Our crew.  Our posse.  He was born this morning to my bfry Molly and her hubs Brandon.  Being that I’m Nanny McAnnie this week, I wasn’t able to go to the hospital for his birth. The third leg of our bfry trifecta, Haley, kept me updated via texting and phone calls pretty much every 10 minutes from 8pm-1:30am when she sent his name.

Webb.  And I love him.

Here’s Haley with Webb.  Molly and I were laughing because we are used to the roles being reversed, it’s always been Haley birthing the baby boy and then the baby girl.  Now she’s in the chair and Molly’s in the bed.  Though there will be no photos of that, so says Mo.

Here’s me explaining a few things to Webb- namely the fact that I’m thrilled he was a “he” (no one knew ahead of time) and I felt the need to go over the whole “just because I’m in Nashville doesn’t mean I won’t send you birthday presents and love you every day” thing.  Cause I will.

And once the girls got home from school, we began what became an eventful evening, topped off with Christmas shaped sugar cookies and a sugar crash that would rival the war scenes in Braveheart.

[If you are reading this on an RSS feed, click over for a little video recap of Day 2 in Nanny McAnnie-ville.]

Nanny McAnnie here, reporting from Atlanta.  Some friends of mine have gone out of the country and I’m watching their kids.  If there is anything that has steadily paid the bills throughout the last 15 years of my life, it has been ye old babysitting.  So that part is awesome.  Not to mention that I think these kids are pretty funny and I like any excuse to be in ATL.

And since the parents are, you know, on the other side of the world, we’ll be posting a video each day and a little update.

[For those reading on an RSS feed, click on over- there's a cute little video right here.]

Today went great- ice cream, trip to Target, lots of laughs.  Only one small injury involving the drain in the bathtub and the big sister’s butt cheek/upper leg.  She cried a few tears so I called upon a classic injury joke of mine- “I guess I’m going to have to cut your leg off”.  She laughed and got over it.

Both are asleep now, the little one snoring her heart out, and I’m watching football, blogging, and then hittin’ my 1000 words for the day.

And my bfry Molly [she's the one who likes apple pies so much] is in the hospital having her baby!  Can’t wait to show you pictures of the little joker.

When I used to teach school, I made kids write the truth as their punishment often.  For example, when I busted Meg for lying, I had her write-

“I am an honest person and I will act like it.”

TWO HUNDRED TIMES.  Tough, I know.  But I promise, it only took her one day to get it done.  It goes faster when you write “I I I I I I” all the way down the page and then “am am am am am am”, etc.  The little jokers figure THAT out pretty early on in the punishment process.

None the less, I always made the kids do things like that because I believe in the power of life-giving words.

I believe that if you tell someone enough that they are honest, they will start acting like it.  I believe that if you speak into someone’s worth enough, they start to feel worthy.  I believe that if you see a trait in someone and call attention to it, it grows like a weed.  A beautiful weed with a flower on top.

Unfortunately, I also believe that if you say someone is weak over and over, they start to lose strength.  If you call someone ugly enough times, they quit looking in a mirror.  And if you find a weakness and poke at it, it becomes irritated and red and puffy and is now on display for all to see.  And it hurts.

I talk a lot.  I share my feelings pretty openly and sometimes am borderline “too much”.   It’s okay.  I’ve grown up with me, I know.  But it’s kinda one of my passions- I don’t want anyone around me questioning my heart for them or not hearing truth in love from me.  I think if I was to take the 5 Love Languages test, words of affirmation would EASILY be numero uno.

[I want to make a "physical touch" joke here, but I think it would kill the serious vibe.  You might lose your focus.  But... it would have been a doozie.  And you would have laughed.]

So saying words of affirmation to people comes natural to me.  [And sometimes it may make other people feel weird, I don't know.]  It doesn’t have to be your primary love language.  I have friends that love me well and don’t say it every day.  And that is fine.  But no matter your natural inclination, I think we are all called, in moments, to be the one who says, “Yes that IS who you are” and “You are SO much better than that” and “You are loved” or “because the Bible says you are worthy, YOU ARE WORTHY.”

I’ve been on the giving and receiving end this week.  Words like these spoken to me, “that is NOT true about you, HERE is the truth….” radiated deep into my soul and placed salve over a seriously exposed heart wound.  And I was reminded again to take EVERY chance I get to speak life and speak truth. To take God’s words and put them in the ears of someone else. Deposit good words into the heart accounts of those I love.

We live in a society permeated with lies and liars.  Those of us willing to speak love need to stand on the mountain tops and use a megaphone. Or sit across a table and speak truth until it is almost uncomfortable.  Or send an email or make a phone call.

You are God’s mouthpiece to the people around you.

Say something.

Saw this on facebook this morning:

Excuse me, did you say 120,568 words?!?!

That is one bad mamma-jamma.

I love seeing stuff like this on twitter or facebook.  Makes me want to type until my fingers are bruised.

I can’t decide if I’m more jealous of AP or more excited to read his new book.

I think both.

If you’ve never seen Arrested Development, let me encourage you to go to hulu.com and indulge.   For now, the Bluth family chickens.  Enjoy.  You earned it after surviving yesterday’s ridiculously long post and a series of less than hilarious writings from your blogista here.

Y’all.  Frothy Monkey is my local coffee shop.  Come on!  Remember?  It was in a Nash-video.

Anyways, here’s the best thing about this time of year, or so I’m told.  All the dudes and Lady Antebellums that go out on tours for the other eleven or so months of the year are home.  So that means all the road widows have their husbands here and all the single ladies get to start working it.

[Did I just say that out loud?  I didn't mean it.]

But I have had a week where we took quite a few pictures and I think it is time you met some of the friends that God has handed me.  These are in no particular order and I am not in love with any of the boys mentioned or in the pictures.

[I just find that important to go ahead and put that out there for you to prevent having to deal with any awkward comments.]

Here’s Hollie.  She is really good friends with the girl who owns our house, so I felt it was appropriate to force her to be my friend as well.  Hollie is super wise and yet ridiculously fun at the same time.  Riddle me that combo.  She challenges me to be the Annie I know in my head and she can hear the Lord, which I always appreciate.  I plan to force this friendship for the rest of my days.  Cause life is better with her in it.  I absolutely love her.  [And in the background is Sean who, though I barely know him, I've decided he is going to have to be my friend as well because y'all.  He is funny.]

Here’s Jason.  You may remember him from a little airport incident.  We have mutual friends in ATL, so he was one of my only friends here for my first few weeks.  I kinda want to cry telling you about Jason- he’s been that much of an answer to prayer.  [But I'm in public, so I'm holding it together.]  He’s the kindest.  He’s the most giving.  He has put up with A LOT from me, including pitiful emails begging for friendship and tears during a football game because I got my feelings hurt.  You heard right, DURING A FOOTBALL GAME.  God bless him. And he thinks I’m funny (I think).  If there is one dude that I want God to pour out every good and perfect gift on, it’s Jason.  He has a whole crowd that I heart- Keith, Shack [oh yeah, you know Shack], Bethany, Christina, Wendy, Alexis, Emily, etc.

You’ve met these girls.  Marisa and Betsy.  Probably my Nash-Bfries, along with Annie Parsons, of course.  But I just feel like I fit with them, know what I mean?  Our personalities work well together and they let me be me. My friendship with these girls is steady, constant.  One of those that is day-in day-out goodness.  Almost as soon as I got here, they both grabbed hold of me and for some crazy reason, they won’t let go.  [Probably cause I've got a death grip on them too.]  Betsy’s roomie Jan is one of my favs as well.

And Annies.  Well, they just make the world go around.  You know Annie Parsons, she’s the bomb.  But I have myself a new and wonderful Annie.  This one.  She’s married to this guy. [And he said I should blog and tell you that we are friends.  You don't have to believe me, but it's true.]  She is kind and quiet in spirit- two qualities that I want to learn from her. And how to curl my hair- she’s really good at doing hair. I have only hung out with her a couple of times, but she reminds me of the verse about being the aroma of Christ.  When I talk with her and Dave, something in my spirit says YES and it makes me want to spill all my secrets and cry on their couch.  [Jason probably wishes I would.  And I may.]

Brooke, on the left, is someone that I relate to really easily, especially when it comes to God stuff.  Her and her husband Justin [that's fun to write, they just got married on Friday] have been my lifeboat more than once.  They are the kind of people that I can sit at a meal with and laugh and cry and get mad and agree and disagree and then plan when to hang out next.  I will hold on to them for a long time.  Because I want my kids to know them.

Meredith, on the far right, loves so well.  She is a pursuer in friendships and that is what I needed desperately when I got here.  This fall hasn’t been especially easy for her either, but she was concerned with my heart and my needs so much of the time.  I’m super grateful for her.

This is Katie.  She’s a nurse.  She is a connector, an includer.  When I had no people, she gave me her people.  [If you look at the December picture from this post, you'll see Katie's people.  I heart these girls mucho.]  She’s sweet and loving and funny and outgoing.  We moved here about the same time and have both kinda completely fallen in love with our worlds here. And when I cry during worship at church, I can always bet that Katie’s sweet spirit has been moved like mine.  So I don’t feel so crazy. She lets people in and it makes them love her.  [Her brother has become a fun friend as well, but you don't have to believe that either.]

Then there is book club, my freelance BFFs Skip and Dave, the Pennsylvania boys, my accountability group [which seriously, I can't even discuss because I will, as BigMama says, UGLY CRY, right here in Frothy Monkey- it is that sweet for my heart].  I just don’t have pictures of them.  And there are others… please don’t be offended if I missed you, Nash-friend.  I was just using my December/January pictures.

This may be the longest blog I’ve written in a while.  If you made it this far, congrats.  You’ve read 1000 words.  Sheesh… too bad I still have 1000 more to go today. But I owe you a week worth of posts AND sometimes I treat my blog like a journal.  And writing of God’s faithfulness and His goodness towards me is a good reminder in the future.  Compare today to this blog post 5 months ago.  Same God.  Different girl.

Do I still love my bfries in Marietta?  ABSOLUTELY.  But God has handed me a world here.  I’m listening to Bebo Norman right now, and he just sang “Mercy, weep over me…. Majesty, be merciful with me for my eyes have seen Holy.”

And now I’m crying in public.

I am actually still alive.

Here’s the thing:

I have 106 emails in my inbox.

I have 10 voicemails on my phone.

I have 1000 words to write today.

I have not had near enough sleep.

I have a lunch meeting.

Then I’m headed to Frothy Monkey where, dear blog reader, I am all your’s.

So rest assured that I’m here, just catching up on emails and voicemails and friendships.

Then I’m going to show you lots of pictures from this week.  That’ll make up for an accidental week long blog-cation, right?  Right?

Sorry bout that.  Hope your 09 has ruled so far.