You ever have a day in your life when you're just going along minding your own business and then...WHAM...out of the blue you get just knocked off your feet by something? Almost like you're playing baseball, sitting in the dugout waiting for your turn at bat and suddenly the pitcher zings the ball right at you where you're not paying the slightest bit of attention and you just get nailed! Cause it's not your TURN! You're not at the plate! You're not READY!

Well. I had one of those days yesterday. A couple of things happened yesterday, actually. I'll start with the positive stuff: Kyle and I celebrated our 9th anniversary! And folks, it was a great day because of that alone, in spite of the other stuff which I'll tell you about in a minute. I seriously love me some Kyle and would not do a single thing over any other way. As I wrote in his card, (Kyle, hope it's ok that I share this), "If I were standing at the end of the aisle about to walk down it, knowing all that I do today, I would not walk slowly down the aisle to him. I would kick off my high heels and SPRINT down that aisle into his arms." Marriage to Kyle has been far better than I even anticipated, and I had pretty high expectations. He is the most amazing man, husband, father, friend, you name it, that there is. If I'm talking in baseball metaphors, I hit this one out of the park.

Ok, so that was the good part. The not so good part. Ahem. You know how cars have to have periodic maintenance and how it's never cheap on a good day. Well, for awhile now, my Audi has been reminding me that it's due a service visit. And I knew it would be one of those costly visits, cause nothing with cars is EVER cheap. And I also had this little tickling feeling in my gut that I just needed to get the car in...like something hidden might be going on. The car was driving fine, no obvious problems or issues...but I just had this feeling. I didn't even mention it to Kyle. I hoped I was misreading my internal cues. Well, Kyle calls me yesterday with the report from the mechanic.

Fortunately, I was sitting down when he called. My precious little car had been hiding under its hood problems that would result in about $4,500 of repairs. Oh yeah. Something leaking that means my car is a ticking time bomb for an engine head to crack...plus standard timing belt replacement...plus some other stuff. Now, you just don't plop down that much on a car for repairs. And in fact, our mechanic gave Kyle explicit instructions to NOT DRIVE THE CAR A DAY LONGER. Sell it immediately, he said. Not to some unsuspecting person...please, people, we would never do that! He said sell it to a dealer or use it to trade in for another car, because a dealer can fix the stuff for much cheaper.

The thing is, we knew we'd be looking at buying another car soon. Realistically, 2 new cars, just not yet. We had hoped to wait a little bit longer, save a little more money...God just dramatically scooched up the timetable on us. It's looking like NOW!

As unpleasant as the news was about my car, again, I think God really prepared me for it. I had a suspicion founded on nothing other than...God's nudging, I guess. I'm sad, though, because I love my car! It's my zippy little baby! And there are no cars out there that excite me or that I really want to buy. Plus, there's that painful element of just parting with that much money.

And we had not planned to purchase from a dealer. I love shopping online using the vast marketplace of the internet. In fact, we bought the Audi online from a guy in NYC. That sort of shopping experience doesn't look like it's gonna work right now. We need to find something quick. So it's probably some sort of car for Kyle at this point.

I spent a good 45 minutes yesterday just pouring out my heart to God, asking for guidance and direction. And I happen to be studying the life of Abram and am seeing daily how faithful God is in the little and in the big. So I sit here tonite not real thrilled about the thought of having to car shop, but also curious as to how God will reveal Himself to me through this. He already has just by protecting me through the subtle urging to get the car in asap. So I know he has our future car waiting in the wings just awaiting its cue to come on stage.

I'll keep you posted. And I would greatly appreciate your prayers as we pick ourselves up from the dirt and wait for the next pitch.

Names, names, everywhere names. Never thought I'd be Little Miss Monogramming, but I have learned that when it comes to making it home with YOUR stuff, you gotta do what you gotta do. And I have made friends with a lovely lady named Judy who runs AJ Monogramming and whose shop is within walking distance of my house! Actually, my mom made friends first and introduced us. Thanks, Mom!

Judy turned my little $6 Wal-Mart lunch bags (found after weeks of searching online and finding awhole lot of nada) into personalized favorites. PLUS, they clip onto the backpacks which have become a major necessity in our house!

(If you can't see the names on the lunch sacks, click on the picture and it will expand for you).

Tonite my family celebrated a birthday dinner for Zach at the Butcher Shop - a long-standing favorite of my family. We were seated at our usual really long table and once our orders were placed, commenced our usual chatter and buzz. There is never a shortage of things to discuss, particularly with Anna's baby due in about 4 weeks and Lauren & Josh's little Sawyer to pass around. Plus, Michael has now flown the nest and has a house with another guy, is working as a teacher and we never see him anymore. So it's voices streaming in and under and around and over, all while I play Mommy, trying to make sure my kids are happy and eating something, but not stuffing their faces with JUST bread. And mostly trying to make sure August doesn't actually manage to reach my plate, grab my steak and shove it in his mouth! He's wily like that.

Sometime during the evening, Brooklyn found a friend. She always does. In fact, it's rare to leave anyplace without having made at least a new acquaintance. And that's true for me as well as her! Next thing I know, Brooklyn and her new little friend, a girl named Marina, are sharing a booth and just chattering away like little birds. They're squealing and huddling shoulders together and grinning and giggling...like they've known each other for years. Turns out, they are only a few days apart in age. Turns out Marina has a little brother who's a few months older than August. Turns out her mom and I hit it off, too! Turns out she's Brazilian and her mom had joined her and her husband for dinner that evening. Turns out my brother, Michael, is pretty fluent in Portuguese as well as Spanish and was able to brighten their WHOLE day by conversing with them in their native language! According to MY new friend, Izabela, Michael's pretty darn amazing at Portuguese!

As our parties broke up, my family trickled away to my parent's house to have birthday cake while Kyle and I (plus our kids) and Michael lingered in the parking lot making friends. Michael was learning new Portuguese words, Izabela and I were scrabbling for pens to take down each other's names, numbers and email addresses, and Brooklyn and Marina were twirling. August was trying desperately to keep up with his big sister.

What I found interesting was Izabela's comment that our family - the whole shebang, not just me, Kyle and tots - was more like a Brazilian family than an American family. She commented on the boisterousness, liveliness, love between family members and relaxed attitude towards children. And my extremely social children. She has no idea. :) She said she finds it very unusual to find a family as open, easy-going and willing to interact with whomever's around - apparently that's very Brazilian. Hm, for those who have wondered what's wrong with my family, maybe we're displaced! Maybe we're more Brazilian than we knew! I'm ok with that. I wouldn't want it ANY other way.

For one thing, it expands the boundaries of my world and scoops up anyone standing on the edges and draws them in. I love that. And I find very few people object to being loved and included as part of a gigantic family.

So, to my new friend, Izabela, thank you!

One interesting thing about parenting is that new things crop up every now and then that stump you. Such as this: on the days when Brooklyn does not actually sleep during her afternoon nap, she goes down beautifully at bedtime. She falls asleep in no time - with no begging for me or Kyle to come sleep in her bed with her. However. Without fail, on those days, she wakes up with nightmares. Why is that?

I've noticed a distinct pattern in regards to this. And her nightmares are not preceded by watching any new movies, anything scary...just an afternoon naptime where no nap actually happens. I wonder if she gets TOO sleepy and drops into deep sleep TOO quickly and this somehow results in a troubled sleep? I have no idea, really. Just that it is most definitely a conundrum.

Last night, this happened again. And to add to the weirdness, she was sleeping so deeply that she wet the bed. This was early early in the morning after she'd crawled in our bed (unbeknownst to us). She's been sleeping in her "big girl" panties at night for over a month with NO accidents. I heard her sort of crying and moaning and next thing I know, Kyle was jolted from HIS deep sleep by the feeling of a creeping wet warmth on the sheets. He yelped and leapt from the bed! I groggily rolled over and said, huh?? By this time, he was hauling Brooklyn to her room for clean clothes. I really think that in her deep sleep, she just couldn't crawl out of it to tell us she had to pee!

So then this morning. She wakes up....odd. Oddly quiet. Oddly somber. Oddly still. And as I am making french toast in the kitchen, she drapes herself belly-down over a kitchen chair and just hangs there, hair dragging the floor, for about 15 minutes. She slowly and quietly eats her breakfast, claiming she feels fine. I knew something was wrong, but just could not figure out what!

The storm broke while I was on the phone with Kyle. Standing at the sink washing dishes with the phone to my ear, I'm listening to Kyle when I hear this frantic scream, "MOMMY!!!!!" I skid across our tile floor in my socks and see Brooklyn's terrified face looking at me as her hand grabs her little bum. AA! The lightbulb goes off - her stomach IS bothering her! I hang up on Kyle and with lightning speed, whisk B to the bathroom, strip off her clothes (too late...) and plop her on the pot. Within a few minutes, my old Brooklyn is BACK! All it took was a little "explosion." Sigh...

I learned a very valuable lesson. When in doubt, when my child is unnaturally quiet, make her sit on the pot for a while. The problem may resolve itself without requiring a separate load of laundry.

Have not had much time to share life's little stories as of late. Time slips away with the little things of the day: waking up, breakfast, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, calling Terminix about more bugs, doing my Bible study and have a quiet time, putting the kids down for naps, holding and loving my kiddos, making lunch, making dinner, cleaning more house, working out, making and crossing off to-do lists....it's never ending.

But I did have a blessed interlude to my regularly scheduled day: Kyle and I went to see Mamma Mia! last week! It was in celebration of my birthday (in August), and I had SO much fun. It was all I could do not to hop out into the aisle and sing and dance right along with the people on stage! I swear, in another life I would have been a Broadway performer. Note I did not say "star". I have no real talent...but just to PERFORM would be super fun!

Brooklyn found it incredibly confusing that Mommy went to see a play called Mamma Mia. She knows and loves the movie, so to her, I went somewhere and "played" with Mamma Mia people. It was hard to clear that up.

If you could hear the happy squeals outside my window where Kyle is washing the cars with Brooklyn and August, you'd never know the kids had been sick. Supposedly, they're still contagious for another 5 days, so we're still pretty much stuck here. But we're making good use of our time - washing cars, reading books, playing, cleaning up our yard...

Yesterday, they both were completely fever-free and acted just about completely normal. Aside from them both throwing fits when it's time to take their medicine, life is without complaint.

Day 2 of being sick has passed without much drama. It has been a remarkably cool, fall-ish feeling day outside and it's now softly raining - enhancing the sleepiness which has settled over my household.

August is still running his fever, but it's held in check with Motrin. Brooklyn's fever has yet to get as high as August's, so I'm hoping the Tamaflu is influencing that in a positive way. August has been sleeping now for HOURS, which has allowed me to sit with him on my bed and balance my checkbook, do 3 days worth of Bible study, write in my prayer journal, pay some bills and pray. What a restful way to spend an afternoon.

Currently, he's STILL sleeping and Brooklyn just woke up and is watching the all-time best "sick" movie - Anne of Green Gables. I don't mean the movie is "sick", but that it's the best movie to watch when you yourself are sick. It's what I always crave when feeling under the weather, and just now, B requested it, so I complied.

Thanks for everyone's calls, emails and general demonstrations of caring. I am blessed to have you in my life.

Swine flu has found our household. August started running a fever yesterday afternoon and this morning, it was over 103 and climbing. Eek! He was also snotting gunk like crazy and puked all over his Daddy during lunch. And not because he was choking on a piece of fruit, as is usually the case. My remarkably happy little guy managed to keep on smiling despite the heat radiating off his body - and we looked like white trash as I hauled my baby clad only in a diaper to the clinic. But I didn't care at all. I didn't want him getting ANY hotter than he had to be.

The verdict from our doc was that both my kids have the swine flu. Brooklyn started running a fever of almost 102 right after getting home from Bible study, she's also very snotty and coughing. So, after spending $100 on Tamaflu, I'm hoping the dern stuff works and they're back to normal within a few days. Unfortunately, the doctor said they're contagious for 10 days. So, we'll be a little home-bound. Sigh.

But, it's ok. It could always be worse.

In a world where masculinity is threatened and you genuinely desire for your kids to be what they were designed to be, certain discussions may arise. For mothers of boys, you wonder...is it a problem that my boy loves to dress up with his big sister? Or is acting really tearful and whiney? Or totters around in my heels when his big sister does? Or perhaps wears a brink pink tutu as a cape and REFUSES to take it off?
Do those things mean there is something wrong my boy? Is he...not manly enough? I think the answer is a RESOUNDING NO. Nothing is wrong. For starters, boys with big sisters will want to do whatever it is that their big sister thinks is cool - even if that includes wearing mom's shoes and playing dress up. Or playing dollhouse, even. Because believe me, even when August plays dollhouse with Brooklyn, his version is much rougher (and louder) than hers. She play-talks with her people - he tries to cram them down the stairs and bangs them on the floor.
Should we not kiss them when they fall and soothe away their tears? Are we creating babies by treating them as such? I think the answer is that there is a balance. I also think this is not limited to dealing with boys. The same thing applies to girls. If you make a big deal out of a boo-boo, so will they. If you treat it lightly and make sure they're not gushing blood, kiss the boo-boo, pat the bum and send them on their way - they'll get the idea that they're ok and you still love them! Like I said, it's a balance.

I also think we're unwise to discourage any sensitivity in our boys. We should still hug them and love them and let them know they're loved - without hopefully fostering whineyness. But I happen to be married to man who is all man but is also incredibly sensitive. He's an ARTIST - he doesn't hunt or drool over guns and ammo, he likes a good football game and is a gifted athlete, but it doesn't consume him and I love him for that. I know he's exactly as God made him - a man with a sensitive nature. And I wouldn't change a thing!

So, mommas, even when your little men run around like this - don't be alarmed. They're gonna turn out all right.

Just finished reading the Great Bridge this afternoon - the book by David McCullough about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC. Let me tell you, if you have any interest in reading about historical things, the place to start is with anything written by David McCullough. I have probably said this before, but the man has an incredible gift for making history come to life! I LOVE his books! So far, I've read John Adams, Truman and now, the Great Bridge. He's written others and I intend to gobble them up. His books are not short, but they are well worth the commitment of time and energy. You learn SO much and feel truly connected to times and places that would otherwise seem completely abstract.
The Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River from Brooklyn to New York and was constructed in a time when Brooklyn was its own city looking across the East River to big, bad New York. The days of Tammany Hall...Boss Tweed...pre-electricity...pre-telephone...Construction officially began in 1870 and 13 years later on Maybe 24, 1883, the Bridge opened. And in between...well, it's some fascinating stuff.
The Bridge was the brainchild of John A. Roebling, a German immigrant who gives new meaning to the words "internally motivated."The man was an engineering genius whose bridges ushered in a new era of engineering and aesthetic marvels. The oldest suspension bridge in America, in Port Jervis, NY, was built by him.

He actually died from complications of an injury sustained while preparing for construction on the bridge. Fortunately, his son, Washington Roebling was also an engineer and had been groomed by his father for just such this occasion. Upon his father's death, Washington stepped in as Chief Engineer and accomplished a task that absolutely boggled my mind as I read about it. I had NO idea what was involved in building a suspension bridge, much less one of the size, spanse and caliber of the Brooklyn Bridge. Seriously, read the book. You, too, will marvel!

I could go on and on in my enthusiasm and delight for all the things I learned, but I'll leave some mystery for you to uncover on your own! Now, in regards to the title of this post - Strange Coincidence - you may be wondering to what I refer.

Here it is: with virtually no prior knowledge of the Brooklyn Bridge (other than having been to NY and seen it) and absolutely no prior knowledge of its creator/engineer, a strange thing happened. First of all, we named our daughter Brooklyn. And yes, it is largely because of the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, NY, etc. Secondly, my son's name is August. A name chosen for its meaning, its uniqueness, its rarity and because we loved it. Turns out, the middle name of the Brooklyn Bridge's creator and original Chief Engineer, Mr. John A. Roebling is...you guessed it...Augustus.

What a crazy coincidence! What are the odds that both of my children's names would be linked in such a way - in a way completely unrelated to their parentage and last name! Maybe it was just meant to be...