3am Phone Call

No call at 3am is good. I have never received a call in the middle of the night from a friend or family member telling me they won the lottery. Even friends who give birth at midnight wait till morning to share their news. The best you can hope for is a wrong number. So when our phone rang just before 3am Monday morning, I took a deep breathe and answered.

It was my mom. My brother, his wife, and their three children had been in a serious car accident. The two people in the car that hit them were killed on impact. Miraculously, all five members of my brother's family had survived the crash. My brother and the three kids were okay. My sister-in-law, Margo, had broken her neck and there was a high probability she'd be paralyzed. "Sorry to call in the middle of the night," my mom said, "But Margo needs your prayers and she needs them now."

We got on our knees with incredible gratitude. "Thank you. Thank you for letting them live," was how we began. Then we poured out our hearts in prayer for Margo's recovery. Not knowing who the other two people were, we also prayed for their families to be comforted as they received the news of their loved ones deaths.

There are lots of medical terms, but the basic info is that two of Margo's vertebra dislocated and should have severed her spinal cord in the process - they did not. It was an absolute miracle. But the miracle needed to be undone with another miracle. The surgeon needed to put the vertebra back without causing any nerve damage. The surgeon had never done this before - never. Margo had two options, paralysis or a miracle.

With God's will and the surgeon's hands, her vertebra were put back in place - what are we up to here, three miracles in less than a day?!!?! Once this was done, it was on to neck surgery to fuse her vertebra together in her neck. They removed a piece of bone from her hip for the procedure. The surgery went better than anyone could have hoped for and the following night Margo walked.

We have since learned about the two people who were killed. It was an elderly couple in their seventies - the man never drove at night or on the freeway. But this particular night, he did. He lost control of his car and began to spin. He crossed the median and hit my brother's car head on. My brother said it happened as fast as a fly hitting the windshield.

While Margo has a long therapy road ahead and a giant neck brace to fashion for the next three months, her recovery prognosis is excellent. She's strong, always has been. She married my brother - she has to be tough.

Hero

My Uncle Nick deployed this week to Afganastan for the second time. Uncle Nick is a doctor in the Army and will be fixing up all of the soldiers who get hurt while fighting in the war. I think he is really cool. I got to play with him this past weekend and he let me try on his helmet. The helmet weighs almost as much as I do. I guess I need to do a few more push-ups before I'm ready to enlist.

He'll be gone for six months which I know is tough, especially over the holidays. My three Colorado cousins and my Aunt Elizabeth are really special to share him with the soldiers. Even though he's a San Diego Chargers fan, Uncle Nick is awesome because he makes lots of funny faces and always wants to hang out with me. I'm going to miss him but I'm glad we can Skype and still "see" each other while he's away.

Thanks for being a hero Uncle Nick!

Over the Hills and Through Five States to Grandmothers NEW House We Go!

We headed North this past weekend to visit with my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy's family, but also to check out my Nana and PopPop's new house. They just bought a house two doors down from my Vermont cousins (how lucky are they!??!) and are in the process of moving their stuff up from New York. Good thing the people who live in between them are friendly, because I'm going to be running through their yard!

We watched my cousin Luke play in his first JV soccer game - he was awesome. And when I say "we" I mean that I slept in the warm car next to the field while everyone else stood in the freezing rain and cheered their team to a 2-1 victory. (Can you blame me?) Check out his moves! Oh, I did wake up at the end of the game, just in time to get my mittens on and snap this photo. My cousin Bridget also had a soccer game and she scored a goal - sweet!

We headed home Sunday afternoon for the long drive. I would love to meet the guy who decided it would be fun for people my size to travel "rear facing." Seriously, no matter how interesting my parents try to make it, looking at the back of a seat for ten hours is no Van Gogh. Luckily my parents are cultured and made sure I was able to see the beautiful Fall scenery from fancy places called rest stops.

Lots of Mileage

We started off this week by getting together with the Markey family. Dave's godson Thomas had a soccer game so we headed to Germantown to watch his team destroy the other team - although in 9/10 year-old soccer they're much more polite and never used the word "destroy." Thomas played terrific and Bodie had a blast hanging out with Thomas, Daniela, Brandon, and their friend.

Then we spent the night in Delaware Friday night so we'd be closer to the start of Dave's 100-mile bike ride, the Sea Gull Century in Salisbury, Maryland, Saturday morning. Dave and six other friends (Alan, Tim, Brett, Jeff, Phil, and Gordon) took off Saturday around 7:45am while Bodie and I tried to catch them at a few rest stops. The weather was better than perfect and all seven guys completed the ride. At the end of the ride Dave said he felt like he could have done another 100 miles if his bum wasn't so sore. It's good to know something on his body gets sore after 100 miles!!!

Today we enjoyed a walk around Roosevelt Island. If you live in the DC area, we highly recommend this place. It's just off the George Washington Parkway and once you're on the island you completely forget you're surrounded by the city. Endless greenery, beautiful marshes, cranes, and the beginning of Fall foliage. A perfect end to a fun week.

Fall Rocks!

Last fall I was snuggled up in my mom's belly and had no idea what I was missing - this season is the best! Yesterday, my cousin Giorgio and I had a play date and we went to Cox Farms in Centreville to experience their Fall Festival. We did everything - and I mean everything. There was lots of stuff made just my size, even the pumpkins!

Some stuff wasn't my size but I tackled it anyway - like this slide. If you look closely you can see my dad was having so much fun he almost flipped me upside down, my feet are above my head! There were probably twenty different slides - volcano slides, candyland slides, and a slide down a sea monster's tail!

We got to feed goats from an ice cream cone. Giorgio is taller than me so he could feed the big goats; I stuck with the small ones. We also took the coolest hayride ever. We road through a creek, had an alien jump out at us, and even saw the President - he was just standing in the hayfield waving. Who knew he had so much free time?