happy

My little brother is here.  It makes my heart happy.  My daughters adore him.  He didn't even know he was coming until a few days ago when he found a great deal on a flight. (See what I mean about God always taking care of us when we need it most?) But something that makes me so genuinely happy about his being here is not the giggles I hear from my oldest, or the bashful, verging-on-having-a-1.year.old-crush smiles my youngest gives him. It's not the beautiful music he fills our house with (he's great on the guitar and the piano!).  It's not even his thoughtfulness at making the kids' lunch without me asking.

It's that my husband is so blessed to have him here.  Lyme affects all members of the family.  The youngest are young enough that they'll probably forget most of how ill I was at this time in their lives, but for Matt, it's acute and painful.  He helplessly watches me be in pain, feeling crummy, watching me tremor and seize sometimes.  He cares for our family - working a job that pays for our life, then coming home and being Mr. Mom, and being a "nurse"....all in one day.  He's stretched thin and he's been needing some encouragement just as I have.

When he heard that my brother was coming his face lit up.  It made my heart smile.  They stayed up late watching a soccer game last night, and they are planning a half-day outing to a world famous waterpark that we live fairly close to, and lots of Wii will be played.

It's not that I don't count his trip here an encouragement to me also - I mean, he is such a blessing to be around.  He's wise and godly; he's also the funniest guy I know with well-placed wit and an infectious laugh.  Just the other night we weren't going to be able to see fireworks where we lived on the 4th of July so he set up his laptop and found a website where you can "click" to make fireworks appear on the screen.  He dubbed traditional "fireworks" music to it and everything.

So anyway -- I'm so happy he's here and glad he can encourage all of us, but most of all, I'm so happy my husband gets a little boost of morale in the midst of this dark disease.