It's all about family

I have a great family. I'm crazy about them. Our family is the type of family that everyone loves to be around. We have so much fun together, it's hard to believe we're related! We even like eachother (well, most of the time)! My own sister is my best friend and my brother still looks after me and promises he'll kick the butt of any man who hurts me!

In our family, when someone has news of any kind, it's big news! So beware. If you tell anyone in our family anything that's anything, you can bet we're on a mission. We are so competitive that we want to be the first one to tell the other one the news. We'll be on the phone within minutes.

A week ago, I made my daily call (ok third of the day) to my sister Brenda, who had some big news of her own. As I was rambling on and on about my day (as usual), my brother in law, Bob took the phone from my sister's hand. He said "blah blah blah" nobody here cares about your day!" I said, "Shut up and put my sister back on the phone! I don't want to talk to you!" (This is what we do, Bob and I. Hey, it works for us! Has for over 16 years!) Anyway, he went on to say, "I have some BIG news, do you want to hear it or not?" I said, "Whatever, Bob, put Brenda back on the phone". He said, "I told you I have BIG news. Do you want to hear it or not?!" I said, "Sure, Bob, I'll bite. What's the big news?" He then informed me that "somebody's pregnant". I said "WHAT did you say?!" "somebody's pregnant." "Who?" I asked. He said, "Well, it's not me!"
After screaming into the phone for 2 minutes, I demanded to talk to my sister. We both screamed together and I had to ask her again if this was true. She confirmed it. She was pregnant. A pleasant surprise.

Now, when you tell a Robinson news like that, you'd better not expect said Robinson to keep their mouth shut! Brenda went on to ask me (plead with me) to keep this news to myself (torture) and give her a week til after her doctor's appointment. I told her I would. I really did mean it. I had good intentions. She had this whole elaborate plan to write a blog and reveal her news there first. I supported her decision. For a good 7 hours anyway.

Then I found out that my mom and my brother knew before I did. I could live with that. But when I found out that her girlfriends, MaryAnne and Gayle, knew before me, I couldn't dial the phone fast enough!

I called Teryn and had her put Chad on the phone with her. I told them the news and in typical Robinson form, Teryn screamed! She was so happy. Then I called Tawni. Thad was busy, so I had to give her the news alone. Same reaction. Screams.

It's now been a week since our news and if you've read my sister's blog, you know that our good news has turned sad. My beautiful, courageous sister suffered a miscarriage over the weekend. When she called to tell me, we talked calmly about the goodness of God and how He sustains us through all things.

Brenda's handling her situation with bravery and her head held high. It wasn't anything she did or didn't do to cause what happened. These things just happen sometimes. We may never understand why. We just have to trust that they happen for a reason.

I thought about whether or not to include the joy we felt as a family when we found out about Brenda's pregnancy and just write about the sadness we may feel now, but I decided against it. We were excited about this pregnancy. And even if it was for a short time, Brenda and Bob's baby meant something to us.

And I refuse to take any dignity away from my little niece or nephew who now resides in Heaven by diminishing the fact that we were happy about him or her, even if it was for a short time.