Dave and I haven't laughed this hard...

...in quite a while. It actually is quite funny. We have been following this story of my friend, Nikki, for a while now as she emails me often with updates.

Now a year ago I would have put "I use the term loosely" after I said she is my friend. But no longer. Yes, I met her online and have not actually "met" her in person. A group of 4 of us have developed out of a home birth board. Myself of course being in WI, Nikki in TX, Jen in AL, and Thea in NC. It use to be that we would keep up with one another often on the board but then we started emailing one another more and more often and this last summer while on vacation we actually went to meet and stay with Thea in NC. I think that was what did it for both of us... Thea had admitted this was not "normal" for her either. I think at one point her husband even asked her how she didn't know we were ax murders or something and she replied "yes, ax murders often travel with their 4 small children." But something drew us together and it was after our meeting that I realized you can actually make friends on the Internet. You can find real, normal, wonderful people that long to connect with others with similar interests that may be harder to find close to home. Now the four of us email one another at least once a week and talk about our large families and the on going events in our lives. And at least for me these women have become such a huge part of my life, even though two I have never met in person. Thea helped me so much through my PPD with Brody and all of them continue to be there to offer love and support to me and my family. I honestly never in a million years thought I would be here and then I find more and more about how the Internet really does connect many people. Just the other day I discovered my friend met her husband online, something I NEVER thought I would hear from the wife of a youth minister and mother of two. So I suppose it is cases like hers that makes me feel less strange about finding friends online, which I have found I desperately needed to make me feel less strange for having such a large family! We hope to some day soon plan a trip to all meet so we can say we are friends for "real" although I don't think any of us need that to consider the other a true friend.

Anyway my friend, Nikki, mother of 7 just got herself a big yellow school bus with enough room to transport her ever growing family. I joked with Dave this morning that, that will be the next step for us. He of course replied as his usual sarcastic self saying "but I want a short red bus." I told him to be careful he might get that for Christmas.