I talk a lot. To myself. *And prayer request!!* *UPDATED*

****This is very very urgent. Please please drop what you are doing and pray for Stellan. Most of you know all about little Stellan, so just check out www.mycharmingkids.net if you don't. He is not doing well at all this morning and is being airlifted to Boston as I type this. Please pray like crazy!! You can keep updated on him constantly by checking out his mom Jennifer's Twitter page- she updates often.

But most importantly, pray for this little guy!!!****

My brain has been mush this summer break. It has to be just the combination of the late nights, lack of schedule and all the pool time we've been enjoying. I seriously doubt I'll be able to put together a coherent thought. But hey, everyone loves a train wreck, right? ;)

So a few things going on with us. Not listed in order of interestingness. Because none of them are interesting. Except maybe the last one. 'Cause it's most important.

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My baby boy is turning 7 on Tuesday! I am so excited. Well, unless you compare my excitement to his excitement. Because in that case I'm pretty much in a coma.

He's so cute; he woke up this morning and was still SO tired (we had to leave early to head to Big Hunk's baseball game) but he squealed out "only two more days!" when he realized it. We're having a party for him on Saturday and I can honestly say that my kids' birthdays are my favorite time of the year. It is just such a joy celebrating these wonderful little creatures God blessed us with.

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Yesterday I had one of the most creepy, frightening moments. It really took me a couple hours to be able to step back and get over it.

There was a man that no one knew at Big Hunk's baseball game Sunday. Of course, this is not uncommon seeing as how we rarely know a single member of the opposing team, and the games are held at high schools and colleges where there are lots of activities: swap meets, tennis, basketball, etc.

Well I gathered from a couple other women there that he was talking the ears off a couple of them, as well as talking lots to a little girl that happened to be nearby. (Note- there were about 5 kids playing with Mikey and none of these women were their mom- they were their aunts, I believe). A few minutes after the girl had come back and had been told by her aunt to not go over their anymore, the man showed up *right* behind me. I was standing behind the bleachers working on the scorebook and he was literally standing no more than a foot behind me when I turned around (we had brought a canopy and it was pretty much the only shade there). Well after a few minutes (and me moving immediately) he starts chatting up my son and his friend (the son of BH's teammate). Asking questions like their names, how old they are, blah blah blah. Really just information that is none of his business.

So then he asks Mikey's friend if he has his baseball glove. When T tells him it's in the car, he tells T to go get it and they'll play catch. I intercepted T and told him (falsely) that his dad had told me he wanted T to stay with me. Ack! I was so freaked out at this point and my heart was pounding. So then he gets nosey, asking Mikey if I was his mom, almost teasing that I was the "voice of reason" and asks Mikey if he wants to play catch with him!! (Augh, I'm getting all worked up just thinking about it.) I try to hint at Mikey that he needs to take off, and I tell him to go into the dugout to help his dad. Of course he doesn't get it and wants nothing to do with that. By this point all the other women had disappeared to another area (trying to escape him) so I try texting Big Hunk to tell him there is a REALLY creepy guy out there. But because I'm impatient I immediately grab T (because I was afraid he was going to walk off with this guy!) and tell him to come with me, and I ran into the dugout to tell BH what was going on. I asked him if he had a spare guy that could come sit with me.

Thankfully BH was sitting out that inning and came and sat with me. Creepy guy proceeded to chat BH up, asking him tons of questions, and I ran off with the kids. *lol* I was just appalled and so freaked out.

It probably doesn't sound all that alarming now that I wrote it out, but my heart was pounding out of my chest and I was just watching each kid like a hawk during all of this- so scared that one of them would walk off with him or move out of my reach. What bothered me is that he wouldn't acknowledge at all that he was making several women uncomfortable and just back off. I'm sorry but even if you have the best of intentions, if you are a strange man and are trying to talk to a woman (or her children) and that woman starts acting standoffish, you need to respect that.

Later in the car when we had time to talk about it, BH even admitted that the guy was creeping him out. I just thank God I was there! T, Mikey's friend, is known to pretty much run around and do what he wants during his dad's games. And who knows- this guy may have been perfectly harmless. But he sent major red flags up, and I tend to be pretty naive unsuspecting of people. He wasn't just asking the boys to play catch- he was persistent and was badgering them- in front of me!. How many young kids do you know that are going to be able to stand up to that and will repeatedly tell an adult "no"?

It was a wake up call, to say the least. My kids have watched the Safe Side video numerous times, and I'm always quizzing them on different scenarios. But it always surprises me when Mikey talks to strangers. In this instance he told me "But Mom, you were there", and he's right. I always tell him that as long as I'm with him, he's okay. But I had to tell him "yes, but you were going to go play catch with him!!!". We made it very clear that he always always needs to ask us, even if it's one of our friends. I thought he knew this.

For the record, T's dad had no idea any of this went on. And even though I explicity told T after this that he cannot talk to strangers and never ever to go off with them, Big Hunk called T's dad and told him what happened. I shudder to think of what could have happened.

So after that heart attack, I move on to Monday- which is really today now since I'm up so late. ;-) There is a wonderful woman name Cindy for whom I would like to ask you to pray. Cindy has been battling cancer for 2 1/2 years, and has recently learned that the cancer has spread to her brain. Our enemy would love for us to believe that this is futile and the end. But we know Cindy is in the hands of the Great Physician!

Though I'm super late letting you know of this, my sweet friend Linny has organized a prayer and fast for Cindy for Monday, July 27. Being this is so late and you may not be able to participate in the fasting, I would strongly urge you to pray pray pray for Cindy today! And drop her a line letting her know you're praying for her. :) You know how we bloggers long for those words of encouragement.

Sorry this because such an explosion of words. ;-) I guess I was feeling a little more rambly than I thought.