Parenting by proxy.

We are becoming parents, it seems, at least of a sort. We are the godparents/designated guardians of our youngest niece, and now it turns out the U.S. military will see fit to send not just one, but both, of her parents to war at almost Exactly. The. Same. Time.

So, the young miss is coming to stay with us, unless her mother (the later of the two to be deployed) is granted some miraculous reprieve. Wow.