How Did We Get So Lucky?

Our oldest son Jake - where do I start?

Well, how 'bout when he was little. He was the cutest little boy! Beautiful blond, curly hair with huge blue eyes and eyelashes any girl would love to have. He was such a good child. He never knew a stranger. After my grandmother died, we bought her 100+ year-old house and we lived there for about 5 years. When we first moved in, there was a little neighbor boy, just Jake's age. For about the first month we lived there, Jake would stand outside waiting for this little boy to come out of his house. Then he'd yell over the fence "Hey kid! Wanna play?" Finally, after the first month, he quit calling him "kid".

Jake never did anything wrong when he was little. In fact, he only got a spanking (it was a little swat) once. Ival asked him to do something and Jake was standing on the stairs getting ready to go up. Jake told Ival "You're really pissing me out!" and between laughter, Ival swatted him on the butt and told him not to talk like that.

Jake was a good teenager too. Ok, as far as I know he was. He had several really close friends and their wild nights out would involve going to Sheri's Restaurant to drink coffee - and if they were feeling really rowdy, they'd stop by McDonald's and steal sugar packets.

Jake however, was really bored with school. He got terrible grades in high school and I began to wonder if he was a little "slow". He did graduate, however and went on to college. Again, terrible grades. Then Jake decided that this school stuff just wasn't working out and came home one day to tell me he was joining the Army. Sounded good to me. However, I had NO idea that I was about to become a blubbering idiot! I realized I was fine with Jake joining the military until it came time to actually send him off to boot camp. I cried the entire week before he left and for another week after he left. The thought of someone yelling at such a gentle soul just killed me! Luckily for me though, Jake was a lot tougher than I thought he was. He made it fine through boot camp and was bright enough that they were sending him on to Monterey, Ca to the Defense Language school to learn Korean. But first, they had to do a background check for his clearance and believe it or not, they asked him if he was a Mormon. WHAT? My good child was so squeaky clean that they figured he had to be either Mormon or from another planet because other than a few traffic tickets, the Army couldn't find ANYTHING bad in his background.

Yep, my child was so bright that he was going to become a Linguist with a Top Secret clearance. We couldn't have been prouder.

But, Jake had a bad knee. He did EVERYTHING he could think of to stay in the Army, after all, they had spent thousands of dollars and several years of time, training him as a Linguist. He had finally found his calling. But, it wasn't to be. After all that time the Army discharged him due to his bad knee - but Jake had unfinished business. Almost as soon as his plane landed back in Boise, he enlisted with the Army National Guard where he remains today.

In fact, Jake just got back from Afghanistan. He came home on leave last December and his niece Allie made this sign to greet him at the airport. While he was home on leave, Jake married the woman that I consider God made special for him. Her name is Heather and I'm not going to say much about her now, 'cause she's my next subject! But we all love her. (Grace is coming up on my blog once I get to the grand kids - isn't she adorable!) This picture was taken by a reporter with the Associated Press when Jake came home from Afghanistan for good in February. Are they a cute family or what?????
Jake loves Captain America and I made him a t-shirt with this picture on it.
Jake, my dear, sweet son - you are an inspiration and my hero. I can't wait to see what you do next!