My little Jacob has just grown up in front of my eyes. He was barely 3 when we moved to Japan. He's now finishing 1st grade and turning 7 this year! Jacob was born on September 11th. If you tilted your head to say, "oooh, really", then you know that's pretty much what I get every time I have to fill in his birthdate somewhere. I always have to say, he was born in 2000. It was his birthday first. Even though this day is now part of our lives, even more so being in the military, it's more about celebrating Jacob. David always some sort of ceremony or memorial to play for and so is always working, but we make it a special day for Jacob. He doesn't know any different either way, it's cake and presents day for him! He is a smart, active, loving, spiritual little man. He always wants to make sure we say our prayers. Even when we're out driving and need to find parking, he'll say, Mom, we should say a prayer. A few months ago, we went on an adventure with some friends. We went to visit Enoshima Island. It's a beautiful place with a fantastic view of Mt. Fuji. My friend had her 3 kids, and I had mine, Jackson being only about 3 months old. I had my double stroller, with Jackson in a car seat hooked on to the front of it. We made our way up about 5 long escalators to a beautiful lookout area. Usually, in Japan, if the Japanese see you doing something you're not supposed to, they will give you the crossed arms, "don't do that" signal. Well, we got none of that on our way up and so kept going on our adventure. As soon as we were ready to go back down, we quickly realized there were no escalators DOWN!! We put the babies in carriers, folded up strollers, and started our painful decent. I think I probably looked like a very mean and cross mommy by the time we got about halfway down, I was in so much pain! We finally got to the bottom only to realize the end of this staircase was the ocean! We were going to have to carry everything BACK UP! I called another friend on my cell phone fully expecting myself to ask her to fly her magic helicopter over and pick us right up, but only vented for a minute. As soon as I hung up the phone, my friend said that Jacob had suggested to her that we say a prayer. We took all these sweet, trusting children into an opening in the rocks and said a prayer that we would be safe, happy and able to find a shortcut out of this maze. As soon as we made it up one section of the stairs, a Japanese man came running out of his shop with a map. He stopped me and started say..."shortucutu", which is Japanese English for shortcut! Sure enough, we had passed a small turn in the path that at this time we took. It led us all the way out without a single stair! Talk about a humbling and learning experience for me and the kids. Jacob has taught me so much about life. I am so grateful for him! He's my jedi! (Pictures: Kids at Enoshima Island (you can see Mt. Fuji in the background), Jacob the Jedi, and Jacob in Kimono)
My little Jacob has just grown up in front of my eyes. He was barely 3 when we moved to Japan. He's now finishing 1st grade and turning 7 this year! Jacob was born on September 11th. If you tilted your head to say, "oooh, really", then you know that's pretty much what I get every time I have to fill in his birthdate somewhere. I always have to say, he was born in 2000. It was his birthday first. Even though this day is now part of our lives, even more so being in the military, it's more about celebrating Jacob. David always some sort of ceremony or memorial to play for and so is always working, but we make it a special day for Jacob. He doesn't know any different either way, it's cake and presents day for him! He is a smart, active, loving, spiritual little man. He always wants to make sure we say our prayers. Even when we're out driving and need to find parking, he'll say, Mom, we should say a prayer. A few months ago, we went on an adventure with some friends. We went to visit Enoshima Island. It's a beautiful place with a fantastic view of Mt. Fuji. My friend had her 3 kids, and I had mine, Jackson being only about 3 months old. I had my double stroller, with Jackson in a car seat hooked on to the front of it. We made our way up about 5 long escalators to a beautiful lookout area. Usually, in Japan, if the Japanese see you doing something you're not supposed to, they will give you the crossed arms, "don't do that" signal. Well, we got none of that on our way up and so kept going on our adventure. As soon as we were ready to go back down, we quickly realized there were no escalators DOWN!! We put the babies in carriers, folded up strollers, and started our painful decent. I think I probably looked like a very mean and cross mommy by the time we got about halfway down, I was in so much pain! We finally got to the bottom only to realize the end of this staircase was the ocean! We were going to have to carry everything BACK UP! I called another friend on my cell phone fully expecting myself to ask her to fly her magic helicopter over and pick us right up, but only vented for a minute. As soon as I hung up the phone, my friend said that Jacob had suggested to her that we say a prayer. We took all these sweet, trusting children into an opening in the rocks and said a prayer that we would be safe, happy and able to find a shortcut out of this maze. As soon as we made it up one section of the stairs, a Japanese man came running out of his shop with a map. He stopped me and started say..."shortucutu", which is Japanese English for shortcut! Sure enough, we had passed a small turn in the path that at this time we took. It led us all the way out without a single stair! Talk about a humbling and learning experience for me and the kids. Jacob has taught me so much about life. I am so grateful for him! He's my jedi! (Pictures: Kids at Enoshima Island (you can see Mt. Fuji in the background), Jacob the Jedi, and Jacob in Kimono)
2 comments:
wow! KIds are pretty amazing aren't they--if only we could be less prideful and be more like them. I don't know if I would have humbled myself like that. good job!
Kids say the darndest thing.
Alexis had a similar experience with our driver in India. I will always remember that and her strong testimony on prayer and Heavenly Father.
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