Sweet Moments

I experienced two great memories in the last 12 hours

1. Last night we were kneeling down for family prayer. It was Jake's turn. As we were all folding our arms, he popped his head up before he started and looked right at William.

"I'm not saying I'm grateful for you."

"Jacob," I sternly noted, "that is not nice."

Jake bowed his head again.

"Thank you for daddy and mommy and Naomi and me. Amen."

"I leaned over to him and prompted,

"and thank you for William."

"No. I'm not saying that."

After a while he fianlly conceded.

"Thank you for William."

However, he spoke so fast and he slurred his speech so much you could barley make out his words.

It sounded more like, "gjdisojfowengkfdnbkdflsnm."

Another perfect example of our strong willed Smooch.

2. We were almost late dropping William off at school today. I sped up to the curb, pushed the door open and told him to hurry fast and jump out.

He slowly descended the car and walked somberly to the curb.

I started pulling off when I notcied his head down and his motion, well, motionless.

I pulled back to the curb and rolled down my window.

"What's wrong, honey. You look sad?"

He lifted his eyes to see me. It was all too noticeable that he was fighting back tears.

"I prompted him again. "Honey, what's wrong?"

It was as if he was trying his hardest not to cry.

He finally spoke.

"It's just that I miss you so much when I'm at school."

Now I was the one fighting back tears. His pale, almost ghostlike eyes from living months without seeing the warmth of the sun looked at me as innocently as I had ever seen.

"You just wait." I said. "I will be there as soon as school gets out and I will give you the biggest "jump-hug" in the whole world."

His lips pulled a loose smile and he turned to enter the doors of the school.

The doors that keep us apart six hours a day, five days a week.

But those doors are also the gateway to some of the biggest and best jump-hugs in the world.