17 years 5 months ago the ultrasound tech told us "it's a boy", immediately through my mind came the thought "oh no, cub scouts---and someday he'll have to go on a mission and my heart will break". We survived cub scouts--he has completed his Eagle project and just needs to do the paperwork, so the end of boy scouts is in sight also. Seventeen years, and 24 months of Chemo, and at least 6 more to go I now realize that I want more than anything for Jackson to be ABLE to serve a mission, it would be such a blessing. He has had to jump the learning curve on some pretty hard life lessons with his Cancer. But it has made him who he is, and we love and are grateful daily for who he is. I don't know why Jackson has to fight so hard for his quality of life, but he does it without complaint, truly without complaint. I may never know in this life why, but I do know it helps us as a family and as parents get good bone jarring "reality checks" as to what matters. We love our boy and want to help his dreams come true whenever we can----this birthday gift was a dream come true for him. However, we debated doing it because we were afraid of setting a precedent we can't continue for the other children. You see Michaels' moisture monitoring business is growing by leaps and bounds--that's good. He has one pickup truck and needs too---that's bad. All Jackson wants in this world is a truck to drive, so we discussed things with Sammi and told her we had to get a truck in order to have two people, installing and downloading the moisture monitoring equipment, and if we bought one now it could be "Jackson's birthday gift" that we would borrow as needed! I wasn't sure what she would say, but she said, "I think it's a good idea that we help Jackson's dreams come true whenever we can". Now she hadn't been in on the dreams come true debate Michael and I were having---pretty cool. Happy birthday Buddy, we hope MANY more of your dreams get to come true.
A scavenger hunt that began at home. The first clue led him to the.....
Scooping "droppings"!
Miyah has a horse, Jax cleaned up after it! This gave him the next clue which took him too....
Uncle Matt and Aunt Courtneys house.
Here he had to fold towels, and here I learned I need to teach my 17 year old son how to fold towels!! Luckily the kids jumped in to rescue him. The clue from Cat and Mourtneys led him to....
The Smith's where Kayla felt like hugging the birthday boy too.
They really tested him by making him water grass!! That clue led him....
home to his truck which the Jenks had hidden in our garage while we were out chasing down clues!!
Dad is receiving a hug from a happy, tearful boy.
Happy birthday Jackson!! Your age makes me feel old, people might stop believing I'm 28 since that would mean I had you at 11.
Keep fighting the good fight--we need you in our family, who else would torment your sisters?
3 comments:
Soooo cooool! Happy birthday, Jackson!
That was awesome, tears and all!! Haoppy Birthday to our oldest grandchild- we love you beyond words!
Happy Birthday to such a special young man! What a wonderful way to spend a birthday! The picture of dad and son made me tear up. Such a special moment.
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