This kid. He almost wasn't. But he is here, has conquered some hurdles and this year turns 10.
Two whole hands old.
And he has been through much in his young life, but this year is bursting with life in ways I doubted I would see some days. And I don't want to forget. I want to see the now. The beauty bursting forth and acknowledge the transformation in his growing confidence, his unique personality, his selfhood.
You see, he almost came too soon. And his older brother did come too soon and we buried his little body in my parents butterfly garden. So, this fella, this little person, we hung on every day with him in my womb. We fought long & hard, surrounded by an amazing community of folks, a church family that we barely knew. They fed us for months. Miss Laura came to take 2 year old Josh on nature walks to the park. We did everything we could to get this our 3rd son here, safe and alive.
Lord knows I may of cracked wide open to deliver and hold another dead child.
We named him after his Dad and his Granddad. James David Walters. We almost called him J.D. Also tried on James David. But Jed stood out and stuck.
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| On a recent road trip to Charleston we passed this. Whoever knew there was a JED burg? He smiled big over this. |
For Christmas last year Jed's older brother saw a beautiful edition of The Hobbit in our favorite small town book store and wanted to buy it for Jed. Though Jed said many times that he couldn't read such a thick book, with the bigger font, wider spaced lines and this cool little light I bought the kids for Christmas he was off and running.
My Dad dove into it with him, reading aloud to him over our Christmas visit. I am so thankful for both my parents legacy of being readers. That they have jumped into what my husband and I so value and will stop to read with our kids at times is priceless to me.
Education and spiritual formation are not about filling up a bucket. Laws and lists don't motivate.
But stories with real characters, heroes & heroines give us a chance to see what could be...to give us courage....to gently guide us without a list of do's and don'ts.
Stories provide a bigger story for kids to live into.
They can have a heart formed to be a hero in their day. Books have more power over a childs life than we can imagine. I was at a conference this weekend and learned about a philosopher who wrote about how language trains our consciousness. He wrote about how words create our worlds in which we live. I want to paint with beautiful language in my home, choose wisely the characters I introduce my children to.
And so I struggle afresh with seeing that in our back to school rhythms, it seems that read aloud time is 'squeezed' in, or rushed. Or the bedtime story is quick. And I don't want it to be this way. Yet, in the going and coming, the pack the lunch & get out the door, the "its time for----" I find I am loosing space for what I hold most dear.
In saying "yes" to many good things, I see I am saying "no" to other things that are even more core.
Like this fella.
He asked last night when I tucked him in if we could stay home ALL day tomorrow so he could read. A hint indeed that we have been on the road too much. A glory moment for this Mama Bear who has poured my life into this fella to help him succeed in reading this last year.
Lately, he loves being in his room. Curled up with a book. And his lizard, Gandalf that he got a month ago.
Which is so beautiful I could cry and you would too if you knew the story.
The story about one of the 3 different reading curriculums I used & failed each time to teach him to read. The frustration & tears with him over writing & spelling...for days on end. The 2 different times I put the kid in a school setting for half a year because I felt like such a failure.
The stress that at 8 he still wasn't reading and his little sister was. Then..... the finding of Mrs. Crawford & the Orton-Gillingham approach. The hard work of tutoring and now he beams confidence.
He is happy & settled & bright. He has some great friends he talks & laughs with. He invited 2 fellas yesterday to come join in a game of jail break. His cursive is the most beautiful I've ever seen. He offered to read aloud yesterday. He reads to his little sisters often. OH MY STARS!
There is much to be hopeful for. Even in the middle of the story.
May we each live a good story today.
