Good morning, Dear Siestas! We are still under reconstruction but it is taking longer than we hoped so we’re reopening comments until we get the heads-up that the switch really is about to take place. Thank you for your patience! I especially want those of you who have just now gotten your books and read your first three segments to be able to comment. Look back at last Thursday’s post and jump in there with us. Also expect your second week’s assignment tomorrow.
I wonder if I may beg your indulgence to be shamefully focused on one little person today. After all, I entered one of the happiest seasons of my life four years ago today. I’ve got a letter stirring in my heart that the recipient is way too young to read and probably won’t even see when he’s grown. We’ll have bigger fish to fry then. And if his Paw Paw has anything to do with it, those bigger fish really will have scales, slime, and fins. Still, a letter, because I can get some big feelings off my chest all the same. So, with your patience…
Dear Jackson Curtis Jones,
Today is your four year-old birthday! Yahoo! This is one of my favorite of all days! I have a few things I want to say to you, young man. Things you should be glad that I’m saying in print instead of in person since I’d probably bawl my head off and you’d find that pretty confusing. It will be a long time until you understand happy cries and, as the man you’ll surely one day be, you’ll probably never like them. All the same, you’ll have to put up with them to have women in your life. And, boy, do you have some women in your life. Mommy, Annabeth, Nana, Aunt Melissa, Aunt Lindsay, and me for family starters. Goodness knows, there’ll be more. Your mommy told me not long ago that she thought ahead about you getting your heart broken by a girl one day and got mad at her without even having a clue who she was or what she looked like. Woe be unto her. That’s all I can say. All six of us will be on her like mad, scratching cats.
But, back to today. Thank you, Jackson, for bringing a baby back into the life of someone drunk on babies. Thank you for reciprocating the happy love I felt for you by reaching your plump little hands out toward me by the time you were four months old. Thank you for a wild enthusiasm for life that has awakened every soul in your company. For things like pumping your fist in the air after we said “Amen” to grace over burgers. Jesus loves that. I’d also like to thank you for naming me Bibby. I just love it. Who would ever have thought of such a name but you? Thank you for saying it so many times. Thank you for being the reason why I found an old purse in the closet the other day that had a pull-up in it. (A clean one, thank goodness.) It sure has been a while since you needed a pull-up, hasn’t it? Mommy is so happy about that.
Thank you for bringing me a world of Hot Wheels and for teaching me how to race and how to make sounds like motors. Thank you for the love you’ve engendered in my heart for your lizard named Bernie. Thank you for bringing “Fruit by the Foot” back into my cupboard. For innumerable rounds of hide and seek and for the memory of the first time you really did count to ten before you said, “Ready or not! Here I come!” Thank you for giggling so loud wherever you hid that I always knew where not to look so we could make the game go a good, long time. Thank you for loving to be at Pappaw Keith’s and Bibby’s house here in Houston and at Nana and Pappaw Steve’s house in Missouri. You are a boy who has loved his grandparents and we are all four so much the better for it.
Thank you for the carseat in the back of my SUV and for crawling into it so often. Thank you for loving music and telling me to “turn it up, Bibby!” and for specially requesting David Crowder. Thank you for all the theological insights I’ve gained from your interpretations of the Bible stories your dad tells you. Thank you for wanting to grow up to be just like him and for actually putting it to words. He is a giant in your eyes…and in ours. Thank you for being firstborn to my firstborn. For making expressions that look just like her when she was your age. Thank you for thinking she’s so beautiful. I do, too. Thank you for helping her discover that she was really wonderful at something she’d never aspired to as a girl growing up. She actually planned to take care of animals. Not children. I will always find great amusement in the fact that yours was the first diaper she ever changed. To say you have changed her life in return is the biggest understatement we could make today.
Thank you for being the best big brother ever and to what is sure to become the next in a line of consummate drama queens. She adores you. She’s tougher than she would have been without you. And that’s a good thing.
Thank you, Jackson, for four of the most exciting, love-flooded years of my life. You, like your Mommy, your Aunt Melissa, your Sister and your Pappaw, have shoved your way into my every conscious thought.
We have waited all our lives for you, little Man-child. You were worth every second of it.
Happy Birthday, Jackson Jones. I’m playing hooky from work to play with you today. Let’s go buy a swing set!
I love you,
Bibby
Alex and Jill 
What a sweet post!! I'm crying.
Happy Birthday, Jackson!!
We will all want to see pictures!
Ms Beth, I am just in awe of you. You speak words that are engraved on my heart. I am the mother of a little boy who turned three Saturday. To say that he has changed my life is an understatement. God blessed me with knowing what unconditional love looks like. Thank you for sharing your words for Jackson with us. I am on my way to write one to my little guy now… you are inspirational!
Happy Birthday Mr. Jackson!!
Bibby – You Rock!!! You gave me tears, so sweet, so precious!
Kate
Charlottesville
What precious, perfect words for sweet little Jackson and for all of us to share!!! Thank you for sharing!!! Silly me…I teared up as I read your letter to him. As a mom to four beautiful, amazing, God-given daughters, I am gleefully looking forward to the days of grandsons!!!
Happy Birthday Jackson!!! And thank you sweet Beth!!!
Happy Birthday Jackson! Today is my Birthday too, Yay! For my birthday my Mama got me a new book. It's called So Long Insecurity! Woo hoo!!!!
Why is it we tear up and cry at reading this? What's it to us? Ahh, Beth. That's just it. That's what's so da-gone special about you. The things you write about your own life…. they touch a cord in ours. You are "every woman" (practically). You say what we're already thinking, feeling, experiencing, etc. It's just that we maybe don't have that special gift of expression that God has given you. Or maybe we're thinking these very same things about our own lives but just didn't realize we were until we read it from your heart. I don't know what it is. But THANK YOU, dear Beth. And if Jackson ever does come across this letter that you say he'll probably be too busy to read… just tell him that maybe the letter wasn't even really for him! It was for us… the ladies you serve in Jesus' name.
Happy Birthday Jackson!
Thank you Bibby and Amanda for sharing your lives with us! We are blessed for it!
Wishing you the best day today!
Happy Birthday Jackson!!!
I am bawling!! I can so remember my Gram at all my own bdays. Thank you for sharing this wonderfully blessed day with all of us Bibby, He will love this letter later!!!
Enjoy that swing set!
Happy Birthday Jackson and congrats to your Mom and Dad too. Have a cool day and enjoy that swing set – we know Bibby will 🙂
Oh man, I couldn't read to the end of the post – my eyes were too blurry with tears!!!
Jackson is a lucky little boy and I hope he has a great birthday.
Judi
What an incredibly sweet eet letter to the man-child. Brought tears to my eyes.
Precious, precious!
Happy 4th Birthday Jackson Jones!
"I want to leave a legacy, how will they remember me? Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough to make a mark on things? I want to leave an offering. A child of MERCY and GRACE who blessed Your name unapologetically, and leave that kind of legacy"
Those words from Nichole Nordman's song "Legacy" are literally painted on my kitchen wall with pictures of my kids between the words. It's my hearts cry, and the main thing I live for these days. Beth, you have a beautiful legacy. Your children and now grandchildren so beautifully demonstrate the love of Jesus. Is there anything better?
Have fun with your little man today!
Love,
Teri
Romeo, MI
AWWWWWWWWW! You DO have a way with words, Bibby! I, too, am a grandmother, just before you (ages 4 1/2, 4 and 20 mos.), so I know whereof you speak. It's THE most gratifying role I've ever been cast in. The love – who can describe it? Child of my child… The expressions that rewind you instantaneously to a visit with your child are amazing! Hoping you & darling Jackson (I get a glimpe at church occasionally & he IS handsome) have a wonderful day. God has done His part; it's sunny and cool.
Hilda in Houston
Oh, Beth! Your letter to Jackson brought tears to my eyes. I have a 5 year old little boy, and it made me appreciate him all over again, and in ways I hadn't even thought of! Thanks for sharing it with us. And Happy Birthday to Jackson. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this with us 🙂 My little man is 8 months old today and I love all the things we have to look forward to.
Happy Birthday, Jackson!!!
Happy Birthday, Jackson! And thanks for sharing your letter Bibby. 🙂
My firstborn turned 20 on Monday. (sniff, sniff) Enjoy every moment!!
What a beautiful letter and such a great idea Beth. Absolutely wonderful. Happy birthday Jackson!!!
Happy Birthday, Jackson!
That was just mean! I am supposed to be leaving for a Doctor's appointment right now and I can't quit crying! At least she's my woman doctor so she's used to it!
Happy Birthday Jackson!
Oh my gosh, Beth, I am in tears! "Happy cry". I thank God for women like you who write their feelings so eloquently. Happy Birthday to Jackson! Today is a special day for me, too…my "baby" is 9 today, and I have already cried my "happy cry" over how proud I am of the boy who is growing up into a man. My boys have changed my life, undoubtedly as Jackson has changed y'alls! God Bless you all.
We too have started the tradition of birthday letters and find them all (your family's too) to be priceless. Thanks for the great idea.
Happy Birthday to Jackson! What a precious kid!
What a precious letter! Happy Birthday, Jackson!
That IS beautiful…
May all God's children, be
loved this much!
Love,
Michele
I saw a spiderman gift bag today and almost bought it for you, Bibby!
Happy Birthday sweet Jackson! You are blessed beyond measure! We have loved seeing you grow up before our eyes. I am also so thankful that you came into this world before your bibby had to come to LPL in bham. You scared us into wondering if she would make it because of course none of us would expect Bibby to make it with your sweet arrival! The pics of you and your sister the other day were hilarious and your smile is always priceless. You are one happy little boy!!
Bibby-You're the kind of grandmother I want to be one day, in about a decade or so.
Amanda-There's nothing like the love of a son. Just wait, 10 is a great age too. I think everyone needs one in their lives.
I so loved that you got mad at "what's her name." I so relate. I'm having difficulty giving thanks in everything, especially for the 13 yr olds calling my son!
Jackson-Happy Birthday. You are loved!
happy birthday, jackson! what a precious letter! he will treasure it one day when he is a little older, that i am sure of!
Oh my goodness Beth, way to make me bawl. What a blessed little man Jackson is, to have grandparents love him the way they should, the way God intended it to be. Thank you for sharing your ways of loving him so that Lord willing someday I can do the same for my grandchildren. (I'm 27 and single 🙂 Who knows?! Only God. 🙂 Blessings.
Well, if you're female and you've got a pulse, then you're crying, aren't you? Beth, God gave me an answer today to a prayer I've whispered oh-so-many times. At night when I would kiss my son, the youngest of my three, "good night" I would often say a prayer thanking God for him and asking God to somehow, miraculously mend the hole torn in your heart over a little boy. I didn't have any suggestions to offer, but then He didn't need any, did He? Bless Him.
Bless you, my dear!
Oh my heart.
Happy Birthday, Jackson!
Happy Birthday Jackson! Today is my grandson's 3rd birthday….a special day indeed! I too have started the tradition of a birthday letter to my grandchildren or a poem. I haven't done mine yet, so I'd better get busy! Thanks for the reminder…:) Blessings to you all!
Who could read this precious letter and not have tears in their eyes. I have a 3 year old grandson and could copy and paste this to him, it is so sweet! Girl, you know his mom and dad are gonna put this up in a safe place for him to read whenever he feels like he needs love from his Bibby.
Love you Beth,
GiGi
Oh! I so had to laugh at the "not understanding the crying" My boys are homeschooled by the Lord request.They know that every Wed. morning mom watches some blonde lady on TV and she makes mom cry. They will walk in and ask if I am OK then walk out of the room looking so puzzled. If they ever saw Beth in public they might be tempted to deck her (although they have be taught not to hit girls), because she makes their mom cry.
Thanks to you and everyone at LPM for Wed. The Lord so gives me direction and wisdom through you. God used you the week before last in a way that was off the hook!!!
What a lucky boy to have such a wonderful grandmother, that letter will mean the world to him one day. I have a 3 1/2 year old son and so much of what you said resonated with me – I am just a blubbering mess here having read that. Thank you for sharing and God Bless you, your family and especially Jackson! Enjoy the swing set little fella!!
Happy Birthday Jackson!!! What a wonderful love letter – years from now he will cherish your words, Bibby! I hope you all have a wonderfully exciting day today!!!
Betsy
Bless it make me cry! Happy Birthday Jackson!
Love,
Crissy
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKSON; and HAPPY JACKSON'S BIRTHDAY to the rest of your wonderful family! Thank you Ms. "Bibby" for sharing and for bringing tears with the "first-born to my first-born" – I'm not there yet, coz my firstborn is going to be 16 a month from today, but I had a heavenly glimpse into the future and how glorious that will feel!
SMOOCHIES!
=]
MLpe
Thank God for grandkids. Just when you think you can't wait any longer for little ones to be around again, here they come. For my three, Krystian, Kelsey & Kameron – my heart is full!!
Dianne
Henryetta, OK
Dear Jackson, with love like that you will never need a dime. For you are rich! And that is something no one can ever take away from you, dear one. Love you, Jackson. Happy Birthday!! It's mine, too. And I'm so glad to share it with someone like you.
Mrs. Holly
Oh, how I pray that I can be the grandma to my babies babies someday that you are to yours grandbabies. What a treasure! My four boys don't have that in their lives & my prayer is that the Lord would allow me to be that for their babies!!! Maybe I can even vote for being called "Bibby?" Okay, that's a bit much. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this letter with us, Beth! It blessed me today so much.
For crying out loud ( literally) Beth. You need to put a warning on some of your posts.
I have mascara all over my face.
(Gosh, that letter was really beautiful)
Love,
Geri
http://www.theeyesofmyheart.com
Oh my goodness, Beth, thank you so much for sharing your letter to Jackson!
I have been listening to you read to me in my car, and then I just read posts from other bloggers about their prayers for their children, and then came in to check in with you.
I am was going to tell you more, but this was going to be way to long, so. . .
Thank you and
Happy Birthday, Jackson!!!
p.s.
My first granddaughter will turn 4 in September, and then we just found out that our second grandchild will be born in Oct.
To the Moore Family~
Thank you for opening your homes and hearts to perfect strangers. You inspire us to be better parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. God MUST look down on your and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." You are such a testimony to me, and I am blessed by your family…or atleast the glimps you give us. To HIM be the glory.
Beth,
Thank you for blessing us with this vision into your heart! I write letters like this to my kids every year on their birthday and place a copy in their scrapbooks. I hope to one day make a book of these letters for each of them – maybe on their 18th or 21st birthday or when they get married – not sure.
Your life is such a testimony1
Your letter is so beautiful and I hope Jackson will read it someday.
Happy Birthday, Jackson! God bless you.
I had twin boys and so this really touched my heart when I read your letter.
When my boys were little I wrote something similar:
Do other mother's struggle as I do, Lord
Is there day filled with little voices that call for Mama every few minutes of the day?
Do they receive those warm, wonderful hugs and kisses that make their morning so bright, although I am still half asleep.
Is Winnie the Pooh, Semame Street, and other cartoons apart of their day. And do other mother's see those tiny, little faces light up when they are so anxious to show things they have made at school.
They want mama's approval and just hear well-done and great job.
Do they share things like reading, playing together, and prayers at night?
Those little eyes that watch everything I do
Lord, help them keep their eyes on You.
Those little hands and arms
Help them not to push or shove,
but help them reach out to others with love
Those little hearts that are so tender
Help them be filled with Your word each day
Those little feet that like to run and play
Help them follow to right way
And take me too Lord
When I raise my voice or seem unkind
Give me strength to let go and not do any harm
Just let trust You and keep in line.
Help me raise my children to be like you
And fill our lives with joy in that we do.
(I hope you do not mind me sharing.
It is not for me, but because I love God and He has given me so much.–now, you have me crying.)
Happy Birthday Jackson!! As much as your Bibby talks about you I feel like I know you.
Beth I could have wrote that post. After having just one daughter I didn't know how I would act when she told me she was having a little boy. I wasn't sure I knew what to do with him. But he has made my life just wonderful. He came at a time that my family really needed him. Such a blessing though he is only 2 1/2 I am so excited every day watching him grow. Blessings!!
I love it… Happy Birthday Jackson!!! You are loved…
Happy Birthday sweet Jackson……I am a lot like your Mommy….I learned a lot from my man child who will be five in June. My woman child, whom is older than her brother, was much easier to handle. I can't wait to see pictures of your new swing set that Bibby is getting you. I know you will have years of fun on it (and hopefully share it with Annabeth). May God continue to Bless you and the lives of the ones that love you so dearly.