Recommitment

Today Jalen told me that he has made a committment to not eat food anymore until after his tests. I am so proud of him that he is making such a big and mature step. I told Jalen that he is a very strong boy, and that he has always been strong.

I remember the first time I laid eyes on Jalen. I'd had them squeezed tightly shut throughout the excruciating lower back pain of delivery and for several minutes afterwards. When I finally opened my eyes and searched across the room for my new baby, I saw a big arm and a meaty fist shooting up out of the tiny incubator. My first thought was, "Good grief, he is huge!"

As Jalen grew, I began to call him Bamm-Bamm. He earned his moniker daily too! Jalen would crawl (or later, toddle) up to something, reach out his big, strong fist and "Bamm!" It would never be the same again. It wasn't so funny at the time, but today I can reminisce and chuckle about all the objects Jalen has inadvertently destroyed in his lifetime.

When he was tiny, I also used to call him "Jaylee-Boo, Super Jaylee" after the VeggieTales cartoon star, "Larry Boy, Super Hero." I used to sing along with the opening credits music, substituting Jalen's nickname for Larry's. Little did I know back then that Jalen would truly become my hero!

My prayer is that this health ordeal that Jalen is going through will produce in him a powerful strength of heart, spirit and character that by far surpass the physical strength that he was born with. And that there will be much less brokenness in the process.