Happy birthday Jacob!

The birthday surprises started out last night, when the doorbell rang a little after 7:00. There, standing on our porch were Jacob's brother James and his sister Jen. He had no idea that they were coming, and was so happy, in his calm understated Jacob way, to see them there.

We always open birthday presents first thing in the morning, and around 7:30am , the girls came bursting into the room to get me up so we could give Daddy his presents. The girls have some of their dad in them and love to show their love for others by giving good gifts. My idea was for each girl to get him a new item of clothing. Lauren and Ada went along, but Ellie really really wanted to get her dad some sports equipment from sports authority, so he got two new packs of tennis balls from her. Lauren had also been working on a gift for Jacob for the last two months and presented him with a finger crocheted coaster and scarf. Ada spent over an hour last night decorating the wrapping paper of her gift for her Dad and showed her love through her drawings for him. It was a sweet moment for them to make their Dad happy on his birthday.

As many of you know, I've been contacting family and friends to write up a story or two of and experience that they've had with Jacob. I had over 100 contributions and printed them up into a wonderful150 page book for him. As he thumbed through the pages this morning his eyes filled with tears as he read the names of so many people who love him and with whom he has shared many life experiences. Thank you to all of the contributors to his book. I appreciate your help more than you know.

Finally, we got a package in the mail yesterday from Jacob's dad that James, his brother, had been orchestrating for the past few weeks. Jake opened the box, and to his great surprise found an autographed basketball from the 2013-2014 BYU basketball team. His eyes again filled with tears as he read each signature, and was especially touched by the message from Coach Dave Rose, a fellow cancer fighter. 



So far April 4 is off to a good start for this amazing 35 year old man I love.