My Dear Sweet Jack:



Welcome to the world!

AND - Welcome to our family!

Born September 12, weighing just 7.2 pounds, looking just like your daddy with lots of dark hair and no chin :) We were all anxiously awaiting your arrival -- Mommy, Daddy, big sisters Abby and Margot and Grandpa Jim and I.

To me you look perfect, but Mommy and Daddy said that you were born with a little hole in your heart. They said that your doctor reassured them that it is small and that as you grow, the hole should close. You are going to visit a special doctor who will keep a close eye along with Mommy and Daddy on your heart. Your regular doctor said that if you are eating well and gaining weight, you are probably doing fine. So far, you are eating well!

You can't help that you were born with a heart problem, but Mommy and Daddy love you and will make sure that you are well taken care of and do everything the doctor tells them to do so that you will continue to grow and be healthy!

I was born healthy many years ago and my mommy and daddy -- your great grandparents -- took good care of me. I am sorry to say that when I got older, I didn't take such good care of myself. I ate too much and didn't run and jump any more like I did when I was a child so I put on TOO much weight. The doctors told me many times that I needed to eat less and move more so that I could be healthy again. I tried sometimes but always found excuses to stop doing what they told me to do.

Your daddy and Aunt Angie and Uncle James (who lives with Jesus now) were all growing up and going to college and falling in love and I started to feel stiff, sore, and worn out! I didn't like feeling like that. When your daddy married your beautiful mommy I saw pictures of myself and felt sad that not only did I not feel healthy, but I didn't look healthy either.

I decided to do just what the doctors had been telling me to do all along. I chose healthier foods and ate smaller portions. I started to run and jump and ride a bicycle. I found that moving around like that was actually fun! I started to feel less tired and less sore.

By the time your cousin Lyric was born I was well on my way to looking healthier and feeling healthier. She was our first grandchild and it started to sink in to me that I had more reasons to keep my weight down with eating good foods and staying active.

After Lyric, those reasons just kept coming -- Natalie, Abby, Jude, Margot, and now YOU!

I feel wonderful now! and my doctor says that I am healthy.

This is my promise to you, special little boy, that I will always continue to eat right and exercise so that I can stay in the best shape possible! That way when you come visit, if your heart is healed, we can run and jump and play together!

Someday you will get older and leave the watchful eyes of your mommy and daddy. You will go to school and fall in love. Grandma will dance at your wedding --

I promise!

With all my love - now and forever,

Grandma Joanne