My son, Jacob

*Note* Please read what I wrote about Jacob below the pictures. I usually drag them all down when they pop up here, but that is a lot of work and it's the Sabbath today.

Jacob is always thinking about airplanes and built this one out of Light brights.

Jacob sanding the boards for the big swing set.

Jacob enjoying the works of his labors.

Always an avid reader since age 4, Jacob reads in the van while waiting for me at the chiropractor's office in Bismarck. Here he was reading to Cora one of our family favorites, IRMA'S BIG LIE. If you have any children with this problem, THIS is the book for you!

Jacob naturally is a health nut. He hardly ever eats desserts/sugar and likes to help us prepare healthy meals. Here he is helping to make sauerkraut out of cabbage for this winter.

My son, Jacob, is "Different" from his papa and his brother. My son, Jacob, is more like me. How wonderful to have a child who is like me, especially since Cora is a lot like her papa and Andrew is just like him. This is fine, as people are supposed to be whom God made them to be. It's just that it's wonderful to have someone in the world who is a lot like me!!!! How grand it is to say something and have it understood immediately!

When I was on my deathbed in 2006, it was Jacob's gentle nature that carried me through the low times emotionally. It still was Cora who had the guts to give me over 700 bee stings that saved my life, but it was Jacob who would come up to me and gently put his arms around me or softly rub my back and ask, "How are you, Mom?"

My son, Jacob, knew that I was having a hard time yesterday with letting Andrew and he go away for the weekend. I have a strong bond with all of my children, and normally miss them a lot when they're gone from home, but with being sick now it just seemed loathsome to let them go. ):

It wasn't surprising then, that it was Jacob who comforted me, when I called the boys on their way up to Bartlett's yesterday afternoon. "Hey," Jacob said to me, "why don't you take this time to just relax a little? Maybe you should watch 3 Bonanzas; about 5 Roy Roger's; 10 Andy Griffeth's; and about a hundred Popeye's? That ought to cheer you up."

I laughed so hard and WAS cheered up to realize that Jacob really wants me to be happy! It's interesting watching the change in a person as they switch from the "Always-taking" mode of the child to the give-and-take mode of an adult. Although I always will miss my little people's ways, now that those days are over, it is nice now to be receiving back some of the love which I poured into their lives throughout all of those early years. How sweet are the rewards of a stay-at-home mom when she wisely builds the love of God and others into those young souls around her table! Amen?

Anyway, late last night I received an email from Jacob (sent from his Ipod) from up at our friends, the Bartletts, farm. It sent me to bed laughing and that's a good way to go to bed. Here is what he said, "Hi, We R Here now & having a good time. Don't worry about us. Have fun there. See You, Jacob"

So I have decided to take Jacob's advice and not worry about them up there with their 22s. I trust that these people in charge take every precaution necessary to protect everyone or the Bartletts would not be hosting the shoot. Therefore I'm going to have fun today, just like Jacob advised me to do. :) I'm not sure if I'll get 100 Popeyes watched before the boys return on Monday, but there are more ways to have fun than just watching movies. Actually, I'm off to exercise now. Although this isn't exactly what I'd call "Fun", it does help to keep the pain level down in my neck and shoulders. Everything else is more fun when the pain is down, so off I go.

I hope that you enjoyed this tribute to my son, Jacob Austin Bornemann. What an intriguing young man he has turned into. Thanks, Lord, for this youngest child who managed to survive the epidemic of miscarriages we endured here. Thanks, Lord, for Jacob's life. Thanks, Lord, for ALL LIFE!!!!! What a pricelss gift it is!