Jamie

(no names have been changed to protect the innocent:) Our first born. It was a warm day in June when I first met the black headed blue eyed baby that stole my heart and breath away.  Every child born afterward brought a special glow to my heart, but that first one, how do you even describe the feelings?  He smiled in his first picture.  A lopsided grin that said "Hey world I'm here. Prepare to be dazzled!"  And dazzled we were.  Laughing, happy, loving, excited. Jamie was always excited about life, everything was cool and neat. I have an entire video tape of his 5th year birthday where mostly what he did was jump around and sing "la la la la da da la la la".  He talked constantly (and still does), I got into the habit of tuning him out, and that aggravated him, "Mommy, Mommy, do you hear me Mommy? Ok Mommy? Ok?" He would tug at me, and stand directly in front of me.  He would lean on me when I was on the phone and ask me who I was talking to, what was I talking about. He liked to have our full attention. Just the other day on the phone he says, "Are you listening to me MOM? You seem distracted?"  You have to throw a comment in there every once in a while or he thinks you aren't listening.  Jamie was passionate too, about a lot of things, but mostly Passsionate about God. When he was 8 he got saved, baptised and announced to us that he was going to be a Preacher of God's word.   Wow! OK. But he never ever deviated from that. At age 12 he preached his first sermon and throughout his high school years- he preached and went to Nationals 3 times with his sermons, and applied to Central Bible College in Springfield Missouri and that was it. No other schools did he apply for.  His freshman year My Dad got sick and was sick for 2 years. His junior year (october) My Dad passed away (another time for that) and Jamie came home and preached the funeral. That was his 2nd Funeral to preach that year, in Feb he had preached his other Grandfathers.   So in January of his junior year he decided to take a break from school. He was worried about my Mom, his mamaw, who was alone for the first time in 51 years. She lived in the same town as I did, they had moved to be close to me when my Dad got sick.  Jamie comes home and moves in with her, got a job, and lived with her for almost 3 years.  Then in 2008 he and his sister go back to springfield to college so he can finish up and she can start, again at Central Bible College. Jamie thrived in school, he always loved to learn and was excited to be finishing his degree, Pastoral Studies. During his last stint in school he got to thinking about his future and a family. Until then he had been single minded about study and school. He rarely dated throughout high school and college. He wanted to be pure when he married and didn't want a lot of past baggage to deal with, so he kept his mind on school work and politics, another of his passions.  But in that last year of school he was talking to some girls and talking to some on the internet. What do you think of the internet dating? I admit I was leary, but I was explained to many times it's like a blind date, but you get to know them better (if they are truthful I would say.) Why wouldn't they be truthful, he would ask, my honest son who didn't fathom deciet in people.   I guess the first time he told me he was going to marry someone of different nationality was when he was fifteen. "Why?" I asked him. "I like different culture." He would say, "Would it be weird for you Mom if I married someone different?" "Jamie you know it will be hard to marry someone of a different race or culture." "Are you prejudice Mom? How would it be hard?" And I never had a suitable answer.  "
God loves everyone Mom, he loves me and he loves asian people, and mexican people, and hawaiin people and african people and everyone." And I had to admit yes he did.  So it never surprised me to learn that Jamie was talking to a girl that lived in India. But she was in India and it seemed like that was just another friend he had made, until May of 2009 and he went to Florida for his internship.   The relationship intensified and miracles started to happen.  "Gifty is coming to America." He told me one day on the phone. "She got a visa for school and starts school in August in Philadelpha, and I'm going to go meet her." They had been talking for several months at that point and I realized there was something different going on. There was light in his voice, happiness that otherwise wasn't there, and excitement again.  In October he flew from Springfield to meet her, and called me when he got home. "I'm going to ask her to marry me."  By this time my daughter was already engaged, and the thought of  another child marrying was sending me spinning. Everything was happening fast in my life in 2009. I said we want to meet her, and he brought her home for thanksgiving.

I had misgivings, I was concerned that this happened so fast, she was from India, we didn't know her family, lots of thoughts and worries crossed my mind, but two minutes after that beautiful girl walked into my home I fell in love with her too. Seeing them together, watching them make each other laugh, listening to her talk and seeing the same love she had for the Lord my son did calmed every fear I had. They were made for one another.  What an exciting year 2010 was going to be!