Big Brother Bear

All of the children are absolutely darling with Luke (well, not really Ezra, but someday! :). Julia has a special relationship with Luke and he connects with her because she is so nurturing and loving with him and he feels it. Adam is adorable with Luke because he always wants to help & is so faithful in his prayers every day that "Luke will learn how to talk" & "Luke will know that we love him", etc. Adam is sincerely one of the most willing spirits I know. And even though Ezra and Luke don't get along, Ezra is so cute about bringing us Luke's processors when he takes them off. He knows just what to do!

Jack has always reminded me of a bear, from the time he was a newborn. When he was just a baby he was a chubby little cubby bear and he has remained a teddy bear (I don't think he would like that description, but it's true!). Luke is sharing a room with Jack and Jack is wonderful at living up to the big brother bear role. He will sit right next to Luke while they both look at books because he knows that Luke likes having someone right, snug by him while he's sitting. When Luke runs, he wants to run & he especially prefers if he feels like someone is playing chase with him. So, Jack will run around the backyard with Luke over and over again yelling "aahhh" like he's going to catch up with Luke as Luke laughs hysterically at this game.

I went to Jack's parent teacher conference after Jack had only been in school for a few days & his teacher just gushed about him and told me a story that made me so happy, but didn't really surprise me. She said that she was explaining to Jack that a little boy comes into their class in the afternoons with a service dog and she started to say to Jack that he might not act the way you would expect a 3rd grader to act and Jack held out his hand in a stopping gesture and said, "You don't have to explain, I have a really neat little brother named Luke that has special needs, I get it." There are many days still that this story would make me burst into tears because I still believe that Luke will progress out of several of his needs. But, I absolutely love that Jack sooo gets it.

Things with Luke have been really difficult and emotionally challenging lately, but I absolutely love that child so much and I am so thankful that I, along with Aaron and our children feel the magnitude of Luke's spirit on a daily basis.

I have been really struck lately with the lessons that the children are learning from all of this. Among those, I am so thankful that Jack is rising to the challenge of being that big brother bear!