Jacob's Secret to Youth... Happy Birthday!

Guess who else is having a birthday??? Yup, Jacob and his mom actually share a birthday! Happy Birthday to my sweet Jacobo. I'll hopefully be posting more about our celebrating after the fact, when I've taken some pictures. I do want to share this though... just to show what an awesome man I was lucky enough to marry.

Two nights ago, after a long and frustrating day during which my actions/ reactions to misbehaving children were less than stellar, I sat down to read the General Conference Ensign. I came to a talk titled "Come What May, and Love It" by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. He says, "Over the years I have learned a few things that have helped me through times of testing and trial. I would like to share them with you..." The first piece of advice that Elder Wirthlin gives is "Learn to laugh." I read this section and immediately, I was filled with gratitude for a husband who knows how to do this. My mind was filled with many examples of Jacob doing this - both recent and not so recent.

Every single school day, when we pick Jacob up from work, one or both of the boys go outside and play in the snow and Ziya gets out of her car seat and plays inside the car. When Jacob comes out of school and is ready to go, we have issues getting everybody back in the car and back into their seatbelts. At this point in the day, I'm usually hungry, tired of being in the car and just ready to get home. So I get mad, very mad. Jacob, on the other hand has just exited his long day of work where a lot of times he deals with resistant, rude and disrespectful students. So what does he do when his own kids start to act this way? He laughs. And eventually he makes the kids laugh, too, and we get on our merry way. Thank you, Jacob.

Jacob has always made me laugh. He has made our own times of "testing and trial" (both big and small) easier through his laughter. What's more is that he does this for everybody around him. I'm thankful for such a great husband who teaches me much. I hope to laugh much on his birthday and on many days to come... cause I'm sure that he will!