Gabriel Update: Hug from Jesus

Dear Gabriel,

You are amazing to me. I feel like your learning has just jumped up quite a few notches. You are reading on a first grade reading level right now! You are still not confident in your own skills. There are many times when you are afraid to sound something out because you don't want to be wrong. But most of the time you figure out the word and it is perfect!

We are working on your writing. It is coming, more than anything we are reading everyday and you are still working on Rusty and Rosy to help supplement everything else. I have been very particular about who you are hanging out with. Your friends Jake and Jaren from the neighborhood haven't been great friends lately and have been bullying you quite a bit. The problem is that your reactions are so out of control a lot of the time. Which is why they tease you so much. They like to know that they have so much control over you and your emotions. So we have been pulling back from that and you have been playing with other people when we go to park dates and such.

You are so obedient. You are so helpful. I love that about you. You are very aware and very coordinated. You are saying things that are just fascinating to me. you are a HUGE feeler. Last night when I was tucking you in you started to cry and you said, "Mom, I really need a hug. I mean... not from you, but I really need a hug from Jesus." And you just cried. You wanted that hug from Jesus so much! I told you that you could pray for him to give you a hug and you told me that you had already prayed for it. "I already prayed for him to come to me to give me a hug but I haven't seen him yet and I really need a hug from him." So I tried to explain to you that sometimes the hugs we get from Jesus we feel in our hearts more than we see him with our eyes. You thought about that quite a bit and seemed satisfied for a little while with that answer.

You will think about that answer a lot and then you will come to me again with your thoughts about it. Because that is how you are. You are an intense boy when it comes to what you feel.

You are building legos like crazy. The stuff you are building is AMAZING. It is really advanced stuff. I think you have an amazing engineering mind. We shall see how it unfolds and what you show your natural desires and talents are. But they are starting to come out and I love seeing that!

I love you,

Your Mom