Gimme a "J", Gimme a "A", Gimme a "R", Gimme a "E", Gimme a "D"

I've been having a LOUSY couple of days..I'm in the middle of the hurricane part of the "when it rains it pours" episode of the century. Ok, exaggeration there, but it has been pretty crappy. My friends see this and offer their support and help, and I appreciate it greatly! There's really nothing that can be "helped" at this point, but it's great to know they are there for me!

I was blogging, as I do frequently, to make myself feel better, and saw I had a comment from a "Jared." Now, I don't know if it's him for sure, but I'm thinking the note that cheered me right up even if for just a little while, came from

<-------THIS handsome devil!

This is my nephew Jared. He is the only child of my only brother and is a sweetie! He is the only one of my nephews, and nieces now that I think of it, that will still show affection (ok, maybe not nieces-Chelsea is pretty generous with hugs and Tori is quick to give an affectionate ORG!), but definitely nephews for sure! He is the huggiest and kissiest kid I know! He has a wonderful sense of humor, and at least acts like he gets mine!

We don't exactly live near each other, so when we get together, it's a real treat! Sometimes he'll stay for a couple days in the summer or over breaks and we rummage through my craft crap to find something to do. We made these AWESOME bird houses last year when he was here, he brought a bagillion popsicle sticks with him and we went to town!

Jared was born early, two months and one day early (the one day is because if he had been born one day later, we'd share a birthday!) But he was a couple months early and was pretty small. He had to stay in the hospital extra time and that was hard for all of us! But he is a healthy pre-teen (WAAAHHHHHH!!) now. I have to tell you about the "warming of the cockles of my heart" episode I had with Jared when he was just an infant. I was holding him in the rocker, and singing to him. I was sort of holding him on one of my legs, so I should look at him, and he could look back. As I rocked and sang...His little eyes closed slowly and he fell asleep in my hands. I cried.

Jared shares my (and all of my family except Dillon's) enthusiasm for the Steelers. I don't think Jared and I have EVER had a problem with not haveing something to talk about! We have just that much in common. The picture up there (in case you can't see the big metal object behind him) was taken in Philadelphia when he came with us to Nationals (Gymnastics) last year, it was AWESOME that he got to come with us, and we had soooooo much fun!

Well, I just hope Jared knows that I think it's great that he cares enough to read my blog to see what's going on in my life, and that I love him more than I could ever try to type on here.

HUGS and KISSES to you Jared!!!