Hello from the Jackson family in Kingsport, Tennessee!
Up 'til now, my wife, Bertina, has been doing all the writing. You haven't heard from me, her husband. Thought I would share my side of the story.
My name is Jacob. I work nights as a janitor at Kingsport Medical Center. I have been doing this for over ten years now. I enjoy my job; it pays the bills (but lately, it's getting harder, what with the gas prices on the up and up, and everything else going up as a direct result of this). My wife, meanwhile, stays home with the children and is a homeschool instructor: she teaches the children at home because we don't like what they are teaching in a lot of the mainstream public school systems.
We have four beautiful children: one boy (Cordarial Michael, who will be ten in a few months, in July), and three lovely daughters (Countess Marie, 15; Ciara Lyna'e', 11; and Cyanne Tyree', who is only six). They are our world, our everything, our reason for living.
The girls, I am happy to say, are bursting with health. Meanwhile, our son has an "autism spectrum disorder". He hasn't really been diagnosed with autism; he just has some of the symptoms. In addition, he is developmentally delayed and has known learning disabilities, so he is seemingly more younger than a lot of his peers, in terms of behavioral or developmental issues.
Happily, Cordarial is improving; he has really been working hard to improve his behavior, but sometimes he forgets. He really doesn't function well when there are large groups of people, so when we go to the mall, we have to make it as quick as possible, or else he will "lose it" and go out of control. The same applies to church, but at church, he will sit in the lobby (his older sister Countess joins him, so he isn't by himself), where he will listen to the praise/worship music and the preaching.
Speaking of church, the Easter Cantata went smoothly. My wife, who played the part of Jesus' mother, Mary, did a great job, and our two older daughters, Countess and Ciara, sang like a pair of angels. Cyanne, our baby girl, did a great job too; we were proud of all of our daughters.
After church ended that day, we went out to Shoney's, where the kids got to eat hamburgers, salads, and fries, and we got to eat chicken, collard greens, seasoned baked potatoes, salads, and for dessert, homemade apple cobbler. It was very delicious. Then we went to the park, where the kids ran off some of their pent-up energy, and where we had an Easter egg hunt. (Cordarial won: he found the biggest number of eggs.)
A few days later, we were hiding in the basement, hiding from seevere weather, including the threat of tornadoes. There weren't any near us, but there were some east and south of where we lived; the tornado sirens kept sounding off and on all day (mostly on, it seemed). The kids were very frightened, and we weren't far behind them. Turns out over 300 people died as a result of the deadly tornado outbreak; it was a very bad day all around.
Well, I hate to run, but I have to go to the store. We're low on bread, millk, eggs, bottled water, and several other items. We're also out of cat food, and our cat, "Stinky" (Ragdoll cat), has been meowing nonstop to feed him. LOL I'd better get him some food, or else he might chew on my leg next. LOL Until later, this is Jacob Jackson saying so long; may God bless you abundantly!
~Jacob.
~To be continued.~
