We are parents to a beautiful little boy.  We couldn't be happier.  This is our story.

My name is George Glenn Jones (no joke: my daddy was a huge fan of the country singer, so he named me after him); I live with my wife, Marcella (nickname is Marci) and our son, Ethan Glenn, in Poteet, Texas.  Ethan is our pride and joy, our everything: we cannot imagine life without him.

Life, however, tried to throw us a curveball.  You see, Ethan was born with spina bifida.  We were devastated: any dreams we had for our son vanished instantly.

We were determined to give our son a normal life, or as normal as possible, given the circumstances.  We wanted him to experience life to the full, so that is exactly what we have done.  Ethan Glenn is now six years old and has an active, happy life. He plays baseball on a Pee Wee Little League team for kids with disabilities, he attends concerts (the last one was George Jones, three months ago), plays on the computer (kid can teach me, his old man, a thing or two: Ethan's as smart as a whip!), attends church every Sunday (and again on Wednesday), plays with his friends, and loves to draw and color.  He is as happy as they come, even with everything he has had to face in life.

We are normally a very happy bunch, but todya I am sad: my hero, George Jones, the man I was named after by my daddy, passed away today; I still cannot believe that he is gone.  He was 81; he had been in the hospital in Nashville with irregular blood pressure and a fever, and this morning, he died.  He also had pneumonia a few times.  I am walking around in a daze and so is Marci, but our son continues to enjoy life and is not yet fully aware of what has happened.  Small blessings, I suppose, but as for Marci and myself, we are both numb with shock.

Anyway, when Ethan grows up, he wants to be a scientist or a "computer expert" or a singer, in case the other two don't work out.  (That is what he told us the other day.)

Well, it is time for me to fix our little goober his meal, so I will go.  Take care and God bless; thansk for listening to my story.  Our little guy is certainly our biggest little blessing!

~George G. Jones, Poteet, Texas.