Jaydn's Birthday Party

Last year in November Jaydn said he wanted to have his 6th birthday party at the beach. Well, that's where it was.

But for some reason, rain likes to come on Saturdays. Probably 7 out of every 10 Saturdays that we have been here it has rained during the day on Saturday. Sometimes it puts a damper (pardon the pun) on our beach plans; other times it doesn't.

So, before we left, we got some phone calls from people that were planning on coming to the party. "Are we still having the party?" they would say. I was a little skeptical about the weather myself. However, we went to the beach, hoping for the best.

When we got there, it was still raining pretty hard. So Jessi suggested that Jaydn pray that the rain stop, or at least become manageable for a birthday party with cake and ice cream.

Jaydn prayed, and we waited. We were early, so we didn't have to set up yet. The party started at 1:00 pm. At 12:45 am, still heavy rain. 12:50 - rain. 12:55 - still raining.

We got out to set up after one of our friends told us they had brought a large beach umbrella. After setting up, several of Jaydn's friends arrived. And the rain slowly, but surely, went away. We still ate birthday cake in light sprinkles. But after 15 minutes, we were ready to get in the water. And there was no rain.

It goes to show that God considers even a young boy's prayer. About his birthday party. It matters to Him.

Jaydn wanted to open presents in front of everybody. I really don't like this part of birthdays, because it seems to always culminate in one young child getting their feelings hurt. But everything went off without a hitch.

Cute babies were there, too.

Jaydn and I went out snorkeling together for a while. Jaydn has really overcome any fears of the water, and he goes out quite far with me. At one point, he told me he wanted to go back in. We made our way back, which requires that we swim through an opening with coral on either side. We soon realized that, although it was rather easy getting out to where we were, getting back was difficult; the current was moving against us, and the only way to get back was to swim against the current. Jaydn and I were getting quite tired.

Then, Jaydn popped his head up to see where we were, and noticed that the way were were moving was not in a straight line toward the beach. He told me that he wanted to go "that way." I knew that, if we went the direction Jaydn wanted to go, we'd get stuck in the coral and probably get all scraped up. So I continued the direction we were going, pulling Jaydn with me. He persisted. "I want to go that way!" When you're in 30+ feet of water, you have no time to explain why you have to go in a certain direction!

Struggling with Jaydn while at the same time trudging forward against the current was really taking the wind out of me. At one point, I could feel a chill of fear move through me; if we continued like this, we might not be able to make it back. At this point, Jaydn was crying; he was mad that I wouldn't go his direction. I grabbed him and swam over to the closest coral I could stand on and keep my head out of the water. We stood up and I explained--forcefully, yet lovingly--why we needed to go through the opening and not over the coral. Finally, Jaydn agreed, and we went forward. Catching that breath was enough for me to make it back in.

I'm not a good swimmer. Not by a long shot. Just like I'm not a perfect dad. But I hope that Jaydn learned a lesson that day. I hope he learned that I will never lead him astray, and that he can trust me. I could see something he couldn't see at the time. Perhaps it's the same way with another Father.