Jonathan and Faith like Jonathan and David

Scott and I were dating when we decided we'd name a son Jonathan, after the Jonathan of the bible. Although not much is said about Jonathan in the bible, there are a couple of stories in which one can glean Jonathan's loyalty, his courage, his leadership, and his faith. Most people will recognize the infamous story of the friendship between Jonathan and David.

When we first had Faith, we didn't know Jonathan had Asperger's Syndrome; although, we did suspect that something was going on. Of course, as with any additional child, one wonders how the current children are going to talk the news and respond to a new sibling. Two days into our honeymoon we called to check on Joshua, who wanted to know if we "got him a baby brother yet." We laughed and said it didn't work that way. We'd find out shortly that we did in fact conceive Jonathan over our honeymoon. So there was no doubt Joshua was ready for a sibling. 

I really don't recall Jonathan asking too many questions about the pregnancy or his anticipation or anxiety. It wasn't until I was putting together Faith's baby book that I saw Jonathan was in every picture of Faith.

He's looking at Faith in both sets of pictures of grandparents holding their first granddaughter. He's in the picture of me holding Faith, Dad holding Faith and Joshua holding Faith. Little did I know this foreshadowed how protective of her he'd be. (Don't you love how he's holding E.T. like a baby? I have another post in mind for Jonathan and E.T.)

As an infant Faith would cry in the middle of the night to wake us up. If we didn't hear her or move fast enough, Jonathan was at his gate, which blocked his bedroom door, announcing, "Baby crying, baby crying."

One day we were at McDonalds and a stranger turned around in the line to look at infant Faith. Two year old and two foot tall Jonathan stepped in between me and the stranger and barked, "My sister!" The lady was taken aback and not too pleased. I was surprised too by Jonathan's behavior.

Another time when Faith was about 18 months, we were at Joshua's soccer game. At the time Faith was the only girl in our neighborhood of boys. I watched as Faith was surrounded by all the young boys, as if she was a princess holding court. Jonathan, about three and a half years old, ran around the outside of the circle with a stick he wielded like a sword. One of the little boys stood up from his seat and moved towards Faith. Jonathan was instantly inside the circle between the boy and Faith and yelling, "My sister!"

I found out towards the end of her kindergarten year that Jonathan walked her to class everyday, even though it was out of his way to his room.

I appreciate his protective behavior even now. Faith has a friend she plays with down the street. Our house is about 1000 feet off the main road as is her friend's house. I worry about the girls walking back and forth by themselves because neither set of parents can see what is happening on the main street. Someone up to no good could easily snatch the girls and be gone in an instance.

I ask Joshua (5'11 inches and 160 pounds) to go get his sister or to walk her to her friend's house and he'll give me a hard time. I ask Jonathan (4'11 inches and 60 pounds) to make sure Faith arrives safely at either destination, he'll say, "Sure!"

And my regular readers to the blog know how well the play together 95 percent of the time. I like to say, "They are each other's best friends and worst enemies." They are either thick as thieves or at each other's throat. There is no in between.