JAKE'S STORY

I loved you the minute I knew I was pregnant. I loved you the minute you were born. Then I saw your face and fell in love some more. You were only a minute old but I knew I would die for you & to this day I still would. When you choose to have a child you make a conscious decision to allow your heart to walk around outside your body. Then if something happens to that child and you have to bury him a part of you dies with him

Jake was my youngest son who was killed on June 17, 2010. He was 40 years old but still "my baby". Left to tell his story are Mollye and Mike, Jake's mom and step-father; Skip and Jill, his dad and step-mother; his two sisters Lori and Shari, and his brother Buddy.

I hope you will get to know Jake as a person and what an awesome person he was. My wish is that you might leave here feeling just a bit more blessed from reading our memories of Jake our son, our brother and our friend.

The purpose aside from paying tribute to Jake is to honor those who were a part of Jake's life. Friends he loved and friends who loved him and who loved us through our heartbreak. I especially acknowledge in love Jake's Home Depot Family.

Thank You For Visiting Jake's Story and God Bless You, mizmollye

Thursday, August 19, 2010

THE LONLINESS OF A GIVING HEART (by Buddy Wendling)

Jake and I



In 2005 I came home. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that I ran home. I had to leave California and all of the trappings that it represented to me. I came home and with the help of my family I made a new home. I carved an existence out of the wilderness and was at times hungry, cold, hot, and always alone. But I never really was alone. I had my family. I had my parents and sisters, and I had my brother. My Brother was and always had been my best friend. It was such a pleasure to be near him again. We did things like went fishing, hunting, went to football games, and spent Saturdays at my mother’s helping her with projects around her and Mike’s home. I didn’t know it at the time, but those were the best days of my life.

This picture was taken of me with Sonny and Daisy Mae in my front yard there in the woods of Louisiana



In 2007 I met the woman who would later become my wife, and who lived in Alabama. We became serious toward each other and at first she would drive to my home and spend weekends with me. After some time I started driving to Alabama to spend time with her and the three wonderful children that she had sacrificed so much to raise on her own. Going to Alabama was no easy task. I would have to find time from work, rent a car, and then find someone to watch my place and care for my animals. That someone was always Jake, my Brother. Jake had a child like innocence as well as a child like faith. He loved animals and delighted in them almost as much as did I. I always had a garden, a yard full of chickens and turkeys, rabbits, and two dogs that I called my children. Sunny and Daisy May are and have been my children and I have always treated them as such. Allowing Jake to watch them was my way of giving him my greatest responsibility. I trusted him above all others. I would leave him detailed instructions and he would follow them to the letter. My animals were always loved and cared for as if I were there doing the job myself.




Jake would come and stay at my house and I would make sure that the pantry was stocked, for Jake loved to eat almost as much as he loved the Lord! The man had an appetite! These trips to Alabama went on for some time and Jake was always there, ready to sacrifice for me. He asked nothing in return and he gladly accepted each time I would ask him. I truly thought that he enjoyed being out there in the deep country, away from lights and city sounds, rude people, and all of the rest of the urban trappings.



It wasn’t until I returned from Alabama for what would be my last visit before I moved there that my mother told me something that Jake had told her. He told her that he just couldn’t understand how I did it. He said the freezer was indeed full of food but it was all game such as deer, rabbit, chicken, and fish. It all had to be cooked and Jake was more of a “open the can, pour it in the pan, heat it up-eat it up” kind of guy. I never knew that about him. Something else I never knew about him was how lonely he was out there. He told my mother “I just don’t know how Buddy does it, living out there like that. It’s just so lonely.”





I never even suspected that he felt so alone out there. He never let on. He just accepted the task and care took for me as if he were caring for his own home and animals. He just served with his heart, because that was the only way that Jake knew to be. He truly had a Servant’s Heart, in the way that Christ would want for us all to have. He served quietly and with love and devotion. He asked for nothing in return, yet he gave all that he could when he met someone in need. I don’t know if he knew it at the time, but he taught his big brother some things that I likely would never have learned had it not been for him. He taught me about giving. Not money or fancy presents, not coveted things gotten from monetary wealth. He taught me how to give of myself. He taught me that it is truly better to give all that you can, all that you have in order to better another person’s situation in life. He brought me closer to the Lord because of his gentle soul and caring ways. Jake’s greatest gift to me was the wondrous gift that I carry each day and that is the knowledge that someday I will see him again because he taught me what I needed to do to ensure that. I have since done so, and each day I try to be more like him, and to honor my loved ones and serve my Lord. I falter, and I do fail but I never stop trying because I know that like Jake, I am but a mere human. But knowing that I am not perfect and that he now is and why this is the case has made all of the difference. It is through child like faith the words of Jesus Christ and a servant’s heart that we gain our greatest accomplishment, eternity in paradise. I thank you Brother, for showing me the way.

This picture of Jake was made a year or so ago at Mom and Mike's

9 comments:

  1. What a wonderful tribute to Jake from is brother.
    God Bless him

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  2. I loved reading thes wise and beautiful words. Susie xx

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  3. I enjoyed reading about your relationship with Jake. He must have loved you very much. As I read, I couldn't help but imagine him at your place, caring for your animals, etc. I don't picture him lonely though... I prefer to visualize him thinking of you, wondering, maybe worrying, about you being lonely out there. He seems like a thinker to me. I'm enjoying getting to know Jake through this blog. He sounds like a really special guy.

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  4. What a precious post about selflessness. I am so greatful to have 2 brothers like you and Jake. I totallly agree with Jess.
    ou two had a very very sweet love for one another.
    i love you Buddy. I am so proud of you. I can see several ways that you are really growing spiritually.
    Praise God.
    Love Lori Gomez

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  5. I hate every second of every minute that I have to go on without him. I know it's not fair to my living loved ones, and for that I am sorry... but this isn't right, it should not be and I am angry about it. It's such a waste. There is no making sense of this, it's just terrible.

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  6. Oh this is so beautiful. You all have made me cry! There is absolutely nothing in this life like family. Hold them close and love them always. Anne

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  7. Very sorry to read about your loss,we just lost our 21 yr. old daughter in a auto accident on July 12th. I know how deep your pain is,I hope today can be a good one for you, take care, Gina

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  8. A very beautiful tribute for Jake. Thanks for sharing!

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We are so honored when you take time to comment on something Jake said, did or stood for. Thank You!