Jacob Marvin Simons was born to us, Nathan and Angel Simons, on March 28, 2001. He was 5 lbs 6 ½ oz. The doctor said he had a small cleft lip. When we actually saw him for the first time, small was not the word that came to mind. It was shocking to see this huge hole in my baby's face. He had a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Jacob also had a clubbed foot.

     When I first saw him I whispered to him through tears, “I am so sorry Jacob, what did I do?"  This was my thought for the first 24 hours.  Was it the ice tea I drank, was it the way I slept, was it my bath water being too hot?  What on earth caused this? My husband said he was shocked and wasn’t the happy new father that he wanted to be. After a few hours of shock we began to instantly love our little blessing.

     Jacob has had a total of four surgeries already. Lip repair when he was 3 months old, foot repair at 6 months, second foot repair at 8 months, and palate repair at 12 months. All were very successful repairs. You would never know Jacob had a clubbed foot it has been repair magnificently. His lip looks great and he has the most contagious smile.

     Jacob is small for his age not because of his cleft but because he is a product of his 5ft, 2in mom. Hopefully he catches up to his dad, 6ft, 2in. Jacob is very bright and seems to be right on schedule if not advanced with talking, walking, and everything else. If you tell Jacob he will struggle with something he will show you how easy it is. He is a complete joy to be around. He sings, dances, and talks nonstop.

     Looking back at the first year of his life, yes, it would have been nice not to deal with all the rough things, but I wouldn’t take back any of them if it helped make Jacob who he is now. I can’t express with words how much love we have for our little boy. He is our pride and joy and we have shown him off from the day we brought him home. God has truly blessed us with Jacob and we are lucky to be the chosen family for him!!! Thank you GOD!