Rejoicing-The Lost Is Found!

My younger daughter has been sad over losing something very precious to her.... for about 2 years now.... maybe a bit longer. Oh, she has laughed and played and had fun during that time... she hasn't been mad or withdrawn. She hasn't complained about it and I didn't even know about it for a while. After I found out, I was also sad for her, because I knew how very much these meant to her. It was even more sad to me that she bravely accepted the loss and grieved alone. Well, in the last week, the lost was found.... and we are rejoicing!!!! :)

A couple of years ago, we scraped the popcorn ceilings off and painted ALL of the bedrooms - ceilings and walls. Then we had a graduation party.... with no carpeting, only the subflooring.... and we lived with the rooms that way for quite a while..........then a couple of months later, we had new carpeting put in. SO.. this meant that ALL of the bedrooms had to be emptied .... TWICE.... and the second time it happened... they ALL had to be emptied... AT THE SAME TIME.... even the closets!!! That was 4 bedrooms...and beds, dressers, clothes, shoes, books, toys, EVERYTHING for all of us... from 4 bedrooms! Can you tell that it was a lot of work and a bit traumatic?! We had stuff in the basement, the attic, the family room, the garage, the living room. We were quite organized the first time... but by the second time, not so much. There were things in bags and boxes... some things were labeled and some not. It was a LOT of hauling around... up and down stairs. I am SO glad that is over!!!!!

 Anyway, my younger daughter kept a few of her babies (these were not dolls to her... they were her babies!) out to sleep with each night, then she sorrowfully put others in a bag to be moved with all of the stuff.

When the projects were all done and the carpet in and everything back in order (mostly), we were relieved. However, I didn't yet know about the missing babies.... I found out a few weeks later and we searched and asked all of the guys, but they couldn't be located. I cried with my daughter about it more than once and I started praying.

 The longer these were lost, the more hopeless it seemed and my daughter became convinced that they had been thrown out.... they were in a bag and we donated or threw out many things in this time. This is part of why her grieving was so strong.... she finally told me that she hoped at least these went to the thrift store so that some other girl could enjoy them. That melted my heart...and I kept praying.... but I started praying that God would provide more of these dolls...similar ones... at garage sales, so that I could at least give her some more dolls..... but I never found anything that would work and time went on.

These dolls may not have been special to anyone else, but they were to my daughter... ever since she was little, she carried a baby... EVERYWHERE with her. :)  It was cute...and frustrating at times. There were times, I had to tell her to put her baby down for a nap and do her chores with both hands. She took one or two to church each week(yes, I limited it! :)

At church each week, we have a time of prayer at the end of the service and most of us kneel during that time. When she was little, she started putting her babies in a kneeling position against the back of the pew and had their little hands together. She was training her babies. :) Precious. Well, anyway, the babies were gone... for good, we assumed.

Then one day a couple of weeks ago, while another project was happening... my sons are working on storage areas in the attic... it is going to be great.. and there will probably be a blog post about it in the future! :)  Anyway, in moving stuff in the attic and doing this project... one of our sons found them. He didn't realize it was that big of a deal... I did though, and took the bag right down to my daughter and we pulled all of those babies out..... and rejoiced.

She carried them down to the sofa and sat for a few minutes, hugging them all. :)

She really is too big for the dolls now... and she loves the babies at church, so her doll babies just aren't the same to her as they used to be, but she is still so glad to have them back. Will she be carrying them around and playing with them? No, but yesterday she was organizing them on a small display hutch I gave to her.... and they are in her room... all safe and sound. :)

Now this may all seem quite trivial.... and believe me, her brothers just don't "get it"! They can't understand WHY this was such a big deal. Even her dad asked, "Well, doesn't she still have a couple of dolls?" He didn't get it either. :)  She has cared for these dolls..... and since she was really little, she has been learning how to be a mother... how to care for little ones......   I never liked dolls... at all... until I had my first daughter (Wholesome Joy). I grew up the oldest of 5 children and due to my mom's illness, I had to be a second mom to siblings... it wasn't any fun playing with dolls... I had real babies to care for.... and I was glad my daughters could enjoy their dolls for a time.

I think part of why this all bothered her so much was that she felt responsible for those "babies" and she felt she had lost them, let them down. A mother cares for her children.... and though these were only dolls, they were her pretend children. I am so glad we have found them. I am so glad that my daughter can rejoice in finding these, and also put them aside... as she continues to grow up. She still brings a doll out for little girls who visit... they all know she has babies... and look up to her and like to play with her babies. She is wonderful with the little ones at church and I love seeing her tender heart. She will be a good mother someday.

Is any of this important? Well, in some ways, no... it's just a little thing, but God does care...even about little things that affect our lives. His plans are perfect.... He knew where those dolls were all this time and He could have revealed them a lot earlier, but He didn't. Why? I don't know.... but I know there was a reason...