Friday, January 23, 2015

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 she hasn't been mad or withdrawn.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...




27 comments:

  1. Thank you.... I was hoping it would be one that people would understand and appreciate this. :) God does work... even in little things. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  2. Sweet words to describe your sweet children. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Thank you... so nice to have you visit and comment. :)

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  3. Yay! I'm sure she'll always remember finding these dolls and it will give her hope for other things in the future!

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    1. I think so also.... even little things can mean much. :) Thank you for visiting.

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  4. Beautiful story to illustrate how God teaches us through ordinary moments in our lives. Thank you for sharing at The Weekend Brew.

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    1. Thank you... He does use so many little things to teach us wonderful things. :) Glad you visited.

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    1. I'm glad. :) Thank you for visiting... nice to have you. :)

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  6. Oh what a cute story! I love dolls and have a collection so I can sympathize. I'm so happy the babies were found.

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    1. Thank you.... we sure are also. I'm so glad you stopped by. :)

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  7. Awww... what a sweet story! Thank you for sharing. Blessings and hugs to you!

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    1. It is so precious to me. :) Thank you for joining me for it... so nice of you to visit. :)

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  8. Having a daughter, I can relate. We would find diaper bags and piles of real clothes for her dolls at yard sales. She still has one doll and several clothes. One day, Lord willing, she will give the doll and clothes to her daughter.
    Thanks for sharing at So Much At Home.
    Chris

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    1. Garage sales are a huge blessing to find clothes for dolls at a great price... especially since my daughters have loved the doll babies that LOOK like real babies and have had several that were the size of real babies. :) Thank you for visiting and commenting.... I appreciate the link up party.

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  9. Awe what a sweet story. God cares about the little things. I'm so glad these babies were found. Some day she will hopefully be able to pass them down to her daughters and tell them the story. Wonderful!

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    1. Thank you... I am also so glad she has those babies back.... she is so nurturing already, I am sure she will share many things with her children - that will be fun. Thank you for stopping by. :)

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  10. What a sweet story. My husband has always taught our children when they lose something that it's never too small for them to pray and ask God to help them find it. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. Either way it's a good life lesson. It's so nice to read about a little girl who loved her baby dolls. It doesn't seem like many girls play with baby dolls anymore.

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    1. Thank you... yes, that is the first thing I ask our kids also... "Did you ask God where it is? He knows..." and sometimes I also pray with them... now they usually do it on their own and it is a habit I love for us to have. :) I have found it sad that not many little girls play with baby dolls anymore... and the dolls that are mass produced tend to be quite ugly, with distorted features. Thank you for visiting. :)

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  11. This is just one of the most precious posts...EVER...I just loved it. Bless her little heart...I would have been crying my eyes out over losing such BEAUTIFUL babies....so so glad they've been found.

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    1. What a sweet sweet comment! :) I am so glad you stopped by. :)

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  12. What a great post, God does care about the little things. Thanks for sharing at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings.

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    1. He sure does... Thank you for visiting... I appreciate your comment. :)

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  13. I had a doll that was given to me when my parents brought me back from the hospital. And I slept with her every night when I was little. She was THE doll for me. When I got older I put her to the attick at my parents house for safekeeping. Until I would have my own house and my own family.
    Then my parents were doing some remodeling at their house. My dad emptied the attick, saw the doll, and some other dolls and toys, thought they looked really old and worn, and nobody was playing with them anyways. So he threw them away.
    I know it's just a doll, and material thing. But it had so many memories attached to it. I really wanted to keep it for my own babies one day. It was hard, and I was over twenty at the time. So I can totally relate with your daughter. It's hard and it makes you cry because they are not just dolls, they are memories and emotions too.

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    1. Wow! What a story... and what a loss.... I'm so sorry. It is a good reminder to us as parents, to be careful what we throw away..... and also that we need to be quick to forgive when something precious gets thrown away. Thank you for visiting and for sharing this.

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  14. Precious. He invites us to cast ALL our cares on Him, doesn't He? How rarely we take up Him on that beautiful invitation. Thanks for sharing this at Grace & Truth!

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    1. That's true... and we should be quick to do that first. :) Thank you for visiitng and for the blog party.

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