Living Out the Redemption Process in Preschool

"I don't want it," she said. Her stuffed toy elephant was worthless to her, ready to be discarded. He had served his purpose, she had had her fun, and now Miriam was willing to toss him away. So into the "Giveaway" bag he went.

Jill's eyes grew wide with horror. Not the Lell-funt! She loved the Lell-funt. "I want him!" she cried. As long as she had been alive, she had known the Lell-funt. She was not willing for him to disappear from her future.

But the rule is nothing comes back from Giveaway for free. It must be redeemed at a cost. What, dear Jill, would you be willing to give in order to purchase Lell-funt back from Giveaway, to which he had been doomed by his former master?

She searched. It wasn't easy. Every toy has some special significance, some attachment. Sheep? No. Not Sheepy. "Sheepy needs me." Blue Baby? "Oh, no. Not Blue Baby." He's too little anyway. Hardly an even trade.

Finally she settled on something of value great enough to purchase back Lell-funt from Doom and Eternal Separation. And joyfully, she went off celebrating their restoration.

But a dark cloud of gloom spread over Miriam's face as she saw Jill's pleasure with the restored Lell-funt. "Can I sleep with him tonight?" she asked. "No," I said. "He is no longer yours. Jill bought him back at a price. She redeemed him from the pit. He is hers. You are no longer his master. You have no claim on him any longer."

And then, you know what broke loose. All of it. Uh huh. "But he was MINE! I want him BACK!"

Firmly, "No. The deal is done. He has been bought with a price. And nothing will separate him now from the love of Jill."

OK, so it's not a perfect example. But it was close enough for some application, and we'll remember this and revisit this example again, I'm sure. In fact, I don't think I'll ever look at Lell-funt again in quite the same way myself. I won't say it's quite like looking in a mirror, but maybe you know what I mean.

****March 21, 2013: There is now a Part II to the story of Lell-Funt. Follow this link to read the next installment:
Glorification

A Few Images from the 2010 Mountain State Fair

Miriam and Jill take on the motorcycles.

Jane and Mary, finally tall enough to ride the MoonRocket--a roller coaster that goes completely upside down.

Yes, my child is up there.

Looks like a good time was had by all. What a thrill!

Emma and Elizabeth getting in some practice for their learner's permits.

A Tribute to Childhood Friendship

From the time they were old enough to talk, “Jay-ub” and “Meee-umm” were the best of buddies. More than once we heard that the two had to be separated in the nursery for fighting. They grieved the separation far more than the wounds inflicted.

“Miriam, will you play nice at nursery today?” we would ask each week.

“Oh, yes!” was her happy reply.

“Miriam, are you going to hit Jacob?”

“Oh, YES!”

And so it went. A rough-and-tumble fellowship of diaper-clad tots, each able to take it on the chin and come up smiling.

Then came the dreadful announcement about two years ago that Jacob’s family would be moving away. How much can a three-year-old really understand about the depths of friendship and the loss of it?

I daresay the answer is that the understanding runs deeper than we give them credit for.

I will never forget the going-away gathering our church held for the Caines family that summer. While the adults and older kids were providing the audience for a series of amateur performances—skits, poetry readings, sing-alongs—to honor and “roast” the family, little Jacob got up, walked across in front of the entire group, and held out his pudgy little hand to Miriam. No words were said, but she just extended her own tiny hand to take his, and the two left the room together. Both smiling sweetly at each other, he led her down the hall and into the nursery playroom. We all watched them go, and I found myself thinking, “I wonder if he’ll come back for her again just that way in another 15-20 years.”

This weekend, we were blessed with a too-short visit while Sarah and the kids were traveling through.

Miriam, now five, got dressed three times in anticipation of seeing her friend again. First, she chose a casual but nice outfit. That lasted about a half hour. She then decided that she wanted to “look pretty for Jacob,” and so she changed into a lovely dress and had me braid her hair. For the next hour, that was satisfactory, but Miriam will be Miriam. Just before time to leave to meet them, she rushed to her room once more and came out in old jean shorts and a shirt reserved for crafts and gardening, unmatched socks, and her old sneakers. With her chin held high, she announced, “I changed my mind. I want to play HARD!”

That’s my girl. Don’t miss out on life by trying to impress with beauty that is passing. Remember to “play HARD!”

It was so good to see our friends again, and to see “Jay-ub” and “Meee-ummm” still friends, though maybe not quite as focused on each other as they were at one time. I know the day is coming when he’ll likely find girls icky and want to surround himself only with other little boys. My mother’s heart hurts a little thinking ahead to that, but I would venture that with a little more time passing, he’ll likely get over that and come to his senses again.

They say that true friends can always pick right back up where they left off, no matter how much time passes between them. I know that to be the case in my own experience. And a part of me is really hoping it will be that way for them, too.

Jill at 2 years old

I think it is entirely possible that she is going to be a stand-up comedienne.

A Few More December 2008 Memories Before We Close This Month

Bill turns 40--just 9 days after Rebecca!

Jane makes his cake (with a little help from Mom).

A visit to the Grove Park Inn...

...complete with award-winning gingerbread houses on display.






Scenes from our visit to SC, to see...

Waiting for the word "go!"

A great gift from Uncle Kevin and Aunt Sumer.

Miriam catches her first fish.


...Grandmama, Granddaddy, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Sumer, Great-Grandmama, Uncle Sammy and Aunt Lillian, and Tina Franklin and Patti.



A Christmas tap dance.

"The Griswalds'" house next door. Our den window is just in line with their well-lighted roofline. "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you keep us up tonight...!" The kids loved it.

Jack O'Brien makes his entrance.

The girls all surround him. A foreshadowing of days to come?

Mom Cathy is THE best-looking 5-days post-partum woman I've ever seen.

Jack and Jill.

Christmas Eve making sugar-cookie men.

An-tiss-ih-pay-yay-shun!

A visit from Mee-Maw.

The American Girl dolls are the best dressed among us. A beautiful two-piece outfit Mayron found at a craft fair in Virginia.


Christmas morning scene at our house while the children are nestled all snug in their beds.

Competition heats up.

Collin and Melissa celebrate their first anniversary.

Jill really loves her bath. She can't wait...literally can not wait...for the next one.

Will Make-Believe Ever Really Do?

Miriam keeps telling me that she wants a kitchen for Christmas.

I was thinking of something along the lines of this:

But today, I find her and Jill doing this:

Makes me wonder if what I had in mind will do at all.

God Is So Good!

When you ask godly people to pray, you get action! I'm amazed at how good God has been to our little Jane in the last two months.

Three times this summer and once last fall, Jane suffered debilitating headaches with vomiting. We took her to a neurologist who was concerned because the headaches didn't fit a typical pattern for childhood migraines. He was also mildly interested in her stature, which is far below that of her peers. She had grown only one inch in the last year.

An MRI showed, however, that there was nothing out of the order structurally in her head. An EEG showed normal brain activity.

Since we asked people to pray for Jane, she has not experienced a single headache. And today, I measured her. This is just unbelievable, but she has grown a full inch (maybe an inch plus a sixteenth!) in the last 6 weeks!

What makes this so fantastic is that we were told NOT to expect her to enter a growth spurt! She had a wrist x-ray last year this time to determine her bone age and we were told she was exactly on target for her age. That meant, or so the pediatrician said, that she wasn't likely to have a late onset growth spurt to help bring her up to a more consistent height with other kids her age.

And yet, here we have what can only be considered a real growth spurt, since she's grown as much in the last 6 weeks as she had in the entire year before that!

Ask and it shall be given. I'm convinced we just don't ask earnestly and often enough. We know it is God's will to do good for Jane. We asked, and he answered. Pretty cool stuff, huh?