Thursday, July 16, 2009

Happy

Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 4

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven: . . .

. . . a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance . . . "


Yesterday, we were enjoying a quiet afternoon of nothing-ness. You know what I mean. The kind of day that begs for literally nothing. No pool time. No games. No snacks. Just mindless staring off into space. Hours of laying across a bed reading a silly book. Or digging through a treasure box, fingering all your favorite special possessions.

In the middle of it all, I called the kids down to check in with them about something. LadyBug came scooting down the stairs, squinting at the sunlight streaming in the front door. Baby BlueEyes came down more slowly. Almost snail-like. With big tears in his pretty blue eyes. And tracks down either side of his nose.

I said to him, "BBE, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

He answered, "Nuthin. I'm okay."

Clearly, he was not.

I asked again, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I was lookin' through my treasure box and readin' the cards that you and Daddy and Miss K (his kids' church teacher) sent me while you wew in China. And it made me vewy saaaad!" And he promptly burst into more tears.

I am not kidding you. He was welling up and overcome by the cute little love notes that we left for him while we travelled to China in September to get Li'l Empress. IN SEPTEMBER, people! Oh my word. At this point, I have to confess that I was struggling to hold back the giggles. I mean, really. We've been to China and back. 10. Months. Ago.

But my little guy is a sensitive sort. And snorting my iced tea in his face would have left permanent scars. On his great big generous heart. So I withheld the laughs. The older brothers, sniggering in the kitchen behind the pantry, had no such crisis of conscience.

I took a deep breath and gave my little man a great big hug. I sympathized with him over the sadness of being apart for 16 (and a 1/2!) days. Last year. And I turned him to the concerned, curious face of his little sister.

"Remember, the sadness was only for a few short days. The joy and the love that came out of it is forever, buddy. Forever!"

Li'l Empress promptly laid hands on BBE, thinking he must have a very big boo-boo and prayed for him. At which point, I wanted to burst into tears.

Bowing her head and closing her eyes tightly, "Gobbedly, goboodle, etwa, Ahhhh-buh." Inner healing prayer ministry in the foyer.

Then Shaggy reminded Li'l Empress to pray for BBE to be happy.

Laying her chubby little hands on him again "Obwah, gobbbul, HAH-PPY, Ahhh-buh."

There. That should do it. She prayed for BBE to be happy. And now he is. And so am I.

I'm so glad this is our time to laugh and to dance.



Side note: She learned to say "happy" yesterday.
And we've been making her say it all day.
Cuz it makes us all, well, happy.
Happy is a sweet, sweet sound.


6 comments:

Unknown said...

That is such a cute little story. Thanks for sharing it. I needed a little happiness sent my way.

Salzwedel Family said...

What a precious story! It made me feel HAPPY just reading it.

Aus said...

I just love days like that - and it's so cool to see each of them grow in their own way. Your BBE is our Carl - but it's all good there too! Regardless - I must mention - I have a couple busy days and you post on both of them - I have some down time and am checking blogs regularly and you don't post....I'm wondering - what's up with that? :)

Still - love to read you guys! hugs - aus and co.

Our Journey to Rachel said...

OMG, how incredibly sweet. I loved this little story! Thank you for sharing such cuteness. You brought a smile to my face.

Blessings,
Sherry

Debbie said...

Im with you on the cleaning projects...but with Miss Molly and the two rather large holes she has by her ears we cant go to the pool for a few weeks. So we are spending a lot of time with legos and playdoh. Plus with school and speech twice a week...there is no way my house will get cleaned like this once school starts.

Great story by the way! Definitely one to write down.

Kayce said...

A beautiful story. Made me smile!