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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: The Family Home (05/29/08)
I hurriedly tucked in each child. With a hug and a prayer, they easily settled into a deep, childish sleep. I stole into the office and whipped out my ever-present laptop, which housed all my faithful friends. Wrapped in a comforter, I reclined in my chair and happily retreated into my “n’other world.”

It booted up and I watched it go through all its routines, strangely comforted by the fact that it did the same thing every single time. Instant Message popped up and I browsed the list of friends on the screen. All was quiet. My heart ached and no one was available. Frustration reared its head until something caught my eye. A bug flitted by and drew my attention to the Bible sitting beside me on the table.

“No God, I don’t want to hear from You right now.” I purposefully avoided The Book that I knew would give me answers. Why would God call us to pack up all of our belongings, put them in a storage shed, and go half way across the United States?

I had spent much time making this house into a home. We quickly filled up the 3 bedrooms with boys. I painted big red fire trucks on the walls of one room and dinosaurs on another. The Master bedroom, I feather-painted and it turned out so pretty. I had no desire to leave and I wasn’t making it easy on my husband. Many nights we both fell asleep with our backs to the other.

Business was no longer plentiful. Greg felt that God was telling him that we had to move. Not only that, he was moving us in with his parents. From the few times I had been with my in-laws, I knew that I would have to swallow my pride and keep my mouth closed to keep peace.

“Lord,” I prayed, “I don’t want to move. Please don’t make me. This is our home. This is where You planted us.” Tears spilled from my eyes and my laptop lay forgotten. I used my sleeve to mop up my tears and wipe my nose. Then, in between my sobs I heard a small voice.

“Mommy?” The oldest tiptoed his way into the office and looked at me, scared.

I reached out and pulled him close. “Colten, Mommy’s okay. I’m just a little sad.”

He looked at me with his chocolately brown eyes that melted my heart. “You don’t wanna move, do you Mommy?”

Wise beyond his years, he got to the core of the problem and made me deal with it then and there. “No, Honey, I don’t want to move. I love this house. This is where we brought you after you were born. See that hole in the wall? That’s where you fell off the couch, remember?”

“But Mommy, I can make new holes in the wall when we move. Will that make you feel better? Will you not be mad at Daddy then?”

A sob escaped my mouth. I had no idea that my thoughts and actions were so obvious that a seven-year-old could pick up on them. If Colten knew this, surely my husband did, too. No wonder he had been so cold to me lately.

“Mommy, your computer friends are trying to talk to you.” I heard the soft chime but was engrossed in this perceptive little boy that was growing up so quickly. “Mommy, we can’t take this house with us, right?”

“No, silly. We can’t drag it along behind the mini-van.”

Colten giggled at the thought then bent down to see which online friend was calling for my attention. “Mommy?”

“Hmmm?”

“All the fun things we did in this house and the silly things we said can fit inside here, right?” He raised his pudgy little boy arm and laid his hand on my heart. I could feel the warmth invade my body. He wasn’t finished. The little Stinker had more to say.

“Sooo,” he looked up at me to make sure he had my attention, as if ready to deliver his big punch line, “we can’t take the house with us but we can take our home.”

I wrapped him up in the comforter with me and we sat quietly, lost in our own thoughts. I patted his back and he rubbed my shoulder as the IM chimed in the background. My friends could wait. I was busy in this ‘other world’ being ministered to by God through my son.
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This article has been read 1631 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Beckie Stewart
06/05/08
AWWWW, that was so sweet and a good reminder to each of us. Love the simple lessons taught to us by our children.
Lynda Schultz 
06/05/08
"And a little child shall lead them …" Lovely story and wise words, indeed.
Seema Bagai 
06/06/08
Sweet story with wisdom from a child. I liked the descriptions. One tiny suggestion would be to not overuse the word "that". There are places where you could eliminate "that" and still have the sentence make sense. Good work.
Chely Roach
06/06/08
Break out the Kleenex...what a beautiful, well told story. Loved, loved, loved the little Stinker. Fantastic job...
Joshua Janoski
06/06/08
This is so good! Very heart warming and true. And so well written too.

Home really is inside of our hearts and memories. Excellent job here!
Amy Michelle Wiley 
06/06/08
Sweet story. God always knows what we need, and often uses kids to teach. To be picky, I think "n'other" is short for another and should have the apostrophe on the other side: 'nother. Great story.
Betty Castleberry
06/07/08
This gave me warm fuzzies. The writing is very good, too. I enjoyed it very much.
Joanne Sher 
06/07/08
I LOVE when our kids minister to us, and this is a lovely, wonderful example of it. A beautiful, BEAUTIFUL piece that blessed me in a very special way.
Beth LaBuff 
06/08/08
This is so heart-warming...with an excellent message. Your title is great.
Ann Renae Hair
06/08/08
I haved learned SO much through our children. Thank you for this very relative and timeless lesson. So glad the MC was open to God when He reached out to her even though she avoided the Bible. You displayed her pain and struggle very well.
Norma-Anne Hough
06/08/08
Aren't our children amazing the way they talk to us. This was a lovely story well told, with your emotions coming through very strongly.
Jan Ackerson
06/08/08
I loved that the little boy offered to make holes in the new place, too. Cute.

He seemed just a little bit too wise for me--I don't think I've ever really heard a child his age speak like that.

But as a lesson, this story is undeniably precious.
Laura Anne Harrison
06/08/08
This is beautiful! Indeed, "a little child shall lead us"! Don't ever stop listening to your children;for, often they are little messengers from God.
Debbie Wistrom
06/09/08
The emotional tugs from a little one are so precious. Thanks for sharing.
What a blessing your sons must be to you.
Debbie Roome
06/09/08
Having moved countries twice, I can identify with this story. Very touching.
Dee Yoder
06/09/08
Kids have a way of getting to the heart of what hurts us and what bugs us and they sure can make us deal with those things, too. Love the images painted in this story and the message at the end, too.
Lyn Churchyard
06/09/08
Heartwarming story for sure. I loved the little boy saying he'd make more holes in the wall when they move. Kids are so perceptive and God often uses them to deal with or minister to us. Well done Laury, well done.
Verna Cole Mitchell 
06/09/08
I loved the emotions shown so well in this tender story: sadness, anger, nostalgia, tenderness, love, humor, acceptance. And I loved the little boy--so willing to make new holes in the wall. Great job!
Shirley McClay
06/10/08
Laury wrote this based on what I am going through right now.. gotta tell you... this is exactly how my 7 year old would talk!

And yes.. I appreciate my kids so deeply and am so proud of them and delighted with them.

I need to thank you all for the kind comments to as you are all complimenting my sweet kid! LOL.. and thank you to Laury for writing this.. I need to post it on my wall as a reminder!

Beautiful writing Master Laury.
Sara Harricharan
06/11/08
Awwww! So sweet-and cute! I loved this 'other world' and especially the "No, I don't want to talk to you right now" line, that was just perfect, you made this come alive and especially with the Colten. I loved it! Nicely done! ^_^
Andrea Hargrove
06/11/08
This was mildly cliche, but it was written clearly and intelligently.
Laury Hubrich 
06/12/08
Wow, Laura! This was great! I was teary-eyed at the end. I love the interaction between the family members. I was barely even blinked at when i came home from college each week;) Great writing!