The way it happened is this:
Jake and I decided to clean out our spare room closet earlier this month.1
We emptied out the entire thing which was full of all sorts of random things: games, memory boxes, journals, candles, and containers full of random knick-knacks and craft supplies. Once it was all moved out onto the floor and the bed, we decided to move all my clothes into the closet which meant that all those random things needed to find a new storage home.
Jake took a trip to Home Depot and set up a few big shelves in the basement. Then, he went to the garage for a stack of black tubs he had put in the attic storage. Once he got them down the ladder, he noticed the tubs wouldn’t lay completely flat. He separated them, and that’s where he found her—Sarah, Norah’s beloved baby doll who went missing eight months ago.2 She was sandwiched between the bottom two tubs looking just as ratty and perfect as we remembered her.
Jake brought the tubs upstairs and re-hid her in them, so he could watch me find her too. And then, we drove her to school, so we could give her back to the person who would want her most. Norah opened the box to great delight and confusion, and Sawyer, upon realizing what had happened, said simply, “Hi Sarah.”
Last fall, I wrote that we would “keep our eyes open in the garage because you never know,” and she was truly there the whole time, just out of reach. Even now, it feels equal parts astounding and expected—like, of course she was there. Of course she was bound to turn up.
In those days when Sarah was missing, we talked a lot about how God doesn’t always answer our prayers exactly the way we want him to. We tried to use it as an opportunity to teach our kids that God’s goodness isn’t contingent upon us receiving every happiness we think we deserve in life. The world is a broken place. Full stop. Some stories will have sad endings; God will still be good.
There was goodness in the story that ended with a lost baby doll. Sadness builds up endurance which builds up character which builds up hope. And hope? Hope will never put us to shame3 even when we wish we could write a different ending.
We got a plot twist second ending though—a tiny answered prayer all these months later and a new opportunity to teach our kids that God sees and hears and cares. That no detail is outside of his reach.
There is goodness in this ending too, and shouldn’t we proclaim God’s goodness in the answered prayers as well as in the valleys?
God was good when Baby Sarah was missing.
God is good in her return.
God will continue to be good in all the things we face, and I hope we will tell of it every chance we get.
(p.s. So many people were really invested in this little story of ours, and I found so much warmth in that. Truly, TRULY, thank you for caring about Baby Sarah and for sharing in both our sadness and our joy.)
The rest of this sentence is “because a family of mice had moved into it” but that is really a whole other story.
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though they are my stories, hopefully they will feel common.
Palpable relief. I feel palpable relief.
MOLLY. This is so good.
"God was good when Baby Sarah was missing.
God is good in her return.
God will continue to be good in all the things we face, and I hope we will tell of it every chance we get."
Sheesh. Thank you for reminding us of this truth!