Doubting the Lost could be Found

Tuesday was one of those afternoon/evenings. You know, when the kids won't stop whining, arguing, fussing, crying, etc. Bedtime couldn't come fast enough. I decided to give Cameron a bath and since I'm (cheap) frugal, I keep the thermostat turned lower than some. My hands were cold and when I put the shampoo on my hands to wash his hair, my rings felt like they were going to slide right off my fingers, so I took them both off and placed them gently, albeit, precariously, on a small travel size bottle of baby wash. Bathtime continued and we got him jammied, fed and put to bed. After we had worship with the kids, I sat down and said to myself, "Oh, my rings. I better go get them." When I went back into the bathroom, my wedding ring was behind one of the rinse cups on the back of the toliet, but my engagement ring wasn't anywhere. I panicked a little, but then I remembered the kids had been in there brushing their teeth, so I went back into their room to ask them about it. Bria, who was still awake, said she was playing with it and dropped it under her bed (I did not hold much stock in this). Since Tyler was asleep, I just used a flashlight and quickly scanned under her bed. There was a bunch of stuff under there, kleenexes (my daughter has a very odd obsession with kleenex), toys, dishes, etc. But I didn't see anything of value. So I sighed and let her go to sleep. I told Matt that I was sure Tyler had accidentally knocked it off into the toliet when he lifted the seat to go potty.

Fast forward to Wednesday...my wonderful father-in-law came over and not only replaced the valve to shut the water off to the toliet (Matt & I weren't having any success with that the night before), but he removed the toliet and we carried it outside to see if the ring was somehow still in there. No 'luck'. We debated about it back on, with the new wax ring he bought as well, since it was leaking into the basement after each flush. We decided to leave it off, in case we wanted to call a plumber and put a tv camera snake down there. That evening, a wonderful 'fix-it-all' friend from church stopped by on his way home from work to show Matt how to remove the cap to the flush line and check and see if it was in there. The cap was completely stuck though, so he came back later with his tools to help get it off. Again, they were unsuccessful. No ring. I told Matt that I was pretty convinced that it was somewhere in the city sewere system by then. We were wondering what we'd have to do to make an insurance claim with the jeweler's insurance company. I sent an inquiry e-mail (but still haven't heard back).

And then comes today. I was in the kitchen making lunch for the kids when Bria comes running out of her room, saying "I found it mommy! I found it!!!" I turned around and I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw my engagement ring in her hand!!!!! That sweet girl was telling me the truth when she said she took it into her room and played with it and dropped it under her bed. And I didn't believe her. That is very humbling to me. And even though I know others were praying that I'd/we'd find it, I did not pray. Boy, what an example I am. I sure hope my children don't follow in my footsteps. Even after Bria told me that on Tuesday night, it didn't even occur to me on Wednesday morning, in the daylight, to move her bed and CLEAN under her bed. I just assumed it got flushed down the toliet and it was lost and gone forever. Talk about humbling. I was trying not to be mad at myself with the whole "If only I had..." but it wasn't working. I tried telling myself it was only a material possession, as sentimental as it was, it shouldn't really matter. But it did matter. It mattered to God. It was little, minute 'thing', but it was important to me and even though I didn't pray for its return, God still answered the prayers of my many friends and family. He really does care about the 'little things' in our lives. Even something as 'insignificant' as a material possession.

So MY lessons for the week:

1) Pray about everything. Even the small, seemingly insignificant things. God cares about those too!

2) Trust my children when they tell me something. They apparently have not been influenced enough by the outside world to lie about things when questioned about them.

And last but not least:

3) Put wedding & engagement rings on top of the high dresser in our bedroom whenever I need to take them off for any reason at all.

(Oh and in case you were wondering, after I squeezed Bria with delight, I did have a long talk with her about not touching other people's stuff, especially important/special things, like jewelery.) :)