Dear Jemima,
You have been waiting for this day for many weeks, little miss! (And reading Happy Birthday, Little Pookie on repeat in preparation!) And today at last, we say, "Well okay, it's your day! Happy birthday to you!"
What are you doing these days? Well, what are you not doing these days? Late breaking accomplishments include:
- You had a great year at homeschool coop, going to "your class" with your very special friends (in particular Elianna and Marietta). The three of you girls... Quite the action-packed combo! You laugh, you cry, you have occasional explosive meltdowns, and you are very sweet little friends. What a good gift from God!
- You are undeniably, irrepressibly, amazingly girl. You love pink, sparkly, glittery, curly, and frilly. "Oh, it's so pretty!" is one of your very common expressions. And you also love to zoom cars, watch videos about construction vehicles, and do whatever your big brothers are doing.
- Currently, you love "a pig-tail right on top," your sparkle boots, a special dress, and your baby (i.e. your blanket or one of your two special baby dolls. All count as "baby.").
- You are pretty much potty-trained, although we took the really easy-going approach (i.e. we potty-trained in the morning and never got around to it in the afternoons). But regardless you do a great job, help yourself to your little potty chair in the dining room when needed, and even used the big restroom at church on Sunday. Way to go, big girl!
- You eat well, pretty much eating what we all eat. Favorite foods include cinnamon rolls, mac and cheese, pizza, mandarins, and ice cream.
- You still take a solid afternoon nap (normally 2-4:30pm or so), go to bed around 7:45pm, and get up around 7:30am.
- You're not always a huge fan of your Sunday school class (although you do just fine once you're in there). But you have good friends there as your teachers, and when I come in with you and read you one book before going to my class, you normally do very well. We did have a rough stretch around Christmas where you took to working yourself up to a puke when we went to class, but praise the Lord we have made progress since then!
- You have four big brothers who love you deeply and are willing to be your pet / baby / puppy / daddy, etc as the day requires. What a rich girl you are!
- You love to read books, play outside, sing, push your babies in the stroller, help me in the kitchen, play with your brothers, and color or paint pictures.
- You are an articulate, bright, and very funny girl. Recent quotes:
Jemima, very sweetly: I'm a nice bad guy.
Victor, in discussion with brothers about Theodore Roosevelt: Who made teddy bears?
Jemima: Jesus!
Jemima, counting her fingers: Mommy finger, Daddy finger, brother finger, baby finger.
Jemima, looking at a row of water bottles: Mommy water bottle, Daddy water bottle, baby water bottle...
Jemima, looking at a pet stain cleaner bottle with a dog on the label: Is there a puppy in there?
Jemima, singing "Jesus Loves Me" to herself: Yes, Jesus loves mommy, Yes, Jesus loves mommy, Yes, Jesus loves mommy, the Bible tells me so...
Jemima, to Ben: Daddy, what is your hair doing?
Calvin: Do you want me to be the pet or the dad?
Jemima: Dad.
Calvin: Okay.
Jemima: Come, dad.
Calvin, while coming: The dad is actually the one who gives out the orders and stuff...
So basically, we love you, and you make every day a joyful and unpredictable adventure.
This spring in women's Bible study, we were in the book of Job. So it was just a couple weeks ago that we read the passage where we got your name! Taking a whole semester to linger and struggle through Job was a rich experience.
As we read and wrestled through page after page of argument and counterargument, desperate pleas and passionate rebukes, sifting through long theological entreaties that might be right … or might only sound right … there is a sense in which we are personally drawn into this struggle for understanding as we study these pages.
After three cycles of argumentation, Job’s three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—finally run out of words. Job himself offered his final rebuttal and a searching reflection on wisdom. He has searched his own life and laid it bare before us and God as testament to the opening affirmation of his character: Job is “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” In closing, he pleads for the Almighty to meet him at the witness stand and bring His charge publicly to bear… if indeed there is an indictment against him.
So Job’s words close, as it were, by calling God to the witness stand in the court of justice. Job, in his integrity, in his confusion, in his despair, pleads for a fair hearing to rebut the assertions of guilt seemingly piled up by his circumstances and, certainly, by his friends.
And God does indeed meet with Job. Does He answer every question? No. In fact, His answer is a long, beautiful torrent of questions posed to Job himself. Questions that remind Job how much he does not know. Questions that underscore the fact that God Himself is the great answer to our needs, questions, and longings. And at the end of this powerful confrontation with the one true God, Job is brought to peace. The kind of peace of a quiet and humble heart before a great sovereign God:
Then Job answered the LORD and said:
"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 'Hear and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:1-6
There are many things that we do not know or understand. There are struggles and pain that may meet us that don't make sense. But, like Job, what we need more than answers is a reminder or glimpse of who God is. The One who holds us, the One who writes our story, the One who sends His own perfect Son as the immeasurably perfect Suffering Servant, to pay for our sins--He is worth our trust and worship.
And you, sweet Jemima, are a reminder to us that, in Christ, joy always comes in the morning. The renewal and resurrection hope of Jesus ensures that the end of the story will indeed by a happy one. How good is our God!
May you trust and follow Jesus all the days of your life!
