Teddy is now gone. We conducted a thorough search. I made phone calls. We backtracked our last days with him. He was just gone.
I bought Teddy at Toys R Us. I knew that he was an in house brand called Animal Alley. So I began to search E Bay. Maybe I could find someone who was kind of like Teddy. I searched for hours, and then low and behold, I found TEDDY! Same brown and white plaid bow, same fur, same eyes. AMAZING!
So we put in a bid, and Sunshine bought Teddy with her own money. It was great to find him.
He arrived soon, and Sunshine was thrilled. But you know as well as I do, that a new bear doesn't feel the same as a loved bear. His fur wasn't as soft. His fluff was not the same. He became Mrs. Teddy and he would have to due, because he was all we had.
Fast forward three weeks ago. Teddy was on my mind. He kept popping up in my brain at random times. Was it just Mommy guilt? I have to admit, I did feel reasonable for letting Sunshine lose Teddy. Of course it wasn't my fault, but how could I let her lose her beloved bear? I was heartbroken because I couldn't find him, I couldn't fix it.
Last Friday, I was at a friend's house. Her older two children and her husband were on a youth group over night. They were going to several places that night. Including a Columbus Blue Jackets game and to hotel with an indoor water park called Fort Rapids. We had taken a trip to Fort Rapids back in May. It was a fun family place to go.
Monday morning...my first thought of the day Teddy. I went throughout my usually busy day, but at the end of the evening Teddy was on my mind. I started thinking we never contacted Fort Rapids to see if Teddy was there. Sunshine was sure that she hadn't taken him there. But, I guess it wouldn't hurt to send them and email and see how long things stayed in the lost and found. I sent an email that night explaining that we had lost the bear over the summer, and I inquired how long they kept things that ended up in the lost and found.
Tuesday morning....I received an email from the housekeeping manager at Fort Rapids. She explained to me that they usually kept things 30 days. They donated somethings and threw some things away. But she went on further to say, it might still be here. Please send a description of the bear. I sent her a description of the bear and I also attached a picture of Mrs. Teddy.
The bear was really driving me crazy. Why was the bear coming to my mind? Was this God trying to tell me something? Was it the Devil playing tricks on me? I asked a dear friend what she thought. She didn't really have a clear answer for me, but she said she would pray for me that I would have a peace about the situation.
So later Tuesday afternoon I got another email from Ms. Karen, the housekeeping manager. It read like this:
I have the bear. What do you want me to do with it?
Seriously? I was awestruck. I had goosebumps. I could not locate Ms. Karen's phone number and call her quick enough.
When I spoke to her on the phone, she said, "We get rid of alot of things that are left here, but we keep the animals. I read you last email and opened up the attached picture. I then looked up and there Teddy, sitting on a shelf in my office."
Ms. Karen put Teddy in the mail to us on Tuesday and he came in the mail today.
This is Sunshine and Teddy reunited.
Sunshine and Mr. and Mrs. Teddy.
But the most incredible part of the story is that God put this Teddy bear on my mind. If he hadn't I would not have continued to look for him.
Our God cares about us. Even about the "little" stuff. He is SO GOOD!
