Well, friends, launching into this was more difficult than I expected. Although I have shared my story countless times over the years, for some reason, I’ve been finding it harder to jump in here and get things rolling. 

The beginning. The early years.

Here we go. 😬

I was the first daughter born into my family. My three brothers were ages six, four, and three, and our parents were separated at the time of my birth. My father served in the Air Force and lived on base (Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas) while the four of us lived with our mother.

There is no way I can possibly know the scope of what was actually going on in my family, but in spite of the struggles and the choices made, I can trace the Lord‘s hand as He kept four very young siblings alive and protected. 

For reasons unknown to me, my mother would often leave us in the care of my oldest brother. Maybe for a few hours, then perhaps for an entire day, and eventually for a few days at a time. 

Did I mention that she left us in the care of my oldest brother?

HE WAS SIX. 

YEARS. 

OLD.

Do you know any six-year-olds? Would you trust that child at home alone for even an hour? No? Not sure he could keep himself safe and out of trouble? Then how about throwing in a couple of preschoolers and a newborn? OH. MY.

To this day, I marvel at how our Heavenly Father looked after us with only my much-too-young brother as our keeper. 

I should add that he was no ordinary six-year-old; I have no doubt that he is a genius with a side of photographic memory. Even so, it’s quite extraordinary for a child his age to figure out the basics of life and how to run a household and tend to small children and an infant.

Genius Brother (I will now refer to him as such 😁) has shared with me some of the ingenious ways he found to take care of us.

Can you imagine a young boy attempting to change diapers on a newborn? If you are anywhere near my age, I’m sure you remember the gigantic diaper pins from that era. I have wondered how my brother could have the dexterity to maneuver those huge pins when dealing with cumbersome cloth diapers and a wriggly baby. He told me that he was so afraid of accidentally sticking me with the pin that he would place his own thumb on the back side of the diaper so that when he pushed the pin through the cloth, he would pierce his own thumb each time and therefore could be sure that he was not piercing me.

<< allow me a moment to step over here and just try, once again, to absorb this >>

Is that not a beautiful picture of selfless love? I’m sure Genius Brother was simply sharing one of his memories with me and had no idea the impact it could have. Not only can I see it as love in action, but I also see it as a picture of Jesus‘s love for us and His willingness to sacrifice Himself in our place. My brother gave himself a dose of what should have been my pain each time.

I was born in October, so all of this was happening during what Texans call winter. No, we don’t have blizzards here (a Texan’s word association connects those to Dairy Queen, not snowstorms), we are more likely to cancel school for an ice day than we are a snow day, and it’s true that most of us are clueless as to how to maneuver cars down snowy/icy roads. But we rarely need that skill – WE LIVE IN TEXAS.

So although we don’t have to brave the harsh winters that our friends to the north do, we do have to turn on the heat occasionally. 

Genius Brother faced the challenge of keeping us warm throughout those cold months. With no central heating system in the tiny house where we lived, he had to make use of the only heat source available to him:  the kitchen oven.

If he knew (or at least suspected) we would be staying alone overnight, he would fire up the oven and allow it to heat up that small area of the room. He would then gather Brother Two and Brother Three with him in the kitchen and huddle with them in the warmth emanating from the oven. Invariably, the little ones would be whimpering for our mother to come home (as little ones are wont to do), so Genius Brother would attempt to console them until they cried themselves to sleep on the floor in front of the oven. He would then grasp them by the ankles, drag them through the house, and hoist them onto their bed to sleep for the night. How in the world did he pull this off when he wasn’t much bigger than his younger brothers?! Again, I am amazed at how the Lord equipped my brother with the resourcefulness and determination to care for us.

“You have been a place of safety for the poor and needy in times of trouble.”

Isaiah 25:4