Hannah

No pictures again this week, which is really too bad as we had at least one great Kodak moment. We had introduced Elkanah and his wife Hannah, whom he loved very much. Elkanah was instructed to demonstrate this by kissing Hannah, which he did using the "MLFF kiss"—kissing two fingers and then pressing them into the cheek of the kissee. In spite of his love for Hannah (I hypothesized), he took a second wife so he could still have children. I hadn't written into the story that Elkanah loved her, but the narrator told him to kiss her anyway. This time, he bent over (our tallest boy & shortest girl) and kissed her on the cheek! It was very sweet, but alas no photo!

The whole family (including Peninah's three children) walked to Jerusalem, where Elkanah presented his sheep to the priest. I had deliberately chosen an adult to be the priest so that I could instruct him on how to be very careful when offering the sheep…He first tore off one part of the paper sheep & laid it on the altar (a stool) and burned it (sprinkled orange tissue scraps on it)—no problem. Then he was supposed to tear off another part and keep it for himself by stuffing it in his pocket. This is where he was supposed to be careful not to tear into the stapled-off section that had little chocolate beans in it, but his tear went astray and a bunch of the chocolate beans scattered on the floor. <Hold action while these were cleared away…> The last part of the sheep was for the family to eat and give thanks as part of their worship, so the family sat down & the remaining chocolate beans were poured from the sheep into their individual bowls (real food=willingness to stay seated!).

Then Peninah was supposed to start ragging on Hannah, loudly thanking God for her healthy children and asking Hannah what SHE had to be thankful for. Unfortunately, just about this time someone decided that Peninah was too cold and started helping her drink a full glass of hot water. Sort of cramped her "provoking" style and I think everyone missed exactly what was supposed to be going on, sigh. Hannah just had to pretend to have been provoked. She got up & poured her leftover beans into the "children's" bowls and went off to the other end to pray. The priest accused her of being drunk, she said no, she was just pouring out her heart before God, and the priest blesses her & says he hopes God will answer her prayer. This somehow gives Hannah great peace & she gets up, washes her face, and goes home with her family.

Around a year later, she gives birth to Samuel…here we had another glitch, as our normally extremely reliable actress playing Hannah disappeared into the bathroom (long story), so Elkanah had to show off the baby. So while Hannah was in the bathroom, the narrator explained how she wouldn't go with the family to Jerusalem that year. When she came back out, it was deemed time for her to bring little Samuel to the temple. She gave him to Eli the priest. And God further rewarded her by giving her five more children (our recycled paper-towel roll people).

Well, if people missed the bit about Peninah provoking Hannah during the story, they got something of a recap for game time. All the kids sat in a circle. The first child to be designated "Hannah" got a juice bottle filled with more of those little chocolate beans, and a pair of chopsticks. She was allowed to start eating them (with the chopsticks to keep it reasonably slow) while the child next to her, designated "Peninah", started throwing our big foam die—the metaphor being, when Peninah rolled a six this would be counted as managing to provoke Hannah to quit eating. Then the candy jar passed to this child who became the new Hannah, and on around the circle (we did two rounds).

Had a hard time coming up for a craft for this story. Three years ago, we were just preparing to say goodbye to Melissa Lathrop who had been with us for about a year. We talked about how Hannah would make a little garment for Samuel each year when they went to the temple. Then together we used fabric markers to decorate a T-shirt to give to Melissa as a farewell gift. But this time around we didn't have anyone to send off. Finally got the helpful suggestion from Sharlene Ortlund (thanks, Shar; even if you didn't help me make any sheep, you were a big help nonetheless!) of making little praying figures out of pipe cleaners. They weren't too hard for the kids except for a couple of them who managed to get them to balance better by having the praying hands clasped behind the body instead of in front…they seemed to understand when I pointed this out, and fixed them without protest; I was pleased.

Discussion questions during the adult Bible study asked, have you ever thought of your child as a gift from God/heaven? And, If you do, how have you seen this to be true; & if not, how might things be different if you could view him/her this way? Again, I wasn't in on the study, being in with the kids, but I heard there was good discussion. One of our nonbelievers shared her Buddhist viewpoint that family members are "assigned" by "heaven" based on some kind of affinity demonstrated in a previous life, so you assume your children were meant for you & treat them accordingly. (This comment came from not a mother but an aunt who has recently taken on the care of her young-adult niece and couldn't be kinder to her than her own mother would be. We have been quite impressed by her sincere dedication to her second-hand "gift.") We appreciate learning more about our families' worldviews. Her comments suggest she feels no need to turn to Jesus for help in raising her niece. We can only pray she will learn to love Him for Himself.