For a while things went fairly well for the child and the little tea pot that God had made. I was taken to church and my tea pot began to fill up with love. When full, my teapot would pour out that love hoping to get more love so the process could continue. And for a time that is what happened. God knew that I needed that time in that little church. He knew that I needed his love to fully heal me. And that is what I recieved.

But, as time went on, my parents got tired of this creation of God too. And once again they began to not handle it so gently. And they began to create their own little ball of clay too. So, before long they had the tea pot and the newest ball of clay in the family, my sister. Perhaps now the family would be happy.

That wasn’t what happened. When the new little ball of clay entered the family, the teapot began to be treated much more harshly than she had been before. But she was stronger now, and could endure. At night, all alone, the little tea pot would cry out to God, "I need love". And God would give her the love she needed to keep doing his will. The teapot soon learned that whatever her little spirit lacked, she could ask God for and he would give it to her. So, both the child and the teapot within her grew.

It was during this time that both the flesh and the spirit again got damaged. The body becoming more fragile than the teapot inside. A tiny body was now caught within the horrific grips of child abuse. But the teapot inside the child continued to pour out its love.

The little girl had been hit many times. She knew that to anger her parents, especially her step-father meant that she would be hit. Sometimes they hit the child with their hands, other times they opted for a belt, paddle or switch. And then there were the times that they hit her with about anything they could get their hands on. And, although she feared her parents, she still loved them. It seemed as though nothing they did to the child could make her stop giving them her love. Perhaps she hoped that one day her innocent, unconditional love could make them love her in return. But, the more she loved them, the more they hurt her.

One evening, the little girl’s mommy was getting ready to go to church. The child knew that something must be wrong because she was not wearing her church clothes, and her hair had not been brushed that day. As she watched her mother preparing to leave, she asked if she too could go. Her mother said no, that the little girl had to stay with her father that night. She didn’t understand why she could not go to church with her mother, she enjoyed it so much and was never a problem during the service. But, even when she began to cry and beg her mommy "please don’t leave me here, please don’t leave me with him", her mother still said no, that she must stay, and she shut the door in the little girl’s face.

Her crying and sobbing annoyed her step-father, and he told the child to go away before he gave her a reason to cry. The little girl understood that if she did not leave the room, he would beat her. His beatings were always worse than those delivered by her mother, and his anger was one she did not care to see tonight with no one there to protect her. She wandered off in her room to play with her toys. After a while of playing, she wandered back into the living room carrying her favorite doll.

Her step-father had the television tuned to a popular military sitcom of the time, it seemed to be his favorite show. And she knew that anytime this show was on, she was not to make a sound. So, as he was in the kitchen preparing himself some food, she stood with her little doll looking around the room. She knew that she was hungry, but to ask him for food would be a mistake. He wouldn’t feed her, hit her maybe, but not feed her. He hated the fact that she ate his food.

In the left corner of the room sat the television set. Along the left wall sat an ugly, stained and torn brown sofa. Along the right wall sat an end table and bookcase, and where the living room connected to the kitchen and dining room, sat a pretty, comfy sofa. Sitting on the new sofa, the television was easily visible. But, the little girl knew that this was not her sofa. She was not to sit upon it for any reason, she had been told many times that the trash does not sit on the nice furniture, she had her own place to sit. And that was true, her sitting area of the living room was that brown sofa, only her and Brownie would grace its seat. It’s position in the room intended to not allow viewing of the television set, for that was his television and very much off limits to the little girl.

She knew the house rules all too well. But, that night she made a critical mistake. She sat down upon a sofa to play with her doll, but it was the wrong sofa.

Before she could realize what would happen next, it was far too late. In the blink of an eye, her doll was snatched from her hands and flung across the room, slamming the wall on the opposite side with a thud before hitting the floor. The next thing the child heard was the words, "I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget! How dare you dirty my sofa by sitting on it!" as she was lifted into the air. She began to cry and to scream, "Please don’t hit me, I won’t do it again". It was too late. With the next movement, she wasn’t being put down, well not the way she wanted to be. No, she too went flying across the room, hitting the wall with a thud before landing in the floor on her doll. In a ball of tears, she prayed that it was over. Her tiny body was hurting now. But the ordeal had only began.

He walked to the child, picking her up again and continuing to throw her. Back and forth across the room flew the blonde haired little girl. Screaming and crying she begged him to stop. But it seemed that her tears and her words only helped to further the fury inside him. Again and again he threw the young child. Her body hitting walls, furniture and floor. The child could not make her step-father stop. Fearing for her life, the little girl cried out to God asking him to please make it stop, please stop the pain. It hurt so bad, how much more could she take? God granted her request as she lost conciousness. It was then that the teapot inside took over for the child and began to cry out to its potter. "You made me in love, made me to do your will. But I’ve got chips and cracks now. The body that held me is so battered and beaten, only you can fix us now". In tears, the potter reached down and looked at the teapot inside the child. As a tear trickled down his smiling face, he said "You are not too damaged to continue. We need only to seal your cracks. I made you for a purpose little teapot, and although you may be damaged from misuse, I still think you are one of the most beautiful vessels I’ve made".

The little girl should have been taken to the hospital, but she wasn’t. Instead of recieving medical care, she was put into her bed by someone because that is where she awoke the next morning. By the grace of God, she had not sustained any broken bones. Only some cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Truth was, her tiny body was black and blue. For a while, she would not be able to leave the inside of the house for any reason.

Another night the little girl’s mommy was doing laundry while her step father was watching his favorite television show. To the little girl, it seemed like such an ordinary night. Her straight blonde hair had been washed and brushed, and she was dressed in a footed sleeper. She knew that she was not allowed to sit and watch television, she never could when he was home, nor was she allowed to have her toys in the living room. I suppose she was bored when she decided to pick up one of her footed sleepers that was fresh out of the dryer and began twirling around and spinning the sleeper in front of her. At first, things seemed alright with this, her parents were smiling and laughing. This made the little girl smile, so she continued with her playing, spinning faster and faster and giggling the whole time. But happiness quickly turned to sadness when that sleeper touched down and scraped across the floor, upsetting a glass of orange drink mix that her step father had sitting by his chair.

In a flash she was in his fierce, shaking grip, his face scowled and mean. His voice loud and angry. "You stupid little piece of trash" he said. "You don’t deserve to be indoors in the warmth of this house. You’re worse than the dog! We need to put you where we put all the other trash, outside in the cold dark night!"

The little girl was dangling there still holding that sleeper that had made everyone so happy. With tears flowing down her face she begged him "Please don’t put me outside, I don’t like the dark. Please daddy! Please daddy don’t put me outside tonight!"

Her tears and pleading were to no avail. Outside on the opened carport she went. No pillow, no blanket, not even her teddy bear. Just her and that sleeper she held. For a while, she beat on the door begging to be let back inside. Telling her parents "Please let me in, I’m cold and I’m scared. Mommy please open the door, please mommy don’t leave me here". But her mother refused to answer her little girl’s calls.

She was all alone outside in the cold dark night. Having had heart surgery not long before wasn’t a good thing for the child. Her parents knew that she was not supposed to catch so much as a cold for the next several weeks. Yet they threw her out in the cold like an unwanted piece of trash.

Shaking with cold she huddled against the wall of the house tucking her tiny knees to her chest. As tears trickled down her cheeks and her little body trembled with cold, the little teapot inside of her began to cry out to its potter. "I’ve been injured" it said. The little girl was crying out to God too asking him to keep her warm.

Brownie, the family dog, was outside that night too after having an accident on the carpet. And before long he came trotting over to sit beside the crying child. The little girl loved that little dog, he was about the only friend she had on this earth. As she sat and rubbed the little dogs fur, she felt his warmth against her cold hands. At some point, the little girl was drawn to the dog’s warmth and friendliness and lay down on him, tucking her hands beneath his fur and falling asleep.

She had been outside for hours by the time she felt her mother’s arms picking her up off the cold concrete floor of the carport. In a sleepy haze, she looked at her mother with loving eyes wondering why she had been left outside so long. Maybe her mother saw the questions in the child’s eyes, because she answered them saying "You’re dad’s asleep, I can bring you inside now".

It wasn't much longer that God allowed the little teapot to remain in that home.  The course of events that would follow would change the little girl and the teapot forever.

Within days of being left outside, the little girl's parents decided that they needed to get rid of their problem.  But how?  They had another child too, and they did not want to risk loosing her.  They decided that the best way to solve their problem was to begin to starve the little girl that held the teapot.

Meal after meal, she didn't eat.  But once again, God used Brownie to care for the child.  Her parents would feed the dog every day.  The little girl learned that the dog would not get angry if she ate his food.  So, morning after morning the little girl ate the dog food left in the dog bowl over night.  It didn't taste very good, but it did make her tummy stop hurting.

Eventually, this was not enough to sustain the child.  Her lips began to crack, her limbs became weak, and she began to sleep more and more.  Her parents decided that they would take her to the hospital.  If she died in the hospital, there would be no investigation.  They knew that the small town they lived in required a parent to remain in the room with the child.  Thus, they could continue to execute their plan and the child. 

And while the little girl lay starving in a hospital bed, watching her mother eat the food that would save her life, God intervened.  As nurse began to make rounds after the meals were delivered, the little girl's door did not shut all the way, there was a crack.  And a nurse heading for another patient's room saw why this little girl was getting worse instead of better.  She told the doctors, and got others to witness what the mother was doing.  They contacted authorities who intervened.  No longer could the mother feed the child, the nurses had to do it from then on out.  And, as the little girl began getting stronger, arrangements were made concerning her care after she left the hospital.

On the day she was released, nurses, doctors, a police officer, her grandparents, and a DCF worker walked into the room.  Her mother had lost custody!  The little girl would not be returning home with her, and the abuse case was going to court.