Mothering Instincts & Childhood Disappointments

The mothering instinct is a driving force in most females, although for some of us, it's stronger than for others.  I loved baby dolls when I was a little girl, although I wasn't always kind to them.  My parents had three children, my mom was a homemaker, and my father didn't earn a lot of money.  As children, we didn't have too many trendy toys, although I'm sure my brothers, like me, longed for them.  When I was in first or second grade, I desperately wanted a large, floppy, life-like Thumbelina doll.  She had a vinyl head, eyes that opened and closed, and a soft, squishy body.  She had a winding knob on her back that made her head, arms, and legs move just like a real baby.  When my mom and I were out shopping one day, I saw one displayed in a department store in downtown Gastonia.  It was love at first sight!  One of my friends got her for Christmas that year, and I was green with envy. 


Much of the vintage toy market today is likely driven by the childhood disappointments of baby-boomers wanting to either replace a much-loved toy or purchase one they felt deprived of as a child.  I certainly won't be satisfying my desire for a 19 inch, Thumbelina doll.  When I looked one up on EBay, the asking price was $600 for a near perfect one in the original box.  You see...I had an eye for value in future vintage items, even then.

As a child I also wanted, but didn't get, a Mattel Barbie doll and a Mystery Date game.  It's funny, today just about every little girl in the U.S. has had about twenty Barbies by the time she is four years old.  My granddaughter's Barbies are usually stripped naked and their hair looks like a rat's nest from their repeated bathtub baptisms. 

Woe is me!  I (tongue in cheek) had such a deprived childhood to not have even one "real" Barbie.  Mom got my fake Barbie with either gold or green stamps.  I loved her, but I just couldn't forget that she was an impostor.  The shoes fit, but she just wasn't Cinderella.  Well into adulthood, my mother-in-law bought me a My First Barbie doll.  I guess she got tired of hearing me lament about my Barbie-less childhood.

My mothering instinct carried over from childhood, adolescence, teen years, and adulthood.  I rescued stray kittens, tried rehabilitating (with mixed results) wayward friends, loved every minute of rearing our two sons, but grandmothering is the icing on the proverbial cake. 

Since I am now at home most days, my newest mothering instinct is as protector of baby birds in our backyard.  Yesterday, I thought I saw a cowbird climbing into our bluebird's nest.  I ran like a mad woman across our backyard to chase him out.  When I jerked open the nesting box door, a traumatized mama blue bird flew out.  Oops...my distance eyesight isn't what it used to be!  Her fuzzy bluebird babies were safe and happily chirping away.  Some things never change...God just made us mamas this way.    

Copyright 2012 Charlotte Laney

Birthday Challenge Update

I wrote a blog about a month and a half ago regarding my granddaughter's birthday wish to raise $50 in the 50 days preceding her sixth birthday.  She didn't want the money for herself; she wanted to send toys, clothes, food, and clean water to the children in Nicaragua. 

How would she know at the age of five that children in Nicaragua have needs?  Her parents have led short-term mission trips for years, and she's seen lots of photos of Haitian, Guatemalan, and Nicaraguan children in dirty, well-worn clothes, usually provided by mission-minded church congregations in the U.S.  Children in third-world countries have to grow up quickly in order to survive.  Life is hard.  Their homes don't have inside plumbing or running water.  Rivers, springs, and communal wells, often contaminated, provide their only sources of water.  Often the job of carrying heavy containers of water for long distances falls to the children.    

Village houses are usually made from scrap wood, cardboard, and sticks.  Entire families may live in one room, sleeping on pallets laid on dirt floors.  There are no glass windows.  Thatch roofs are flimsy protection from rain and wind.  Sometimes young children are raising their siblings because their parents have either died or abandoned them.  

Our granddaughter raised the $50 she wished for (and much more) through the generosity of people in the community, her church, family, school friends, and even people on the Internet she may never meet.  Someone even graciously provided airfare so that she and her family could personally take her gifts to the children in Nicaragua.  While there, they were able to share God's love by painting and making needed repairs to the village school, having an Easter egg hunt for the children, distributing clothing and toys, and feeding over 250 villagers.  My grandchildren shared many of their own toys with the village children.  I am so proud of them for their unselfishness.

This was a trip of a lifetime for our son and his family.  The photographs chronicling their week are priceless.  One can clearly see how the love of God in the hearts of His children can break down the barriers of age, language, culture, and race.  When that happens, it is a beautiful thing!   I wonder, what would life be like if children ruled the world?


Matthew 19:13: "Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (NIV)

 

Copyright 2012 Charlotte Laney



There's No Place Like Home

My husband called me outside last night.  He wanted to show me the new home recently built in the neighborhood.  I was surprised at at how quickly it had been constructed.  The residents have already moved in, and the children will be arriving very soon, indeed.

Right outside our patio doors, a pair of Carolina wrens have built their home.  It is safely snuggled under an assortment of flower pots and other gardening stuff, haphazardly stacked in a standing window box planter I purchased last summer.  After cleaning and fresh paint, I planned to sell the planter at our booth at Carousel Horse Antiques in Locust.  It will just have to stay where it is, nothing will be disturbed until the five speckled eggs hatch and the babies fly from the nest.


Our Carolina wren neighbors are a bit sneaky.  I made a diorama in a planter to decorate the bistro table on our deck for Easter.  I mounded some garden soil, placed three stick crosses on the mound, inserted a small can to replicate the tomb, placed stones by the "door", symbolizing the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  Since I was raised in the fast-food, instant gratification generation, I covered the dirt with moss collected from some shady spots in our yard, instead of waiting for grass seed to sprout.  I was quite pleased with myself; but after a few days I noticed the sticks had been moved and dirt was scattered on the table.  Our precocious grandchildren had been to visit and I thought they had been playing in it, but my husband said he had seen a small brown bird sitting in the planter earlier.  After a few more days passed, almost all of the moss had disappeared.  Now I know where the moss went.  Our Carolina wren couple, used the moss, along with an assortment of sticks, small pieces of thin plastic, and whatever else they could find to construct their home.  

I can't wait to sneak peeks at the baby birds in a week or two.  I read that Carolina wrens usually lay up to four eggs, but our family has five.  The mother bird sits on the eggs for two weeks, while the father feeds her.  That's going to been one crowded nest when all those eggs hatch!  Mama bird was sitting on the nest this morning, but flew off when I got too close.  I'll have to be careful, because I don't want them to abandon their nest because of my curiosity.

You know, we can find happiness no matter where our homes are...as long as the ones we love are near.  Did you know that Carolina wrens are monogamous, working together to build their homes, and the daddies help feed and care for their young?  Daddy wrens are beautiful singers, so I think they must be quite happily married.  Humans should take lessons from them. 

To me, one of the saddest verses in scripture is Matthew 8:20.  Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."  It's humbling to realize that Jesus, the Son of God, who created all things, became homeless to purchase my salvation.       

After Jesus' death and resurrection, He spent forty days with his disciples and others before returning to the Father.  When it was time for Him to leave them, Jesus' followers were discouraged and frightened concerning the future.  Jesus told them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Then, Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1:7 - NIV)

Do you know the Father and the Son?  Is Jesus busy preparing a room for you in God's house?  They are waiting...and there's no place like home.

Copyright 2012 Charlotte Laney