Dear Readers,
I am pleased to present the first “Wit and Wisdom” guest post on Experienced Bad Mom. Today’s guest post comes from my lovely Blogging Buddy, Lynden, who shares her own parenting story below. Enjoy!
Katy
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Once upon a time…there was a young man and woman … (So begins the favorite bedtime story of ‘said Porcelain Doll’…) The young woman knew she wanted a large family and she prayed and prayed that God would provide… Ten and a half long, pain-filled years later, He answered her desperate prayers of, “Lord, we’ll take ANY child!” with His unmistakable (yet unknown-at-the-time) sense of humor… ”Have I got ONE for YOU!”
The new parents had decided that rather than hiding all of the special antique items openly used and displayed in their home, they would merely teach their children to ‘not touch’ and appreciate antiques. At about 6 months of age, the Porcelain Doll God had given them was pulling herself up to stand by the Victorian marble-top coffee table adorned with a delicately fragile heirloom candy dish set on crocheted doilies.
The Mother smiled, shook her head and said, calmly but firmly, “No, no, Dear – You mustn’t touch Mama’s Pretties…” Whereupon, the lovely Porcelain Doll with the Golden Eyes held the mother’s gaze without blinking – reached her hand out – touched the treasured dish – and said with those Golden Eyes, calmly but firmly, “I will!”
In that instant, the Mother knew that the road ahead would be rocky…and it has been… But God knew that where He had placed the Porcelain-Doll-with-the-will-of-steel was the Best Place for both of them. A few years later, when Dr. James Dobson wrote, The Strong-willed Child, the Mother read it immediately and voraciously, in hopes of finding solutions to the problems they faced with the Porcelain Doll. There was nothing in it that they hadn’t dealt with or tried.
The Rocky Road has led them all places they’d never have expected – and much of it painful – Unlike the fairy tale that began, they haven’t ‘all lived happily ever after’… God’s answer to that young mother’s prayers and the deep, abiding, unending love that He gave her to share (even when many others said, “Give up on her!”) has allowed them to come through it all and ‘out on the other side.’ Our Heavenly ‘Father did know best…’
P.S. No antiques – or children – were harmed in the making of this life story.
P.P.S. The beautiful Porcelain Doll is now 32 and has 2 Dolls of her own – JUST LIKE HER! *Smile!*
Lynden Blossom blogs at aneleganttouch-lynden.blogspot.com. She is a mature, educated, creative woman – a Mother of two grown children – a Gramama of two precious grandchildren – a proud Blue Star Mother of a Marine Captain – a daughter of the King of Kings – a woman looking for her place in the world in the winter of her life…sharing what she does and who she is – with You – adding An Elegant Touch to all that she does.
Lynden Blossom says
Thank You, Katy, for allowing me the privilege of sharing one of my stories on your blog! I look forward to Your stories regularly – Hopefully, this is an encouragement to those raising children – that God is faithful, He knows best and He will carry us through anything He allows. Our children are SO Precious and we learn even as we teach… Blessings – and Patience!
Katy @ Experienced Bad Mom says
You’re welcome Lynden! Thanks for sharing your sweet, touching story! 🙂
TheBargainBabe says
Aww LOL. I think we all have grand ideas of how our children will behave….until we HAVE CHILDREN. 🙂 Glad you have two granddolls to love on now. 🙂
Meredith says
This is awesome!
Lovely story. 🙂
Elizabeth M. says
I remember looking at a friend’s whining child, before I was married and had any children of my own, and thinking that I would NEVER let a child of mine whine. Ha, ha and double ha, ha. It’s so much easier to be a parent before you have children.
Great post.
Linda Kinsman says
Great story! It’s so true how easy it was for me to judge moms before I was one. Now I have alot more patience. 🙂