Baby Doll

As every mother knows, a mom rarely gets the chance to take a shower in a bathroom... all alone... by herself.  Recovering from two months of shower chairs and baths due to a broken leg and ankle, I was relishing my first chance at a "normal person" kind of shower when Violet came in to talk.  To know her is to love her - an ideal combination of stinker and cutie, she always has something interesting to say.  She likes to say rhymes like, one, two pick up sticks, three, four, pick up sticks, five, six, pick up sticks.  She calls Mark "your husmint" when she talks to me about him.  When he comes in the door after work, she says to me, "Mom, your husmint is here.  Don't you want to go kiss your husmint?" and giggles uncontrollably.   Like most girls, she has a big crush on her daddy, and her affection is not misplaced.  She and Mark have become quite inseparable over the past six weeks of my convalescence.  Mark said to me a few weeks back, "Maybe she wouldn't be so ornery if I just lavish her with attention," and so he did.  I dare say she is more in love with him today than ever, and I think it's a result of his efforts toward her.  I haven't seen a dad - ever - be as devoted to his children, but I am admittedly totally biased.

showing off for daddy

When Violet joined me this morning, she said, "Hey, mom.  Your husmint is downstairs."  I said, "Yeah?  What's he doing down there?"  She replied, "He's working."  (He was installing a component on our heating and cooling system.)  Mark later told me that Violet had been his "lovely assistant" earlier, "Until she got tired of me stepping on her toes, and that's how close she was to me the whole time," he said with a grin.  Fortunately, I think she got impatient before he did and decided to come talk to me instead.  She said, "Yep, dad is downstairs working."  I said, "He's so great, and he's my honey."  She said, "Yeah, and you're his honey, and he calls you 'honey' sometimes too."  I said, "Yep.  You know what else he calls me sometimes?"  She asked, "What?"  I said, "Baby Doll."  She laughed, and said, "That's funny!  Baby doll."

You know what?  It is funny.  What man calls a woman "baby doll" in the 21st century?  I mean, Mark has called me "baby doll" from the beginning of our love relationship.  I thought it was so odd and old-fashioned at first.  Then I thought it was unique and wonderful.  It made me fell all wrapped-up and warm inside when he called me that - as though I belonged to him... as though I belonged to someone who wanted to take care of me.  Call me old-fashioned, but that's exactly what I always wanted from a man... what I still want.    Mark and my courtship was so quick.  We met in January, were engaged on February 7th, and married April 14th of the same year.  We had prayed it through in every way, and God kept giving the green light from making the date clear (we had originally planned to wait a year), to having our parents completely on board without a single question or doubt and without our saying a word, to blending our families so well, to... THIS

What is this, you may well wonder.  I have to admit that, as I went shopping for a wedding dress, I wasn't a bit nervous, but I felt I had every reason to be trepidatious.  After all, I didn't know this man who called me "baby doll" very well at all... considering we were about to be married.  I had very little time to find the right dress.  As I wandered through the small, local dress shop, I stopped at a section for wedding accessories, and there it was... plain as day... a bridal purse with the words "Baby doll" emblazoned across the front in rhinestones.  I took a double and a triple take - standing and staring in disbelief.  What are the odds of this? I don't even know.  What I do know is that it was another sign that God wanted me and Mark to be married.  He had lavished me with another convincing proof.  When I say "lavished", I mean it.  It was totally over-the-top.  It might as well have been a bright neon sign that proclaimed, "Marry This Man!" God didn't have to give me such an obvious yet perfectly soft and soothing reminder that - not only was He in loving control of our situation, but that He had planned it out long before we had.  When I think about the series of events that would have led to a manufacturer choosing the phrase "baby doll" to put on a bridal purse, and that a tiny bridal shop in Milledgeville, Illinois, would have chosen such an interesting item to stock their meager accessory shelf... Things like that don't just happen by coincidence.  If you ask me, nothing does.  

I am awed that I serve a God who not only meets my needs, but Who lavishes tender care upon me in most unexpected ways.  I don't think it's wrong to ask Him for signs that you are in His will.  In fact, I think that the desire for a sign to know you're in His will is a great testament to the fact that a person truly wants to be doing what God wants him/her to do.  

Since the first "baby" doll uttered by the man who would later become my "husmint", he has loved all of his "baby dolls" in most precious ways.

with Sadie and Claire

with Claire

with Violet, Levi, and Levi's baby

When we took our trip to Hawaii this past summer, it was directly scheduled over a date that would have been my 15th anniversary if I had still been married to my first husband.  My first husband left at the 6 1/2 year marriage milestone.  At 6 1/2 years with Mark, we were enjoying the bounty of God's grace - learning to love one another better daily.  A day that sometimes comes with sad reminders was filled up with the hope that comes with knowing that our committment isn't something that started out with starry eyes and love-struck infatuation with a side of fireworks.  It started with hope - not in one another - but in God.  Our hope was that the One Who brought us to it would bring us through it.  The best kinds of love are the ones that start out as an ember and are fanned to flame.  

Mark's love for us is a reminder to me of the fact that, if a person can love so selflessly - wanting the best for his family, how much more does our Heavenly Father want to pour out His perfect love on our sorest circumstances.  He stands waiting and wanting to give us everything that He alone knows we need - for our betterment and for His glory.  Will we welcome Him?