Dandelion Heads...

"Mooooommmmmmmyyyyyy!!!!" I hear her calling.  "Yes, baby?" I answer this blonde headed baby.   I know it's going to be good, whatever it is - because she calls to me with that "first time discovery" voice we all know well as Mothers.  I pick my head up from my work to find her standing before me, eyes bright in expectation that I too, will be caught up in the wonder of this great prize.

Holding her hands out, she extends to me the head of a dandelion.  This treasure, her gift to me today. . . 

Before I even realize it, the back door is slamming and she's off again to that great paradise we call the backyard.

I am left with this crumpled head of a dandelion, stemless and full of beauty to me.  "Mommy".  She called me Mommy.  This little girl-child who came to me in the middle of the night just 12 days ago.  My heart swells.  For I know that her heart is beginning to embrace all that I am offering her.  My Motherhood.  She is beginning to delight in it...

A few days ago I heard her tentatively "try it out"... almost a whisper... "Mommy?"...  

At first I wondered if she was not just aching again, mourning the loss of her own mother, calling out to her again in her grief as she had done - as they all had done - periodically throughout each day since they came.  I would find them curled up somewhere, quietly sobbing, repeating their heart's cry over and over "Mommy... Mommy... Mommy..."  

I checked the face of my raspy-voiced girl, and found no grief there... just expectant, brave little eyes - asking for so much more than my attention.   Permission.  "Will you mother me?"  And over the last few days we have found our way together... found a way to walk together through her loss - and begin something new together... something wonderful.  Motherhood.  Security.  Nurturing.  

We're building something beautiful out of so much brokenness.  She's learning to receive and count on someone else to care for her, and I am learning once again to drop the guard over my heart and allow another child, another three (!) to borrow my Mother Heart for as long as they need one.

A dandelion head, plucked from it's place - relocated to my hands by a child who recognized it's greater need - to be a gift of love. . . so much like the story of these baby girls.  Three little baby girls, plucked from their home in the middle of the night, removed from their stem, relocated by a Heavenly Father who recognized their greater need - to receive a gift of love, to come receive a Mother's Gift of Love.

And it will only work as I look to my Father's Heart - learn to give as He did, and give everything for sake of Love.... Mother Love...