Roles of a Mother

One night last week, the boys and I were outside, waiting for LaVor to get home from work. We noticed a baby dove in our front yard, walking beside its mom. It appeared the baby was trying to get food from the mom's mouth, as they kept bumping their beaks together. It wasn't too long after we noticed them that the mom flew off and didn't return in the hour that we stayed outside. The baby waddled to a piece of wood and snuggled against it, out of immediate danger of any predators.  We went back outside later on to see if the baby was still out there but were unable to find it.

Two days later, we were in our living room, looking out the window, and The Lime says, "The baby bird!"  There it was, sitting in the tanbark out front.

We went right outside our front door to get a better look at it. Shortly after we went outside, the mom comes swooping out of the sky. They played their game of bonking beaks again (I never saw any food being passed from one beak to the other) and then the mom snuck away into the bushes, leaving the baby in the tanbark, again.

It's always interesting to see how mothers in nature react to certain situations.

I was reading my friend's blog about her adventures in the Amazon last year. She and her family went to an island reserve where they got to get up close and personal with several different types of animals. She dedicated a whole post to monkeys here. Notice the look on the mother monkey's face? She was three days postpartum, tired, nursing, and having bugs picked out of her fur. While I don't have someone picking bugs off my skin, I've been in the same position as her, as most of you have too!

LaVor and I were watching a rerun of North America several weeks ago. The episode we tuned in to showed a herd of bison trampling through the prairie when a pack of wolves came looking for dinner. I could tell you about it but it's so much better when watched (plus, who doesn't love Tom Selleck narrating?) so click on "North America" for a link.

I've never had to protect my children from literal wolves but as I've already experienced, Satan has other means, figurative "wolves" if you will, that he's using to attack and harm our children.

We were watching a show on either The Food Network or Cooking Channel the other night and one of the commercials was a Miller Lite one.  When it was over, The Lime said, "I know we don't drink that, but the beer looked really good!"  Way to go, Miller Lite!  Your ads are doing exactly what you want them to; making your product look so irresistible that even five year olds want to try it.

Have you seen this commercial?  Makes me cringe and sick to my stomach. 



There was a meeting held in Livermore last week discussing a new campaign called Fight The New Drug. The age in which children are being exposed to pornography is becoming younger and younger. I remember in my 6th grade science class, several boys sitting at the table next to mine asked me if I knew of certain sexual acts. My innocent little self had no clue what they were talking about. A girl in that same class ended up pregnant before the end of the school year. I was 12 and didn't have Sex Ed until I was 14, and even then, I never had "the talk." Some people now say 8 is the age in which you should start discussing sex with your children, if it hasn't been brought up prior.

Just like the mothers I witnessed out in nature, we all have a sacred duty to nurture, love, provide, teach, and protect our children. As I prepare The Lime for school in a few months, I'm hoping and praying I'm doing all I can to provide a strong enough foundation that if he's faced with those wolves, he'll be able to kick 'em in defense, like that baby calf. I hate having to already expose him to the facts of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. But I want to be sure I get to him before someone else, with different standards, does. And if by chance he does make the wrong choice, I hope he knows the safest place to turn for help is within the walls of our home.