Oh my dearest Carole

My very first instinct reading your story is to pick you all up, wrap you in a quilt and sit with you on my knee, your head tucked under my chin and just rock you, for hours, for days, for weeks! The mother in me is crying out for all of you! I have much to write and I will try and write it now, but the kids are around and I may get distracted, so I will come back if I need to.

Firstly I want to thank you for sharing this with me, you are very trusting and I appreciate your honesty and the journey that you are on.
I want to tell you how much I admire you. You are an incredible woman. Not only are you dealing with the physical pain (your back) and you are dealing with such huge emotional pain and yet, you are still here, you are still beautiful and you are still functioning! You are an amazing mother, to Chris, yes, but also to the littles. I know it is hard having three kids of my own, and sometimes it is tiring and stressful, but here you are mothering 500 little children, many of them so so needy and in pain! Wow I admire your strength and determination and the sheer amount of love you have in you!

I am really pleased that you chose to share this about yourself. I think it will be really nice that we can truly make the dolls for the littles, and that I can be a part of your loving them in this way (I hope I'm expressing myself properly about this, I do hope so)! I know that when I make these dolls I will pour love and care and cuddles into every stitch and I hope that you will feel that when you are cuddling them.

I think it is a really wonderful idea for you to make dolls. I do feel that the physical act of making the doll is a way of making love visible and tangible. When I work on a doll I can feel the love coming from my heart and soul and pouring out through my fingers..I can even feel the warmth of that love physically heat up my fingers (so much so that when I rub the wax on their little cheeks my fingers are so warm the wax melts very easily and the colour rubs off really easily!) I think too that the children holding a doll (or a toy or a quilt) that is made with pure love can feel this, I truly do and I think what a wonderful way for you to be able to express your love and care for each of the littles by being able to make them a doll of pure love!

If you need any help or tips with that do please contact me and I can help in whatever way I can.

I also wanted to add that I have just made a weighted doll (the blond william doll). He has grain in his tummy which gives him a really lovely weight to cuddle and hold and I think this would be really lovely and comforting. Just a thought incase you wanted to try that too.

I am sending you (all) my deepest best wishes and huge hugs
Laura x x x