Excerpt from THRIVE AND SURVIVE, ZERO TO FIVE

I (Mary) could tell almost from the womb that my children would be radically different from each other. Julia, my second-born, had a strong leaning toward nurturing. She gravitated toward babies while she was still a baby herself, and her first word was “be-be.” She consistently wanted to interact with babies and touch them.

On her second birthday we gave her a life-sized baby doll, and she carefully mothered her “Connie” alongside me as I mothered the baby brother who joined our family when Julia was twenty-one months. When she outgrew playing with dolls, she put her Connie on a bedroom shelf where she remained. Julia went on to babysit for all five of her younger siblings, and I counted on her to help me care for them through her own childhood years. Eventually Julia’s own daughters played with Connie, who had been carefully preserved during the twenty year interim.

Julia’s first official job during her teen years was as a summertime nanny for a pediatrician. Her nurturing ability took her through nursing school and later into full-time motherhood, foster parenting, and adoption. And it was all evident from her babyhood.

Knowing ahead of time that God wires our children in specific ways encourages us to look for what those qualities are.

SIDEBAR: MOTHERS IN THE BIBLE

• Obedient Mary
• Trusting Elizabeth
• Doubtful Sarah
• Believing Hannah
• Deceptive Rebekah
• Wise Lois
• Loyal Ruth
• Sinful Eve
• Cunning Jezebel