Simple Sunday - Mother & Child Figurine

~ thankful for this figurine--to me, a very special representation of the deep love I have for my children as well as the embodiment of my desire to always care for them as tenderly as this mother holds her treasured one...here is the story of how I acquired this: we were living in Israel with our young son Josiah and I was pregnant with David (I think--either that, or I was eagerly anticipating when I would get pregnant with our second child!)...since we didn't have a car, we walked many places; and in my walks down the main north-south route through our area of Tel Aviv, I always passed a corner shop that had all kinds of collectibles...not being much of a collector myself (since to me, figurines often seem like expensive dust-catchers; besides, when we lived in Israel, we weren't accumulating many lasting possessions for ourselves anyway), I didn't pay much attention to the items in the shop...until the day I spotted this one...it immediately grabbed my heart and caused me to suffer from a lovely ache, and I eagerly examined the window of the shop every time I passed to see if this little mother was still there...however, I knew this figurine was expensive, I didn't need it, it would collect dust, we weren't buying much stuff for ourselves in Tel Aviv, etc...still, I wanted it :)...one otherwise ordinary day, Jeff bought it for me and brought it home, COMPLETELY surprising me with it...the memory of that day and the words he wrote in an accompanying card still bring a happy-tears smile to my face...I was nervous about how in the world we would transport it safely back to the States, but everything went fine and this sweet mother and child arrived in one piece...I always knew that when we moved back here, I would set her on top of my dresser, right in the middle...there she stands, a simple, elegant, beautiful reminder of the matchless love of a mother...believe it or not, she's truly an inspiration to me; and sometimes as I walk past, I glance at the tenderness she displays, then quickly adjust my own attitude to reflect the same