Practically from the womb...as far back as I have memory...I loved dolls...

The photographs taken, whilst a little girl in Africa, reveal a girly-girl from the very get-go...

In the photo above, I wanted to be like big sister, who began attending a British school, requiring a wool hat and satchel back pack.

My love affair with dolls, and hats, and purses, had officially begun. 

I even learned, early on, how to wave like a princess in a parade...

At Christmastide, my request was for an African Baby Doll...

Barbie and Ken had just been introduced and made their way under our tree that Christmas...

Life would not ever be the same!

The babydoll was a Zulu doll, which I still have, and the yellow evening gown worn by Barbie, was found this morning, amongst the bag of vintage clothes and accessories...

We began to receive packages from ladies back in the States, who knew there were two little 'Barbie-loving' girls in Africa. These incredibly talented ladies fashioned each little dress, by hand,  adding tiny beads and laces and ric-rac for embellishment. The lovely yellow gown, above, was one of those hand sewn.

Being young, we had no idea what a gift this was, but our mother knew. And how very grateful she was for their tending to the seemingly insignificant need...doll clothes for her daughters.

Most I have saved...through many moves...

While doing my morning laundry...I pressed the lovely blue gingham...

and decided the vintage wardrobe could use the gentle touch of the iron...

 The pretty golden 'bee' dress...

Isn't it sweet..

This is my favorite...of course, because it is pink! I had thought of repurposing this dress for Daphne's new silk frock, but once it was pressed, I just could not bear to take it apart...

As I continued to peruse the rumpled batch, sorting....pressing...grouping...

I could see a distinct progression of styles....from 1960's ....late 1960's (more dresses being acquired upon our return to the States) and on into the 1970's.

 Come along for our little fashion show

The Barbie I knew and loved, was Babysitter Barbie.

She loved talking on the little phone and listening to her records, and I suppose that is why the receiver
and the record player has gone missing...hmmmm...

I believe Ginger from Gilligan's Isle is pictured on the television screen, above!

Barbie babysat little girls...always...as did I. So I assumed I would have only little girls, when I became a mommy. When my first born was a boy, he was named Matthew, and I was in love with little boys.

I did not know that one day his nickname, as a grown man, would be Matty B. ....how interesting that this name was on Barbie's Apron...

The two evening gowns, each with a matching  clutch, were quite exquisite fabrics...the pink on the right, reminds me of 'I Dream of Jeannie'

Sweet satin-y pajamas...

were replaced with brightly colored underthings...

I was so excited when Francie was introduced....I identified with her, as I was tall, and thin, and quite lacking in shapely Barbie curves ... Francie's wardrobe was so sweet and feminine...

These are still my favorite colors...isn't that most interesting....

But onward to 1970...and even sweet Francie was keeping up with the bold new styles.

These were received on my 9th birthday...

Not long after that, my Barbie received a wedding dress...a lovely fabric...neckline and headpiece of her veil is soft white fur. Bouquet of pink velvet roses.

Pictured to the right, is the wedding dress Olivia's Barbie would wear in the early 90's...(notice the bouquet with no flowers...plastic stems... quality of the materials was certainly on the decline.)

And you might have noticed that the ever popular Barbie stilettos are absent from the collection. This is due to Sister's continual aggravation each time her bare foot was pierced by the heel, of said shoes, as she walked across the shag carpeting of their shared bedroom.  For shag carpeting could keep tiny shoes hidden, and a little girl's best efforts to retrieve them all, at appointed clean-up time, were ultimately in vain. Even the Electrolux vacuum could not exhume the shoes from the fibers of such thick carpeting.  Only the  bare feet of a sister who did not appreciate an entire bedroom being used as an elaborate Barbie compound,  could locate the tiniest of shoes.  You might speculate why so many never returned to their Barbie cases...but wound up, instead, in the brown paper grocery bag located under the kitchen sink.  Yes...the trash! But after all these years, you will be happy to know, we hardly ever, ...ever...speak of those horrid little shoes.  

Oh, sister dear....how I love you!

This picture was taken before our departure from Africa. Sister, Lynn..our mother hen, Bradley...curious of every little creature and living thing, Stanley...the baby, no other words needed, and Christie...happy to smile at the camera and proud of a new, pretty pink dress.  Mother made the matching dresses for her girls...saving some of the pink and green trimming. 

 Years ago, she stitched a length of the same ribbon around the liner of a tiny basket that sat on Olivia's dresser for a number of years.   The remainder of that trim hangs over the frame and has been housed in my sewing basket for many years.
  

Mother knew from the very start, that she had quite a little girly-girl on her hands...and what in the world would she ever do with one of those....

The same thing she does with me now...loves me up and down, inside and out, embracing me for who I am, proud of who I have become.

How thankful I am .... that she turned me over to Jesus....from the very start.