That’s pretty amazing coming from a ten year old. At that age you know he REALLY means it and is not just trying to flatter you. Isn’t skype a blessing when you have distand friends and relatives? I wish we would have had it when my husband was in the military and often far away.
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He is a really sweet and humorous kiddo…Love him to bits…
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I have a nine year old grandson, my only one, and he is amazing. I hardly ever get to see him, but get constant updates on facebook. I am so proud of him. He is going into the gifted program at school this coming year. My son Cabe, his uncle, was in the same program at his age.
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You are so right…I do not think I would be able to stand not having it. We have the little webcam too so I can see them too which makes it even more wonderful…
Ok…now I am becoming one of those boring old grannies with the brag book out (I am not too old yet - my son decided to make me a grandmother at age 36 so have quite a few years of grandmotherly bliss…lol) You never think you’ll ever love anyone as much as your kids (spouses excluded of course but that is a different kind of love) and then those grands come along and change our minds…
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What beautiful stories you all have shared. Brought tears of both sadness and joy. Hugs to all of you.
Well here is my story…
After a very nasty, ugly divorce 14 years ago and loosing my three children, who are now adults and have children of their own. New wife took care of that.
I have not seen or talked to my children in over 9 years. I tried reconciling with them a couple of years ago to be told in a not so very nice way to butt out of their lives and that they no longer have a Mom and their children will know nothing of me. I was shattered.
During this process, I think the straw that broke the camels back and caused me to have a stroke, was when my ex had papers delivered that stated that he and his wife were taking my parental rights away to my daughter. The stroke caused me to loose my ability to speak, eat (swallow) and do simple tasks. I pushed myself to re-learn. My speech and eating came back but following simple directions to a task was not so easy.
I decided to start back up with my sewing. Dolls were my favorite to do. Back and forth to the hospital for therapy and having to walk past the children’s ward was so hard. That is when I decided to take my dolls and donate them to the hospital. In almost a year my brain was finally functioning to follow simple directions. With each cloth doll I did, I made sure to add a touch more difficulty. 6 years later - I am doing much better and the effects of the stroke seem to be less and less.
I was doing a search one day on cloth doll patterns and came across pictures of “babies” Thought that to be strange. One caught my eye so I opened the link to find out this was not a real baby but a Reborn Doll and read how these Dolls comforted women with losses and emptiness.
I talked with my boyfriend…We have been together for 12 years. Marriage has been discussed, he has brought up the subject many times, but I have turned it down. I am deathly afraid of marriage. Before my ex and I got married, we had a wonderful relationship. But, as soon as we said I Do and rings were placed on the fingers, my ex changed to something horrible. The control and mental abuse was awful. I guess, that is the fear I have. The change after the marriage. He completely understands and knows of all the dealings I have been through with this divorce. He has been right there beside me through everything.
So I told him about Reborn Dolls and all the research I had done on these beautiful babies. I did find them to be out of my range in affording one. So he brought up the idea of possibly trying my hand at making one for myself and see if the comfort would help me in everything, plus help with my dexterity and following directions.
Found Bountiful Baby, bought a kit, went through many frustrations of making one. But when I did finally finish her, the comfort and joy she brought me was incredible. I longed to hold a baby again.
Prior to making my first reborn, I was babysitting a sweet 10 month old. She was all get up and go and did not like to be cuddled lol but she did fill the holes in my heart. I would make her things and I did explain to her Mom my story one day when the question had come up about me having any children. She felt so bad for me and hugged me and thanked me for being a terriffic babysitter.
Kendall has been in my life ever since she was 10 months old and here she is a sweet, very cuddly 4 year old. She is always full of kisses and hugs for me. Melts my heart every time.
My Mom, before her passing was my best supporter of my new found art. She even chose a kit and wanted me to work on it for her. Well, shortly after the kit arrived Mom got very sick and went into a Diabetic Coma to never come out. I had lost my best friend who helped me in so many ways during my time of need and such. After loosing her, My Dad, and my children, I said to my boyfriend, I quit, I am going to sell everything. I can’t handle doing anything right now. We started to go through all of my stuff and came across the Paisley kit my Mom chose. I cried and cried and that is when my boyfriend said NO, you are not selling anything. Your Mom wanted you to do this and I want you to do this. DO IT!
Well I am so glad that I listened. For me The Art of Reborning – Is a wonderful Therapy Outlet. It has helped with my effects to the stroke I had and the loss of everything that was and is dear to me. I find doing this particular art form is so much cheaper than having a therapist. lol My boyfriend makes sure I have plenty of kits at my disposal. lol I couldn’t ask for anyone better in my life.
I still hold on to the hope of one day my children will tear down the walls of hatred in their hearts for me and contact me. Until that day comes, I will continue to fine tune my reborning skills, sell from time to time to give to that person who purchases the wonderful feeling you get when you cuddle a reborn baby and cuddle my own reborns. 
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Thank you for sharing, Vicki! You’ve had so much sadness but I’m glad you’ve found some joy now. Give your little ones some extra hugs today. 
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Aw - Thank you nimlet. I am happy to say my health is greatly improving and as long as I keep stress to a minimum I shall continue on that road. I thank you also on your wishes.
You’re welcome Amy and Yes, there was too much sadness, but have to say with that sadness came strength. Joy is my new strength now. That is pretty much all that I will allow in my life. I sure will on the hugs.
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Heartbreaking story!
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My story is not so heart-breaking but it is what it is. Last summer my kitty of 17 years died. I tried to figure out why I missed him so. His last months, of failing health, had been a lot of work but it was him I missed. Accidentally (?) on YouTube I read about reborns and saw older women cuddling them. After searching for one with smiles I bought her and in the evenings would sit to hold her, dress her for bed and take care of her like my cat! I watched the auctions on eBay and saw I could not afford most of them but some had boo-boos and were offered at lower prices. I felt I knew enough about doll-making that I could fix these dolls to go on loving them. So I bought a couple and soon found out how much was like the porcelain dolls I had made. Thanks to comments here in the forum, and the videos, I have learned how much different reborns are and see what I need to learn. It feels good to be excited about a new aspect of dolls.
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how i got into this wonderful addictive hobby
will try to make a long story short
my house burnt down a few years ago giving me some serious health issues with my lungs
i went from very active to being able to do very little, and having mechines hoses and medications surrounding me and changing my life completely
so i had to find a hobby that i was going to enjoy
first i tried banding a lot of fun very creative and gave me something to do
a few problems tho the bands started to give me deep cuts in my fingers and they fell apart fast with sun light so my hours of work all seemed worthless
having been interested in reborns for a long time i started contemplating giving it a try
started doing some research reading watching tutorials and was finally talked into buying my first complete kit
my daughter said after all its under 200 if you don’t like it or cant do it its okay, if you do like it and can do it great
so i gave it a try and absolutely love it
i’m addicted, cant get enough, can’t stop
I have babies every were, kits every were, baby clothes, and furniture all over the place, and best of all i no longer sit here with nothing to do, i am occupied, and it has given me a sense of worth again
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Love your story !
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Thanks very much Annewalker!
Amazing stories ladies.
Mine is quite simple.
I’ve been a painter and designer for years. I friend used to make reborn and my daughter wanted one for Chistmas. Unfortunately, my friend stopped making them, so I bought one on EBay.
Yikes!! When it arrived,we were thrilled. But of course I kept looking at others and saw that this was quite a “mess” compared to others.
Then I figured, I can try it. I studied pics of real babies, combined my painting skills…haven’t stopped since.
Love the happiness it gives customers, a huge bonus for doing something I love.
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Well, let me tell ya! After never seeing a reborn in person I thought mine were the bomb! Lolol after this site, I realized they were not. Lol I have so much to learn! But that’s one of the reasons I love it, it’s always a challenge. There is so much to learn, that I can never feel bored. There is always room to try new things and improve. I must admit, I am never satisfied with my work now. It’s just not good enough. And I sold any dolls
Before coming to this site… I hope my buyer are not having the same reaction as you! Although, they probably are😳
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I bought every book and DVD, followed all the advice step by step… It is not worth a damn to what I have learned already from all of you beautiful ladies! You all are part of my grateful list everyday!
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I’m so sorry for your loss. It hurt my heart and I can’t begin to imagine what it did to yours. I’m so happy you have a little one to love again. IMO there’s nothing to compare to the joy of a two year old. Have as much fun as you possibly can.
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Welcome to the “family”…So very sad what you have endured but sounds like you WERE fully blessed again. We look forward to seeing you on the forum here and will love to see some of your babies as you do them…Lots of help and lovely ladies here so just jump in whenever you need help. want to to comment or just need to vent… 
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Loving the stories here and finding out how each of you got into this. My story began about 6 years ago. It was on a night I just couldn’t sleep. I was changing the channel on the TV in the wee hours of the morning, we all know what a challenge that can be at that hour trying to find something to watch. Well I stumbled across a documentary on women whom purchase these dolls and treat them like they are real babies. I have to be honest I had mixed feelings in the beginning and found it to be odd. But at the same time I could see how this could fill a void for someone who lost a child or couldn’t have children. Many years ago I lost my 6 month old son to SIDS so I know where that heart ache for a child comes from. So after I watched this I began to google this topic and decided I wanted to really find out what these dolls consisted of. After a few months of this I decided I wanted to try to make one. I bought a complete starter kit and that is where it all began. While making this first kit I found a comfort and a sense of peace and contentment while making this doll. I fell in love with each step it took to create this little one. My heart was sold and I then understood the feelings these ladies had on this documentary I had watched. The thought of making someone so happy with a doll fills my heart with nothing but pure happiness. I also have found the ones I have kept and are sitting in my doll /craft room make me smile every time I enter my room. Its my happy place where I can get away from all the everyday things that can stress us out. I find my sense of peace in that room and I love every single second of it. 
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I have loved dolls all my life and was always so excited for Christmas to come so I could get my new baby doll from Santa. It always turned out to be one that I had seen in a store that I just “had to have” funny how that worked. Anyway I grew up married young and miscarried our first child he was never really formed but I knew he was a boy through it all. We went on to have a daughter in 1967, she was our only one. We were happy and I have always been crafty and loved dolls so I began to make cloth dolls and sold many. Then porcelain came into my life and I did those dolls for many years. Then there was no dolls for a long time until I came across these things they call “reborns” and the rest is history. One day when my daughter was grown and working in an office a lady came in and talked to her. My daughter gave her the proper forms that she was to fill out so the lady returned to her seat and while writing she kept staring at my daughter. Finally she got up and asked my daughter if she could speak to her about something, daughter said of course "what can I help you with’? The lady just looked at her and said “you have a brother in he spirit world”. My daughter didn’t speak for a moment and the lady said “his name is Michael, and he is here with you right now. standing behind you”. “He is around you all the time”. With that she returned to her seat and left my daughter to ponder what she had been told. She came home and told me what had transpired and said what was his name and I said he didn’t really have one but in my heart I had always called him “Michael”! Isn’t life strange but beautiful, someday I will see the son I never had. That’s my story but reborns are in my life until such time as I can no longer do them. But I will always love them as I did my dolls from long ago, many of which I still have today.
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[quote=“lynn, post:45, topic:24734”]
someday I will see the son I never had.
[/quote]
I am certain that you will! Children grow up in the spirit world so it was no surprise that she said he was standing behind your daughter. And if this makes me look weird …so be it! I know what I know!
Blessings to you
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