1 . Katherine would never forget the day when her daughter brought a plate from kindergarten, with a drawing of mouse-like creatures on it.

“Emma, what are these little characters? What do you _________ them?” Katherine said. “Mom, they’re my _________. They come to children who are lonely or who were meant to have a _________ life,” Emma said. It _________ the unemployed 36-year-old mom’s heart during a time when she wasn’t feeling too good about her job _________.

All this eventually _________ a new project for Katherine, unemployed for months—making a line of stuffed animals for sale based on her daughter’s _________. “Every day, I would work on it,” she said. “Over time, it felt like this is what I really _________.” In her basement, Katherine cut patterns, wrote storylines and _________ prototypes (原型样品) to turn “The Representatives” into dolls (玩偶).

Today she has four __________ doll prototypes and specific storylines to go with each main character. She hopes to__________ the dolls to parents going through hard times, or maybe those preparing to work overseas, leaving their __________ behind with relatives.

She said even if the dolls don’t __________, she’s taught her daughter __________ to keep moving even in down times. It’s really a __________ for those unemployed right now, she said.