a fun night with friends. . .

I had very special friends visit over the last couple days.

They live in Cap-Haitian and were coming to pick up a special puppy.

We decided we needed a night out on the town (I mean going to a nice restaurant!!)

We girls went to my closet and tried on all kinds of different things.

Jessica is a pretty good bit taller than me, so that was kinda entertaining.

This is what we came up with to wear and feel cute.

The atmosphere was beautiful.

The restaurant is named Magdoos.

There are lights strung all over and all kinds of billowy white fabric.

We made a couple wrong turns and asked for directions.

The food was good.

The friends are fun!

All in all it was a wonderful night.

a father’s hands. . .

i know that i have grown up blessed.

i have a father that loves and cares for me.

i am not talking about a heavenly father, we all have that.  i am talking about an earthly father, who gives us a glimpse of how much our heavenly father loves us.

a father makes a difference in a girls life. (this is my dad and me below at thanksgiving!!)

fathers teach their daughters so much.

how to interact with men, to trust, to love.

kerline’s father brought her and her baby in for her antibiotics.  i have rarely seen this here in haiti.  an elderly father so tender towards his daughter.

(kerline is the woman i shared about in the last post, the one who had such a varied and strong education)

these hands were so gentle with this little baby ann and her mama.

this grandpa was so kind, worried about his daughter and grandaughter.

he asked about her breastfeeding problems, be helped hold the baby after i gave a shot.

grandpa proudly carried this screaming little one home.

on the other side of the story with family involvement, this precious little girl was born to a very strong mother this morning.  this mom had no one with her in labor and has had no visitors.

i pray both these new little girls come to know their heavenly father and the comfort of his gentle hands and guidance through their lives.

veggies. . .

my counter full of fruit and veggies makes me happy.

i know what i will be eating for the next few days!!!

two very different lives. . .

i would say one of the privileges of what i am able to do in life is sharing extremely personal and intimate times with people.  there are few things more personal and important in a woman’s life than the birth of her child.  you kinda up the ante when that mom is delivering in a place like haiti and complications can mean life or death.

i had two conversations today with moms who delivered here at heartline recently.  they couldn’t have had much starker contrast between their stories.  one of these moms i helped delivery and she had an extremely complicated delivery with pre-eclampsia and the other mom had a very complicated delivery just a few days ago and is still here because she had a severe infection.  both challenging, both facing the hard reality of life here in haiti, but completely different perspectives.

the first story was a young mother, she was the one i delivered about three months ago that had severe pre-ecplampsia.  she is here without her baby today for program.  the conversation we had was painful and challenging as i tried to ask sensitive questions, yet get the story of what is going on in her life.  she said that the father took her baby and gave him to the grandma in the country.  she doesn’t know where her baby boy is and feels like she doesn’t have any way to get him back.  i asked her if she wanted him (thinking perhaps she is young and really didn’t want to care for him anyway).  she said of course she does, she cries every day because she misses him.  i tried to get a little bit more history about what happened and she said that she was struggling because she was having problems breast feeding and her family said her milk would go to her head and make her crazy.  so she took some medicine they gave her and got better.  she said she has been to the police, but it would take money to get the paperwork to get the father to give her back her baby. . . money she doesn’t have.

i told her i didn’t really know what to do or have any ideas other than to pray together. that is what we did.  i asked her to come back and see me again next week.

the other conversation i had today was with a mom who has had her first baby at 36 years old.  she had a long difficult labor and was severely infected and the baby is now getting antibiotic treatment.  another difficult labor and delivery, but precious life.  how interesting the different perspective this mom has on life at 36 years old with her first child.

i asked her why she hadn’t had any children yet and she said she was going to school, then she listed off the things she had been studying, it is a pretty long list actually, gardening, typing, embroidery and sewing, songwriting, the father of her baby is an engineer and architect of sorts.  she is so happy to have a healthy little girl.  she sang me a song she wrote about january 12th.  we both teared up as she sang, but she said to me a couple times, “this country is broken, but you have to be able to take care of yourself, you can’t expect the president to take care of you and your children, you need to have an education and work with the people around you to build this country.”

more than anything what stuck out to me in these two conversations was the idea of education.  the mom who is 36 made her life choices because she had the opportunity for education.  the mom who had her child taken away from her, who has been strongly influenced by a family with no understanding has not had the same opportunities for education.

education really does make or break a society.

a day to remember. . .

today marks the two year anniversary of a devastating event. an earthquake that shook a nation to its knees and brought people from all over the whole world to tears.

for me it was more than that, it was personal. i was here. this morning it was one of the first thoughts in my head, remember this day two years ago. . . the memories came flooding back. . . the memories used to be so crushing that i could barely bear to remember. i wonder now two years later what would happen if i try to remember, if i recall those minutes, hours, days and weeks after all of our lives changed. i know there are faces and stories that are in a part of my heart, a part of my heart that i know the Lord has healed, but yet even thinking about those stories brings burning tears immediately to my eyes. those tears are now rolling down my face.

i know i am not the only that has memories, images and stories seared into their hearts from the days after the quake. i pray for the families that are remembering their losses today and the many, many who are striving to move forward in such a broken country.

the haitian people were strong in those days after the quake and continue to be strong in the midst of such adverse situations.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble,
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
Psalm 46:1-2

getting ready to go. . .

today is such a mix of emotions.

i ran by work at truman to complete a mandatory class.

saw a few friends there and will truly miss them while i am gone.

getting ready to head back to haiti early tomorrow morning makes today a busy day.

i have such an assortment of things i am getting together.

below are some of the beads i have bought to add to the designs for haitian creations.

then i have some erythromycin eye ointment donated by a very generous guy.

these two things couldn’t be farther from each other and yet so similar,

they are both about prevention. . .

one helps a mom have a job and be able to provide for her family, preventing illness.

one helps a little baby not go blind. . . both prevention.

both important!

i will for sure miss family and friends here in kansas city while i am gone for a couple months, but am ready to be back in haiti and settle into a routine there for a bit. . .

thanks for your love, support and prayers!

a few of my favorite things. . .

these are a few of my favorite things from christmas. . . okay, these are not really favorite things, more like favorite people.  although i actually worked the day of christmas, i was able to have lots of good holiday time with family and friends!

christmas eve breakfast consisted of room 39 wonderful food and my dear, dear friends mindi, jason and jordanne.

christmas eve service with my friends (who feel like family) grant and natasha

the day after christmas with the men in my life. . . my new nephew and his dad

my new nephew and his uncle

my new nephew and a rare moment when he was actually awake!

my dad and my sweet nephew. . . sleeping of course!

i am blessed!

 

new life. . .

at this time of year there is much talk about birth,

the birth of a saviour.

the birth of Jesus Christ,

who came to the world as a baby.

he left heaven,

and all its glory to come here to earth,

to save us from the sinful world we created.

i am extremely blessed to be around birth on a very regular basis.  i have to admit that at times it can become commonplace for me.  a baby was born.  okay, great.  but sometimes i lose the awe, other times i am completely overcome by emotion as a new life, many times against all odds is born.

i have been privileged to be a part of some wonderful births recently. . .

i went back to the united states for about a month in november to be able to be around when my sister-in-law delivered.  i made it to arkansas the right weekend that she went into labor and was able to be there through a pretty tough and complicated delivery.  i couldn’t have been more proud of them as a couple and the strength they found in each other.  i was so happy to welcome my new little nephew jon elliot micheal curtice into the world. (new life!)

truly, being part of that birth made me realize that the emotion and investment i put into the time with my sister-in-law, of course it is a bit different being with family, but really it is the same pro-active, advocacy approach i take for all my patients, here in haiti and in the states.  what a blessing and gift that i have to have been created in this way and for this kind of work.  i feel blessed to be able serve in both countries that i call home.

here at heartline i have been able to be part of some wonderful births recently.  i am in a teacher role here and have a great privilege of helping one of the full time staff continue to learn and develop her midwifery skills.  each one of the births we have had recently has had some different challenging complication that has brought great learning opportunities, but also shown the significance of the need for skilled birth attendants in places like haiti.

one of the first deliveries when i got here, (and i mean right when i got here because it was a couple hours after i got off the plane,) went really well except for some tears that were seriously bleeding and needing some stitching.  mom and baby did great and went home the next day. (new life!)

we had a mom (i have previously written about her on my blog) who delivered at home and i know would have gotten horribly infected without our intervention.  i still am worried about her because she never got blood for her dangerously low hemoglobin and truly i am worried that she is damaging her heart due to her anemia.  one thing that struck me about this mom was that when we took her home, she had a small garden outside her house.  there were plants and flowers in all kinds of buckets.  right outside her one room, concrete block house she was creating beauty, fostering new life.

 

another recent delivery went almost as beautiful as possible, the new baby at first was a bit purplish, just because mom delivered so quickly, but with stimulation began to pink up and very quickly began to breastfeed, nourishment and new life began.  the mom on the other hand continued and continued to bleed.  we were able to intervene and stop her bleeding, but not without some serious effort.

 

heartline won a grant recently through an organization called giving of life.  what a true statement beth mchoul made when told that we won.  she said, “we are given the opportunity to make a difference!”  we are given an opportunity to participate in new life, in new life coming into this world and helping to ensure that mothers are alive and healthy to care for these precious new lives.

i am so grateful to the Lord’s leading for me being here at heartline and being part of making a difference in the lives of a small group of women.  i am grateful to be an active participant in a program that strengthens and educates women and helps them to learn to be strong participants in their own health care and lives.  i am hoping that through helping others here learn midwifery, that this strong model will only be replicated and more and more women will be given the opportunity to have healthy lives as they prepare for new babies.

this next year i am planning to spend more time in haiti.  i feel peace with that decision and feel that at this time, it is important for the program here at heartline, for the women in the program and for those learning midwifery as i serve as their preceptor.  this means i will have less time to work in the states to cover my living expenses.  i am trusting the Lord to raise up people who want to partner with me financially in this endeavor.  if you are someone who wants to partner with me in this area, please e-mail and i can send you further information.  thanks for your willingness to make a difference and through that partnership new life is born, over and over and over.

hopefully through this partnership, some of reality of this broken world and the hardships of it are also broken and the compassion and love the Lord has for these women is shown.  that is why Christ came, to make a difference in a broken, hurting world.

for unto us, new life come into this world,

in the form of a baby,

in the life of a saviour,

to change the world forever.

i hope you are enjoying some of the peace and joy that only comes through knowing the true giver of life.

it is kinda hard to get into the christmas spirit in 80 degree weather and sun dresses.

but today i tried none the less.

the white chocolate i tried to melt for covering was pretzels was a huge failure.

the sugar cookies with french butter are a huge success!!

merry christmas!

construction. . .

we are remodeling an area here at heartline to serve as a postpartum recovery room and kitchen.

some of the main issues that effect maternal mortality in countries like haiti are postpartum hemorrhage and infection.  if our moms stay for a bit in our post-partum room, they will hopefully not suffer from these problems and we can help make a dent in maternal mortality.

there is a drink here named limeonade.  it is a bit of a mix between lemonade and a limeade.  it is pretty tasty and comes in a light green bottle.

the bottle is the inspiration for the color of our postpartum kitchen.

heartline is the recipient of a $50,000 grant through a program called “Giving of Life”  it is pretty exciting, but what i love if you watch this video on the link below is what Beth McHoul says in the end of the video.  she says, “we are given the chance to make a difference!”  so true and so well said.

http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/2011/12/guess-what-we-won.html

so in light of such good news as being recipients of that grant, i say bring on the bright colors of our postpartum room, one of the guys painting said, “what better colors to symbolize new life!”

i completely agree, healthy, new life.  that is what we are all about!