Headed to Haiti
Just three more days and we will be on our way to Haiti. The land that was once called the Pearl of the Antilles. Now one of the poorest places in the world. Only a two hour plane ride from the United States. I remember the
“boat people” from when I was young. I couldn’t imagine how scary it would be to cram yourself into an overloaded boat and float across the ocean to flee from your home country. I felt a tug at my heart then as I watched the videos of the boats capsizing and the skinny Haitian limbs flailing in the air and then splashing in the water, frantically searching for something firm to hold onto.
I want to help these people who are no longer paddling our way in overloaded boats but seem to have paddled their way into my heart. Hardship is no stranger to them. I want to honor them and respect them for the tenacious people that they have always been and still are.
Dan and I are planning a two week stay there. They have asked me to bring them a Midwifery training and clinic for 5 of the days for 32 midwives. I am also going to be at MamaBaby Haiti for 3 days. The rest of the time we will be gardening and helping with anything they are doing. We want to get to know them. They are welcoming us with much love and honor. I am humbled as Joseph tells me that the whole village is praying for us and are very excited to meet us.
I will try to keep this blog updated as the time passes in Haiti. I do not know how often I will have access to electricity and the ability to charge my phone. I also know that I will be extremely busy!! I pray that God will once again deal well with the midwives.
Hands
A few weeks ago, a small, intimate group of friends, blessed my hands. Since that day, I have viewed my hands in a different light.
Look at your hands, take a good long look. Look at the back of them, the nails, the freckles, the veins. Look at your knuckles. Do you have scars, wrinkles, age spots? Are your fingernails manicured and clean, or do they have dirt under them and stains on them from the work that you do with them. Look at your fingers. Do they have callouses from writing, playing the guitar or other stringed instrument? Do you have all of your fingertips? Are there scars and hang nails.
Now turn them over and look at the palms. Have you ever had your palm read? See the lines and the difference in appearance of the skin. Smooth and thin. Do you have callouses from your frequent activities? Do you use a shovel or rake? Do you use other tools that wear on specific spots of your hands that leave a thick rough spot of protection?
Now think about all that your hands do. Comfort and discipline. Soothing and stimulating. Healing and hurting. Cultivating and harvesting. Praying and cursing. Holding tight and letting go. Preparing and accepting. Serving and receiving. Making a joyful noise and laying silent. Tidying and tangling.
This blessing of my hands has made me think of how closely my hands are to my heart. All of the things I do with my hands are directly related to my heart. The appearance of my hands reflects the appearance of my heart. There are places where my heart has the same wrinkles, age spots and callouses. The routine activities of my life have worn areas there just as you can see on my hands. In all that I do, my heart is what usually drives me. My hands follow my heart.
I am thankful for my hands as I am thankful for my heart. I accept the blessing bestowed on them both by my friends. I wonder if they knew that they were also blessing my heart that day? 
Gramma love.
Spending time with my grandsons is so special. Soon enough they will be grown men and I will be an old woman. Patti Ramos has some heart touching photos of her son with her mom. Big broad shoulders and strong biceps, embracing the frail, thin body of his gramma. I just want to cry. This image sticks in my mind as time marches on. Soon enough that will be me and my grandsons. Soon enough.
Until then, I am blessed to be able to enjoy every moment I am given with them. And speaking of that….they are outside right now, I am going out to play.
Summer’s glory
It’s the middle of August. Summer is in her full glory. My garden is just bursting with life. I am enjoying this time of year more than I can remember since I was a little girl.
I have been having some deja vu experiences the last couple of days. The angles of light and the sounds and smells of summer are taking me back in time. Today I was swept back to my grandparents house while I was washing my hands in a client’s bathroom. The sound of the water running into the small sink and the light coming through the window behind the shower curtain all seemed strangely comforting and familiar. I just stood there and breathed it in….I was 12 years old again, for just a moment. It felt good. A few days ago, the early evening light and smell of a country road sped me back to long summer days when I was 14 and riding my bike all over Aloha’s back roads. I like going back there, remembering an innocent and carefree time in my life.
I can’t remember a time recently, that I have had as many of these experiences as I have in the last couple of weeks. I wonder what it means. It feels as if time is crossing over itself somehow. As much as everything seems to have changed, it is just as much, the same. I revel in summer’s glory today and feel it in my soul as deeply as I ever have. It’s still me here in this older skin. With all the responsibilities of my “grown up” life, I can easily forget who that girl was. I have been blessed to feel and see and know that she is still very much who I am. I intend to notice and relish each day that remains of this summer and take in the sights and scents and experiences that I may be able to draw on them again on down the road, say 30 years from now. I then will remember how it was to be this age and remember how good life was then..
A new learning curve.
As technology presses ever harder into our lives, I am finding that I get to a place where I do not know what I did without it. I am enjoying learning how to use it to help me communicate my thoughts and ideas to cyberspace. I like this new blogging place and hope that it makes it easier to see and to comment.
Even though I love technology for communication, I loathe it in the birthing world. It has not improved the condition of normal, low risk women giving birth, and has been an intrusion in almost every situation. I believe in low technology and traditional methods. I am looking into providing some workshops to midwives, students and seasoned alike from Clarebeth. They will be provided with a computer and I find it rather ironic that such low tech methods will be taught by such high tech means. More to come about that.
Trying a new blog spot.
Good Morning,
I am just trying this out to see if it works better than the last one I was on. I have so much to learn about this. Like, what’s a URL? and well, just keep it simple for me and I will be okay. I will probably copy and paste to here and keep the old stuff I have already written. This is not for anyone to comment on, just to see how it posts when I share it. Here goes!!!
