When I was 15 I went on a church trip to Guatemala (with many of you that read this blog!). It was an amazing experience. We all worked on different teams doing camp for the kids, construction, etc. For the most part I spent my week helping in the clinic. It was so humbling to see what these people were dealing with. Mothers brought babies in that were clearly “failure to thrive” but these moms were doing their best to provide for their children. Moms were breastfeeding babies when they had hardly a bite to eat themselves. Kids were sick with diarrhea almost permanently from drinking amoeba-filled water and parents were unable to mask their deep needs with fancy clothes or even a smile to convince us that everything was okay. At the time I wasn’t a mom yet but I could see that their maternal instincts weren’t enough to make their socio-economic situation any better or their children any healthier.  They wore despair in their countenance.  The clinic had a newly acquired ultrasound machine. Now in the US we would have fussed that it wasn’t 3D and that it didn’t even offer a visual but for these mothers the concept of hearing their babies’ heartbeat nearly knocked them off the examining table. We saw them smile and regain hope that they were a part of growing new life!

One of the mornings we heard that there was a pregnant woman coming down from the mountains nearby and that she was ready to deliver her baby.  I was so excited and certainly naive at the thought of experiencing the miracle of birth. I remember riding in the bed of a dirty beat up pickup truck down the road to the clinic.  The road was so uneven that we banged against the metal sides as we rode. While we made our way in the truck a young mother made her way down the mountain. I imagine the rocky path while in labor was far worse than our jostling ride on the mud road.

I stood back as the nurse and my friend prepped the mom for her baby’s birth. I remember the look of terror on the mother’s face like it was yesterday. It wasn’t just the anticipation of sleepless nights and the loss of being alone as a couple with her husband, it was a matter of life and death for her. I am certain she had many friends and family members who experienced births that were a far cry from a sterile hospital. While I prepped my camera and anxiously fidgeted this mom worried that something terrible might happen in childbirth. I imagine she was completely overwhelmed at the thought of taking care of another family member when resources were scrapings from the dirt floor. The birth went smoothly and soon the mother and father were cuddling their sweet boy, beaming with pride and relieved with his health. And for a couple of days they remained there in the clean clinic with cheerful turquoise walls, but after those days they had to hike back up to their mountain hut and carry on with life as they knew it.  She didn’t dream of giving her cupcakes with sprinkles on his first birthday or a shiny new tricycle; I imagine she hoped to be able to feed her boy and help him grow into a strong young man. Isn’t that what we all hope?

Nearly 15 years later I find myself with 2 little boys of my own and living in Switzerland. I have experienced miscarriage, having a sick baby and many a medical procedure but all with the best medical care and resources at my fingertips.  Sometimes living in Switzerland I fail to see any need. It’s clear that providing meals and clean clothes here is not the primary struggle but I bet there are moms that struggle with Postpartum depression, have babies that don’t breastfeed like they had hoped and struggle with sick children that they can’t make well. Moms around the globe have the same heart to have healthy, happy children. I am reminded of the quote from Ravi Zacharias’s book “Recapture the Wonder”, “To think that he was once a baby, held in the arms of his mother while she dreamed great dreams for him”. What would it look like for moms around the globe to have their dreams become a reality instead of losing their little ones to preventable diseases?  Zacharias goes on to write, “A baby throbbing with life is embodied promise. The birth day gives birth to more than a life-it gives birth to new hopes”.

ABC news has launched a Million Moms Challenge in conjunction with the United Nations Foundation. World Moms Blog Bloggers are getting involved to spread the word.  They are looking to raise awareness for mother’s and children’s health around the world. It is super easy to sign their petition and for the first 100,000 that that sign up Johnson & Johnson will donate $1. This money will be used to provide for the needs of mothers and children to give them things like vaccines. (The vaccines I cringe about but save my children’s lives!)  I often feel like there isn’t much I can do…this seems like a simple way to help! Just click here to sign the petition and read more about the situations of mothers and children around the globe.

For those of you that are on facebook these pics will be BORING!  But for those that aren’t I thought I would share a few pictures from our little woods adventure last Sunday evening. Around 3 pm we decided that our kids were far too Guh-rumpy to take to church. They were both run down, over-tired and not quite nursery and Sunday school material if you know what I mean. An evening service just sometimes doesn’t jive with tots, though we make our best effort to be there as much as possible. So we stayed home, took a hike into the woods in our neighborhood and made some spaghetti because that is down right soul food for Jackson. It was a very calm evening and just what we all needed.

Side note: growing up in a pastor’s home we NEVER missed church unless we were really sick. There wasn’t some strick law set it was just that that is what our family did. I am thankful my parents set an example for us of being plugged into a group of believers.  As an adult I am learning that it really is okay to take times of rest with our family. It feel unconventional and I debate, but there are evenings when it does our family, and our souls good to step back and rest!

this was just before Seth yelled “you can let go!”, anticipating that Jackson is all of his 4 yr old wisdom would know how and when to drop. It wasn’t pretty but he brushed it off.

Have a nice weekend! Get outside if it is nice!!! Fresh air is doing us so much good! (esp knowing the snow is coming soon…we can see the white getting lower and lower on the mountains)

Most of you have probably read the article about drowning and how speaking is a secondary function so when someone is drowning they aren’t able to call out. It’s awful….don’t think about it too long or you will be depressed or be terribly scared to let your kids swim. Well, Seth would vouch for the fact that I haven’t been completely silent lately….so I must not be completely drowning, but I am at least treading water.

About a month ago I learned that I would be added as a writer to World Moms Blog.  It is such a neat opportunity and I am getting up and running.  I am one of a group of women living around the world writing on motherhood and such. Again, a good thing. But I am a tad bit stressed with the addition of deadlines and feeling the stress of meeting expectations. All normal feelings with something new but still not energizing feelings!

Add to the above new gig: multiple friends looking for jobs and discouraged, a cancer scare with my mother-in-law, a friend with an abnormal nuchal fold test for her growing baby, another friends baby in the hospital, my husband bidding on jobs (ie NOT sleeping well),   and two little boys that are battling it out to learn to enjoy one another one minute and wildly shrieking because life is so exciting the next, and reading some heavy books that are making me dig deep. All of this adds up to feeling a bit tired. Okay, honestly, A LOT tired.

I feel like I am working towards some exciting new projects that require more juggling of things around here as well as carrying the burden for friends and family going through tough times. Is it possible to be too empathetic? Ummmm, probably not but two baked goods that lacked baking soda in the last couple of weeks with vouch for the fact that my empathy often can distract me. I love my friends and family so much and so often wish I was closer to do more tangible things for them. I am trying to learn how to not stifle that empathy but also to find some balance!

People ask how we are doing. We are doing well. We are all healthy and life is good. I am so thankful that my mother-in-law is cancer free, that my friends baby is out of the hospital, and that bidding season is ALMOST over. The list of things to be thankful for abounds. I just have to stop myself sometimes and give myself a break from the feeling that I have to be all things to all people and solve the world’s problems. How prideful am I that I think I can?!

Whew, thanks for letting me vent. The crockpot is bubbling with my mom’s stew! The sun is shining after a very cloudy, grey morning so we are heading out for a long walk with a friend!

We finally got around to getting our pumpkins this year. I must admit that I missed the hay ride and hoopla involved in getting pumpkins in the US…next year you will find us at Cox Farms or the like! This year we found a cute farm stand.

We are throwing a pumpkin carving party on Saturday night. It will be the UN of pumpkin parties with a Swiss family, a German family, an Italian/American family and a Hungarian/American family!  It will be a fun group of kids and parents and we are hoping for a really fun night….very messy but fun. I will post pics after the fun!

this is the pumpkin pie that Seth was wishing he had gotten to eat. We delivered it to my friend on our way out to get pumpkins…she is German but had lived in Canada and was missing pumpkin pie. It happened to be her birthday so we surprised her and took over a hot pie! Again, Seth is still jealous!

Happy Fall Y’all!

ps-I made these cookies that I mentioned last week. They were SO good. Like pumpkin spice snickerdoodles!! They were so good that I send almost the whole  batch to work with Seth so I wouldn’t have any!