On Being Grateful

I saw a documentary last night called Motherland Afghanistan. It was about a OB/Gyn of Afghan descent who travels to Afghanistan periodically to help out with medical care there. Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. The movie took was filmed in 2003, one year after the U.S. invasion of AFghanistan.

ALthough the hospital had received funding the conditions there (and this is in KAbul) were appalling. The patients have to buy their own sutures, needles, i.v.'s, and food for their operations. One patient had a tear from her rectum to her vagina and while they were sewing her up the sutures kept breaking because they were too cheap. Another woman lost her baby after she'd been in labor three days and someone in her village gave her a shot of something. She then developed a hole in her bladder that leaked urine into her vagina and down her legs. ANother woman had her baby at 28 weeks and there she was holding it until it died two days later. One woman had a severe case of preeclampsia and then was beaten because her relatives thought her seizures were caused by demon possession. Even the doctor was horrified and couldn't even speak. I can now understand why my students don't want to return to their own country. It's admirable that this doctor who is used to the comforts of American life leaves his home in the U.S. to travel to this desolate and depressing place. He continues to go to train other doctors there to carry on.

I have so much to be grateful for here in this country. Yes, medical care is expensive but it's the best in the world. There are hospitals that treat you even if you can't pay. That isn't the case elsewhere in the world. We have so much here in the U.S. I just can't believe the way it is in other countries.

My Soul to Keep review

I love reading and I love good books. In my last review I read a book that was a little too clean cut and neatly packaged for my taste. This book is the exact opposite. It's called: My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells.

It's the 3rd book in a series called the Dylan Foster series about a female psychology professor who has run ins with supernatural beings and wierd things happen around her. She's a messy character, full of insecurities and faults. Her family is dysfunctional and so I can relate to her character better. It's supposed to be a Christian book, I think but I wouldn't consider this character a Christian by any stretch. THat being said, it was a suspensful book that kept my attention. Even though it was the third in a series I didn't have a problem reading it by itself although I'd be curious now to read the others in the series. It's a page turner.

If you check it out, let me know what you think!

My cherry creations!

Here's a picture of Dana's three girls. Their birthdays are all within a month of each others so I made them all dresses this year. Dana loves cherries so really they are more for her anyway but I tried to make Anna's (the one on the right) like a princess dress with loop borders on the sleeves and a long skirt. Naomi's (on the left) is more rough and tumble with shorts and a swag stitched border and Abby's has stars and lace...perfect for a little one year old.

Normally I don't advertise the price I pay for presents but I got the fabric and materials for this (and I can make a diaper bag out of the leftovers) for $16 bucks total. How cool is that? $4 a dress. My sewing hobby pays off sometimes.

I made some leotards for Taylor so I'll post that tomorrow. I'm trying to spend an hour a day in my sewing room so I can get things done this summer before I'm REALLY busy!

Here's a video of what Austin likes to do to give his dad a heart attack. I think it's pretty cool. This child has no fear...except of germs! Watch and enjoy.

Adventures in cloth diapering or how to shut down the swimming pool!

Well, I've had a pretty gross day. Since I'm on my cloth diapering kick I decided to invest the $14.95 on a swim diaper. Have I mentioned that Liam poops like clockwork? Always at 1 pm and 7, that is...until today. We belong to a private swim club with three different pools. I was in the 3 ft pool with him when he got cold. I had him sitting on the side of the pool to warm up from being cold. As he stood up I noticed dripping. At first I thought, no it can't be, but then I saw it...wet, dripping poo. What do I do? If I took him to the stroller he'd drip the entire way. My friend Christine was there and she quickly ran to get a towel. I scooped and ran (well...waddled) into the bathroom with him. I then took him to the showers and washed him up. Christine then ran to get my diaper bag but guess what? No diaper. I remembered there was a disposable on in the basket of my stroller so off she ran to get it.

After we took care of him we told the pool staff about it and they poured bleach all over where we'd been. My kids told me they shut down the pool where we were. How embarrassing! Now I know that nothing probably would have contained that mess but man! What a gross out. I'm so grateful that Christine was there or I'd have never made it!

Adventures in cloth diapering and going green

Taylor announced to me that I should go green a few months ago. Apparently one of her best friends is some peta-loving tree hugger. I normally would roll my eyes but then I thought that perhaps I should try to do better about conserving energy. I'm their role model and our waste makes us distasteful to many countries in the world. Plus our first forced recycling program that was dumped on us helped to push us into greenland. It's voluntary but you pay for it whether you use it or not. It's only increased our bill by $20. So much for voluntary. After I got over my rebellious attitude I decided that yes, it was a good thing.

Now I'm trying to save money and the thought of two in diapers was reminiscent of when Austin and Dylan were young and we were so poor after paying for formula and diapers. SSSSSSSSSOOOOO, I decided to go cloth! It's a big investment at first but the savings will be in the hundreds of dollars. So far it's going well. Liam doesn't seem to notice and they aren't much more work....unless there's poo. Let me tell you, that kid goes 3 times a day with cloth versus 1 time with disposables. Perhaps he's testing my resolve, but I'm a very determined woman. Of course the instructions say to scrape the clumps in the toilet and then you're good to go. That would be nice except that Liam has the gooiest poo ever. There's no scraping! Anyway, I decided that the diaper sprayer/personal bidet system was a must so a friend is selling me one of hers. Bill just laughed and said he couldn't believe I was doing all of this. I just close my eyes and say, "I'm saving money, I'm saving money, I'm helping the environment!" I then researched and found out I could use my seamstress skills to make some of my own. That is actually exciting as I love to sew and learn how to make new things. Taylor marveled at my resolve and said, "Hey Mom, You're going green!" Well okay then.

Now I'm researching buying an outdoor drying rack for my cloth diapers to cut down on my energy costs (not that with the weather here I'll be able to use it much but hey, I'm trying). I also am making cloth napkins out of scrap fabrics (much more convenient now that I have my new dream serger!!!!! Did you know you can make your own menstrual products too? I won't go into details as my dad might read this and reminisce about "Modess...because" ads.

Anyway, my friend Dana said, "Hey, you remind me of those quiverfull people that make their own potholders. They are so wierd, I think you're getting there."

Guess what I did today? I made a potholder! I guess I am truly over the edge. But hey, according to others on the internet....I'm not alone. Come over to the dark side energy consumers!

Prayers for my friend

For those of you who don't know I used to teach english to Afghan women in the city. For many reasons I had to stop but I still visit with some of them from time to time. One of my favorites was M. She was raised in Afghanistan during the TAliban and was engaged to Mr. S at the age of 8. M told me that she thought Mr. S was her uncle (he was 20 when she was 8). His family emigrated to the United States and then had to grow a beard to get back into the country to claim his bride. They were married and moved back to the United States. She knew no english or had any idea of the freedoms we had in this country. Mr. S's family was very strict so she had to wear full head coverings even here in this country. She taught herself english by watching t.v. Unfortunately his family was so oppressive that she tried to commit suicide. Mr. S moved her to Missouri where she thrived. They had a daughter and tried to get by. He was an abusive man though and would beat her many times. I would see the bruises on her and she would just cry to me. One day she told another friend of mine that she prayed to Jesus, and then to Allah but he never stopped hurting her. "Now I don't believe in anything."

THis whole episode broke my heart. I told her that if she ever left him that I would help her and her daughter get to a safe place. Many of us offered to help her. This is such a hard thing though because she would be completely alone and would also bring shame upon her family in Afghanistan (to the point that her sisters may not be able to get married). Finally she had enough and contacted us from an abuse shelter. The police had been involved numerous times. I was so happy that she had moved to a shelter. I thought for sure that she would be safe. She had to appear in court for the charges against him. SHe told a friend of mine that she might go back to him and if she did she wouldn't be able to contact us. We've never heard from her again. I've heard rumors that she's in California again with his family. I don't know if she's alive or dead. If you think of her, please pray for her. She's been through so much already. I want the peace of God for her.

Thanks