Kellee Metty, Linda Graham, Lisa Lewis talk about their amazing experience in the Haiti earthquake and their adventure delivering babies in Haiti. The church is KINGS PARK INTERNATIONAL

These are friends of mine from church. I spent some long hours last night waiting for them to come home. Their stories are incredible.....Pray for total healing and that they don't suffer from Post Traumatic Stress or Survivor Guilt.

Imagine the Titanic crashes into the iceberg and you are the first ones there on an adjacent yacht. You watch as tons of people are jumping into the frigid water hanging onto pieces of pool furniture or they are treading water unsuccessfully. And then you have the resources or at least some to save many but part of your leadership on the yacht says….”hey let’s evaluate this situation. How did they get into this predicament anyhow?” Meanwhile, you continue to watch as people are shouting ‘help me, help me”…you start to ignore the conversation at the helm which is comprised of a very old and out of touch ‘should have been retired years ago’ captain and just start throwing the life preservers over board…People are screaming, drowning and you watch as the team in their tidy whitey captain outfits stand talking about history, or how scientifically they could have avoided this very real disaster.



Two weeks ago I was spending most of my waking hours focused on the atrocities toward second born daughters in parts of India, where the girls are killed after birth as infants because of a dowry system that is outlawed but still very much in practice. I was determined to try to figure out how to stop this practice single handedly from my subdivision home in Cary, NC. I was also really really upset about the female sex selected abortions there along with the fact that now young men can’t even find brides because there is a clear discrepancy in the balance between men and women. There just aren’t enough brides. Then I saw research that said that the infanticide as well as the female sex selected abortion leads to increase in prostitution as well as sex trafficking. Many young women are kidnapped, brought to Mumbai’s red light district from Nepal or even from schoolhouses in Mumbai and then forced to be prostitutes. So, I called a woman named Anna Belle Illien who has an adoption agency in GA dealing with India. Through my conversation with her and my experiences with feeling overwhelmed before about issues in Ethiopia, China, Uganda, Guatemala…I came to a conclusion. I can’t save the entire world.



I have my organization MOTHER THE WORLD. But have really accepted that I am a first responder. I have to be there to pull drowning children, people, out of water, give them mouth to mouth and save as many lives as possible. Should we be analyzing why we hit the iceberg or how we could have avoided disaster or why there is evil in the world? SURE! But when do we have the luxury for that? NOT NOW! There are too many orphans in the world to be mothered…too many kids without families in America and too many people to mentor…I just don’t have the time now while the world is in this condition to spend my precious time over analyzing history.



This week Pat Robertson said this about Haiti:

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about," Robertson said Tuesday on his 700 Club show. "They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.' True story. And so the devil said, 'Ok it's a deal.' And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another."

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2010/01/haiti_the_devil_and_pat_roberton.html?sid=ST2010011304487

Honestly, I love Jesus so much and don’t want to get in an argument right now with Pat Robertson so I will just say this “SHUT UP AND THROW OVER A LIFE JACKET!!! WE CAN HAVE THE CONVERSATION WHEN THE TWO YEAR OLD IS PULLED OUT FROM UNDER THE 3 TON SLAB!!!”

My girlfriends that are all mothers were there patching up wounds, delivering babies with guaze from the CVS. This is what we should do. AND I disagree that the people don’t know Jesus. If they are all so overcome by the devil why were some of the reports and blog postings these:


“Things are really bad here. The palace fell down, the hospital, the cathedral, everything. “The city is dark and the people keep singing for Jesus and saying ‘Hallelujah’.

http://www.theworld.org/2010/01/13/international-response-to-haiti/

MS. ANNE ROSE SCHOEN: What they do right now, they put tables and chairs on the streets and they sit there and they wait. They don’t want to go into the houses because they have damage and they are scared that they will crumble down which is true. When you have an aftershock then everybody shouts “Jesus” and “Please help me God”. It is a very eerie situation.

"People were screaming 'Jesus, Jesus' and running in all directions," said Reuters reporter Joseph Guyler Delva from the capital Port-au-Prince. "It's total chaos."

Apparently the missionaries who have been visiting Haiti for years have penetrated into the hearts of the people. I stand corrected! Jesus himself has penetrated into the hearts of these people. But that isn’t even the point either. Do we interview people before throwing life jackets and say…if you are ‘saved’ then I, Christian person here will save you.” I don’t remember seeing that anywhere in the bible…In fact, let’s even save the devil worshipers and tell them about Jesus once we stitch up the gash in their foreheads. Jesus came to save. We are His hands and feet. ‘Shut up! And throw the life jacket in.”

I have settled into the fact that MOTHERING THE WORLD isn’t going to mean that I can save everyone or that I have the luxury of spending my time over analyzing the cause while newborns in Haiti don’t have formula and their mothers were just squashed by a 5 story building. Yes, adoption legislation can and will be changed but I am determined not to get caught up these days in taking a microscope to the Titanic when people are still crying out HELP ME I AM DROWNING….it is just not the time. They are calling out for Jesus and we are called to be HIS hands and feet…let’s be intentional with that and careful not to be the mouth piece for something that isn’t of Christ. Hands and feet…the body, working, responding, loving, caring, not judging…Christ is MIGHTY TO SAVE but I don’t believe He would have stood by ignoring the drowning people while preoccupied with a Historic conversation about the French…..

I spent Sunday after church in the usual manner, trying to gather all of my 6 kids from their various Sunday school classes. All of us church moms quickly whisk by each other with our quick “hey Linda I have your casserole pan in the car.” Or “Are you coming next Friday?” while grabbing our kids, placing Sunday school craft projects in our purses or under our arms as we put on jackets and hats of our little ones. We greet our closest friends quickly with our focus on making sure our families all are in one place so we can march back into our SUV’s or minivans and ‘off we go’ to our slow cooker lunches. Our quality adult time seems to be in small group meetings on Friday or Saturday nights when we can arrange baby sitters. Or we meet our girlfriends over coffee at Starbucks during the week or set up lunch dates. This past Sunday I called out to Linda, my church ‘sister’ and said “hey Linda we have to get together it has been almost a month.” Linda says “Come over today at 1:45 and pray for Lisa, Kellee and myself.” I call out “are you okay?” She says “Yeah, just having some prayer time.” I say “I have to stay with the kids.” Linda assumed that I was aware that she was taking off on a mission trip that Tuesday. I had no idea. We belong to a church in Durham, NC called Kings Park International Church. We take the ‘international” part very seriously. It isn’t unusual for someone to be in Ethiopia, Uganda, Guatemala and for my friend Linda it isn’t unusual for her to be in China, Japan or any of the Asian countries. Linda and her husband have seen earthquakes in China been in the middle of hurricanes/typhoons and are not novices to mission work But what I did not know due to our multi tasking ‘busy mom’ schedules is that Linda had planned to go to Haiti on Tuesday with two of our other church friends and a dentist from Raleigh. So, the prayer time that I missed was to bless the trip.

So, on Tuesday when I received a text from my husband midday saying “how is Linda?” I was perplexed. How is Linda? She is probably fine, I think. Why wouldn’t Linda be fine? I start to worry. Then I look in my email for prayer requests letting me know that my friend Linda and two of my other church ‘sisters’ are in Haiti on a mission trip and landed at the airport one hour prior to the 7.2 massive earthquake. They were traveling on missions for the Christianville Foundation. One of their travelers, Julia is a dentist. They had collected donations that were dental instruments, gauze, pain relievers, cold meds…band aids, antibiotic creams. It was known that they had arrived around 3:50 but Tuesday night we spent wondering where they were, having no communication. Were they still at the damaged airport? Were they okay? Were they on the road? Were they okay? My friend who did go to prayer time with Linda, Kellee, and Lisa said the prayer time was powerful and she felt like they would be protected. Linda’s husband’s facebook page said “I am full of faith.” I also felt ‘full of faith.’ But after not sleeping on Tuesday night, I started to wonder and worry a little today. Between the women they are parents to 10 children or more (I don’t know Julia). I started to be concerned that there was more damage to the airport that could have hurt someone. Or I worried about them being hurt by debris in a car-ride etc. So, when would we hear from them? Today I felt compelled to pray with my friend from 2-2:30. At 2:40 we received a phone call from Linda’s 12 year old son Matthew that Linda had made a call via SKYPE. They were alive!!! Praise God! Not only were they alive but they had found their way to a soccer field adjacent to a hospital where many wounded were. Linda’s son said “They are like doctors and nurses!” Matthew’s voice was so filled with pride. Linda, Kellee, Lisa and Julia had already delivered two babies. All of this brought tears to my eyes. I was mainly relieved but also in awe with God. He had scheduled the mothers to land in Haiti with medical supplies in their bags one hour before the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years. The Lord had sent 4 mothers from North Carolina to be first responders to this catastrophe. No longer were we worried, instead we were humbled at the extent of care God would go to in order to save His children. Why them? What did they have to offer? I am the type of mother who can put a band aid on my child or take out a sliver. I am capable of placing bacitracin on a scratch or make sure the tooth fairy remembers to visit. But I can’t imagine dressing a major trauma head wound or assisting in giving birth. What I have learned is that the team of 4 women is pretty awesome. Linda did study at UNC for awhile in premed. Julia is a dentist so must know how to stitch things up or give CPR and most likely has medical training. Kellee has been to Haiti several times and speaks creole. I don’t know Lisa very well but can imagine that God has appointed her as well due to her unique gifts. Mothers from North Carolina in a make shift hospital in the middle of Haiti saving lives….these women are truly Mothering the World. I am sure that Linda, Kellee, Lisa and Julia will be able to tell a much more amazing story after they return. But as information comes in talking about how the building at the airport collapsed minutes after they walked out of the door (thank you Jesus for bringing in the flight early)….for going before them and covering them in protection. Sometimes this world seems chaotic and without any kind of order ….GOD is still on the throne. The take away for me is that God continues to use people equipped with faith but by the world’s standards are lacking in official worldly capacity or titles. He cares and is aware of even the smallest of details and that even mothers from north Carolina can Mother the World and be she-ros using their ‘band-aid…boo-boo” skills to save lives…..

I suspect this film SOUTH DAKOTA will bring criticism from pro life and pro choice groups for not going far enough in either direction. I for one welcome the dialogue and am happy that this film by LIONHEART and produced by Bruce Isaacson was made and will at least allow people to engage in a film setting.....I have known about this film for sometime and anticipated its release. I am still waiting for the sched...and to see how wide the distribution is...

Personally I want to scream out DON"T DO IT...to any woman that is pregnant. But I know it requires more finesse than that. My dream is for women to know about how awful abortion is before they make that CHOICE...maybe this movie will at least change some hearts and therefore some minds...to choose life...I really don't think the movie will move pro lifers to choice..but may move choicers to life...

Those of you who have been following MOTHERHOOD IN REAL TIME know that I have posted repeatedly about the sex selected abortions and the female infanticide in India before. But this woman MITU totally has my attention. She is so brave and I just would like to scoop her up and bring her to America to live with me if I could. Imagine having your entire family try to kill the babies inside of you repeatedly and then once they are born throwing one of them down the steps at 4 months....Seriously, where are all of the women's groups on this one in America fighting against this type of travesty....Please join me in praying for MITU...