IT’S LOVE FLASH MOB DAY!!!!
Since Together Rising began, we’ve raised over a million dollars to lift up our community. Today—we overflow beyond our borders. Today, we flood the world with our love.
There has never been a Love Flash Mob closer to my heart than this one. We need more of you and more passion and more follow through than we’ve ever needed before. There are hurting/AMAZING women watching us this minute— hoping that you will care enough to help get them the care they deserve. I’ll be here sweating and praying and suffocating from hope and fear in my house. You—please—read and let your heart guide you.
Let us begin:
You know my precious friend, Tara. Tara is a midwife at a maternity center called Heartline in Port au Prince, Haiti. She helps Haitian women—who have no clean, safe, loving place to welcome their infant sons and daughters—give birth with dignity. Tara saves lives and loves mamas and gives her whole heart and her whole life to her calling. This one: Joy. Service. I know love when I see it. Tara and her family are love.
Months ago Tara wrote this about a teenager who had visited Heartline:
I couldn’t stop thinking about Asline. An hour later I sent Tara this message:
Me: Please Tara, tell me what Asline needs that I have to offer.
Tara: Asline burst into tears when she found out she was pregnant. We just hugged while she cried. I just said, “You are not the first young mom. I was a young mom – we have other young moms in the program” I asked her to come meet with me Thanksgiving morning at 10:30. Once I meet with her Thursday I will write you again. Pray that she just shows up. Off to program — today all the moms with babies born already come — super fun because these are all moms that were offered a chance to give birth and keep their kids out of an orphanage and they are all kicking ass at loving their babies.
Me: Okay- you go be with the mamas. I’ll wait to hear what’s next for Asline. I’ll pray she just shows up. Love you.
But that next Thursday, Thanksgiving, Asline did not show up. She didn’t come the next week, or the week after that. We wondered if it might be time to give up hoping. Then, the day after Christmas, this message popped into my inbox from Tara:
Tara: Friend!!!! Asline showed up today!!!! I’m giddy. Her sister gave her medicine against her will to try to get the baby out — but she was upset by it — she came today and is 11 weeks pregnant. She cried when she heard the heartbeat. And she is saying she will come back weekly and deliver here. Thanks for praying for her!!
I don’t really understand prayer. I usually forget to do it altogether. But something made me keep praying for Asline. And a few weeks later, I found myself messaging Tara again.
Me: Does Heartline need anything?
Tara: Yes, we do. We need more room. We are having to turn away too many women.
Me: What if we raised money for you to add on to the Maternity Center and add nurses?
Tara: That would be amazing, but you need to come and see if this work is right for you. Come and see.
Me: To Haiti? No thank you, I mostly want to (forget to) pray for Haiti from my couch in Naples.
But Tara kept saying that she really thought I should come. And I kept saying no. She said please and I said no. Finally, she said: Glennon. Just show up.
Tricky smart Tara, using those words against me.
That’s how Amy and I ended up in Haiti.***
When we arrived last month, Heartline’s midwife team picked us up at the airport and took us to the government-run hospital where many mothers deliver their babies. We needed to see firsthand why Heartline’s work is so desperately needed. As we drove, I kept thinking: it looks like the earthquake happened yesterday. But there was so much LIFE. So much beautiful life, so much brutal poverty. And/Both. Haiti is Brutiful.
We entered a gate flanked by armed guards, parked our ambulance, and entered a hospital that felt like a prison. We walked over slippery concrete floors and through suffocating heat, but no warmth. We went into the maternity rooms to see lines of sheet-less mattresses on metal frames. Women were laid on the beds in various stages of labor. One was in active labor, two had babies laid out next to them on the dirty mattresses, one was silently crying because she had just lost her baby. I saw no doctors while we were there, no nurses. There was no one to explain to these women what was happening to their bodies or to their babies. And there was no one to serve them. If a patient needs food, the family has to bring it. If a woman needs water, her family has to bring it. If an IV or medication of any kind is needed—the families already living in unimaginable poverty must find a pharmacy, buy an IV or medicine, and bring it to the hospital. So the women just go without. They go without food, water, and medicine. So many hurting women, so many new babies—and it was so quiet. We heard no moaning, no crying from the mamas or even from the babies. It turns out there is no reason to cry if there is no hope of help.
But then there were the midwives. Beth and KJ and Tara. They walked from bed to bed, holding women’s hands, hearing their stories, speaking to them softly in their native creole. Talking to them about breast-feeding and telling them, each and every woman they met, about Heartline’s free family planning classes and free birth control. Praying with them when they asked. Holding them if they cried. Laughing with the ones who could laugh.
Amy and I were silent as we climbed back into the car. As we pulled away from the hospital, Tara looked us and said, “And that’s why Beth started the Maternity Center.”
Beth and her husband moved to Haiti 26 years ago and right away – Beth used her degree in child development to open an orphanage. Beth cried as she told us about fathers and grandmothers who showed up at her orphanage’s gate with children hanging on their legs and newborn babies in their arms. The fathers would hold out their babies and say: “Please, take her. Give her food and get her to someone who can give her a life.” Beth would learn—over and over again—that the child’s mother had just died in childbirth. So many times this was the story—the baby’s mother is dead.
Beth listened closely. With a broken heart, she took the babies in and worked to complete their adoptions.
Running is one of Beth’s spiritual practices- she runs through the streets of Haiti, talking to God and listening hard. This running time is when she began to understand that she needed to back up a step. She needed to help mothers in childbirth and before childbirth and after childbirth so that they could live. So that they could keep and love and raise their babies. These babies didn’t need an orphanage, they needed their mamas. After a long season of listening, Beth decided to act. At 50, she started midwifery school. Then she came back and opened Heartline Maternity Center. At first she walked from Haitian door to Haitian door and asking—Are you pregnant? Is anyone pregnant here? If so, please come. I can help. Just show up.
We sat and took in Beth’s story, and then turned to KJ. KJ is 26 years old and was raised as the oldest of twelve kids in a very traditional family. But at an early age KJ felt a stirring, a knowing that her life would follow an non-traditional path. During high school, she went to Africa and fell in love with loving underserved people. She knew she wanted to serve. She came home and searched the internet until she found a website for a midwifery school in the Philippines. She looked at it and decided: I need to go there. So she graduated early and when she was seventeen years old she left her home and her parents and everything she knew and went to the Philippines.
What are you going to do there? Her mom said.
I guess I’m just going to show up, KJ said.
Beth was fifty when she followed her knowing. KJ was seventeen. Let us never say it is too late or too early to start showing up. 
After dinner, Amy and I went to our hotel room which was lovely except for a cockroach the size of a quarter pounder on the coffee table. Amy threw a tissue box on top of it and we walked around it for two days. I still can’t talk about it. Relief work is scary.
The next morning, Tara picked us up early to take us to Heartline. On the way, she explained that since Heartline has limited space, most of the mamas they serve are teenage, first-time mothers, or older mothers who have already delivered many babies. These are the women most likely to have complications that could lead to death during delivery, leaving their children orphaned. Tara also told us that in addition to pre- and post- natal care, family planning is a core part of Heartline’s work. Poverty can be defined as a lack of choices, and in a society marked by high levels of infidelity, violence against women and spousal rape, giving woman access to birth control gives them the choice to determine their future and to live a healthy life for the children they already have. To quote the wise words of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: “Every woman and girl deserves the chance to determine her own future.”
After a short drive, we pulled up to Heartline and the guarded gate opened. We left the rubble and traffic of Haiti behind and entered the oasis of the Heartline campus. Trees surrounding the building offer shade and pick up the breeze and the walls are painted bright with beautiful murals of Haitian mamas and babies. There is beauty there. Beauty is something that is harder to find outside the gate. Not impossible, but harder because there is so much pain that jumps out at you first.
The first thing that Tara did when we walked in was introduce us to the Haitian staff. Heartline believes in Haitian serving Haitians, so this is a priority for them.
The Maternity Center team (left to right): Nirva, Beth, KJ, Sherly, Tara & Winifred.
Next we greeted a large of group of women with shy smiles and big, beautiful bellies, and then we walked down to Tara and KJ’s exam room. Signs and paintings covered the walls. This one stopped me in my tracks.
Ascribe Unsurpassable Worth. This is Heartline’s motto, their mantra, their reason for being. Beth told us, “If you are a poor woman here, it is easy to be overlooked, taken advantage of and unknown. It’s different at Heartline. We know each woman by name, we know her story and we love her. That’s the difference. The women are loved here.”
Unsurpassable worth.
Then we went into Beth’s room. You see that picture on the wall, the painting on the left? It’s one of the mamas who gave birth last year to her eighth child. Her first seven babies died. But she came to the maternity center, and because of Heartline’s careful care and attention, her eighth baby lived. She lived. This mama now has a baby to hold, because of Heartline.
We spent the rest of the day quietly watching—smiling and nodding and oohing and ahhing with the moms, observing the careful care provided to all the women by the midwives and the staff. How they measured their patients’ progress, delighted with them over strong heartbeats, answered questions, provided meals.
(This is MarieCianne. She is a blind, Haitian pregnant mama. She teaches braille for a living. She did not stop smiling the whole live long day. Just thought you should know.)
During our last few hours at the clinic, we were joined by another Heartline visitor, an ob-gyn from Vanderbilt University named Dr. Chris Sizemore. Chris first came to Haiti after the earthquake and met the Heartline staff at the field hospital they erected inside the rubble to care for the earthquake victims. Dr. Sizemore told us, “Heartline does some of the best work I’ve ever seen. The care they give, the expertise, the respect for these women—they are doing it right.”
For the very last appointment of the day, Tara ushered a quiet, scared woman into the exam room. We greeted her and she nodded without meeting our eyes. Tara explained to us quietly that weeks before, when she was ten weeks pregnant, she’d been severely beaten by her husband. She moved in with her mother but since that day, she’d been terrified that her baby was hurt, or worse. When she heard that Dr. Chris was in the office doing ultrasounds, she came to Tara and said: “Please ask him to look at my baby. I am afraid. Please tell me if my baby is okay.”
Chris started the exam while Tara held the woman’s hand and followed along. We all held our breath. I prayed: please please please please please.
Chris spent careful time looking over every aspect of the ultrasound. It felt like one million hours. Then he smiled, looked right at the woman and said, “Your baby is perfect. Perfectly healthy. And you’re having a boy.”
And the woman’s face lit up like the sun. And we all breathed.
Afterwards I just stared at Tara. She said Every day. This is what it’s like here every day.
Every day (and throughout the long nights), the women of Heartline pour out their lives for moments like this. So that mamas can hear they have healthy babies, and babies can grow up in their mothers’ arms. Haiti has the highest rate of maternal and infant mortality in the Western Hemisphere. Two out of 3 childbirths in Haiti occur without a skilled birth attendant. One in 83 Haitian women will die as a result of childbirth. Yet, Heartline has never lost a mother. But due to too-little capacity and resources, Heartline is forced to turn away more women than they can serve. Each year Heartline is forced to say no to hundreds of women desperate for a safe place to start their child’s life and their motherhood.
I decided to visit Heartline because I wanted to see the work with my own eyes, and also because I was a little bit worried about the religious aspect. I am a self proclaimed Jesus freak- but I am wholly uninterested in any organization that is trading love for Jesus. I only want to work with people who love without agenda or ulterior motive. I am more skeptical about this than any atheist I’ve ever met- my team will tell you that. I am the leader of this beautiful, diverse community made of all faiths and those who understand the world in ways unrelated to faith. So my job is to look at Love Work with ALL of our eyes. And I can tell you that if you believe in Love, you’d believe Heartline’s work. This work of fiercely and tenderly serving women and children. The work of loving the vulnerable and the marginalized and the forgotten like they are the most beloved creatures on Earth—cherished, adored, valued—because that is the truth. There is no trading service for religion here. Love with no strings attached is the agenda.
Here’s where we come in.
The midwives of Heartline desperately want to add another wing to their beautiful maternity center. They want more exam rooms, more postpartum rooms, more teaching rooms. They want to stop turning so many women away who are desperate to bring their babies into the world in safety and dignity.
So we are going to build it for them.
The architects have drawn up the plans. The contractors are standing by. The midwives are watching. The mamas are waiting.
For US. For YOU.
Here’s the spot. Here is where the haven for our sisters will be. This is the spot upon which LOVE WILL BUILD.
If we raise the funds needed today- LOVE WILL START BUILDING IN TWO WEEKS.
Our sisters at Heartline have been brave and mighty and vulnerable enough to be open to our service. They have said: Will you help? Please, let us answer them: YES. YES because you deserve to deliver your precious baby safely and watch her grow. YES because
you are a woman of unsurpassable worth.
Here’s a picture of a birthing room at Heartline. See that line in Creole? It says, “She believed she could, so she did.”
And finally, meet baby Sarah. Sarah’s mommy and daddy suffered two mid-pregnancy losses before she was born. Sarah’s mom and dad let us borrow her for a minute, and while we were taking these pictures, Amy started crying. That doesn’t happen often—she’s pretty steady-eddy. “What’s up?” I asked. Amy told me that she was thinking about all those years I’d spent heartbroken about the dead ends of my adoption dream. She said watching me hold Sarah, she wondered if maybe God put that dream in my heart so it would lead us here—to help these mamas keep their babies. Because the only thing more beautiful than adoption is having no need for it.
God showed up.
Beth showed up.
Tara showed up.
KJ showed up.
Amy and I showed up.
And these women—they show up everyday.
Everybody’s just waiting to see if you will show up.
You guys. Let’s get the women of Heartline Rising—TOGETHER.
READY? HERE’S HOW LOVE WILL WIN:
- DONATE. You can make your tax-deductible donation by clicking here or on the Love Flash Mob button at the bottom of this post. Give what you can—small gifts of $5, $15, or $25 max. We can’t do great things, but today we’re making miracles happen through small gifts given with great love. REMEMBER THAT EVERY DONATION MATTERS. Click here to see the miracles you have made through prior Love Flash Mobs. Because Together Rising is an official 501(c)3, every penny of your donation is tax deductible. And, you can be assured that if the funds raised exceed what Heartine needs for this project, all of your money will go toward serving women and families in crisis.
- SHARE, SHARE, SHARE. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST. Use the links at the bottom of this post to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the other ones I don’t know about. Mass e-mail your friends, call your parents, stand in your yard and read the essay loudly – whatever it takes. We need all the whos in whoville – the tall and the small. We need our entire village today.
- TWEET THIS: Come to @momastery now for the most fun & greatest love you’ll ever see on the web! #LoveFlashMob #TogetherRising http://ctt.ec/P1j_n+
- DEDICATE. Every single one of us knows a warrior woman or baby. If you’d like to donate in honor of someone you love, please leave her name in the comments here or on Facebook.
Okay. It’s time for me to let you go and trust. Your board will be busy trying to breathe and calling each other and refreshing our screens one million times, sacred scared to death. In a few hours, we will give you an update. CMMMMMON LOVE: WIN!!!!
***Of course, Amy and I paid our own way to Haiti. None of your donations to Together Rising were used for this trip or any other trip. As has always been the case, your Board covers Together Rising’s overhead costs so that every penny you give goes to families in need.
!!!!!!!!!!!!! UPDATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
LISTEN TO ME. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS. YOU ARE NOT NOT NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS.
On our last night in Haiti, Amy and I were eating dinner at Tara’s house and KJ mentioned her friend, Ann — a midwife in Berlin on the front lines every day, helping to serve women and children Syrian refugees. Amy’s eyes got big and she looked over at me and with my eyes I said to her: Sister. No. Focus. We are in HAITI. For Heartline.
Later that night, we lay in our hotel room and before I could fall asleep Amy said into the darkness: We should help them, too. And I said: I know. But not now. Next time. Next Love Flash Mob. We have to do the next right thing, one thing at a time. Heartline is the next right thing, and the numbers we need for these sisters are BIG. They have unsurpassable worth. We have to wait.
Amy said, Yes, you’re right. Then as soon as we got home from Haiti — she reached out to Ann behind my back, of course. Love will sometimes cheat a little to win, it turns out. A week later Amy forwarded this letter to me from Ann:
“Every day Berlin sees an unprecedented number of refugees coming to our city. Many that finally reach Berlin have been in dire conditions for weeks and in Berlin they find another great struggle. The government registration office has waiting times of up to a week just to receive a waiting number. From then it may be weeks to register as an official asylum seeker. Until then, no one is eligible for medical help.
In a once idyllic park you see the dire situation. People are sitting on the cold ground and trying to keep their few things that they have managed to keep together. Pregnant women, small children, sick people, everyone on the cold pavement. Our work as midwives is in great need. The specific needs of pregnant ladies or women that have just given birth are hard to be met under these circumstances, but we try. Women are homeless with their newborn baby or a few days before giving birth, and it is now very cold in Berlin. The situation at the registration office has become more and more unstable over the last few days — because of the cold weather and unrelenting rain — and the fact that people have had to wait for weeks now. Today, it has become very clear, that the idea we really need funds for is winter clothing and gear for the mothers and babies. We see so many without adequate clothing and a huge increase in colds/bronchitis/flu.”
GOOD GOD, I said. Listen, I know it’s calling us. BUT WE HAVE TO WAIT.
********
This afternoon, your Together Rising Board huddled together and said: OUR TRIBE IS TRYING TO TELL US THAT WE DON’T HAVE TO WAIT.
YOU GUYS. YOU GAVE $300,222 IN 10 HOURS.
Because of what you did today, Heartline is getting its Love Wing. I just talked to Tara and she was on the phone with the Haitian contractors saying: IT’S ON! GET READY! YOU HAVE JOBS AND WE WILL HAVE OUR LOVE WING! (Did you think about that? You gave WORK to people today. Ripples, ripples.)
Our Love Flash Mobs are 24 hours long. WE HAVE THIRTEEN AND A HALF HOURS TO GO.
We want to raise money to help Ann and the midwives in Berlin buy warm clothes and blankets for the refugees—and even more. We are, right now, furiously working those details out. You can trust us with that. We will go slow and well and true. We are more careful than CAN BE IMAGINED. Your Board has an entire Stewardship Team with amazing and selfless volunteers and led by our very own Katherine, ensuring that your money is spent in a smart way, in the RIGHT way.
FOR NOW:
KEEP GIVING, friends. No penny will be wasted. Keep giving and we will get to work tomorrow creating the very best plan to get your love to those shivering, hoping, beautiful refugees desperate for a safer, peaceful existence for themselves and their children. When the details of our Love Project are finalized—we will tell you the entire story in detail.
And let us never forget — there is no such thing as other people’s children.
Author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller LOVE WARRIOR — ORDER HERE
Join Glennon on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram
812 Comments
Because my grandma’s momma died in childbirth and my grandma’s grandmother nursed her and saved her life. Because I am grateful for four safe births of my own and the beautiful faces of my children. Because We Can Do Hard Things has helped me to show up. Here I give.
YES. yes yes yes. Stacy. Yes.
Dedicating this to my angel baby I lost on September 17, 2004. And to the calling on my life to serve women and children in a similar way. Still working and completing more education, but all it takes is showing up, saying yes, and trusting that at just the right time I will be right where I am needed.
Louise. You are a warrior.
Love and thank you.
G
Tears streaming, donation made. Thank you for all that you do. I hope millions show up! Love wins.
I love you, I love you, I love you. I hope too. I HOPE TOO!!!!
G
Single mama that saved $20 on a sitter this week because of the kindness of other mamas. And that $$ is going to help a mama across the globe care for her babes. LOVE WINS!
Kay. Goose bumps. This is my favorite things. CARRIE. THIS is what’s it’s about. THIS- YOU are what this is all about.
Love (and single mamas) Wins.
G
I almost just cried at work reading this. I definitely stopped breathing (I just restarted that important function!). I showed up. I’m in.
In honor of my 5 beautiful children, it is a privilege to donate to this today. Thank you for giving us the chance to make the world a better place, and to help these women have access to medical care. This work is holy and sacred. Now I am crying at my desk at work. Happy LOVE WINS Wednesday!
YAY! I love Love Flash Mob days! They restore some of my faith in humanity, every time. I also love the $25 limit, because that means a whole *mob* of people have to donate to reach the goals, and knowing there are that many people who care about others is totally part of the magic. <3
In honor of Meredith – the warrior woman who gave birth to a boy, and chose us to be his parents 4 years ago. And in honor of Meredith’s Mama, who supported and loved her all the way along. We expanded our family not just by one baby boy, but by these ladies as well. Love takes all kinds of paths – I can’t wait to see all that it will continue to do in Haiti.
I am grateful that years ago someone mentioned the name Glennon Melton to me. The work you do and the community you bring together makes my heart overflow. I just finished reading and all I want to do is jump on a plane and go help!
I am more than happy to make a donation to such a wonderful place.
I had spent the day wondering what I would do for favors at my daughters’ birthday party this weekend…While they may seem too much to some, I love birthday parties because I love the idea of celebrating the person–just their very existence is worth celebrating. Whether it’s a (absurdly large) candle in a fried banana that I had when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines or the Christmas-themed fall birthday “princess ball” my 3 and 5 year olds have dreamed up, I love celebrating people and setting aside time to acknowledge their life and love.
Allowing other mother’s to celebrate the birth of their children, surrounded by love and skilled help…what a gift it is to support them. Thank you for giving me that gift today.
Oh i love this love this love this.
Bless you, Moira!!
yay! So happy to be able to help these lovely mommies in some small way! Thanks for organizing G and the rest!!!! I was crying (a lot) reading this, and now, having donated, I’m filled with JOY. Being a Jesus follower is the best. He turns my weeping into dancing over and over again.
Oh, My God. My God. OF COURSE WE WILL MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
I’m giving in honor of the baby we lost. My friend told me it was so early it didn’t have a soul. But it did, it had a soul and it had our love and our hearts. Thank you Glennon.
Of course your baby had a soul. That soul still belongs to you! xo
Thank you tammigirl (through tears)…
In honor of the three angel babies I lost and my two precious girls. Love wins, even if the media and the world don’t always want us to know that!
For Love and for Mamas giving birth everywhere. xo
Wow. Just wow. Bless you Glennon for all that you do.
All the feels and tears and love…but a question lingers for me…
What about the women who – for their own reasons – can’t bring a baby into this world right now? Does Heartline have options for them? Does Haiti?
I apologize for my ignorance of how Haiti works. I just don’t know. But I want to understand. And I desperately want for women who can’t bring babies into the world right now to have access to options for the safe and secure termination of their pregnancies.
Please please please tell me this is available for them. Pretty please??
Sending donations, social media shares, tweets and dedications from Cleveland, OH. I nearly died when my youngest son was born. I lost so much blood that I flat-lined several times in the hours that followed his birth. By the grace of God, I was delivering him at a hospital staffed by highly skilled and experienced nurses, doctors and surgeons. There was enough donated blood on hand to replenish my loss. I was fortunate enough to survive that experience. My heart breaks reading about these Haitian women, and seeing the photos moved me to tears. “Women are loved here”. Thank you for sharing this with us, your sisterhood, Glennon and Amy. Go LOVE FLASH MOB, go!!!!!
Thank you so much for letting me part of this amazing day. This donation is in memory of sweet Emily Paige Brushwyler,she may have only lived 10 days but she changed the world for good <3
I cried, and I donated. I know so many who have silently miscarried, the ones with the stories we don’t tell…
I cannot imagine going through that without support, or carrying a baby without support…without love.
Glennon, thank you for telling their story. And thank you for throwing the love of Together Rising around this place and these women!
donated in memory of my oldest sibling, born to heaven in 1969.
Born to heaven. How beautiful. Love to you, Jenn.
Thank you for weaving a donation basket out of love and humility and ferocity and generosity.
I’ve given $100 in honour of River, stillborn son of my dearest friend.
love,
Priya
I donated today in memory of my Elisha. Who probably spends the majority of his days playing with the babies we didn’t reach in time. And so I gave today because I bet if I could ask him, he’d want me to.
Love Tara and her blog and her work!!!! So happy this is our Love Flash Mob today! I LOVE LOVE FLASH MOB DAY!!!! I smiled like an idiot the whole time I read the post today and will be stalking momastery all day like a crazy person to get updates.
My donation today is in honor of my mama, Mary. The most beautiful woman ever created. Me and God, we love this woman. To my mama, whose greatest joy in life has been to be a mother. And for her two babies in heaven <3
And I’m with Heather…. “LET’S BUILD THIS DAMN THING!” Amen. Amen.
Thank you for allowing me to help with this, it is truly an honor! I have always loved what you write but after seeing you in Boston this summer and getting one of your famous hugs it just makes my desire to help so much greater…. This is truly an amazing gift to be able to help in a small way.
I am so glad you are doing this, Glennon. There are no words….just thank you.
I have followed Heartline ministries for about 2 years now and also you Glennon. I am OVERJOYED that this is happening. I will donate in honor of my angel baby Dylan who was born sleeping 19 years ago… EVEN with all the great medical care here in the U.S.A. tragedy happens and I know that pain and the feeling of empty arms that nothing in the world will fill. Thank you for doing what you do.
To my sweet niece Rachel Dru who died at birth, and to all mamas who have lost babies during birth.❤️
For Carlee who just lost the baby she’s been longing for for so long.
For my birthmom who made a huge sacrifice. For my mom who loved me from day one. For my son who made me a mother. For my husband who supports me every day. For my friends who form my village.
This is beautiful – thank you for letting all of us be a part of it. I’m going on my first ever mission trip to Haiti in early 2016 and I hope I get to see Heartline and these beautiful women! What a blessing.
Thanks for giving me the good cry I needed this morning. My donation is in honor of my friends Lisa, Mindy, Chris, Kelley, Kristin, and so many other mamas who have suffered pregnancy or infant loss.
Thank you for allowing me to show up and directly help a mama! In honor of my baby girl in my heart I hope that my donation can help someone.
I made a donation in memory of our baby girl, Louisa, who died of SIDS at 4 months old in March 2014. I’m a privileged American with access to the best healthcare, yet I know the pain of losing a child. My heart is with the women you serve.
Because the joy and anguish of motherhood are a universal language. Thinking of you, Beth, and all the mamas who have lost their precious little ones.
My youngest daughter just delivered her 3rd daughter 3 weeks ago, my middle daughter is about to deliver her 2nd daughter at the end of the month. This will bring my total grandchildren to seven. Can’t think of a better way to celebrate all of their lives than contributing to this important work. Bless you for this. And thank you for assuring me that there is not a political agenda to the work of Heartline…just love and we all know “love wins.”
Every year, I donate toys to our local children’s hospital that helped us through the loss of our angel baby when I was 25 week pregnant in 2009. How fortunate that I had the resources to help me through the heartbreak. I just donated so that Heartline can help moms in Haiti-to help ease the need and suffering just a little bit. In memory of Matthew Reed and my mom….
So happy to see two fierce women, Tara and Glennon, working together for a cause long on my heart as I followed the Livesays post earthquake. Changing the world Ladies…..changing the world. Thanks for allowing us to participate today.
Love Tara and the whole gang at Heartline so much. Gave $40 in honor of my upcoming 40th birthday. THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!
In honor of Jack and Margaret’s baby brother or sister who’s coming in April…..
This is my favorite love flash mob YET, and I am all goosebumpy over the story of Heartline and the amazing women who are there in all different capacities. I made a donation to honor a woman I will call T, whose second baby’s birth I was privileged to attend, who would have benefitted from the kind of love and care women are receiving at Heartline. I made a donation in the amount of $16, T’s age at that time, and with my donation, I offer my prayers for T and her babies, and for the whole Heartline community, of which I am now deeply thrilled to call myself a part. We all win with this huge love.
FOR T. Thank you, Jill!!!!!
I donated as I sit holding my almost two week old son. I never had to worry about a safe start to his life. I love this calling, Glennon! Love wins.
For Monica and all of the Simonsens. This crew knows love.
For Monica and the Simonsens. Amen.
Abby (& Glennon!)- thanks for the nod and more importantly for supporting this important work. We brought our sweet Stanley home from Haiti 5 years ago and left part of our heart there.
My daughter and I would both be dead if it weren’t for the quick-thinking staff, as well as all of the immediate technology and resources that we needed to stay alive when my daughter was born back in March. This hit home for me today – now I’m at work looking like a mess! Ha! Love you G! Off to make my donation! <3
I am donating in celebration of Mika and her sweet baby, Molly!
Perspectacles on! To think an hour ago I was all worried about how to get my 13 year old to nap at his Nana’s house. Wow. After three years of trying to get pregnant…and surgeries…and more medications than I like to talk about, I am so lucky that he is here, healthy, and that I’m healthy too.
Donation made in honor of my little man and also my friend Kim, who, after suffering 3 miscarriages, is 25 weeks pregnant with a little baby girl!
Let’s build this damn thing. Love you, Glennon! Thank you for doing this!
That should’ve been 13 MONTH old. I obviously need coffee.
HEATHER I am laughing.
Also, FOR your little man and for KIM!!!!
G
Donated in honor of my sister, Teri…..and all the NICU nurses who take care of our smallest blessings.
HEATHER I am laughing.
Also, FOR your little man and for KIM!!!!
G
oops I meant to say: FOR TERI!! And YES FOR THE NICU NURSES!!!!!! Angel warriors on earth!!!!
Donated. And will again this afternoon. You are amazing and magical. This community rocks!
xo,
Nancy
Done and shared! This really touched my heart. Thank you to Tara, Beth, KJ and Amy and you Glennon. I am in awe of all of you and humbled by your words.
A small donation made with big love and given with great hope and great honor: Hope for these women and their precious babies; Honor for my own angel baby, who saved my life even when I could give her hers. Thank you. xx
thanks for letting us share in this. i donated in memory of a baby lost at 8 weeks. i have health insurance and had the resources to have IVF three times and have a precious baby boy. to me it felt overwhelming and hard but I know (and this reminds me) that I am one of the lucky ones.
I’m giving in memory of the baby I lost.
Me too. Patrick Michael
For Eli’s baby and for Patrick Michael.
Such a fantastic way to start the day! I am giving in honor of all the midwives who give their love and care to mamas and their precious babies.
Holding my nine month old born through a much needed though traumatic c-section. We both wouldn’t have survived without it. May all the people of the world have access to care.
Such a beautiful cause to give to. Thank you for sharing.
For all mamas and their babies, but particularly, my sister Dee, one of my oldest & dearest friends, Leah and her angel daughter, and my sweet friend, Amy and her baby angel Leighton.
Dedicated to Janthra. Choosing to keep her truth private. 🙂
Beautiful!
I wish I was sitting there with you and Amy watching the magic happen. I read; I cried; I donated. You, precious Glennon, are a gift. The people of Momastery and Together Rising are a gift. Holding all of you in the light. Holding all of those beautiful women in Haiti in the light.
P.S. My daughter and I hugged you in Asheville . . . it was a great hug. <3
P.P.S. I wrote you an "ashes letter."
P.P.P.S. I think you may be my long-lost BFF.
Glennon and team, you are amazing ~ thank you for facilitating this great work!!
Donated in memory of Cydney Dilys Amos, my first daughter, who was stillborn almost 13 years ago xxxx
jess
In honor of my 3 babies – who did all arrive safely, as did I. In honor of all of those girls and women who can not be assured of the same.
Crying the ugly cry at work and I don’t even care.
Crying it at home in my bed – in solidarity with you!
I tried to pay via credit card, but your site wouldn’t accept it. I don’t have Paypal.
You can! If you click on the link in the post then look on the left-hand side where there are some little images of credit cards symbols. It says, Don´t have a PayPal account? and under that it says continue. Click on Continue and it should let you put in the credit card info.
Hope you get this! Love wins!
Anne
Haiti is my “place.” I love it there. It feels like home and I have no idea why. I’m a white country girl from North Carolina and I prefer winter – so nothing about Haiti “fits” me. Except when I get there and step off the plane and smell that air, it’s home. I’ve been several times for personal service trips and for my job, and every time I fall more in love. This is important work. These are important people. This country matters and these mamas and babies deserve a chance. I’m gonna Love Flash Mob the HECK out of Heartline today. Best. Day. EVEERRRRRR!!!
i am making my donation in honor of warrior mama and fellow monkee, Christina Miller. I have lost touch with her, but she helped me off the floor when I was in my darkest place with PPD. I love you always, Christina, wherever you are!
Oops, I mean Cristina Miller. Please come back to me, friend!!! xox
I donated in honor of Molly Hightower who was living and working in Haiti with NPFS, an aid organization for orphaned and abandoned children, when the earthquake hit. Sadly, Molly did not survive.
So beautifully written — it moved me to tears! I donated $25 (because I thought that was the max) but read that someone else donated $100 so I went back and donated more! I can’t wait to see pictures of the beautiful new building!
Thank you, Glennon, thank you. Thank you for showing up and for using your power for GOOD. And thank you for doing this TODAY and causing tears to stream down my face, both of sorry and gratitude. I’ve been going through a rough patch lately and I feel like reading about and supporting this work has opened up my heart just a little more. Thank you. If there’s more we can do for Heartline, PLEASE let us know.
Giving with gratitude for midwives everywhere! My two babies were born here in TX with midwives attending. To be cared for by midwives was a truly wonderful experience, one I wish everyone could know.
I’ve had 3 easy pregnancies and deliveries (parenting has proven much harder). My heart hurts at the thought of how many women aren’t so fortunate. I give as a gesture of unity, and I hold all my sisters and their babies in love and light, as well as everyone who is able to lend their hands and hearts to help them. Peace.
for my mom- who lost two precious babies at near full term before she tried again for me and then my sister. Now that I am a mama myself I have only begun to realize the pain she went through in all of that, and to keep trying. She is my sHERO.
I’m sorry if this is a ridiculous question, but I don’t understand where it says $25 max. No donations over $25?
you can donate anything you want!
Thanks!
The spirit of love flash mobs was to give many people a chance to donate in smaller amounts instead of fewer people in bigger amounts. That’s why she capped it at $25…though I think many of us find ways to get around that a little. Like I donated for me and my husband. 🙂
Thank you for connecting us with these women and children in Haiti.
Thank you for all you do Glennon, for Together Rising, and for bringing us together to help such a worthy cause.
God is good!
I gave in honor of the baby I lost too soon, no mother should have to feel that pain. Every day we should “Just show up” for each other! I woke up feeling tired and achey and ugh, but now I remember how blessed I am to have my babies and to be able to help in a small way.
“Women are loved here.”
It is so easy to judge and ignore. Thank you for teaching me to stay open and learn. But, thank you most of all, for continuing to show up and be present. That’s the greatest lesson of all.
Beautiful. Just beautiful. Donated and shared. For my angel baby I’ll never meet. 2003. Go love flash mob! <3 #lovewins
Now I’m shaking with all the feels, hope and love and showing up and sistering on and the bruty of it all. I don’t know if I can wait all day to know if we did it! This is worse than waiting for the next Superman movie!!!
OH ELLEN. you know how much i love you. Forever and ever.
Love, RG
(rabbi G)
sitting here 9 months pregnant with my 4th child, I am painfully and beautifully aware of the wonderful care I have gotten from my midwives here in America. I can’t imagine the terror women around the world live with every day of their pregnancy and awaiting their labor. I’m crying here over my coffee for both their plight and with the hope that we can all make a difference in their lives today.
Good work, G and crew. Let’s spread the word and spread more hope and possibility to those mamas and midwives. Love.
#PERSPECTACLES!! Love you, Michele. All our love to your baby and when she comes can we please see pictures??!!!
For my second baby I lost at 21 weeks that I never got to meet. You are doing such wonderful things for these women and those women are doing such wonderful thing for mamas…and for those babies…and for us THANK YOU
For Elizabeth’s second baby. Amen.
This is a HOLY Love Flash Mob, Glennon.
Thanks for giving us a chance to be a part of something so unbelievably important.
Love you, sister.
We will make it happen!
Maktub.
OOOH Arwen. Please please please be Maktub!!!!
Love you so.
G
I’ve spent 40 years pushing away thoughts of two babies who grew within me but left too soon. I give today in their memory and my healing.
Susan,
If you let those thoughts come- we will hold them with you. ALL my love and ALL my hope and strength for your healing. Carry on, precious warrior.
G
I want to hug you!
So beautifully said, Susan. So, so sorry for your pain. Prayers and love for your healing.
I can’t give much but I can give!
THIS NEEDS TO BE A BUMPER STICKER. This is everything.
Donated, shared, hopeful, crying <3 Love your work and everything about you. Thank you thank you!
Love you more, Heidi.
Thank YOU.
G
Donated and shared! I love your approach of “just showing up”. It’s become my new mantra in an extreme time of uncertainty for our family. <3
It’s all we can do for each other and Thank God, it’s always enough.
Mine too! I think God for Glennon, for running across her a while back because of someone else. She’s doing what I have always wanted to do but haven’t figured out how – yet.
I couldn’t donate much (still battling job loss after affects), but I made a small donation in memory of our first precious baby. We lost her in the second trimester of pregnancy. No Mama should have to go through that heartbreak. I miss you, baby girl. Never in my arms, always in my heart.
Angel angel angel, baby. I am with you, Jana.
G
I give in honor of my Mum, whose greatest joy and purpose in life was being a mother. She would be so delighted to see this beautiful effort to help more women become mums in a safe, loving environment. Thank you for making it possible to contribute.
For Nancy’s mum!!!!!!
You never fail to make me sob during these LFM’s and want to show up and give. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for showing us that we can make a difference in the life of another woman.
Love.
Lisa, THANK YOU for showing up. Is there anything better than sistering our sisters? Can’t think of anything.
Maybe brownies. But that’s it.
G
I can only donate a small amount, but I do so while nursing and cradling my own brand new precious baby in the hopes that all these mamas in need will get to do the same someday.
Small things with great love! You did it right! Blessings to you and your precious little one, Lauren!!
In honor of my friend and warrior mama, Sarah. She is sleeping on a gold out love seat in the nicu right now with her preemie twins.
Oh, warrior Sarah. We are with her. Thank you, Jen.
Because your advice, to just show up, has been so good for me? I’m showing up for you today – got my confirmation number, and I’m so happy and grateful to have been able to do it.
I’ve been showing up, even though sometimes all I get to do is offer to help. Mostly, though, there is something to do for someone. It’s changed how other people feel lots of days. The biggest change, though, is how it’s made me feel about me. I feel less useless and unimportant not. I don’t feel important now, either, but I don’t feel as unimportant as I used to. This probably doesn’t make sense to anyone else, but that’s okay.
Thank you, Glennon. Thank you so much. Anything else I can do for you? You just ask! I have lots of free time and I’m not afraid to ask other people to help!
xo
Tammi: You are a warrior angel. Thank you for showing up and following through. That is everything. That is what’s needed. THANK YOU.
G
Now, I did it again – a second one – in Honor of Victoria Mackenzie Jackson, who is an amazing, loving, grace-filled, beautiful, honorable, wonderful girl. She’s also gone way too soon. I still miss her every day and regret the deep loss those of us who got to know her while she was here feel without her now.
My heart told me to do it again, to honor her, and I wont ignore my heart for anyone, not even you. xo
Donated, shared, and excited to see this happen for the mamas in Haiti.
Cristina, THANK YOU!!!!! G
I’m giving in loving memory of Anna and Emma Wright … twin sister angels. I LOVE FlashMobs and plan to keep my perfect record of participating in every one …
For Anna and Emma.
Man, oh, man. I’m a pregnant lady with health insurance living in America. And I’m always awed by the technology that is available to me to make sure my baby’s heart beat is strong, that my iron levels are healthy, that I don’t have a bladder infection, that my baby is developing correctly prenatally, that I don’t have gestational diabetes, quick and easy immunization against Whooping Cough, etc.. It is all, simply, amazing. But today reminded me of HOW DANG LUCKY I am to have all of this effortlessly available to me. I made my donation. How lucky I am to have the money to make such a donation as to give other women the peace of mind that I often take for granted.
YES YES! PERSPECTACLES!!!! Thank you, warrior sister. Every blessing to your baby!!
Ever read something that causes your whole body to shiver? Literal tingles here. Like MT said, “do small things with great love.” So excited to love. So excited for the things that will be accomplished through all of our small things. <3
Our small things are going to BUILD BUILD BUILD!! Thank you, Lauren!!!!
I don’t have extra money to give a lot, but I gave a small amount. The work that they are doing is amazing, and I can’t wait to see their new addition! Please keep us updated on their work.
SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE!!You did it right! That’s how we do this, sister!!!! Thank you!!!!!
I follow you, Glennon, and your vulnerability humbles me. I saw on your Facebook page today that you were doing this, so I clicked and read your entire post. I just donated $100. Why? Well, because I believe God doesn’t work in the business of coincidences and today is my ADOPTED son’s 10th birthday. How could I not give? On this day of all days? Peace to you and blessings on your work.
Sweet Fancy Moses I love you. PLEASE PLEASE kiss your baby boy for me!!!!!!
I just want to send you love! Congratulations, too!
I give in honor of my warrior sister, who lost her leg to cancer this year and is awesome, amazing, strong, and brave.
#SISTERHOOD
Thank u!
Gina Thank YOU!!!
Our donation is in lieu of favors at our wedding this weekend. Love wins!! Let’s build.
OH I LOVE THAT!!! A WEDDING BUILT ON LOVE!!! Thank you Adrie and congratulations!!!!
G
For Elizabeth, the baby cousin I never got to meet but we hold in our hearts always–may fewer mamas feel that heartbreak because of great love today.
For Elizabeth.
I’ve followed Tara’s blog and Heartline’s work for years and am SO excited we are Love Flash Mobbing them!!
ME TOO ME TOO!!!!!!
It’s 4am here (we’re stationed in Hawaii), so I set my alarm. So excited to be a party of this.
*part. Not party. Life is hard when the sun isn’t up yet.
PARTY of this is PERFECT!!!! Thank you, Michelle!!!!!
I’m reading it now and it makes my eyes leaky. Such a great way to start the day. Thanks for being you and bringing us all together. You make life more beautiful. Now I need coffee.