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
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812 Comments
I donate today in honor of Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awareness and all those who have endured miscarriages, whether early or late …. Loss is loss and I pray these women of Haiti never experience that kind of horrific, all-encompassing loss again.
Donating in honor of my warrior mother, Janet who raised 3 girls and lost 3 babies to miscarriage. Also for the warrior who raised her (and miscarried twins at 18), Grandma Geri. Thank you Glennon & the Together Rising board for this opportunity to lift up sisters in need. ❤️ WINS!!
For Janet and Grandma Geri.
Amen
For Chase, my best friend’s daughter born with cerebral palsy who has taught my family so much about what is important in life. I held her v in the NICU when she was a day old and knew that she was exactly as God intended her to be and as her mother said from the beginning, a true gift from Him. My heart sings when I see how naturally kind and empathetic my 7 year old and the year old children are with her without being told to be.
For Chase.
Amen.
Dang. This right here is the Kingdom on Earth. So special. Such a privilege to be a tiny part of it. I’m donating in honor of B, who has 4 angel babies who were so fiercely wanted and loved, and one baby on the way, for whom we have such great hopes and dreams.
Glennon, I can give a small monetary donation but I have stacks and stacks of baby clothes in spacebags that I no longer need. Would you be interested in setting up a clothing/necessities drive for these women or can you give me details on how to get the supplies to Heartline? I know there are a lot of mamas that read your blog and would contribute items in addition to monetary donations. Just a thought…
I’ve been trying to donate for about half an hour. PayPal isn’t taking me to your billing page. Is there an email address I can use ?
Finally Fixed. Yay!
For Andi, who we lost 3 years ago Saturday. And for Johnna, who embraces Andi’s memory as she becomes Momma to Andi’s 2 beautiful girls.
For Andi. And For Johnna.
Amen.
I donate today in honor of my mom. She was a pregnant teen here in the states. I am that baby. I lost her when I was 12 years old. Thank you for your work to support women around the world. I am honored to be a small part of this love flash mob!!!
For Holly’s mama.
Amen.
Thank you for helping us know about this beautiful center.
My donation is in honor of my mother (deceased) who modeled
generosity in my life.
For Irene’s mother.
Amen.
Because when I was about to deliver my eldest son, after 42 hours of labor, by cesarean section, I asked the doctor, in my delirium, what would have happened to me if I were in a covered wagon. He looked me straight in the eyes and said “you’d be dead”. Praises for the work of those who save mama’s and babies.
I donate in honor of the two mothers I know who recently have lost their partners in life to depression. For their children, who brave every day during all of their grief.
And I dedicate it to all the mothers I know, don’t know but love all the same.
For all the beautiful mamas and babies who deserve the best care in the world. And for all of us Monkees – I love this community so, so much! Canary on, warriors!
I am donating because I feel, and have always felt, a tugging in my spirit to help, to actually *do* something, to be like a KJ or a Tara … but I have not (yet) responded to the call. There are so many reasons why, and none of them good enough. So I will donate and do my part to thank KJ and Tara for responding to the call. God bless them and their sacred work!
This is so amazing Glennon! I don’t usually donate internationally, but your story and the work being done, and work still needed, was moving. Today I made a donation and shared your blog post on my FB page. I hope you will meet your goal! I hope that Heartline will get their addition and fewer moms-to-be will be turned away. Thank you for taking the time to visit Haiti and Heartline on behalf of all of us so we can see, through your eyes, the need and the love and the work being done there. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it, even in my own small way. xoxo!
In memory of my friend’s babies who are in heaven…together we can make a huge difference for these women.
I donate today in honor of my warrior daughter Jess who brought our miracle girl Lucy into this world almost two years ago. She wasn’t supposed to survive but because of amazing doctors and the unimaginable strength of her mom and dad she’s here with us teaching us to believe in miracles…
My donation was in memory of my mother I lost in July this year. A love of all children. God bless you all, cft
In honor of my sweet friend Diane – who is doing this same hard work with teens right here in the US. All women deserve their best chance!
For Diane.
Amen.
In honor of my brave friend C.J.
For C.J.
Amen.
In memory of my sister, Joan, who died too young to have children of her own but whose spirit lives on in my two strong, healthy, fiercely-loved children.
For Joan.
Amen.
Donated in honor of my three sisters, Stacy, Jeanine, and Kristin, who each had little ones gone too soon. And with joy for the little ones with us, even my ginormous “little ones,” and especially for Jeanine’s long awaited healthy pregnancy with twin boys.
For Stacy, Jeanine, and Kristin.
Amen.
In. All in. Donating to honor the birth mother of my sweet girl and all moms – bio moms, adopted moms, like a moms…
In memory of precious Grace. Born perfect and absolutely beautiful. Full term. But already sleeping and in the arms of God.
Oh, precious Grace. Amazing Grace. For Amazing Grace..
Amen.
Oh Heather. Peace and comfort to you. ((hugs))
One of my life Scriptures is Mark 14:8 “she did what she could.” I’m a foster momma to babies here in Canada, and that’s what I choose to do each day.
I give in honor of those beautiful midwives who just became known to us today but have been working for so long to do what they can each day in Haiti. May their burden be eased as it is shared by all of us.
Glennon, I thank you for showing us all something we can today that will make a difference in the lives of our sisters in Haiti.
I just showed up and made a donation as love wins. This is in honor of my warrior daughter also named Sarah. Haiti is in my heart and will always be as I serve on short term mission trips to Jacmel every six months since the 2010 Earthquake providing medical care as an RN.
I was literally crying last night with heartache for things wrong with this world that I just. can’t. fix. I can do nothing about so many problems and it shreds my heart that I am so powerless. But this! THis I can do! Thank you TOGETHERISING for giving me this opportunity to help! To give! To love and feel like what I am doing does actually help someone, heal someone’s heart, lift them up and send a loving hug into the world. I needed this today. You are truly, truly, truly doing God’s work. Thank you, a thousand times, thank you.
for Florene, a beautiful and amazing mother.
For Florene.
Amen.
For Zachariah.
For Zachariah.
Thank you for this beautiful opportunity in a difficult week.
Thank you.
I have no job or health insurance and live in poverty level myself here in the U.S. but I have $5.00. It’s yours! Thank you Jesus when I did have health insurance and beautiful hospitals to birth my babies!
Amazing Donna. Amazing. Thank you. Holy.
Thank you Donna, for remembering.
<3
I took my dental assistant to Haiti in 2003 and we gave away dentistry at an orphanage for a week-the most beautiful people visited us every day. I’ve donated in remembrance of that amazing trip and the Haitians that I met that could not keep or feed their babies!
Today I give …..With gratitude for my three loves who I was privileged and blessed to deliver in a loving atmosphere, and in hopes I can provide the same for another mama.
Donating because I was fortunate enough to have a healthy pregnancy and a beautiful baby girl. (I didn’t see the $25 limit though, so sorry…not sorry?) 🙂
I donated today in honor of my two tiny warriors, my daughters, now ages 6 and 3. They were both born prematurely, weighing 1 lb. 7 oz. and 2 lbs. 2 oz. respectively. They were given the medical help they needed starting with my amazing OB/Gyn and then the neonatalogists and NICU nurses at our local hospital. Without their care, I’m not sure any of us would’ve survived.
For Cynde’s warriors.
Amen.
I donate today because I long to be with the ladies in Haiti making a difference every day… but due to responsibilities and bills and work, I cannot. I donate today because my husband and I have chosen not to have our own children but care so much about the millions of children going without. I donate today because even though that $20 might seem precious to me at times, it really only means skipping lunch out for two Fridays.
<3
For my baby who died at 13 weeks in utero. And for my friends who can’t conceive, for the babies they long for.
For Valerie.s precious one and for Valerie’s friends.
Amen.
My donation, though small is to honor my precious baby conceived in rape when I was 13. Though I miscarried him and never got to hold him in my arms, I carry him in my heart. For you Zechariah.. “Yahweh remembers”.
Love you to pieces Glennon.
Love you, Becky. <3
Donated in honor of my many friends who have become mamas- especially those who don’t get to hold their babies this side of Heaven.
Yes, yes, yes.
Amen.
Thank you for having paypal set up for giving. That makes it so much easier. I give my gift in honor of my own midwife, Trish Scane.
Donated in memory of my mother who loved and treasured babies all her life!
Donating in memory of my sweet baby Clara, stillborn at 35 weeks 10/20/01.
For Clara.
Amen.
In honor of my twin sister Kelly who is struggling to conceive, and my aunt Li who never gave birth to any biological children of her own but has been like a mother to so many, caring for and loving us and holding us all in the light during many dark days. Two of the strongest warriors I know.
For Kelly and Aunt Li.
Amen.
I’m in. Praying for big changes from a little spare change.
oh lordy. THIS IS THE STUFF!! Thank you Paige!!!!!!
I’m giving in honour of my best friend’s new baby, Betty. Betty was adopted at 6 days old and is the current cutest baby I have have the privilege of knowing.
For Betty, the cutest baby Wendy knows.
Amen.
for the hug I had this morning from my beautiful boys and for the blessing of being born in this country where we can get the things we need.
#PERSPECTACLES!!!!!
Donated in memory of the baby I lost at 13 weeks due to miscarriage and in honor of the two babies I get the sacred privilege of raising up every day. Thank you Lord for letting me be a part of this great work!
For Christian’s babies.
Amen.
Cried, donated, shared! Thank you.
For Page, Georgia, and Lyle!
For Page, Georgia, and Lyle.
Amen .
Dedicated to these amazing women in Haiti – the mamas and the midwives. You are so much braver than I.
donated today in honor of the gift of motherhood. my babies are growing up and leaving the nest, and it continues to be an honor to be their mama. I hope the same holds true for these lovely Haitian mamas. thanks Glennon! <3
It’s been a hard month here Glennon. I’m sitting here today, waiting for the call to go check into inpatient eating disorder treatment. Again. Away from my family, again. But this, these moments remind me what I’m fighting for. Being part of this sisterhood reminds me there’s something more beyond my little bubble of hurt. A way my life means something more. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So my partner and I each donated $25 this morning. We’d like to dedicate it to our angel baby, with us every day in our hearts, Jett Elijah. So that those mamas can hold theirs every day in their arms.
Love,
~Virtual Tea
FOR JETT ELIJAH.
AND FOR RENE. AND FOR HER PARTNER. Who are at Day One. Please let them remember that every last damn one of us is at Day One. Everyday.
YOU ARE LOVED. Your sisters stand before you and behind you and beside you.
G and the Sisterhood.
<3 you Rene
I am 6 months pregnant with my 4th baby. All of my children have been healthy. My cousin has a 3 week old newborn who has been in NICU at one of the finest hospitals in the country since she was born. She’s recovering beautifully thanks to excellent care. How could I not donate? Thank you for letting us start the day with perspective and joy and gratitude for the people who show up. I will share this on facebook as well!
In honor of my beautiful daughter Everleigh, who never fails to bring a smile to my face and a giggle to my lips. She was born in the safety and comfort of my awaiting arms. May all other momma warriors out there be so lucky…
Just donated. I just wanted to thank you for mentioning the fact that you consider us a community of people with various beliefs and that you scrutinize any religious based organization with an eye to that. I really appreciate all of the work you and your people put into vetting everyone before having a love flash mob. It must be a ton of work to put everything together. It’s like having a bunch of, I don’t know, love researchers doing all of this work so that then all the rest of us just have to show up and party (love party planners?).Thank you. Thank your people for me.
So right on Kate!!
Nirva, Beth, KJ, Sherly, Tara & Winifred.~the maternity center team! You are all angels here on earth. Remember us when your wings get tired- you are not alone. Thank you for bringing life, love and light into this world. And “G”… from one G to another…way to go girl! xoxoxoxo
For Donielle. Because no mama should die due to childbirth. You should be here loving on your precious baby. I miss you.
Donielle
You are a true angel and hero Everyday your posts speak to me, as though you were in my head and my heart. As a person who longs to help others but is too afraid to go out and put my heart on the line, your love flash mobs allow me to feel like I can help – in a small, yet meaningful way. I donate today in honor of my 3 healthy, wondrous children and the baby that wasn’t ready for this world. How lucky I was to have the support and medical care for all 4 of my pregnancies. God bless you, Glennon. Love wins…..
Donated in honor of a dear friend T, and in memory of her boy/girl twins who died shortly after birth. T displayed incredible strength and grace in the face of such tragedy. What a wonderful opportunity to support mamas and their babies.
I’m donating in honor of my sweet, beloved son, Christian Samuel, who I lost during pregnancy at 23 weeks, over 17 years ago. I know these momma’s hearts. I don’t have much to give as a single momma raising my other two sweet, beloved teenage sons but what I give, I give with love and hope. Thank you for the work you do, Glennon. You touch my heart.
Christian Samuel.
Donating to honor my daughters’ birthmothers in China. #LoveWins
Donating in honor of Meghan Jarvis and all the work she does for all the mommas and their babies.
It is days like today that I wish you had a higher donation limit!
What a fabulous program Heartline has built and will build in Haiti. Indeed, Love Wins!
This is a great cause, and I give today for my friend Leslie, who has her birthday today, and her husband Patrick, who lost a son during a birth that was too early. She knows the terrible pain of losing a child and would not wish any other woman ir family would have to endure such pain. Also for Chris and Kristen who birthed and lost their little guy on the same day, who continue to hurt every day and try to find sense in this loss despite great medical care and treatment, they also would not wish this loss on another human being, and would choose them to know love instead. GOD Bless!!
Gave because I’m thankful today for two healthy sons as well as the three miscarriages along the way. Thankful I’m able to give to these hardworking and deserving women! Bless you all.
I love how $25 is the max donation because this is a love flash MOB! A mob of many, many people giving money to build a new wing at a birthing center in Haiti. I donate in honor of the two births (and two healthy babies) that I was very lucky to have in a safe, nurturing, and supportive environment) and also for my heartbreaking miscarriage 7 years ago this month. May all women experience love and support as they are born into mamahood ALL AROUND THE WORLD! Thanks momastery for helping in this corner of the world. xoxo
How long do we have to donate? I can donate some today but it’s payday at midnight and I want to donate a lot more. <3
Coincidence that I just received $25 last night from someone that I thought I’d never receive? Nope. It’s yours to help these amazing women continue to do good. Thank you for all you do. XOXO
Donating today in honor of my brave, beautiful, warrior-mama friend who just delivered her sweet baby, Azalea, 28 weeks too soon.
Dedicated my donation in honour of Heather Head on her birthday 🙂
Glennon!! This is so amazing to me. And God’s work in progress! I almost skipped over this flash mob today because I had too many other things going on. Too many other people needing me. Too many other charities and service to be fulfilled. But this! Oh this! My heart has been in childbirth for several years now. I am an avid midwife/homebirth/natural birth supporter. I LOVE working with women in this most vulnerable time of their life and helping to empower them. I live in Middle Tennessee where midwives are finally growing and becoming more accepted. And when I read that Dr. Sizemore came with you I almost burst into tears! We recommended him to almost every VBAC woman that is looking for care but he recently left and wouldn’t take recommendations anymore. I had no idea why or what he was doing. God was connecting him to your efforts in Haiti! This is so profound and amazing to me! I KNOW this is something God is calling me to support. THANK YOU! Thank you for spreading the word on this and the much needed maternal care in Haiti!
Love,
Donna
For the birth parents, the adoptive parents, the children and those that love them. I work in adoption every day and it is … magic.
I’ve met Tara and toured the maternity center. This organization and the women that serve there are the real deal!
In memory of my Mama, who told me that I came from a long line of strong women. Sharing her strength and love.
Donated in support of all those women who show up. Thank you for all you do. Your work is pure love.
I was moved by the plight of these women and I will donate but I’m perturbed by the omission of the abortion option for some of these women, particularly for the 15-year old. Why is this never discussed?
Abortion is illegal in Haiti, and evidently a taboo subject, at least that’s what I got when I Googled it.
Thank you!
It is a true privilege to donate to this worthy cause, those beautiful mamas and their babies, and to the team who make miracles happen! As a woman who has had miscarriages, a pregnancy that resulted in cancer and is now a mother to three beautiful daughters, I cannot think of a cause more dear to my heart. God Bless you all!
Amazing. Thank you for making this kind of giving available to us. Donating in memory of my first baby (found out I was pregnant with him/her 3 years ago today) that we lost at 8 weeks, and my baby we delivered still at 19 weeks. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
In memory of Talia….”dewdrop from heaven”….and honor of her strong mom Christy, who is a fabulous mom of three, even if we only get to know two of them in this world.
Because the baby who is wanted and planned for, and would have been born into an amazing support system that I know not all babies and mamas have, that same baby, I just learned is NOT arriving just a year or two ahead of schedule. Whew 🙂 For other mamas so that they can know that they can plan for their babies too and so that even the babies that arrive ahead of schedule can be safe and cared for with and by their mamas.
For my son and my daughter, who are the reasons I breathe, and for my daughter’s twin, who waits for us on the other side. So that these mamas can hold their love in their hands.
Donated in memory of “Dot.”
^i^ 10/19/99
Donating in honor of all 4 of our babies that we get to hold, love, and enjoy from the comfort of our safe & privileged beyond comprehension lives here in the U.S. every day. Because skipping a few organic snacks at the grocery this week can equal a lifetime of love and snuggles for a mama and baby not so far from here. Xo.
For the baby I lost at 13 weeks that no one ever talks about.
{{{Leslie}}}
We mamas never forget.
Leslie, I see you. I acknowledge your baby. I love you.
holding space
For my daughter, I was blessed with though adoption and the woman who birthed her who I think of everyday.
I’m donating today because I had my baby in a hospital, after a long (30+ hour) labor and pushing and infection immediately treated with IV antibiotics, and eventual C-Section. We were both healthy in the end (I was a bit tired, but healthy!). The knowledge that I likely would have been a statistic and my daughter an orphan in Haiti is sobering and humbling, and I feel such a mix of grateful, guilty, humbled, but, more than anything, blessed to be the mother of a vibrant, smart, funny, amazing 7 year-old girl whom I have been given the gift of watching grow up from an infant to a toddler to this sassy, spectacular big girl. The fact that not everyone has this gift is humbling. We are SO blessed in this country, and take so much for granted.
This is why I open Facebook…because of you, Glennon. My maiden name is Melton, and without that, I might not have found you.
I donate today for my two babies I lost because they probably were not ready to enter this world, for the babies every other woman in my family decided not to let enter this world, and for @SimbaandMama who is helping babies in Bali in her own beautiful way.
Thank you for being so strong and braving that cockroach so all of us can know what unsurpassable worth there is in this brutiful world.
Thank you for the brutiful tears this morning.
Thank you for the call and the opportunity to help.
So #lovewins for such beautiful, priceless mamas! May the women of Heartline know they are not alone!
Donated…and hoping. Using this gift as a celebration of my 20th wedding anniversary today. Glennon….I feel like you have been there during some hard times for me. We can do hard things became an important life lesson. Now, I am happy to give back.
Love wins today!!!
I’m donating for my friend Arianne and her baby, due in January. She’s unexpectedly going to be a single mama, and I’m learning how important it is to her that I just show up. I’m training to be her doula, and seeing this flashmob, reading these stories, came at the right time to tell me that I really am following my heartpath. Thank you so much for showing us these beautiful women, G, and letting us help them rise.
Emma, you rock!
So happy to be part of this amazing group. #lovewins
I have been newly introduced to your blog and love what you have to share and your honesty. Thank you! I donated today because of Asline. Despite her pain and obstacles she showed up and that shows the importance of Heartline in Hati and the solace they must feel to be loved in such a great place during scary and beautiful times.
Sending my love!
Glennon, I love you and all your warriors SO. Thank you thank you thank you for your amazing work!
I gave today in honor of Martha. She’s my birth mama, Glennon. I am almost 49 years old and we just found each other this week. Can you believe it? LOVE WINS!
Love wins! <3
I’m giving in honor of my birth mother, too. I’m 46, and I don’t know her yet, but I hope someday she’ll know how thankful I am that she was brave enough to have a baby at 16 and give her to another mama who desperately wanted children.
Oh, Elizabeth…you just cracked my heart wide open. Thank you for commenting. My birth mother gave me the name ELIZABETH when I was born! I pray for you and your mother to find each other to share that gratitude and awe. Love to you xo
Thanks Glennon –
for giving us the opportunities to be better citizens of the world.
Donating in honor of my mother who had me at 16 and a half years old…so grateful she had love, support and quality health care…doing my small part to pass along that blessing to the women and children Heartline serves. May God bless the work they are doing and multiply their resources. <3
Tears and more Tears. God bless you Glennon!! You make my heart bigger every time I read your heartfelt ‘letters’ to us .. I had to help. It isn’t much but to have a small part of this is incredible and humbling. LOVE your LFMs!! I’m reading Carry On Warrior again. did I say you and team are awesome and brutiful?!?! I could go on and on .. Just know I Love Love Love you and this sisterhood :0)
Dedicated to Isaiah Jones and his brave Mimmy.
Donation made in honor of a stillborn PJ here in the U.S. Writing through tears. Bless all these women.
I sometimes think this Earth is purgatory or even Hell itself. Too much pain and suffering. BUT today I see love, love, love. I’m holding space for all the Mamas and babies. Step aside hell……LOVE WINS!
I give today in honor of my mother who gave a child up for adoption 40+ years ago because she was not able to care for him. I pray these donations will prevent other mothers from the lifetime of pain and heartache that come from an unimaginable decision to have to make.
For Elizabeth, burning bright light of my life.