She Came To Us....
She arrived late to our group that day (almost an hour late) due to car problems. It was her first time participating in MyBaby4Me. She looked sad and worn, and her clothes were dirty. She asked if she could talk to us privately after class. She is living in a shelter. She is a mom of 5 and admitted she was "hanging with the wrong people" during her most recent pregnancy. She delivered a baby girl more than 6 months ago....small, too early, and with cocaine in her blood stream. She immediately lost custody of all 5 children to child welfare, including her newborn daughter. She came to class hoping for a miracle....that we could help her find housing, find a job, and prove that she was no longer using drugs....all in time for a court hearing on May 12th to try and get custody of her children back. Her oldest daughter is 18 and also pregnant; she came with her to MyBaby4Me and is living in the shelter with her mother. She has a 15-year-old daughter that delivered a baby a week earlier. She has weekly supervised visits with her own baby (now 7 months old). She wasn't able to support her teen during the delivery of her grandbaby and hadn't yet seen her first grandchild.
To conclude that interaction, Lynn helped jump-start a dead battery on her vehicle, then had to help push her vehicle backwards into the street because the reverse gear on the vehicle didn't work. We laughed at the "other duties as assigned" part of the experience.
We went home that day feeling overwhelmed and wondering if we could make a difference in the face of all of these challenges. After prayerful consideration, we acknowledged that she came to us, wanting a better life, seeking help. She had a glimmer of hope in the mother she wanted to be. And supporting her would support not only her, but her daughters and their babies. SHE was the face of MyBaby4Me. SHE (and others like her) was the reason we needed to do all we could here in Memphis during our mission.
It has been an eventful month with MyBaby4Me here in Memphis. We have gone from having no participants come to our groups, to having a few participants, to having a roomful! These women have names that sparkle like jewels.... unusual combinations of consonants and vowels. Each name is unique and special and represent the women we have come to know and love. We are grateful to be reaching more women and their partners and their babies/children, but more participation has come with different challenges to address (arranging transportation, choosing topics and preparing content with the needs of those who might come, planning for the quantities of food needed when we don't know if 2 or 20 will show up, and making sure their children also are provided enriching activities while their moms are engaged).
Pocohantas Arkansas and Armadillos
We took a day "off" to celebrate President's Day with a trip to visit another missionary couple serving in Pocahontas, Arkansas. The Bolinder's gave us a royal tour of a part of their mission area.
We started with breakfast at Hillbilly Junction in Maynard, Arkansas then drove to two state parks with large natural springs. Elder Bolinder is a big fan or armadillos, so we were on the lookout for a live armadillo on the country roads. Armadillos don't move rapidly, so are more often seen as roadkill on the 2 lane highways in rural Arkansas. He also told us stories of going catfish "noodling" with the local residents while on their mission. We had a great time with the Bolinders! We ended the day at the Eddie Mae Herron Center in Pocahontas; we had a chance to sit down and talk with the Center's Executive Director and members of their Board of Directors. The mission of the Eddie Mae Herron Center is to help individuals, communities, and organizations to identify, protect, and preserve the history and to foster widespread appreciation of and respect for the African American culture. School segregation in the south occurred in our lifetime, and Eddie Mae Herron was the teacher in this one-room schoolhouse for black children only until 1964. Pat Johnson, the Executive Director of the Center shared her personal story of growing up in the south and being a student forced to attend this same school. She has a passion for preserving history so that others may learn from it. She had just spent the weekend hosting a crew from National Geographic who filmed interviews and events at the center for Black History month. Ms. Johnson was eager to hear of MyBaby4Me and gave us great insights that will help increase our effectiveness with our outreach.
We Love our Extension Service Partners!
During the 3rd week of February, we were happy to host a program assistant from the Tennessee Extension Service at our MyBaby4Me groups. Tamara prepared a main dish for class participants, all the while teaching them about healthy nutrition for them during pregnancies and for their families. All of us got a sample of the food she prepared, and "freebies" related to our discussion. She was such a great fit with MyBaby4Me women! We are excited to have her return in April to teach us more and bring more things for our women to help them focus on eating well.
Memphis Channel 13 News Interview about MyBaby4Me
The first Thursday in March we got a call shortly after arriving at the NAACP office that Channel 13 reporters were coming to film our MyBaby4Me group and interview participants! No stress there.....as Lynn said later "I didn't dress for a TV camera". We never quite know who will show up for our group and how things will go. But thanks to our NAACP leader, the lights and cameras and reporter arrived, women arrived, and all was successful. The story was great exposure for MyBaby4Me; we raced home that night to watch the 5 PM news and see the story. Immediately after the news ended, our MyBaby4Me phone rang with a woman who was 9 weeks pregnant and interested in participating! She and her fiancé have attended every week since then and are a great addition to our classes.
See the news story here:
University of Tennessee Medical Students Bring Skills and Energy to MyBaby4Me
Janie and Lane saved the day! These medical students attended a couple of our classes as volunteers and expressed a desire to help teach a curriculum topic. So we planned a discussion on Reproductive Health and a fun Bingo game that would work for the group. We had so many women that brought children to our group that day that one of the students was on the floor with the little ones and the other ran the lesson. We couldn't have been successful without them.
"Layettes with Love"
It hasn't taken us long to see that the majority of the women we work with have few resources to prepare for their baby. We want them to feel hope instead of despair when they give birth and have the basics to care for a newborn. Added to this, we have members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Memphis area who are eager to support MyBaby4Me. Through inspiration, we prepared a basic layette list and began our "Layettes with Love" project. The leaders of the church in the area have the layette list and assemble the layettes with donations from members at the ward level. Then, when we have a woman who has participated with us and is ready to deliver the layette is presented to her. We have been able to provide 2 layettes to women this month and it is moving to see the love from the givers and the appreciation from our women. Forgive us for sharing so many pictures here....we think this is an amazing thing......
Challenges and Miracles
Our mission this far has been a combination of overcoming barriers and then recognizing the hand of the Lord blessing us as we work. How true that is of life in general! We have had so many experiences where a resource or solution presented itself just as it seemed we couldn't move forward. People who have been put in our path who could provide exactly what was needed. Donations of cribs and furniture and diapers and car seats for those who need them. Willing hands, strong backs and trucks to move those things. We have the blessing of an inspired Mission President and his wife, who express total confidence and support in us. We have the benefit of leadership and mentorship in Elder Beheshti, who was responsible for setting up my Baby4Me and seeing the potential of this model. We love working with Vickie Terry, the NAACP Executive Director here in Memphis. We are committed to helping where and when we can.
King Benjamin gives this inspired counsel to his people in Mosiah 4:16-20
"And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain and turn him out to perish.
Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore, I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance; that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just-
But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same; hath great cause to repent and except he repenteth of that which he hath done, he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.
For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not al depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?"
Missing our children and their families and so many dear friends while we are away. We are ever grateful for your support and encouragement.
Lynn and Joell Archibald
Coordinators of MyBaby4Me, Memphis
