It looks like baby has decided to stay put for awhile longer. Melaina continues to have mild contractions but they’re neither regular nor frequent. After a couple of frustrating days, she’s feeling much more positive today and we all recognize that another week or two in utero would help ensure that baby’s lungs are fully developed and that she doesn’t have any breathing difficulties at birth.

In the meantime, I’m having breathing issues of my own. Thanks to Richard, who is almost over his, I’ve come down with a nasty head cold. At this point, they probably wouldn’t want me anywhere near a hospital so Melaina says she’s told the little one to hold on until Gram is better. Let’s hope she listens!

When our daughter, Melaina, had her first child we were in Japan. Almost a month before her due date, we received a message that labour had begun and she was heading for the hospital. It was a Wednesday morning and I was on my way out the door to a ladies meeting at our church. When I got there and shared the news, the ladies gathered around me and prayed for Melaina and her unborn son. I was so blessed when they also prayed peace over me, a first time grandmother so far from home and family.

That was the beginning of a marathon of latent (unproductive) labour that went on for eleven days! Contractions increased in intensity and regularity then slowed again. Melaina made several frustrating trips to the hospital and each time she was told to go home and wait. Drew finally arrived two weeks before his due date on May 1, 2008.

Almost two years later, here we are again! Baby number 2 is due on April 28. Throughout the pregnancy, Melaina’s doctors have assured her that it was very unlikely that she’d go through another marathon like the last one but it’s beginning to look as if they might be wrong. She started experiencing cramping and occasional contractions a couple of weeks ago. When she saw her obstetrician last Tuesday, she was told that nothing serious was happening yet but early yesterday afternoon she got in touch to let us know that she was having contractions again and that they were becoming more regular.

Should we pack? Was it time to go to Calgary? If we get there in time, I get to be in the delivery room with her this time! I really don’t want to miss that but at the same time, we don’t want to sit around Calgary for two or three weeks nor do I really want to live out of a suitcase here at home while we wait. What to do? Well, I did what I usually do when I’m not sure what to do. I started making lists! A list of things to pack and a list of things to do before we leave. Water the plants, put the garbage out, turn down the heat. Things like that.

By later in the evening, things had settled down again and we all decided to go to bed and hope for a good night’s sleep. Phone anytime, I told her. We can be out of the house inside an hour and in Calgary within five. The phone didn’t ring and this morning we learned that Melaina had had a pretty good night. Contractions were continuing but they were very mild and well spaced.

By mid afternoon, however, things were heating up again. Our son-in-law came home from work a bit earlier than usual anticipating that he might be taking her to the hospital and this time, I started packing. By supper time, contractions were strong and 4 to 5 minutes apart. Surely we’d be on the road soon and baby would arrive tonight! Or maybe not. That was 4 hours ago and nothing much has happened yet. In fact, it seems that contractions are slowing down again.

Melaina has another appointment with her obstetrician tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we wait… and we wait… and perhaps we wait some more. Melaina’s at an awkward point in her pregnancy; late enough that they won’t give her anything to stop labour but early enough that they won’t give her anything to hasten it along. And so we wait. How long we wait, nobody knows.

One of my plans for retirement was to start sewing again and I’ve finally done it! I wondered if choosing a fully lined, fitted jacket for my first project in a very long time was a wise idea but so far, it’s going amazingly well. Sitting at the sewing machine has also brought back many memories. In fact, for many years, sewing was part of the story of my life.

My mother taught me to sew on her old Singer machine when I was still in elementary school. I took one semester of sewing in eighth grade and remember how disgusted I was to learn that our first project would be an apron. I had just finished a skirt complete with zipper and waistband! I would rather have taken drafting but that wasn’t allowed. Home ec was mandatory for girls and only boys took shop courses. Our second project was a short-sleeved cotton blouse. I wore mine a few times but never to school. After all, every girl in the school had one just like it! The only choice we had was colour.

Floor length dresses were in vogue for dances and other formal occasions in those days. I remember making the dress that I wore to my very first formal dance. My best friend, Janis, and I were allowed to miss half a day of school to go shopping for patterns and fabric with her mom! Never before or after did my parents permit me to miss school without being sick! I wish I had a picture of that dress. The style was simple with bows at the shoulders and it was pale yellow. My mother and I went shopping for just the right shoes and purse to go with it and I wore a pair of her long white gloves. I suspect that they’re the same pair that I found in her storage locker when I helped her clean it out a couple of years ago.

In the past, sewing was a matter of economics. Homemade clothes were cheaper than store-bought. During my college years, when we got home from university each summer, my sister, a couple of friends and I would shop for patterns and fabric then gather around my sewing machine and my mother’s to make our summer wardrobe as well as new clothes for the coming school year. Patterns sold for $1 in those days!

After graduating from university and meeting my husband to be on the first day of my new career as a school teacher, I made my wedding dress and headpiece. Then, just a few years later, came the children. I did lots of sewing for the first two but by the time the third and fourth (who are less than a year apart in age) came along there just didn’t seem to be much time for sewing anymore! When the children were all in school, I went back to teaching part-time and there still wasn’t a lot of extra time available. By then, my well used sewing machine was also wearing out. It still handled the occasional mending job but couldn’t be depended on for finer work.

You're supposed to be looking at the clothes but aren't the kids just the sweetest ever?

Eventually it died completely and though it had been awhile since I’d done much sewing, I really couldn’t imagine life without a sewing machine. I picked out the one I wanted and Richard bought it for me for Christmas. That was a few years ago now but in recent years it’s only been used for making drama costumes. I’m happy to say that that’s coming to an end. Now that I’ve settled into retirement, I have lots of time on my hands and grandchildren to sew for!

When the kids grew up and left home, they left space for a sewing room. In the past, I had to haul the machine and all the sewing paraphernalia out to the kitchen table to work on and, of course, it had to be put away between uses. Now, one of the extra bedrooms has become a computer/sewing room complete with a table for laying out and cutting fabric and a cabinet for the sewing machine. I can leave a project out and work on it for a few minutes or a few hours whenever I want to.

By the way, Janis is still sewing too and you should see the things she makes!  She’s by far the more creative of the two of us. You can check out some of her projects on her blog.

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Pulitzer Prize winning journalists Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, is one of the most compelling books I’ve ever read and should, in my opinion, be compulsory reading for every citizen of the developed world.

It was Chinese dictator Mao Zedong who coined the phrase “women hold up half the sky” but in many parts of the world today women and girls face unspeakable violence, exploitation and oppression. Half the Sky focuses on three major areas of abuse: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence including honor killings and mass rape; and maternal mortality. Though disturbing, the book is difficult to put down. Kristof and WuDunn share moving stories of women who have risen above despair to find healing and hope.

If you haven’t read Half the Sky yet, I urge you to do so but I also caution you. This is a book that will change you. Kristof and WuDunn are upfront and clear; they hope to recruit their readers to get involved, to become a part of a movement to emancipate and empower women by helping provide the economic resources that can help transform brothel slaves into businesswomen. All too often, money in the hands of men goes to alcohol and prostitution but in the hands of women, it nurtures children, feeds families and promotes education. Half the Sky not only inspires the reader to get involved, it gives many suggestions how.

After reading the book, Richard and I were moved to do something. We were already sponsoring a teenage girl in Haiti, helping provide her with education, health care and a hot meal each day, but we felt inspired to do more. I explored the websites listed in the back of Half the Sky, bookmarked a few and pondered for awhile. Today, I read some startling statistics in our latest newsletter from Samaritan’s Purse, the non-denominational Christian international relief agency that is best known for its Christmas Shoebox program. “70 percent of the world’s poorest people are female, and while women work 2/3 of all the world’s labor hours, they receive just 10 percent of the world’s income.” Once again, I was compelled to do something and so it is that I am now a micro-financier.

Kiva (www.kiva.org), the world’s first online micro-lending platform, is a non-profit organization that allows a person to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur across the globe. Since it was incorporated in November 2005,  683,479 Kiva users have funded loans totaling $124,742,985 USD. Those stats rose slightly today when I registered and helped fund my first loans. My portfolio includes a Cambodian villager who is borrowing money to purchase two cows to begin a breeding program and a Bolivian woman who plans to buy a bigger stove to use in preparing the meals that she sells at her food stall. Though Kiva provides loans to both men and women, I specifically chose women who are helping support their families and educate their children. When their loans are repaid, I will lend the money again and again…

One of the truths that has impacted me most from my second Beth Moore Bible study which I began recently is the fact that we are blessed to bless. Whatever it is that we have been blessed with, we should be using to bless others. There is no doubt that I am amongst the most blessed women in the world. After reading Half the Sky, how could I not reach out and bless a few of my less fortunate sisters from the abundance which I have been given?

My name is Elaine and I’m a Facebook addict!

At my daughter’s insistence and with her help, I joined the social networking world two years ago just prior to leaving for a year in Japan. It has been a wonderful way to keep in touch with friends and family around the globe and I’ve also enjoyed reconnecting with some I’d lost contact with.

My Facebook friends list has grown to include over 200 people. Though the number in my generation who are using social networks is increasing, many on my list are much younger. Several are former students who sent me friend requests while I was in Japan. I was delighted to have an opportunity to share what we were experiencing with them.

Having them on my friends list and seeing what they post has also given me a window into their lives and I must admit that I don’t always like what I see. It was recently suggested to me that the schools need to start including internet etiquette in health or life skills classes. As a retired teacher, I’m the first to protest the downloading of what ought to be parental responsibility onto the schools. There’s been far too much of that already. In this case, however, where most of the youth are much more internet savvy than their parents are, I realize that if the teaching is going to happen at all it may have to fall on the shoulders of the schools.

One of the first lessons that needs to be taught is the fact that, in spite of the fact that Facebook and other similar networks include security features that allow users to choose who sees what they post, the internet is far too public a place to air dirty laundry. I’ve heard it said that you shouldn’t post anything that you wouldn’t want a future employer to see. I have twice cautioned young friends to be more careful about what they say about their present employers. Both, after a frustrating day on the job, chose to rant about their bosses. Though they didn’t mention them by name, in a community as small as ours it was obvious to anyone who knew them who they were complaining about. In both cases, the young women in question saw the wisdom in what I said and quickly deleted their offensive messages. Some time later, I was delighted to see one of them give similar advice to another acquaintance!

I appreciate the opportunity that Facebook has given me to dialogue with a wide variety of people. Obviously, we don’t see eye to eye on everything. The give and take of ideas and opinions is what communication is all about. Unfortunately, however, there are those who aren’t willing to consider opinions other than their own. Some of them feel empowered by the delete feature that allows a user to remove comments that they don’t like or to remove the people who make them from their friends list. Disagree with someone? Simply delete them!

I have been deleted by two young ladies recently simply because I dared to disagree with them or to suggest that they think about a particular issue from a different angle. In a sense, they both did me a favour.

Social networking has allowed bullying to spread from the hallways and playgrounds of the schools to the internet. One of the girls who deleted me is a high school student who has been a classic bully and a manipulator since early childhood. She also has a brilliant mind, however, and a dynamic personality. If she ever got her life going in the right direction, she’d be a force to reckon with. Unfortunately, when I chose to disagree with her and she couldn’t twist me to her way of thinking, she chose to delete me. Though it means that my opportunity to have a positive say in her life has been cut off, I am spared seeing the negative things that she says to and about others.

Though I’ve never yet deleted anyone, in the case of the other young lady who deleted me, I might have had she not been a relative. I was very tired of having my Facebook news feed cluttered with the details of her sex life! I really don’t need to know each time she sleeps over at her boyfriend’s house or that she was fooling around with him while still married to her ex. I am concerned about the fact that she’s going through a messy custody battle but when I expressed an opinion about that, I was deleted.

Awhile ago, I was beginning to think that perhaps I was getting too old to keep up with today’s rapidly changing technology. Through recent Biblical study, however, I have come to the conclusion that I was born for this generation. My being here at this point in time is not random. It is God-ordained, part of a much bigger plan than I will ever fully understand. I also believe that being part of this generation means embracing it’s technology and using it for good.

Therefore, I am Elaine and I am a Facebook addict!