This is Stacie's Blog: Miracle Marli

In Africa, when a woman has a baby, she is on lock down. After the birth, family members descend upon her house and take all work off her shoulders. Her only jobs are to breastfeed the baby and recover from childbirth. She is not allowed to leave the house for three months. Family members (usually a sister, cousin, mom, aunt or niece) stay with her and do all the cooking, cleaning and childcare. She stays in bed and rests. It's not weird for her, it's just how things work. When I first learned about this, I thought it was quite indulgent. In the US, we don't have the luxury, usually, of having full time help. It's our responsibility to recover and take care of the baby while continuing to do the house work and going back to work (if necessary). Somehow, we manage. After Eli was born, when people here told me to rest and get help, I would brush off the suggestion, stubbornly insisting that I was fine and could do it all. It was hard, but I had George's help and we got through it.

With Julia's early appearance and the complications that it presented, I began to realize that I needed help. I didn't know how we would manage. Well, God knew and he sent us Marli. Marli is one of the miracles that are a part of Julia's story. God sent Marli, from California, to give me the African experience of post-childbirth care.

Since Marli has arrived, she has worked non-stop to take care of our whole family and house. She has cooked, cleaned, done dirty jobs like scrubbing our stove and walls, taken night feeds so George and I can rest, watched Julia so I could take a nap, taken Eli to friends houses to play, helped me potty train Eli and so much more. At first it was hard to sit back and receive her blessing of help. I like to be busy and doing nothing while others work is torture for me. But, some of our Kenyan friends (along with Marli) encouraged me (ok, scolded me) to rest so that I would heal fully and quickly. Since then, I tried let go and allow myself to rest. I believe that has helped me recover well from the c-section. I think I am about 80% back to normal.

Marli has been a blessing in so many ways. I feel like she has helped bring order and routine back into our house. Before she came, we were just in survival mode. Now, she is helping to put in place good habits I had wanted to do for some time like a return of good meals each night, less TV time for Eli, daily morning devotions (for me and Eli) and more. She has been able to give lots of attention to Eli, which he was in need of. Marli has really blended in to our household, knowing our routine and needs, often anticipating what to do before I even try. Her being here, has allowed George to focus on all the ministry and other work that is going on right now, knowing the rest of us are well taken care of. I have also just enjoyed her companionship and fellowship. We have had lots of good talks and laughs. Marli is a blessing from above and we are so thankful for her.