New Seasons

There is a chill in the air, the newly fallen leaves crunch under my feet, and it smells like "fall" outside.  I used to hate fall.  The start of fall was always a reminder that a freezing cold Chicago winter was just a few shot months away (if the cold held out that long).  Shorter colder days, less sunshine... not a recipe for happiness in my eyes.


Fall was always my moms favorite season.  She loved the changing colors of the trees, the falling leaves, the chilly sweater weather, all of it.  After she passed away, fall always brought her back to me a little.  Her memory seems more alive during this season.  So as the years pass (this is the 6th fall without my momma) I look forward to and embrace the season that I once hated.

It seems so fitting that Domestic Violence Awareness month is in October.  I feel like it was made especially for her.  If only she were the only victim of domestic violence.  Unlike so many other women who have died at the hands of their abusers, my mom escaped my dads grasp, she survived.  At least physically, she survived.  The trauma that years of abuse caused my mom, stayed with her until she died of a drug and alcohol overdose in February 2010, just 2.5 years after my dad passed away.

It is our honor to be hosting our 2nd annual Parenting Fair to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month. All proceeds from the parenting fair will be donated to this program, to help families in Joliet and surrounding areas get out of abusive situations, overcome, and not just survive, but thrive!  I hope that many of you reading this can come out and help us support this amazing, life changing program!

Warmly,
Andrea

Amazing Things!!!

I'm so excited to be in the line of work that I'm in!  Being a birth and postpartum doula is an amazing job.  I may be biased, but I think we get the best clients EVER!  As Cathy begins midwifery school this fall, I'll be taking classes at my junior college to get the credits that I need to add IBCLC to the end of my name.  All the while, our main focus is to provide the best support possible to our pregnant, birthing, and postpartum clients.  As a CLS, who is not working under an IBCLC or in a hospital setting, my assistance to our breastfeeding clients can only go so far.  So, it only makes sense for me to continue my education to better serve our amazing clients!

In other news, 2 weekends ago I spent 3 days in beautiful Kearney, MO., with some of the most amazing women (and a few men) that I had ever met.  I'll spare you all the details here, but you can read about my experience on my personal blog, here: Andrea's Short Stories 

Being a birth & bereavement doula, I get tagged in Facebook posts semi-regularly, about a mom in the area, looking for support after suffering a loss.  I have several friends who have had losses, and I myself lost my very first baby, almost 14 years ago. It's something that happens all too often, more often than people think, because we don't talk about it.  But we don't forget, and it never goes away.  I feel this strong calling to start a loss support group that's not in a hospital setting.  A safe place for mothers and fathers to come to, to grieve, to share, to hope.  I truly hope to get a group up and running within the next few months.

Cathy also was able to spend a weekend recently, with some amazing midwives, learning all about midwifery type things. ;)  You'll have to ask her about.  I have no clue.  All I know is that she loved it.

Now, for the event of the year.....
Cathy and I are working hard to create a fundraiser event that is BIGGER AND BETTER than last year!  Last year we hosted a vendor fair and the proceeds were donated to Groudwork Domestic Violence Program.  We raised almost $800.  It was a ton of fun.  We had face painting and a bouncy house for the kids!  We had shopping!  We had food!  We had guest speakers!  However, we didn't get a ton of traffic.

How awesome would it be if we could double... or maybe even triple the amount that we raised last year!  Think about it.  This program is providing shelter to women escaping abusive relationships.  It's providing counseling, advocacy, legal resources, even basic necessities like food and toiletries. How amazing would it be to be a part of changing helping victims of domestic violence to become survivors!  But we can't do it on our own.  We need help.  We need vendors!  We need attendants!  We need volunteers!  We would like our vendor event to be focused on parenting resources this year, but we're having trouble finding vendors to fulfill those rolls.  We're thinking car seat safety techs, swim safety, speech therapy, family counseling, children's clubs, children's toys or clothing, and the likes.  We would love to hear any ideas!  For further info please email me at myers.andrea79@yahoo.com  Thanks for your help!

Warmly,
Andrea