Where Twin Stars Meet the Moon
A poem for pregnancy loss awareness month about my recent miscarriage of our twin stars, our last embryos from IVF we lost due to an unjust mental healthcare system
mental health
Abuse in Missions: Sending Orgs are Failing Missionaries
My Story Most of you know, years ago before the magical and mundane days of motherhood, I was a missionary. I love missions. Being on the field, loving people, learning from them, letting God transform you as you seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus, is an absolutely beautiful calling. It’s one of …
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4 Coping Strategies for Infertility During the Holidays
On Christmas day, after an agonizing two week wait following in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments in New York, I’ll find out whether or not I’m pregnant. I didn’t plan it this way, my heart palpitating with anxiety during an already tender time, and yet like so many things with infertility, it was outside my control. For …
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A Missionary’s Guide to Peace in Unrest
This entire year has been a year of clenching. Body curled inward, tight. Neck stiff, shoulders closed. Like many of you, it began with a move. Transition. That cavernous word. As global nomad’s, we call many places home and movement seems to be our mantra. Whether welcome or unwanted, whether reentering after living on the field, being …
5 Self-Care Practices We Need During Coronavirus
When we’re in survival mode, self-care can feel like a foregone luxury. However, our mental health is at risk during coronavirus as much as our physical health, if not more so. We often don’t make the time to take care of ourselves. Perhaps we think it’s frivolous or maybe we’ve been taking care of others …
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Missionary Self-Care Guide to Coronavirus Re-entry
A life interrupted. That’s what this feels like. Re-entry is close to my heart because mine was so unsettling. When I left Uganda in 2013, I’d followed a plan. I had the goodbye celebration, like so many global workers right now haven’t. I got to hug my people and cry. I got to revel in the victories. Still, leaving …
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What Coronavirus is Saying About Grief
The weight of the world is grief now. The ocean mirrors how I feel. Grey, turbulent, tossed about. The heaviness of another morning of unknowns. Or worse, more bad news. My toddler wakes up with a fever, crying. I press my lips to his forehead and try to still my racing thoughts. What if? We …
Staying Out of Trauma Brain During Coronavirus
“Regulation is the nervous system’s ability to navigate the highs and lows of activation (triggering) and return to calm. ” -Patti Elledge (Trauma Therapist) Right now the world feels like it’s in chaos. With the coronavirus pandemic, and travel bans in place, the stock market plummeting, toilet paper shortages, and our jobs and economic futures uncertain, there …
The Pretty Little Lies We Tell About Motherhood
Motherhood isn’t what I thought it would be. I hate even saying that. Eight weeks in and I’m dreaming of a Mexican beach. Completely alone. No tiny fingernails digging into my flesh. If you’ve seen my Instagram feed then you know I had a baby. A long awaited, long fought for baby. A baby I …
Why Being Perfect Cannot Save Us
I want so badly to do this perfectly. It’s like somewhere inside I believe if I do all the “right things” I can keep the bad things at bay. I hold tightly to this belief like a child gripping a flashlight to chase away the monsters under the bed. Almost 8 months pregnant, I plan …
Video: Toxic Missions Environments: Is it You or Them?
Yesterday I did my first Facebook Live on my business page. I was excited and nervous (I don’t love being on video so this was a personal “being brave” moment for me) and I was worried technology wouldn’t cooperate, but it went beautifully! Toxic Missions Environments: Is it you or them who is unhealthy? Posted by Sarita Hartz …
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Take the Millennials on a Mission Survey
I’ve realized in my work that when you want to serve people the way they want to be served and you’re not sure how to do that, it’s best just to ask. It’s amazing how validating and soothing the simple words, “What do you need?” can be. To this end, I’ve created a brief, 5 minute …