Adventures in Mothering - Pumping in the Dark

Getting off of maternity leave came at interesting time with my job as a youth pastor. It was just before Spring Break and we had two trips planned. The first trip was to The Revolve Tour, a teen girl conference, and the second a week in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco on a mission trip with YWAM and Project Sixty-One. It was a first step out into life with a newborn baby, a task that looked all to daunting.

Here's a spoiler, but thanks to a great group of teens and a husband that took off work to help make it happen, both trips were a success. However, I didn't go through it without a few stories to tell. Here is the first (I know of many) adventures in mothering.

The Revolve Tour took place in an arena and was a Friday evening and all-day Saturday event. Kevin, my husband, took Caleb during the conference to visit family in the area. I had called ahead of time to be sure I could take in my pump, as I am a breast-feeding mother. I was assured I would have no problem. I was informed that there would be a place for myself and other mothers to pump.

I arrived Friday evening and went to the information desk and asked where I was supposed to pump. The woman looked at me as if I had asked a question in another language and then she got on her intercom and asked the same question. Guess what, there was no place for me to go. They directed me to a meeting room on the opposite side of the arena from where my seats were located. In that meeting area, there was a bathroom. I was told I could use that room.

That night I had not brought my nursing apron so I walked in the bathroom and went to the back stall. I began to pump. A few short minutes into the pumping process, I discovered the bathroom was equipped with motion sensor lights. I was in the dark, literally. However, there were no sensors in the stalls, but by the sinks. So I had to run out exposed, getting wet with milk, flailing my arms, praying no one would walk in so I could be in the light. I knew at that moment this would be an interesting weekend.

Needless to say, I brought my apron the next day and found a place by the sinks so the light would stay on in future pumping sessions.

Familiar City Redefined

I’ve had the privilege to experience planet earth as a playground as I’ve travelled to 27 countries on more than 3 continents. Experiences have made places on the map come alive in my heart and mind; the treasured memories of certain spots have made me downright giddy at the thought of them. When we frequent a city often enough it is cemented in our minds with distinct definition.

This is true for a teenager in my youth group, Jessica Parker. Jessica has ventured around the city of San Francisco most of her 14 years. While she lives 4 hours away, San Francisco has offered an array of experiences journeying with her mother, a florist, to various venders in the area and growing in the knowledge of a city which holds her family’s baseball obsession, The Giants. Close friends have had season tickets all her life and going to games has become a tradition throughout the years in the Parker household. It is a city that Jessica not only knows, but loves. But this past spring something changed.

When Jessica signed up for the youth group trip to San Francisco for Spring Break she had know idea the metamorphosis that was about to take place. We took a small group with leaders from Project Sixty-One, a ministry of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Pismo, to the YWAM San Francisco base to serve. Though only a few blocks from Union Square the YWAM base sees far less tourist traffic as its sits in the heart of the Tenderloin District. While there are many variations of the story of how the district came to the name of “Tenderloin,” the most commonly accepted is that in years past police officers were paid higher wages to work in that area due to crime rates and nefarious activities. Because of this higher wage they could afford a better cut of meat, the tenderloin.

Needless to say, it’s a rough neighborhood with more than its fair share of homeless, harlots and heroine addicts. During our time there we were granted access to the lives of those on the street as we served hot chocolate and prayed for the needs of the people. We were awakened to the high number of massage parlors being used as store fronts for human trafficking, more specifically sex trade and learned the power of prayer as we walked the streets praying for each of these known locations to be changed into something glorifying to our Creator.

Jessica noted buildings she walked by in the past with no idea that women were being sold for sex inside. During our trip God broke Jessica’s heart for the women of the city. Jessica, a girl not prone to emotion, cried steadily for hours at a time, uncomfortable with this newfound emotion as she felt the pain of others. While her love for the city has not wavered her perspective has changed and she mourns now for the women who cry alone with no hope. In essence San Francisco was redefined and her family’s playground has now become her spiritual battlefield. I am proud to say I saw God grow in all in our group now dedicated to pray for a city in bondage to so many vices.