Georgia: New arrivals and a sad departure

The girls at the Living Vine Maternity Home so often come in through its doors not having known love growing up, but having known only abuse.

They come in with a mindset of lies and fears that Satan has sown, beyond anything I can comprehend. The first step is to make them feel safe within the walls of the Vine. To be open to truth, they have to first take a tiny step away from their “survivor” mindset and move to a place where they can allow themselves to heal and grow emotionally.

Nicole Bartley with Bella.A few days before my return home to Texas, I was emotionally overwhelmed. Nellie was scheduled to have a C-section. Racquel’s baby girl, Bella, hadn’t arrived yet. And our new resident, Jen, had really taken to me but was all over the place in mind and spirit. I was not feeling anywhere near ready to go. I just felt like I was about to pack up and walk out of these girls’ lives in the middle of crazy times for them. Wow, did the Lord have a gift— more than one—in store for me.

Baby Bella

On Friday morning, July 4, at 9:37a.m., I received the best phone call. Racquel delivered her baby girl with no complications and hardly any pain. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz., and she was beautiful. This was about the best going-away present I possibly could have asked for.

To get to see Racquel to the end of her time at the Vine was amazing. It was the closest thing to closure for my time there. I got to visit her that night, and hold baby Bella in my arms. She has quite the head of hair, too! It was one of the most incredible moments of my life so far holding that burrito-wrapped little girl. It was pure joy holding that little innocent child on the first day of her life. I like to think she came two weeks early just so she could meet Miss Nicole.

Since all of our residents spend three days with the simulator baby as part of our program, I promised the girls I would do it, as well. I named her Abigail Elise, and this little 9 pounder gave me a run for my money. I just know they programmed her to be a Colic baby. Woke me up five times the first night, 11 times the second night and 13 times the third night. I broke into tears at 5:30 a.m. the last time she woke me. Let’s just say having a baby is not in my immediate future.

A crazy mix of emotions

In all seriousness though, I am 21 years old, and caring for this baby for three days was one of the toughest, most exhausting things I’ve done. And there are two brand-new 16-year-old mothers in Georgia as of this last month. It was a crazy mix of emotions watching this 16-year-old girl who I had grown to know—the good and the bad—for the last month and a half holding her newborn baby girl, lying in a hospital bed. Little Bella will forever look up to her mom for guidance, love and support, and Mom is just barely dipping her toes into figuring out who she is herself.

My chapter at the Vine has come to a close, but it will forever be etched into who I am, the way I view people, and the way I approach ministry.

I long to hear from the one who created me, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” My actions and work for God’s kingdom are not limited to my chapter at the Vine. I am well aware of that. The pain is so deeply rooted into our culture and in the lives of the lost around us.

My prayer

My prayer is that you will be sensitive to, broken by, and charged by the needs that surround you on a daily basis. Put a face and a name to our generalized grouping of “the lost” and “the broken.”

Take time and intertwine their lives to yours, so they may know the deepest well of satisfaction, love and strength that is offered in this world. There is work to be done.

Nicole Bartley, a student at Texas A&M University, served with Go Now Missions at the Living Vine Maternity Home in Savannah, Ga.