We had some pretty serious weather last night. The tornado warning didn’t expire until 3am making me one nervous mama to leave my Little Man asleep in his room when I finally retired around midnight. Before I turned in, I stocked the bathroom with blankets, pillows, radio, and yes, my flats and Flip cover. While getting all that piled into a laundry basket that sat on the sink, I seriously debated whether or not to take my entire stash of cloth diapers. I love my stash. I’m a very proud owner of some Sloom Sustainable Babyish wool covers and longies, Kissaluv woolies, GroVia soakers and covers, Flip inserts and covers, bamboo fitteds, hemp inserts, and last but not least my beloved bamboo Kawaii pocket diapers. I know, all they do is hold pee and poo, but a lot of research and trial and error went into these. (I am secretly hoping to grow my stash with some of these in a yellow stitch to hold Little Man Deuce’s newborn poo inside one of my Sustainable Babyish woolies….shh…) I love my diapers. I will be very sad when both my boys are out of them. It is a very relaxing and motherly thing for me to sit and fold each diaper in preparation to cover my boys’ bums. It has been fun for me to test different diaper “recipes” for night time and to really test their leakproofness (is that a word?). Notice I’ve said “me” each time, I know cloth diapering isn’t for everyone. Some do it out of financial necessity, love for the planet, or love for tender bums, and some just because.
In trying to make the decision last night, I left it all in the bedroom and took only my flats and a Flip cover. Why? Bare necessities for emergencies. It’s like deciding between your leopard print heels or your Nike tennis shoes when a tornado could devastate the area-you’d love both, but think practically. I know that my bamboo fitteds take FOREVER to dry in the dryer, same with GroVia soakers. My hemp and bamboo inserts take a bit to dry and the pockets, I can only use them once and they need a wash (unlike a cover). The Flats and Handwashing Challenge has taugh me a lot this week. Flats are only one layer thick so getting pee and poo out in a hand wash is fairly easy. And living in East Texas, I’ll have sun or heat for atleast an hour of the day so those things will line dry in a jiffy. Flats are THE emergency diaper of choice.
When waking up this morning and our world was just a bit (ok, a TON) humid, I was very thankful that my “leopard print heels” stash was still here. But I learned something-I ALWAYS need to keep flats around for an emergency AND what better thing to send to a disaster stricken area! The tornado that devastated the Joplin area really has hit home with me since my husband lived there a while and almost all of his family lives in the state. I have wanted to do so much more than pray for them. Monday I learned about Craft Hope’s security blanket project that benefits the area and today I found the Joplin Relief Facebook page. I posted that I had cloth diapers to send but needed to know where. I was quickly given this website. That settled it-my cloth diaper outreach/ministry that God has given me a vision and heart for a while back was suddenly sprung into action. My flats stash was cut in half and I lovingly surrendered a Flip cover as well. I also picked up some plastic panties at the consignment shop, and some fun play kits for kids at Wal-Mart. In this care package I’m also sending an instruction sheet on how to fold flats as well as how to hand wash and machine wash the flats and covers.
I do have to admit that after I got off the phone with the organization I plan to donate to, I cried. I’m certain it is not because I’m sad about giving up diapers, but because the God-given desire to help others in such a practical way was actually happening.
Here is everything that is going into my medium sized priority box.
By the way, as I type this up, my husband is trying to take the washer apart to fix it-it’s in the middle of a rinse cycle full of baby clothes for Little Man Deuce. Glad I know how to hand wash some flats!
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