Our Charis Family
Jessie Biggs
My name is Jessie Biggs, and I live in Lynchburg,
Virginia. I’m twenty-three years old, a somewhat recent
college graduate of Liberty University–where I now work
full-time—and I’m still very wide-eyed about the turns
my life has taken in the past year. The process of how
God led me to Charis continues to amaze me, because
midwifery and doula studies had never been on my radar.
The closest I’d come in the past to considering it was
when I almost majored in Nursing, then thought better of
it because I didn’t exactly love the hospital set up and
would have wanted to spend all of my time in the
maternity ward anyway!
When I heard that my friend Allison (whom many of you
already know and love) had started a midwifery course
through Charis Childbirth, I had commented to our
friends about how wonderful that sounded and that I
wished that I could do something like that.
Their response was, “Why can’t you?”
And thus began the journey. There is still a certain
ring of uncertainty to it all, as I’m still anxiously
awaiting my chance to attend a birth for the first time,
but I’m trusting that God has laid out this
path and this passion before me for reasons I’ll
understand far more in the years to come.
Combined with my dreams to become a doula and,
hopefully, a midwife one day, my greatest hopes involve
someday having a family of my own (and we all know God
works in His own timing and His own ways, so I’m
continuing my lesson in trust and patience to see those
dreams become reality). I also love to create things,
whether it’s writing, art, making jewelry of polymer
clay, crafting in general, etc.
I am truly looking forward to meeting as many of you as
possible, hopefully at the workshop coming up in March! May the Lord bless you all with His perfect love and
peace.
I should also mention that I belong to two beautiful
church families here in Lynchburg, full of some of the
most incredible, Christ-filled people you can ever hope
to meet. They've been the ones to make this city my
home."
Love,
Jessie Biggs
Jessie saying "hello" to a butterfly
Letters To The Editor
Comments From Our Readers
Thanks for the great story from Kenya. I was part
of a miraculous situation recently, too. It was my
patient’s eighth birth, but her first time delivering in
America. She spoke no English and did well during
her labor. Unfortunately we had the worst shoulder
dystocia I've ever seen. It took over 9 min to get the
baby out and only after the MD had decided to rush her
back, do the Zavanelli maneuver and try a c/s.
Thankfully we were able to get him out vaginally before
that happened. I quickly switched over from my L&D role
to nursery RN and began resuscitating, but the baby had
no heartbeat for 3 minutes. The MD left the room
she was so traumatized. Long story short, we got a
heartbeat. Before we transferred the baby to a
higher level hospital he had pulled his incubation tube
out and was screaming. Further test showed NO
deficit. His blood gases showed NO evidence of
oxygen deprivation. God was truly guiding my hands
that night and I believe with all my heart it was Him
who decided that baby has a purpose in this life.
It was an amazing miracle to witness.
Stephanie Whitmore, RN
Oregon |
Charis Cuisine
Edible Art
Pleasing
to the eye as well as the body!
raisins,
mint, tangerines, melon slices, grapefruit, oranges, strawberries
pineapple, melon, kiwi, apples, strawberries, grapes, walnut shells,
coconut
kiwi
'mice', grapes, green onion leaves, papaya, limes
cucumber, cranberries, kale
Edible
Centerpiece
pineapple, grapes, grapefruit - cute little gecko
radish
sprouts, cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli,
red cabbage, celery, cherry tomatoes, carrots,
yellow and red peppers, green olives,
all on a bed of green curly lettuce |