It’s so amazing to think that exactly this time last year my family and I were in Florida, being so incredibly blessed during our visit with the precious Schuchmann family in their beautiful home.  I attended that year’s "Teaching Birth Workshop" and met many of my dear Charis sisters face to face.  I followed Kristin around and participated in her exciting life and ministry of serving childbearing families.  We even attended a birth together on our very last day in Florida, and it was such a beautiful, God-ordained experience.  I learned SO much during my time with Kristin and her family, and my own little family was so incredibly blessed by the Schuchmanns.  It was a time we will always treasure.

If you had told me that now, exactly a year later, Kristin would be coming to MY home in AFRICA, I would have been ecstatic, though probably not too surprised(=  One of the major reasons I chose Charis in the first place was because of Kristin’s heart for missions and for childbearing families in ALL corners of the world.  All the same, there are no words to express how incredibly honored and excited I feel that she is traveling thousands of miles, across an ocean and a continent to bless us with her incredible heart and gift and to help us welcome our sweet little third baby into the world!  I am so thrilled that we get to share a glimpse of our lives and ministry with her first hand, and have no doubt that she will be a tremendous blessing to countless people here in Kenya, apart from my own growing little family.

Other exciting things are happening here on the birth front as well!  This month, in a way that ONLY He can, God connected me with a woman who is the answer to my prayers in so many ways.  God has given me an insanely huge vision (He tends to give that kind doesn’t He?=) for midwifery ministry here in Kenya and for months I have been stuck, praying, wandering, and not knowing the way forward.  Because I am treading in completely uncharted waters, I didn’t know even the most basic first step forward.  And then, literally through the friend of a friend of a friend, all of whom I’ve never met in person, He led me to the one and only Lucy Muchiri.  And when I say one and only, I mean it.  I believe I can confidently and accurately say that she is the ONLY licensed Kenyan midwife operating independently in the entire country.  Not only that, but the heart, passion, vision, and gift she has for midwifery are completely unrivaled.  I truly didn’t believe someone like her existed in Kenya, not to mention in the same city as me!  God is SO good and truly gives the BEST gifts.  Lucy loves Jesus and recognizes midwifery as His call upon her life.  She sat with me for several hours answering the many many questions that have been burdening my heart for so long, and sharing her own beautiful heart with me.  What an incomparable joy it is when God connects to like-hearted people.  I told her it reminded me of when in 1 Kings 19, Elijah complained to God that he was the only prophet left in all the land and God revealed to him that He actually had seven thousand set apart for Himself!  Lucy and I had both been believing that we were the ONLY ones God had given such a crazy, unprecedented passion and vision for child birth in Kenya.  How loving of Him to bring us together!  I am praying that we will be able to be a tremendous blessing to one another and help each other accomplish all the wild things God has put on our hearts for His glory and for the sake of childbearing families in Africa.  I’d encourage you to check out Lucy’s website.

Midwife Lucy Muchiri