Volume 7

~ News From "Your Birthing Family" ~

Issue 7

 

_______________________________________________

 

   

Our Charis Family

Robin B.

Greetings Charis family! 

I'm Robin, a new Charis midwifery student.  Midwifery is part of my ancestral heritage.  My maternal grandfather was the son of a long line of Christian Cherokee midwives and traditional healing women.  My great-grandmother was well-respected among both Native and Euro-American populations throughout the Appalachian region she served.  My mother was, unfortunately, discouraged from connecting to her cultural and spiritual heritage following the death of my First Lieutenant grandfather at Normandy in WWII, and she became part of the “twilight generation” of women who embraced modern, medicated birth, bottle-feeding, and Dr. Spock. The challenges of 1940’s racism caused my widowed grandmother to raise her mixed-race children as strictly Euro-American; all interaction with their Native paternal heritage was severed and much rich history was lost until recent years.  I now feel blessed to embrace my full heritage and continue the “calling”.

My willingness to question the status quo was a result of being a youth of the 1970’s (I am now 51 years old) and the initiation of a vibrant relationship with my Messiah and Savior, Jesus, whom I call by His given Hebrew name - Yahshua.  This relationship began when I was thirteen years old and has sustained me for thirty-eight years.  This journey has led me into extensive cross-cultural “love-walking” among the L.D.S. (Mormons), Native Americans, Orthodox Jews, African Americans, Amish/Mennonites, and Latinos both in the U.S. and in Mexico.  Some of this has been before I married, and much of it has been at the side of my husband of thirty years.  We have been ordained to minister together for the past twelve years, in foundational ministry, training pastors and leaders of first-century style congregations and establishing families for the challenges of proactive end-times living.  I absolutely love witnessing the birth of literal and spiritual “new-babies”, as well as aspiring to walk out the Proverbs 31 model of womanhood, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Each day is a chance to celebrate the Eternal Adventure!

We are the parents of nine children, four hospital births, two out of hospital birth-center births with midwives, and three home-births also with midwives.  Home-birth has been very much a part of an evolving “narrow-path” life-style.  We began home-schooling with our oldest son 23 years ago and are still finishing the process with our youngest sons, who are ten and thirteen.  Our oldest children are vibrant believers and ministers, with three now married, six youth still in the home.  I have two precious grandsons and attended the birth of my first grand-daughter three months ago.  Life is good!

As a family, we wrote two home-educational resources, Prepare and Pray! and its’ sequel Blessed Assurance, unit-studies teaching homesteading, practical life-skills, and preparedness for children of all ages. We have been key-note speakers at several home-education conventions and hosts of radio ministry broadcasts entitled “Out of the Box”- discussing relevant modern issues and answers in the Scripture.

Some of my “extra-curricular” interests are: playing guitar (contemporary Christian worship with my family), organic gardening, fishing at our beautiful local lakes, hiking nearby mountain trails, camping, outdoor Dutch-oven and campfire cooking, knitting and sewing when I can, thrift shopping, watching BBC or old classic movies, dancing with my sweetheart, and making herbal concoctions (not all exactly in that order :).

Home has been my foundational ministry for over 25 years, until my husband encouraged me to seek additional outreach opportunities and education about five years ago. I am within one semester of achieving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing, as a registered nurse.  My husband continues home-educating our youngest children; he truly is my hero. He is a highly decorated Viet-Nam veteran, sought out for regional and international ministry consultation and is active in mentorship of young men, as well as his own children.  We are in the process of establishing a ministry headquarters in our rural Idaho location as part of a network of other regional ministries. He is retired from active employment, with military disability at this point in his life, which frees him for many other pursuits, including being full-time dad.

My intention is to be a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) who also happens to be a registered nurse, due to the excellence of preparation in the modality of home-birth via the Charis Childbirth midwifery education, as compared to the emphasis on hospital birth among nurse-midwives.  My current studies in nursing have involved newborn assessment and resuscitation, prenatal assessments, pediatric nursing, and hospital obstetric clinical rotations.  The professional nursing degree will be advantageous for transport, for collegiality with the regional medical professionals, and for skill in care when facing complications.  It will also enhance my skill in other urgent care. My comfort zone is naturopathic/herbal health care, while acknowledging that sometimes more invasive measures are a necessity. Having the advocacy of a fellow believer in these places can be imperative.

My heartbeat and deeply felt passion is to be a source of support for young families, as they seek the best beginnings for their little ones.  The days ahead will be a time of prophetic challenge for families; those who stand strong will be a bright light in a dark world.  I feel that we as current and future midwives carry a torch that extends back to the faithful midwives of ancient Israel. May we have their courage. Birth and child-raising is a transformative process, and is truly the most powerful thing a woman will ever do on this earth.  As this season closes in my own womanhood, now I enter the “Titus 2/older woman” season of my life. I hope to be a sensitive disciple and teacher of Yahweh’s wisdom and encouragement for younger women who face the future with faith and hope in His Kingdom.

Shalom,
Robin

Charis Cuisine

Kombucha Tea

Following is a simple recipe to make Kombucha.  Enjoy! 
~ Rachel Thompson and Susan Oshel

Remove all fruit, food, dirty dishes, houseplants from mushroom growing area.  Wash hands thoroughly.

In a large stainless steel pot, heat three quarts distilled water until boiling.   Add 1-3 cups of white sugar, and boil for 5 minutes while stirring to dissolve sugar.   Turn off stove and add 4-5 black tea bags or 4 green and 2 black tea bags.  (Using organic tea can cause mold.)  Steep tea bags for 10 minutes, remove tea bags, and stir.

Cool tea for 20 minutes, pour into a 4 quart clear glass bowl or jar.  (Growing in crystal, metal, ceramic, or plastic can be toxic!!)  Cool to room temp--about 2 hours.  Do not leave overnight.

Add 6 oz Kombucha tea from the last batch as a "starter".   Place mushroom (commonly called a scoby) on top of tea, with rougher, darker side down.  If you are making Kombucha for the first time, just use a mother scoby as a starter.  Ask a friend who makes Kombucha to share a mother with you, it will make more baby scobys that turn into mothers and you'll be able to share them, too, as you continue making Kombucha.

Cross tape over top of bowl or secure cover on glass jar to keep cloth from sinking down into tea and wicking it out.  Cover with thin, freshly-laundered white cotton cloth and rubber-band or tape down.  Do not use cheesecloth.

Place in a dim, quiet, ventilated space, 7-10 days, at 70-90 degrees.  In the summer months you'll find the tea ready in less time, in winter months it can take up to three weeks.  You'll know it's ready by tasting it, if it's fizzy, not sweet, it's ready.

Remove mushrooms...gently separate. Use both again (the top mushroom is the "baby" and the bottom one is the "mother").  Strain fresh tea through a thin white cotton cloth into a clear glass container.


Kombucha mushroom or "scoby"

Tea can be stored in the refrigerator or on the counter.  I find that it loses its "fizz" if stored in the refrigerator.


Store prepared Kombucha in capped bottles or jars.

Start the next batch right away.  If you're not planning to make another batch until later, store the mushroom in the refrigerator in a glass container covered with kombucha tea.

If this is your first time begin by drinking 4 oz a day.  Start slowly, as this probiotic fermented beverage is a powerful detoxifier, it is important to increase your amount slowly.  There is caution about using it during pregnancy and lactation as the detoxification process can be too powerful for the baby if you haven't been drinking it for at least 6 months prior to becoming pregnant.

Here are a few good kombucha sites to learn more:
Seeds of Health
Anahata
Kombucha Health Benefits


I love receiving the Charis newsletters!  In the June 2012 issue, Elizabeth’s heart-cry in Tidbits From Ebony for the women of war was heart breaking.  I’ve often had nightmares about such circumstances after seeing scenes and stories of war, but this story makes women’s struggles so very real.  I’d love to see that submitted to ACNM, AABC,  MANA, ACOG or wherever those who care for women will read it.   There, but for the grace of GOD, go I, or my daughters, or granddaughters, or friends.

~ Chris Hilderbrandt, ARNP, CNM
Breath of Life Women's Health & Birth Center, Largo, Florida

 

Comments From Our Readers
Share  your appreciation, comments and thoughts.
Send your comments here.


 'Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the ends of the earth,
 Among  them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and The one who labors with child,  together,
 A great throng shall return there...And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.'
 Jeremiah 31:8, 14
~~~
©2012 Charis Childbirth Services, All Rights Reserved
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends in its entirety, leaving all attribution intact.
July 2012