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About Babies:
Co-Sleeping
Ask the Professional:
Smoking
Cigarettes and the Unborn Baby
Charis Cuisine:
Wild Rice Pilaf
Kids Korner:
Homecoming
Our Charis Family:
Family Scrapbook
Pregnancy and Birth:
Where to Give Birth and With Whom
Tidbits from Ebony
Tidbits
Adventures in Madagascar
A Madagascar Birth
Newsletter Archives ~
August,2006
September,2006
October,
2006
November, 2006
Our
Newsletter
Charis invites you to contribute to our
growing newsletter.
What a fun family venture! Check out each section and see what
you might have to offer. Post your Charis workshops and
gatherings here, also. If you'd like your babies' pictures to
be featured in our regular sections, the Charis Newsletter
would be honored!
Submissions need to be made by the 5th
of each month for that month's publication on the 15th.
 NEW
A "Letters To The Editor" section will start in the next issue.
Some of you have made comments to us individually, now you can tell
everyone! Your comments can include how the articles in the
Newsletter are affecting your lives, or anything else you feel moved
to express.
Send Newsletter contributions to:
Midwifery Academics Course
Charis Childbirth Services
is pleased to announce the launching of
our
MIDWIFERY academics course in 2007!!!
Now, women
who desire to prepare well for the NARM exam, a requirement to
obtain the credential of Certified Professional Midwife (CPM), can
enjoy a comprehensive course that is designed with the highest
standards of excellence and that is written from a Christian
perspective.
This course is designed and written by Susan Oshel, CPM, who has
been serving childbearing families for over 3 decades. We are so
blessed and so excited to have Susan as part of the Charis family!
Check our
website for the exact date of launching.
www.CharisChildbirth.org
Contact Susan Oshel
for more
details:
(757)271-1247
Mark Your Calendars
Charis Childbirth Classes in Virginia Beach
Spread the word! This 8-week childbirth preparation series begins
Tuesday, January 2, 2007, at 7 p.m.
This series is perfect for anyone with an estimated due date in
March or April of 2007.
Contact Michelle Kaufman for details or to register:
Childbirth Educator Workshop
Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
(for aspiring childbirth educators)
for details, contact:
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Hello
Family!
This
time of year, I often think about Mary and Joseph and I am
absolutely amazed at their inner strength. Think about it.
Mary was a teenager in an unplanned pregnancy... and she had
never even had sex! When the angel
told her that she was carrying the Messiah, she bravely
said, "Be it unto me according to your Word." Wow! Talk
about trusting God!!!
Then there was Joseph, her fiance`,
who could have been charged with a crime
he didn't commit. Instead of breaking off the
engagement, which would have been the "easy" thing to do, he chose
to stick by Mary and be a father to a baby that was not even his
flesh and blood. Together, they accepted God's plan for their
lives as it was revealed to them even though it would be very
hard.
On top of everything else, at the end of Mary's pregnancy they had
to travel a long way on a donkey for a census. (Those of you
looking for a way to avoid Pitocin induction, it appears that a
VERY long ride on the back of a donkey works!) Once they arrived
in Bethlehem, Mary & Joseph had an "unattended birth" in a cave
that was being used as a stable for animals. (Their first choice
was the Inn, but there was no vacancy!) Well, although I think
out-of-hospital births are great, I'm not sure that a stable would
offer the comforts that I desire when I'm in labor! So, there they
were--
Mary, a first-time laboring mom without the support of family,
friends, or doulas; and Joseph, a young man filling the role of
midwife and every other member of the birth support team--
together, just the two of them and some
animals, to welcome into the world the one whose death and
resurrection would make a way for all of mankind to be in an
intimate relationship with Father God for all of eternity. Not
necessarily the welcome one would expect for the King of Kings and
Lords of Lords... but that was the way God
planned it and it was perfect.
God's plan doesn't always look the way we think it should, but
that is because we are stuck in this body of flesh and can't see
from God's perspective. So often, we assume that God's plan would
never include difficulty; because, after all, he is a loving God.
But His love is so much greater than our minds can comprehend, so
great that His plan for Mary and
Joseph included a road that was paved with much difficulty so that
the rest of us could live forever with God if we should so choose.
What if they had said NO to God's plan? What if they had not
embraced the call to parent the Son of God?
Is God revealing a plan to you that looks hard? Is there a road He
is leading you down that may be difficult or require you to give
up something? Like Mary & Joseph, we have the opportunity to say
YES to the calling God has on our lives and accept all of the joys
and challenges that it brings.
One thing I know for sure is that when we say YES to God's plan,
He gives us everything we need to succeed.... and there is no
place on earth more fulfilling than the center of God's will !!!
Merry Christmas!
~Kristin
Charis Vision and Mission Statement
Charis Childbirth
Services
149 Business Park Drive
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462
www.CharisChildbirth.org
Kristin Schuchmann ~
International Director
(757)639-5325 Fax (757)497-2398
Susan Oshel ~ Director of Midwifery Studies
(321)206-3464
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