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Christian Homes And Special Kids |
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Birth Parent's Line 1-800-266-9837 Contact CHASK 208-267-6246 |
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For Birth Parents
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What is A Blessed Beginning? Fall/Winter 07/08
A blessed beginning…. Isn’t that what every mother wishes for her unborn baby? Well… almost all mothers…. How about 50% of mothers…? The idea of having a baby can be very frightening to a woman. If she happens to be unmarried, un-cared for, or very young, the idea of a new baby can be unwelcome. Babies are treasures, created by God. (How many of us have grumbled about the “treasures” that we have received from the Lord.) Here at CHASK we have the unique opportunity to sit in the middle of the road. We hear from birth moms who do not wish for their babies, or cannot care for them AND we hear from potential adoptive parents who would very much like to have a child. A few of our CHASK families have no children at all! The deep, earnest longing of a mother’s heart to nourish a child is instilled by God. What is happening in a birth mom’s heart who finds herself in bad circumstances? How does she come to the conclusion that the child within her is better off dead? Philosophy can’t save babies, but love can. Often we can convince birth moms, who are considering abortion, that their baby is too precious to be aborted. Our personal experience is that it begins with loving a birth mom. She is grieving. Her life and emotions are upside down. A comforting reassurance that there is hope and love ahead, if she would consider giving her baby life, may be enough to have her continue in the pregnancy. How can we effectively communicate this if we are not personally involved? Sometimes getting down in the trenches is dirty work. By providing a roof, food, and love to an unwed mom, she is being provided for and so is her unborn baby. Is she grateful? Maybe... In all honesty, we get banged up a little. On more than one occasional, our family has exposure to a rougher kind of life through contact with a birth mom who has different values than we do. Our hearts are ripped out when they leave. But a baby is saved. It is our heart’s desire to provide an on-site outlet for ministering Christ’s love to women who are considering abortion and are in need. A Blessed Beginning, a pregnancy resource center, born out of our hearts. One purpose of A Blessed Beginning is to minister to our local birth moms. This includes a mommy with an adverse prenatal diagnosis and those who have babies developing normally. With the support from local churches, we are aiming at providing for birth parents’ needs both physical and emotional. Our community is very rural, so we do not expect too much action. However, another purpose for A Blessed Beginning is training for us. Since CHASK began and we started sharing CHASK’s Adverse Prenatal Diagnosis brochure with crisis pregnancy centers, we have many requests for training workers how to minister to women with an adverse prenatal diagnosis. Now for many of us, the idea of speaking with someone about special needs is old hat, but for the rest of the world, disability is frightening. When a woman comes in to a CPC and states that she has a baby with special needs that is “going to die anyway” or “be in much pain”, what can a CPC worker say to comfort and encourage a woman to choose life? We have personally spoken to CPC workers in tears, on the phone, because they do not know what to say to a birth mom facing the death of her baby. What would you say? Have you walked this journey? What can you say to a birth mom who is needing answers and encouragement. We are putting together a letter picture album for birth moms that visit us personally to read when they visit A Blessed Beginning. They need to feel the compassion and love you have for them and for your special needs child. We want personal letters and pictures! We also need an experienced scrap-booker to put it together for us, if we provide the materials, pictures and letters. Can you spare the time to encourage a birth mom today? Be sure to label it for, A Blessed Beginning, An Album of Love. As we are ministering to birth moms, we are taking notes and learning valuable lessons on how to minister to birth moms in general. The disability-special needs thing we have down…. Well almost…. Face-to-face, we want to get into the minds and hearts of women facing a very difficult decision, finding out what we can share to make a difference.
Here are some CHASK stories: A lady in Arkansas called us, requesting prayer. She is a Christian. Her husband is not a Christian, and recently left her and their four children. She is 4 months pregnant with their 5th child and feels totally unable to care for the baby. An ultrasound showed a baby boy. We comforted her and shared with her CHASK families in her state that were able to come along side her and minister love and help. Baby Anna is Chinese and has septo-optic dysplasia, ventricular septal defect and is on an NG tube. She was placed with a CHASK family in California. A baby boy that was exposed to heroin and meth was placed pre-natally with Jason and Judy Beachy. He was born c-section August 28th and is doing very well. A birth mom in Georgia was considering adoption versus abortion. Her baby girl has Down syndrome and extra fluid in her kidney. We never did find out what her decision was, as she did not contact any of the potential CHASK adoptive families. A mentally disabled young woman contacted CHASK, desperately wanting help with finding an adoptive home for her unborn baby. Her mother was trying to force her to have an abortion. After weeks of working through issues with the grandma, the paternal grandmother came forward to adopt her grandbaby. So many more stories to share!!! Did you know that CHASK update letters are sent out to CHASK donors of $25.00 or more? These letters share CHASK stories and let you know more about being a very important part of ministering to birth moms with an adverse prenatal diagnosis. We appreciate your interest and prayers along with us, working hard to help others see and support the plight of the unborn with disability.
We are using NATHHAN / CHASK’s single wide trailer to set up a pregnancy resource center. We need to understand how to minister to birth moms and this has led us to actually going through the process of setting up a crisis pregnancy center. All of this is in preparation for next year’s project of putting together a curriculum that will teach crisis pregnancy care workers how to meet the needs of parents in an adverse prenatal diagnosis situation. Ministering one-on-one to birth moms will teach us how to teach others. So, as we are learning how to share with birth moms, here is another opportunity for you to help us help the unborn and their mommies.
We are requesting donations for the following: •New or like-new newborn baby clothing, and newborn diapers. •Posters or pictures dealing with child birth (like the kind www.childbirthgraphics.com has) to put up on the walls. •Models of the fetus in different stages. • Ordinary books, DVD’s or videos on child-birth and raising children. Mother friendly cook-books, and books on nursing. •Supplies for new mommy / baby gift baskets: Blue chux pads, Bulb syringe Thermometer New cotton baby blankets for birth Newborn baby sleepers KY Jelly Baby powder Cotton baby hats Baby lotion, soap, oil Paper covered, flexible straws Peri– irrigation bottle Burp pads, cotton Bibs for baby Massage oil for mom and baby Emergen-C packets Baby foot printer kits
• Other items new moms find helpful: Cloth shoulder slings for baby Newborn baby front packs Nursing supplies Newborn— 3 month age baby toys Gifts for siblings (small items, child safe, can fit in a basket without taking up too much room…) •Baskets to put the gifts to new mom in, should be new or nearly new. •New cotton baby blankets to line birth gift baskets. •Cards and Envelopes appropriate for gift baskets • Rice bags or socks • Nice mugs, with raspberry leaf tea • Healing, comforting kinds of herbal baths • CD of lullaby songs for baby and mom. Prefer Christian messages.
If you have set up a Pregnancy Care Center and have some words of wisdom for us, we would be very grateful. We are contacting Focus On The Family and other resources, too. We have passed our zoning restrictions and have our non-profit status through NATHHAN /CHASK. Most of all, we ask for your prayers for this busy time. Please pray that in God’s timing, birth moms would come and choose life through the love of Christ shown to them, though you.
Please call for our UPS address. 208-267-6246
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