|
Home
Contact us!
Donate to CHASK
How CHASK Works
For Adopting Parents
For
Birth Parents
View Waiting Families
Adoption Resources
CHASK Flyers
Waiting Children
Statement of Faith
Current
Needs
| |
A peek into the CHASK Office….
It is 6:50 am. The phone rings and I come running out of my
bedroom with wet hair and a towel on my head. (Not sure how long the phone has
been ringing?!)
A concerned voice on the other end shares of a situation
about a baby who was born at 25 weeks and is without parents. The state has
ordered the hospital to pull the plug, as they do not want to bother finding a
home. We have 48 hours to locate a family that will be wiling to call this wee
one their own.
3 other babies have come in over the last day. One with
Trisomy 18, one with Down syndrome and the third one with a malformed brain.
This newest baby this morning takes first priority, as his
life literally is hanging in limbo.
Downing a quick breakfast of potatoes and eggs, I run back to
waken Sheraya, Mercy, Lynny and Sheela our oldest daughters to come out of
slumber land to take over the kitchen, starting laundry and meal prep for the
day. Sleepily Sheraya wanders into the kitchen a few minutes later, grabs a
plate of breakfast, and gets marching orders for the day.
Walking outside the short walk to our garage- turned-office,
I settle down in my chair and reach for the phone, bringing up my e-mail at the
same time.
The pleasant, happy answering machine voice, at the other end
of the line assures me that there has been a home found for the preemie and that
the new parents are very excited about flying in today to be with him...Phew….
I start making calls locating specific details on the other
babies for prospective CHASK parents and iron out some of the problems regarding
the older children on the CHASK site.
One needs to be taken off, as they have found a home. Another
girl that we were about to put on the CHASK site needs a hold put on her bio.
Her family has found some local resources and have decided they are not ready to
give up yet.
The birth mom, pregnant with a 30-week-old baby, that has a
chromosomal anomaly, has decided she wants an “early birth”. We work for a while
locating a few moms for her to talk to, that have already walked down the road
she is about to travel….who have already given birth to a baby who will die
shortly after birth, and have chosen life and God’s timing for “going home.”
The agency with the baby that has a brain malformation calls
and decides to waive all fees. They just want to find a family for this baby!
A mom who has a baby with Down syndrome due in a few weeks
needs to have a few families sent to her to help her decide if she wants to keep
her baby or share him with another family.
Tom and the kids are in the house at our huge kitchen table.
He is managing the letter folding and envelope stuffing of our late-getting-out,
large and medium fundraising letter. He juggles different stations, making sure
the Smiths don’t get the Johnson’s letter, working on getting the NATHHAN bills
paid and a pile of other paperwork. That consumes our morning.
Sheraya calls over the intercom, “ Lunch time!” We all troop
outside to the house from the office, as we put our projects on hold for a
break. She has made ham/chicken noodle and fresh tomato soup, banana bread and
broiled cheese sandwiches. Apples from our root cellar round out the meal.
It has started snowing after lunch and Josh is out on the
backhoe trying to get ready for the new septic tank coming tomorrow. With the
large number of people and an older system, ours failed a few weeks ago and we
are racing with the freeze to get it in.
Afternoon is quieter, and I am able to work on the magazine.
The Lord has provided enough funds to get it out to all on the mailing list.
This will be a special treat for all those families who cannot afford membership
or are just interested in NATHHAN / CHASK as a ministry.
Here is a note from Dusty Copeland. She is interested in
starting a project called Born Alive.
dustyc@cot.net
I believe the Lord has been preparing me for some time on
this issue. When my daughter was in the NICU there was an infant brought in,
preterm, but from his screams apparently healthy and thriving. He was in the
isolette opposite of my daughter. His cries drew me to him, as all the other
nurses were ignoring him. He was bright red, his skin appeared burned and he was
covered with meconium.Since I was completely gowned, I asked a nurse if I could
take him out and clean him up. “That’s his mother’s job” she snapped at me. “Can
I at least hold him and comfort him?” The nurse responded with, “No, get away
from there.”
These nurses were normally very kind. This had upset them, I
could tell. Shortly after his isolette was moved, to where I could not see; but
his cries continued to be heard until they got weaker and weaker.
Today, I know that was a saline abortion gone bad. To me,
what the nurses were forced to do by letting him suffer until he died, was akin
to torture.
How can we help these infants? How can we get word to birth parents?
Editor’s note:
With the donations that you send in, CHASK works hard to get information out to
birth parents. But honest truth, what it takes is you, going out and sharing
that there is hope. OBGYNs, Women’s Care Centers, Hospital Social Workers,
Perinatologists, Geneticists, regular practice physicians…. anyone you think may
come in contact with families who are desperate for hope, needs to have a CHASK
brochure in hand to give a birth mom.
CHASK’s philosophy: Raising a Child vs. Adoption
CHASK’s first goal is to provide the encouragement and support,
family-to-family, to any parent with a child with a medical concern, born or
unborn. Birth moms can parent a child with disability with today’s networking
and community resources. No one should feel like they cannot raise a child with
special needs for lack of money.
If a family does not want to or cannot raise their child for another reason, we
have over 500 CHASK adoptive families willing to share their hearts and lives
with a child with permanent disabilities of any kind.
Please contact us to order CHASK brochures to share with your community.
208-267-6246 chaskinfo@aol.com We can
work together. It takes only a small amount of time to save a life. You never
know the far reaching effects of your act of kindness. We need your help to find
babies, like the one Dusty described, that was killed via a saline abortion,
before it is too late.
You can help us quickly on line at www.chask.org
and click on either the credit card or paypal donate button.
Here is a true story that will touch your heart, as it does ours….
Pamela touched her tummy. Her baby’s gentle fluttering brought tears to her
eyes. Guilt and then relief washed over her for the umpteenth time this evening.
Maybe there was a God out there.
Reliving the last few months in her mind, she instantly saw the excitement in
her husband’s eyes when she showed him the positive pregnancy test….. Then her
first prenatal appointment at 12 weeks….and the wonder of new life… then one day
when she was 15 weeks along….bleeding….way too much bleeding.
She could taste the panic as she laid in bed pleading with her body to stop….
The trip to the emergency room, the kind doctor, the ultrasound… and then the
news…. her baby was not normal. Baby was alive. Bleeding was related to
subchorionic bleeding from the placenta. Spina bifida, cleft palate, and a bunch
of other terms she could not remember or pronounce….and the suggested immediate
abortion.
Her whole heart screamed NO!!!! This was not the way it was supposed to turn
out. She silently turned to her husband for assurance…. His face was drawn with
her pain… their baby….deformed. Why our baby? The doctor cleared his throat and
waited for an answer. How could she raise a child with special needs? Silently
she reached to sign the paper the doctor held out for permission. The abortion
was scheduled for tomorrow, mid-morning.
The doctor patted her on the shoulder encouragingly. “You’ll have a chance to
try again. This world has so much pain already. I know this is hard….but you are
being responsible about this and I am proud of you.” She wordlessly looked up at
him and turned to walk out the door, her husband holding her hand.
That evening was fuzzy in her mind… except for the call from Sally, her new
neighbor. Pam’s heart was touched by Sally’s compassion as her raw sorrow poured
out. It seemed easy to talk to this almost stranger…
Sally, pleaded with her to wait. “What would it take for God to convince you
that your baby is a special person created by Him for a unique purpose?”
Pamela hesitated… she wasn’t sure. Thus far, the baby was only a swelling in her
tummy, extra weight… a dream.
Just before bed, she sat down at the computer researching spina bifida… she
didn’t dare search abortion. Sally had mentioned a web site that supported
parents who had an adverse prenatal diagnosis. She typed in the letters C H A S
K. Looking at the stories written by different families choosing life instead of
abortion, she felt overwhelmed… Choosing a future saddled with disability was
crazy. She envisioned her baby crying in pain and suffering… yet the stories
from birth moms who kept their babies did not reflect that. The more she tried
to see herself with a deformed child her the more her stomach knotted. Finally
she lay down in bed. As she drifted off into a restless sleep, Sally’s voice
kept coming to her…God’s purpose…A sign?
Early the next morning she awoke exhausted, walking through the motions of
getting ready. No breakfast today…Doctor’s orders… but why bother… no more baby
to nourish….not after today…
Silently she and her husband drove to the hospital. Checking in, the nurse
greeted them. “There was a delay, as the doctor had an emergency c-section.
Could you wait another ½ hour?” She motioned them to follow her to a more
comfortable room. Pamela stood to her feet. Feeling faint, she sat back down….
The agony of waiting another minute was awful. This was horrible. Weakly she
stood again and walked with her husband…
Sitting in the soft cushioned chair, Pamela rested her hand on her tummy as she
looked out the window. That mindless loving act seemed to stimulate an
extraordinary miracle, for under her hand… God caused her baby to give a good
little kick… a little flutter of feet…. Pamela paled. Her baby moved….
All at once the realization of what was about to happen to her baby…alive
now…and in an hour would be sucked out of her, sank into her heart. She felt
totally confused, then relieved. She stood up. Looking up from his magazine, her
husband questioned with his eyes. “My baby moved!” She said with tears in her
eyes…“Our baby!”
“Oh, Daniel, I can’t do this….can’t we wait?” Wordlessly, they both stood up and
walked out the door of the waiting room, down the hall and out to the car.
Pamela shook with sobs as she rode home. This nightmare was ending, yet only
beginning. Her neighbor’s words kept ringing in her ears…. a sign… from God…. A
purpose for her baby… CHASK’s challenge to let God be the one to choose life and
death…. The cute pictures of babies with spina bifida… the stories and letters
from families who have already traveled down this road…
Choosing life takes courage. To stand up and walk out of an abortion
appointment, toward an unknown life dealing with permanent disability…these are
major hurdles that only God can give birth parents the strength to leap over.
Medical advancement has unwittingly created some mental hardships. Knowing that
a baby has problems can ruin a pregnancy… America doesn’t like the unknown.
Maybe the real problem is knowing too much. A special secret revealed at birth…
when God gives a mother grace to see her precious baby, not just a “disability.”
If families could only persevere, walk out the door of abortion clinics and look
through the door of heaven. They could see His plans to work all things out for
good. He would bring eternity in heaven closer to them, through their baby, now
growing inside!
Can you help us get CHASK’s message of hope to birth moms facing a huge
decision? They need to know that there is an alternative to abortion: that all
life is valuable; God has already chosen life for their baby; and they need to,
too.
CHASK needs your prayer and financial help. Your involvement, combined with
other Christian families, is making a big difference in the lives of families
all over the country. All life is precious.
www.chask.org
|
