Children's Shelter of Cebu

We are so impressed with the ministry of the shelter that we want to extend an invitation to you. Would you consider joining the shelter in financial and prayer support? Below are some of the things the shelter is doing. Please spread the word about the shelter and visit their website http://www.cscshelter.org/help/help.php to sign up to support them and receive newsletters.

The Children's Shelter of Cebu:
1. Searches out kids from all over the Philippines who are not being cared for and could be considered for adoption.
2. Intentionally brings in special needs kids and cares for them for their entire lives if adoption is not an option.
3. Provides quality schooling for all the kids at the shelter and modifies for special needs kids.
4. Has over a hundred Filipinos working at the shelter doing various jobs ranging from cooking to social work.
5. Gives the kids back their childhood where they do art, music, and athletics.
6. Gives the kids a schedule they can trust that includes meals, school, chores and play time.
7. Teaches the kids to attach to adults and to trust so that they can be adopted into families.
8. If kids are not adopted before they reach the age of 16 (or 18 if they have younger siblings) they are transferred to the teen home where they continue into high school, college and vocational training.
9. The shelter continues to support kids to help them find jobs, places to live and community once they leave the teen home.
10. And last, but not least, the shelter has taught over 700 kids who Jesus is, about His love for them and how to walk with Him. They learn to praise God, read and memorize His Word and be a part of a Christian community.

Please join Children's Shelter of Cebu as they reach the poorest of the poor, the fatherless and the defenseless with hope and the gospel.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Follow up Prayer Requests

Please pray:
That the 5 kids who were adoped last weekend will adjust well to their new families in the States.
That our churny stomaches will go away.
That God will use our stories to touch the hearts of prospective adoptive families.
That God will continue to bless the ministry of Children's Shelter of Cebu with financial support (the value of the dollar is dropping in the Philippines so they need more supporters), prayer support and adoptive families.
That God will provide families for the older kids and sibling groups.
That God will continue to use this trip in our lives to spread God's heart about adoption.

Praises:
We were pretty healthy on the trip.
We had a great time with the kids and were able to show them Christ's love.
We had safe travel.
We worked well together as a team and each fulfilled different roles.
The adoption forums went well and opened up dialoge about adoption despite cultural differences.
God is using Children's Shelter of Cebu in mighty ways in the lives of hundreds of kids!

On the road again. . .

What a long trip home! It took us 48 hours from the shelter to DIA. We flew to Singapore on Sunday and slept for 12 hours in the airport hotel-what a wonderful place! Headed on to Tokyo on Monday and then were delayed leaving Tokyo because a sick woman boarded the plan and Sheryl's professional opinion got her off the plane before we took off. Way to go Sheryl in stepping up to the plate when the airline needed medical personel. When we arrived in Los Angeles our bags were the last of 700 bags to get off the plane and given the hour delay, we missed our plane to Denver. This was not without trying. . . we ran around LAX with like 13 bags on carts to check back in and go through security after customs! Oh well. We got on a later flight but the luggage was put on a different flight that was delayed. I'm still not sure if everyone has their luggage yet! We arrived in Denver at 9:30pm on Monday night (Monday was the world's longest day as we crossed over the dateline in the Pacific Ocean!). Whew! We made it!

Sunday

On Sunday, we woke up preparing ourselves to return home. We packed our bags and headed to the shelter one last time to say goodbye to the kids. We did have time to play a few last games of marbles and tag though.





All of our goodbye pictures.


Before we left the shelter, the kids gathered and sang, "God will take care of you." It was very difficult to keep from crying as we considered being sung to about God's care from orphans. Amazing. It was very hard to leave the kids.

Later Sunday, 5 kids would be meeting their forever families and 2 would be going to Manila for their medical exams to further their adoption processes. Praise God.

Saturday

What a day Saturday was! We met the kids at the shelter at 7am to take about 25 of them by Jeepnee 2 1/2 hours across the island.


We laughed as the kids passed out in the Jeeps and sprawled themselves all over eachother. Kids will be kids.


When we arrived to MoalBoal, we were greeted by snacks of fresh coconut and a beautiful white sand beach.


The kids swam and splashed in the water. It was amazing, many of them opened their eyes under the water! They searched for hermit crabs and caught tiny fish by hand. They buried eachother in sand and climbed all over eachother (and us!) in the water.


On our boad ride around the bay, we came across a whole bunch of dolphins. They came right up to our boat and jumped, twirled and played in our wake. The kids love them and most of them had never seen dolphins before.


After the beach we took a crazy drive up a mountain to a cave where we waded through cold water to get into the cave. It was amazing and most of the kids liked it. Some thought it was creepy because of the bats and the dripping stalagtites.

After another swim at the beach, we loaded the Jeepnees up again and headed back to Cebu. Once again, the kids slept and we were alert as can be praying we wouldn't get in a wreck given the wild traffic rules.


On the way home we stopped at Jollibee (their form of McDonalds which serves spaghetti and fried chicken!). What a day!

Friday

On Friday morning, Shannon, Claudia, Brad and Kim rode a Jeepnee and a Hobble Hobble (the motorcycle up the dirt road to the shelter) to the shelter to experience the local transportation. What a blast!


Brad and Kim were able to see the kids begin their day at school singing the national anthem of the Philippines. We helped in several classrooms at the school during the morning and here you see the preschoolers singing "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

Sheryl was able to visit all the local hospitals to see the medical care and to gain understanding about why the shelter is in process to build their own clinic on campus. Tammy, Claudia, Shannon and Molly were also about to play with bubbles with the toddlers.


In the afternoon, we took the kids on bike rides. First the 9-10 year olds rode BMX bikes in a subdivision where the Baptist Missionaries have a retreat house. Here Al is helping a little one who couldn't quite reach the pedals!

We also took about 30 10+ year olds to a mountain road to ride the mountain bikes we bought. The kids had so much fun and worked so hard to avoid the dump trucks and motorcycles on the road. The girls rode the bikes up the hill (ladies first goes wrong!) and the boys rode them down.


Here the kids are bursting with excitement as they wait to ride.


The local kids gathered around to see our parade of bikers. There was a stark contrast between the local kids and the kids from the shelter. Our kids had joy in their eyes and freedom in their steps while the local kids carried the burdens of poverty and separation from God.


Praying before the kids ride.


The girls riding up the hill.


The boys riding down the hill.


Later Friday night we had dinner at Teacher Amy's house. It was there that Ruth, one of the social workers who originally started the shelter, introduced Brad to Belot.


She and Brad ate 14 day old eggs. The inside had a little grey bird surrounded by yellow yolk with veins running through it. Brad and Ruth ate an egg each and Tammy tasted the yolk.


During dinner we heard geckos barking or quacking or making some kind of strange noise and we did our best to dodge the bats. What a day!

Thursday

Well, the last few days of our trip were so busy that we were unable to update our blog. We'll recap. . .

On Thursday, we had a busy day. We started off with an adoption forum with the childcare workers at the shelter. Although they were very quiet, they did ask if Filipinos and especially the shelter workers were allowed to adopt the kids from the shelter. This was a major breakthrough because adoption is unacceptable in Filipino culture. Adopted children are considered to be maids or second class citizens. We were able to share with them that if Filipinos adopt Filipino children, it is free! The workers were excited as several couples have been praying about wanting to adopt children from the shelter.

After the forum and lunch, we did art projects with the kids.

The younger kids did necklaces and picture frames with foam.

The older kids made bracelets with their names on them out of beads.

After school we did another adoption forum with more of the teachers and specialized childcare workers. It went well and many great questions about adoption were asked. We had dinner at the shelter and then had the privilege of going back to the school with the kids to hear the praise band play.

The kids played drums, keyboard, guitars and sang. We were so blessed to see their hearts for the Lord and the talents that God has given them. They love to sing praises to the Lord. You can hear the kids singing while they work at school, while they play and while they travel together. How great is that?!

Prayer Requests

Kim with a student displaying her picture of God's creation.

Please pray:
For energy as we are tired emotionally and physically.
For continued safety as we travel throughout the area.
For the families coming on Sunday to adopt several children from the shelter.
-transition for the kids into the families, safety during travel, wisdom for the families as they integrate the children into the family, comfort for the shelter workers as the children leave, peace for the children who have not yet been adopted.
For safety and fun for our bike ride with the kids on Friday afternoon and for our adventure outing to the beach with the kids on Saturday.

Praise:
Our team has been working very well together and we are all healthy.
The teachers and childcare workers asked great questions at the adoption forum and several childcare workers are interested in adopting kids for themselves.
The kids love our art and science projects and playing with us during freetime.
We have been able to share about God's love with the kids and their foundations in Christ are growing strong here at the shelter.

Wednesday update

Al eating a sword pepper. He regretted this decision.


The teachers and shelter workers at our adoption forum.


Sheryl sharing her story at the adoption forum.


Our Art for the Nations project with the kids about their names.


Old MacDonald's farm visits Cebu. The preschoolers were great at their animal sounds.


A message from a middle school student during our gloop project.


Brad's Groucho Marx impersonation.


The Children of Hope school.


Teacher Tammy during a math lesson with the middle schoolers.


Magellan's Cross in Cebu City.


One of the many colorful jeepnees.


Time is flying.

Sunday

Praise God, Shannon's luggage showed up on Sunday night. She was relieved to have all of her stuff. Sunday was time to recover from jet-lag and become acquainted with the people of Cebu and the staff and kids of the Children's Shelter of Cebu (CSC). We went to a Southern Baptist church. A Campus Crusade for Christ rep gave a sermon on integrity from Daniel. We enjoyed the praise time with our Cebuano brothers and sisters. The afternoon was a free day for us to get to know the children. We spent time playing basketball, marbles, chase, and a host of other games.

Monday

The morning started off with a tour of the city. We saw the cross that Magellan staked here when he landed and we saw a holy shrine. We went down to the market area. It is an open-air market that sells everything from baskets to pigs. The workers who run the houses at the shelter go to the market early on Saturday mornings and some of us are hoping to be able to join them so we can experience what it will be like. Not everyone in our group has been exposed to the economy of a developing country and the depth of poverty can be startling. We drove by a cemetery where some children who have passed away are kept. I write kept instead of buried because people are put in above ground crypts not buried in the ground. People rent the space for a five year period. After five years they can continue to rent the space. If they choose not to the bones will be pulled out of the crypt and put in a bone pit under the cemetery. Some people live in the cemetery. They sell candles and other wares to people when they arrive at the cemetery as part of a funeral procession. We saw one such procession, in which people were riding bikes and walking on the side of the street.

The main form of transportation is the "Jeepnee", which is a colorful open-air bus like a taxi. It costs six pesos for a ride. We have seen many forms of transportation here such as; the motorcycle, horse drawn buggy, bikes with carriage and even a buggy that resembled a rickshaw. The colorful Jeepnee is local to Cebu. We heard the ones on Manila are all silver.

Monday afternoon our group taught a science class for the students. We made play-dough and we observed the effect of carbon dioxide bubbles produced by Sprite on raisins. The lesson was popular with the students. It helps when you can drink and eat the finished results.

We spent time observing the classroom interactions between the teachers and students. This has been especially helpful for Shannon and Kim since they are both involved in teaching. They have been discussing teaching techniques focused on modifying the curriculum to meet the student's needs. The teachers have quite a challenge in instructing each child due to the unique challenges. Some of the children have never attended school when they arrive at the shelter. I especially enjoyed seeing how the staff at the school integrated students with special needs into the classroom. The students have dedicated staff working with them but the teachers also provide individualized instruction. Tammy and Amy (teachers at the school) are certified teachers from the US. Tammy taught in Plano, Texas for three years and Amy in Mankato, Minnesota for three years. The school (Children Shelter of Hope School) also has several teachers from Cebu who have attended the local universities. The school is a first class facility. I remarked to Kim that the facilities here are better than the schools I taught at in Aurora. The facilities have a playground, library with internet access and special needs room with dedicated teachers and therapists.

Monday afternoon was additional free time with the children. Monday evening was a special dinner at the shelter with a birthday surprise for one of the children.

Tuesday

The group spent time assisting the teachers with instruction in math. We were involved in everything from patterns to adding mixed fractions. The teachers figured out quickly why I chose History as a major. Hopefully the damage is easily repairable. We taught an art class focused on Psalm 139:13 and John 3:16. Their name is important because they are important. They are important because God say they are important. God uniquely designed each of us with gifts and talents for his glory. They used their name to display their uniqueness and it will be a reminder to them that God loves them and he designed them to be just as they are.

We held an adoption forum last night for a group of workers at the shelter. This was the vision of Paul Healy and something we discussed when he visited us in Denver. He felt that the workers only had a limited view of the adoption process; what the specifics of the process were, why would a person adopt anyway and what were the challenges when the adoption was completed. Tammy, Sheryl and Al all have been touched by the adoption process. Al's wife was adopted and both Tammy and Sheryl have adopted girls from China. At the end of our presentation we had a question and answer period. We were very pleased at the involvement of the staff. They asked a lot of very good questions. We also heard from Clarita, a social worker for the shelter. She discussed the challenges of social work and told us some amazing stories of her work over the last 22 years.

Last night our group went out for an authentic Filipino dinner with some of the staff. The food was fantastic. I think you can pretty much cook anything in coconut milk and green curry and it will taste good. We had calamari, eggplant, mushrooms, fish and other stuff of which I'll never remember the names but it was all good. We made our own sauce out of soy sauce, vinegar and tiny red peppers, which look innocuous enough but pack quite a punch. And just a warning: avoid the green bean in the soup!

City Tour

Here you see Bulot which are fertilized duck eggs. You can purchase 16, 18, 21 day old eggs. They hatch around 24 days. They have little ducks in them that are grey in color. Brad is interested in trying them. :)



During our city tour we entered the cemetary where people are put in tombs for 5 years and then the bones are scraped out (see the empty tomb) and put in a general grave.

Activities with the kids.

Claudia and Sheryl doing dancing raisins with the 12-13 year olds.


Tammy doing prayer chains with the kids during free time.

Seoul Searching

It's a great idea to exercise our body and mind each day as part of a healthy lifestyle, but do we spend enough time stretching our soul?

Right now I'm experiencing the longest day of my life and it feels like I'm on top of the world. Literally we are just a few degrees south of the north pole passing below the Bering sea on a wide arc from San Francisco to Seoul, South Korea.

Our brief stay in Seoul was amazing but too short. We were back on the plane in no time and ready to see Singapore. The sun finally went down, but the day wasn't over yet. The Singapore airport was our home for the evening.

While some rested, Tammy, Sheryl and I explored some of the shops and a rest area we'll all visit on the way back. We also found a sunflower garden and free foot massage machines to help recover from our long walks. After just a few minutes of sleep it was time to board again for our final destination on Cebu island.

The sun came up again and our long first day continued on a smaller SilkAir flight with brunch and a view of the azure Philippine archipelago unfolding below us. The seat backs on this flight didn't have the GPS display to track our progress, so I had to improvise with a map book and paper plane cutout.

Mitch Ohlendorf met us at the airport. One of Shannon's bags was lost in transit so we are praying that it shows up soon. After checking into our rooms Mitch took most of the team to visit the Children's Center while Jerry and his new associate Joel of Minnesota, took us (Brad, Kim and I) to a bike shop to look into some gifts for the kids.

Thanks to a last-minute contribution from the International Christian Cycling Club we will be able to provide several new mountain bikes for the shelter.

The crowded city was frantic but exhilarating. We got to visit the teen center briefly before meeting up with everyone again at the CSC. Sandy gave us a quick tour then it was off to a pizza dinner with Mitch and his family.

After a wild shopping spree for some essentials in the market below our hotel, we finally got some much needed rest. The longest day did eventually come to an end but God's plans for this trip are just beginning. The sun is rising on another day and another opportunity to stretch our soul beyond old horizons.

Best fishes,
AL

Our first day at the shelter.

Here is Molly next to our welcome sign from the shelter.



Sheryl helping with the afternoon sweeping time. This place runs a tight ship! They are singing "This is the way we sweep the grass, sweep the grass, sweep the grass. This is the way we sweep the grass all day long!"

Bikes!!!

Here is Al posing with one of the 18 bikes we will give the shelter.

We're on our way!

Well, it's 4:40am in Singapore and we've been traveling for about 30 hours so far! We're doing well and getting to know eachother. Please pray for unity and continued safe travels for our team. We fly to Cebu, Philippines at 8am this morning. In the mean time we are sleeping in a rest lounge, getting free foot messages and wandering around the airport. We'll update soon when we get there! Take care and thanks for your prayers! Check out the www.changiairport.com to see what we're experiencing right now. Well, sort of, everything is closed since it's the middle of the night. :)

Garage Sale Fundraising

We ran a garage sale to raise money for our trip. Thank you to everyone who donated items! We were able to raise almost $2000!

Art for the Nations

We will be taking bags of art projects to do with the kids at the shelter. These pictures are of us 'practicing!' Check out the web site for the organization supplying us. www.artforthenations.org.