Staff Blog

Have you ever tried explaining something that is native and normal to your country, only to realize how strange it really is?  If you are an American, stop and think about, say, the way April Fool’s Day is celebrated. You get to pull tricks on people and get away with it all day! When you explain that to a foreigner, you would get a pretty confused reaction.  In American Studies class, I have the privilege of doing just that: introducing children who are about to be adopted by U.S. families to American culture!

Before we get too far, I need to introduce myself. My name is Katie Elliott, and I began teaching American Studies at Cebu Children of Hope School when Teacher Tammy returned to the states.  My husband and I moved to Cebu in January 2013 for his job at the business outsourcing office for his company and I have been volunteering at CSC since February of this year.  American Studies is a course designed for the school-aged children of CSC who have been matched for adoption to U.S. families.  In American Studies, we learn things like the pledge of allegiance, information about the state they’re moving to, national monuments, U.S. history, and American customs and norms.   My favorite unit was holidays and seasons.  It has been so funny to hear their reactions when I explain things like being pinched if they didn’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day!  Or a leprechaun trying to steal a pot of gold from the end of a rainbow...especially when the holiday is celebrating Irish heritage, yet you're moving to America!  When we learned about winter, they were disappointed to hear that it might not snow every single day of winter, as they can't wait to build snowmen and go sledding.  Check out our adventures in making pumpkin pie when we studied Thanksgiving!

Every one knows that we have cute kids. That is one of our prerequisites for admission! But we recently found out that we have some pretty sweet kids too. We were in the midst of an emotional and difficult situation with one of our kids,  we had to tell him that he would be leaving CSC. He is a great kid, we had just come to the realization that CSC was not the best place for him. Praise the Lord we found a good place for him in a family - but this was still a very difficult task that was weighing heavily on us. Literally, just a few minutes before Ruth and I had to have that conversation with the young man who would have to leave CSC, four of our darling young teen and pre-teen girls presented us with an artistic creation that they had done all on their own. I had seen them working on something earlier in the week, but they quickly hid it from me, I thought it was just a silly girl thing. It was not. These girls presented us with this work of art (from their heart) at the time that it could encourage us the most! It was the sweetest thing. They didn't know we were dealing with this especially tough situation at that moment in time. It was an encouragement and a reminder to us that God is using CSC to change hearts. I thank God for the sweet kids that he sends our way. And I thank these SWEET girls for being God's hands and voice to us at a time that we needed it!

Last week was Conferences at the Children of Hope School.  So on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from 12:30-4:30, our hardworking teachers presented on their students to the staff and house parents.

It is so nice to be able to learn how each child is doing in their class, what their strengths are, what their favorite subjects are, what they like to write about or talk about most.  Our kids are funny!  And creative!  And inspiring!  It was a great time to hear from each teacher how we can encourage, support and praise our kids for the unique skills, talents and challenges they have.

What also stood out to me so vividly is the dedication with which our teachers approach their class and the unique students they have in it.  We are blessed to have small class sizes at our school and most children are working at the level that best fits them.  When children come to us they have had little to no schooling, certainly none of which was at all consistent.  The gaps are significant.  Our teachers make countless accomodations and modifications so that each of the children in their class is being challenged, but not overwhelmed.  It is no small feat.

Check out some of their work below.  I am sure you will find the short stories entertaining and the letters heart-warming!

We do not recognize the contributions of our direct service workers enough. They are truly the heart and soul of our ministry. They feed, cook, bathe, change, medicate, comfort, mediate, encourage, admonish, discipline, and a whole lot more things I can't think of right now. We need to honor them more often. Consider this blog entry and attempt to do that. You can help honor them by praying for them and their families. Our aunties and uncles are very hard working and dedicated, and most of them have families of their own to go home to. There they need to do the same tasks that they perform at CSC. It is not an easy job, but I think most of our workers would tell you of the ways that their lives have been blessed through investing in the lives of our children.

Think of a wonderful thought

Any merry little thought
Think of Christmas, think of snow
Think of sleigh bells
Off you go like reindeer in the sky
You can fly! You can fly!
You can fly!

Think of the happiest things
It's the same as having wings
Take the path that moonbeams make
If the moon is still awake
You'll see him wink his eye
You can fly, you can fly!
You can fly!

Up you go with a heigh and ho
To the stars beyond the blue
There's a Never Land waiting for you
Where all your happy dreams come true
Every dream that you dream will come true

When there's a smile in your heart
There's no better time to start
Think of all the joy you'll find
When you leave the world behind
And bid your cares goodbye
You can fly, you can fly!
You can fly, you can fly!
You can fly!

I captured that picture above, and as I pushed the button of my camera, this song was running through my head.  It is one of the songs from the Disney movie, Peter Pan.  It is a classic, from pre-Pixar days.  For those of you unfamiliar with the plot, it is about a boy from the magical land of Never Land.  It is a story of fantasy, magic and imagination.

I remember watching that movie as a child and when that song came on, I felt excitement and joy---like anything was possible!  Peter Pan was able to fly!  With just a little bit of pixie dust after all.

As I watched that boy running across the yard with that plastic bag as if it were a parachute, or a plane or a spaceship, I felt like he felt the same thing.  And I was so happy and grateful that he could feel that.  Despite where he had come from before arriving at CSC, he was feeling like a kid, a carefree, fun-loving, free to imagine kid.  He didn't have to worry about begging for food or tend to an ailing family member.

All too often our kids have had to grow up much sooner than they should have.  And not to say that CSC is like Never Land, but it is not unheard of to see kids regress a little once they come.  When they realize they are no longer responsible for the health and wellness of their siblings or for finding food for their family, they play more and sometimes as if they were younger.

Growing up is a process that can't be avoided; however, it's nice to know that being a kid isn't that far out of reach...