Staff Blog

Imagine what it would be like to wake up knowing today is the last day you will see your child. I wonder how carefully you would choose their clothes or the last words to share with them. I wonder how hollow it would feel to stand on the sidewalk as they are driven away. 

Imagine returning home without your children in tow. They were with you when you walked out of the neighborhood, but now you walk alone. Your world is upended. You’ve lost the title “mom” or “dad.” To make matters worse everyone is watching you from their front step or window. Secrets don’t keep long where you live—especially secrets like this.

People know what you’ve done and they don’t restrain themselves from staring. This is a lonely walk back to an empty home.

You can’t believe it got to this point. How could it? You didn’t have children to abandon them. But then he left, and there were no jobs to be found. The life you dreamed of isn’t visible anymore, and you don’t have anywhere to turn. Somehow the best option became giving them away.

Sometimes when I’m speaking to a group a person will ask how our kids end up in the care of the Children's Shelter of Cebu. I’ll confess that for most of the children a parent is still alive. “How could their parents just abandon them,” they wonder. It’s hard to explain. In our good-Christian mentality, you just don’t ever give up on your kids.

It’s hard to describe the straight jacket that is total poverty and utter hopelessness. It’s hard to explain not being able to protect or provide for your child. I can’t pretend to understand, but I know it’s easier to demonize the mom who couldn’t care for her baby than to put myself in her shoes. She doesn’t deserve to be understood because of what she’s done. Right?

I don’t know. High horses are easy to climb on when you’re propped up in a world of options. Judgment comes easy on this, but judgment has always been easier than understanding, including when a mom concludes her child is better off without her.  Judgment isn't our job at CSC. Our job is to love that child the best we can. It's the least we can do for those moms whose seperation is not the mark of selfishness, but of sacrifice.

I just finished Frontline for the month of April (Frontline is for all our prayer warriors out there - if you are not getting Frontline and want to get it, sign up here.)   Because of Frontline,  I've been thinking about all the prayers we have seen answered over the years. God has certainly blessed CSC.  We know that God listens to and answers prayers.  We have found that God does not always give us exactly what we ask for, but often what he gives is better than we ask.  Of course there are prayers that are still unanswered and prayers that were denied...but we know that God is there and trust him to know what we REALLY need, not what we think we need.  

Tonight I was on duty at one of our homes.  These kids are real prayer warriors.  They love to pray.   There have been numerous prayer sessions that end up with a few kids falling asleep while some of the kids just keep thinking of more things to pray for.  Tonight we only had about 30 minutes to pray (school night you know) so I limited the kids to only 5 things to pray for.   Their choices were  #1 - The CSC Banquet    #2  That all the people who don't know Jesus will know him  #3 That we will all be safe always      #4 my friend Suzy who is going through a tough time after cancer surgery and Jane Anderson (they had to share a spot)   and #5 Thanking God for the people who pray for them.   I wish you could have heard their prayers.   I know God did.

I did sneak a few photos....as you can see a few kids were on to me.  That really is how the little ones always pray...hands together in front of them.

Over Easter weekend my husband and I drove from Minnesota to Louisiana to visit our daughter.  Before starting on the trip, I was unable to contact one of our former Children of Hope School teachers whom I knew lived in the Baton Rouge area.  Instead, Grace got hold of me and said she was more than willing to drive the 170 miles (one way) in order for us to see each other.  Later that night, Grace and her husband, Noel, sat in our hotel room reminiscing about former CSC kids and colleagues and sharing what we are doing now.  I had not seen Grace in about seven years.  It was a great time! 

As Grace and Noel were pulling away to drive home, I was struck by the incredible connections there are all over the world through the common thread of CSC.  Grace's life is forever woven into mine because we worked at CSC together.  We share common interests in the children we taught at Children of Hope and the people we worked with.  It was encouraging to hear how Grace is being used by God in a very different educational setting in the United States.  Seeing Grace again reminded me the CSC family is strong and I am richer for it. 

Hey, we're working on a cool surprise for the CSC banquet. I won't give you even a hint, except that the kids and staff here in Cebu are really excited about it. Some of you will be able to see it at the banquet. (If you haven't registered yet, you can do so by clicking here.) Some will have to wait for a video here on the web site. That's all you're going to get, for now!

One thing I've been able to witness this year is how often visitors are able to use their skills and abilities to help give back to CSC. So many times people don't just visit CSC, they also volunteer at CSC.

Here are some photos from the past year of family and friends that have visited and volunteered at CSC.

1. Gordie, one of CSC's board members, recently came to see CSC in action. This is a picture of when he led a Bible study for the older boys and girls at CSC about having a positive self image.

2. My family visited CSC in February. My mom taught the kids origami and led a workshop for the teachers. My dad did a pottery demonstration and then led an art activity where the kids made clay fish (or sharks or piranhas).

3. When Lindsay's family came to visit her dad, Allen (or Dr. Mork, in this picture), helped out by seeing some of the kids that were sick.

4. Our friend Angie recently came to visit Lindsay and I. She's an elementary school teacher back in Minnesota. She volunteered to help the preschoolers who had a lesson on clowns. She jumped right in. I love this pictures!

What an honor it is to have such incredible people visit and volunteer at CSC!