Staff Blog
A few weeks ago I had a heart attack. They put in five stents because of significant blockage. I spent a few days in the hospital and went home to embark on a new lifestyle. I exercise every day and am very careful about my diet. Because I am diabetic, the need for controlled intake is doubly important. I am super blessed to have understanding staff at CSC, a loving wife who takes good care of me, and health insurance that will pay for much of the medical bills associated with my surgery, hospitalization, therapy and medications.
In addition to exercise and diet, I have been advised to try and identify areas of stress in my life and work to lessen them. The past year has been very stressful at CSC with lots of personnel and program changes and some difficult situations to handle. There is no way to eliminate stress in my job, with the responsibilities of overseeing a ministry that employs 135 people and provides care for 80 children. But I can say that, in the midst of changes and challenges, God has provided some significant "de-stressers" for me through the people on our Leadership Team. They help manage the challenges and absorb a lot of the stress that would otherwise come my way. For example:
Eldie, who directs our new Human Resources department, takes on issues relating to managing our employees. He handles problems and policies. When we recently had to terminate an employee, he handled it. We discussed it and came to the decision together, but he was the one to implement it. Ging, our Financial Director, manages our funds. This is budget preparation season and she has handled much of the work of gathering the information and working with the staff on the preparation of the various departmental budgets. Klaris, our Social Work Director just got back from a quick trip to Manila for pre-matching one of our children with the Inter-Country Adoption Board. Six months ago I would have had to make that trip and deal with the challenging work of choosing a family with all the complicated procedures and policies of the government for matching. She also does all the editing of child study reports that go to the government for all our kids, again, something I would have been doing a year ago. Jinkee manages the Child Development department, seeing that our kids get the care they need from our house parents, child care workers and therapists. Marlys heads up the medical team of four nurses, making sure the children get the medical care they require. Ben and Cris are at the reins of Children of Hope School, managing the teachers and curriculum so ably and professionally. Although I am responsible for the care our children receive, our relationship to the government, and our financial and human resource management, I don't need to worry about the details of the work being done by these fine people and their teams. They handle problems and challenges, spreading around the potential stress that I need to minimize.
Our generous supporters are also de-stressers. This is crunch time at CSC. We need to raise a lot of money in November and December to meet our income needs for the year. We watch the daily mail counts carefully and prayerfully. Admittedly, we worry a little at this time of year! But much of that is alleviated by the knowledge that our supporters always come through in big ways. Our hope for year-end 2017 is based on the awesome provision of our God through our supporters every years since 1979. That's 38 years of faithfulness! God's admonition for us in Philippians 4:6-7 not to "worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Not only is it important to show our faith and appreciation to God for what He has done, we will avoid stress as we "experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. " Truly His peace will "guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus."
Thanks for your important role at CSC for the children, first of all, but for those of us who lead this ministry as well.
Breakfast of Champions
This morning I had the honor of eating breakfast with 45 amazing donors. CSC held it’s second annual Shareholder Meeting today. This shareholder group consists of donors who have given a total of $50,000 or more in gifts OR 150 or more lifetime gifts. I was calculating what that looks like and realized that in order to hit 150 lifetime gifts, it equals monthly gifts to an organization for at least 12 1/2 years. That’s a really long time. And a serious commitment to a ministry.
I was honored to be in a room with people so dedicated to helping the children in Cebu. In a way, everyone who gives to support the ministry is a shareholder. Whether it is your first gift or your 200th gift, you are investing in the work of changing lives in the Philippines. Thank you for your support!
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Zebedee
Last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at my home church, Central Baptist. I spoke about Zebedee, the father of James and John. The title of my sermon was "Stay in the Boat." I took a look at the life of Zebedee as he saw his boys leave the boat to go and follow Jesus. Zebedee's calling was to stay in the boat, to not get in the way of his boys' leaving, and, almost certainly, to keep working hard to be able to support their calling to follow Jesus.
While some have been called to leave their homes and go to Cebu to serve. Others have answered the call to remain in North America, in their communities, families and places of employment. The financial and prayer support of the missionaries who went to the Philippines has been crucially important to success of the ministry in the lives of the children that God has brought to us.
Praise God for the Zebedees who have blessed CSC over the years, who put the food, medicine, clothing and books in the hands of our staff to brighten the lives of homeless children in Cebu.
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United Nations Day 2014
The students started the morning of UN Day with a passport and a sense of anticipation. There were lots of places to go and only one day to fit it all in.
In the morning, the students traveled to five countries—Angola, Puerto Rico, Mexico, France, and United Arab Emirates. In each country, the students learned interesting facts, made a craft or two, and tried some of the local food. Some of the countries had very strict rules, only letting in the students who were sitting quietly while waiting in line. Once inside each country's room, the fun began. There were interesting facts to be learned, fun crafts to make, and new foods to taste. By the end of the morning, each student’s hands were full of souvenirs from the places they had visited.
In the afternoon, different classes presented a cultural dance from each of the countries. Angola won Mister and Miss UN Day and they were thrilled. The day ended with a quiz game about the countries. It was a fun day from beginning to end.
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If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On
Two weeks ago I started teaching private music lessons. Right now I have 9 students, 3 piano and 6 voice. I am teaching lessons every day after school (about two students per day). This is something that I was thinking about doing before I moved to Cebu, and now have finally started! I am mostly teaching teenagers, though I have two younger students.
So far is has been a complete joy to teach lessons! Music has always been a big part of my life, and I love to share that with others. I started taking piano lessons when I was in second grade, and continued lessons until I was a sophomore in High school. I started taking voice lessons when I was a sophomore in high school, and participated in many choral activities, including all-state choir and college choir.
It is very encouraging to teach the kids at CSC. All of my students have a genuine desire to learn. Each week they come to lessons prepared, and full of enthusiasm. In the states, I noticed that practicing is something students often fail to do, but not my students! I was surprised to see my students asking me for copies of their music, and coming up to me throughout the week telling me how they are practicing. Their attitudes are completely amazing! They are also very talented!
Right now the voice students are working on a vocal compositon from a broadway musical. Some of their pieces include: I could have danced all night, Climb every mountain, My favorite things, and Consider yourself. The kids all enjoy their songs, and have been learning a lot about pronunciation in singing (how it differs from our normal speaking voice), pitch matching, breath support and musical style. Piano students have been learning through the book series Piano Adventures. One of my stuends is in the primer level, and two are in level 1. The three piano students are very quick learners, and listen well to instruction. Though there are not pianos or keyboards in each of the homes, the piano students take time out of their own free time to go up to the school and practice.
Dedicated is the best word I can use to describe my musically gifted students. Though we are only in our third week of lessons, every moment has been enjoyable and full of ah-ha moments. I feel so blessed to be able to teach these wonderful children!
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Science Works!
On October 7, 2014 Science Groups 2B, 3, and 4 went to a Science Exhibit at Park Mall. The exhibit had all kinds of cool science phenomenon the kids could explore. Everyone was excited to discover new things. They tried all the different exhibits and were amazed at how science works.
Lots of Learning going on!
Exploring the Van de Graff generator. She looks cool with that hair.
Attending the Science Exhibit encouraged intellectual curiousity, sharpened the kids' critical thinking, and helped them draw conclusions about the world around them.
-Rhasie Gantuangco, Instructional Assistant
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