Staff Blog

Please pray for Thomas! His surgery will be on Tuesday, February 11 at 11:00 am Cebu time (9:00 pm on Monday the 10th, Minnesota time).  He  has a serious problem called craniosynostosis, which means that the sutures of his skull fused prematurely. Consequently, his brain is bulging through the anterior fontanelle, which has caused his head to become misshapen, and fluid has built up around his brain. The surgeon will remove the fused portions of the skull, and four areas of the skull will be re-shaped by making several small cuts in each portion of bone. The bones will be sutured together afterwards. His head has gotten very large, and his eyes are bulging so it has become an urgent matter to do this surgery as soon as possible. They are hoping that the procedure will reduce the build up of fluids so he will not need to have a shunt at this point. Thomas will be in intensive care for one week, and will be in a private room for another week, at least.

After a lot of discussion, soul searching and prayer, the CSC staff has decided against using the government hospital for this surgery. Although the operating room there has decent equipment, the Intensive Care Unit where he would have gone following the surgery is not well equipped, and he would be in proximity to children with infectious diseases. The nurse to patient ratio, and other factors made us reconsider the decision to use that hospital.

News: The surgery will be at Cebu Doctors' Hospital, the facility that we often use for our children. Having him operated on at CDH is a step of faith for our staff, as the costs will be much more than at the government hospital. We are trusting God to provide for this difficult and intricate surgery, and for the after care that Thomas will need. He will need to be in the ICU for a week. We want to be able to offer Thomas the best chance possible to survive the surgery and the crucial hours and days afterwards. We fell that we are doing that, though the cost will be high. Although it is very difficult to predict what the total costs will be for the surgery and aftercare, we are making an initial estimate of $25,000. We will update that amount here on the website as we get more financial information from the hospital.

Please pray with our staff, workers and friends as we surround that operating room in prayer.

If you would like to make a donation for this life saving surgery for Thomas, click here. Please designate the gift for Thomas' Surgery. Thank you!

On Wednesday, February 5 Mitch and I flew to Tacloban, Leyte, to see Paul Varberg. Paul is a missionary with Converge BGC, and he has been doing relief work in that beleagured city for the past three months. It was three months ago that super typhoon Haiyan ravaged Tacloban, killing thousands and destroying or damaging many, if not most, of the houses.

After three months, much of the city is still in ruins. Most homes still have no electricity, as the power poles and lines are still down. Many businesses have not re-opened. Tents given by the United Nations have been set up all over the city for the homeless. Some families are trying to repair their roofs, but others don't have the money to buy the materials. In some cases, the needed materials are not available to buy. Whole communities were wiped out by the typhoon, swept away by the storm surge that noone saw coming. For Mitch and me, the destruction in Tacloban is hard to comprehend. Mitch commented to Paul Varberg that, if the storm had been just a few miles south, Cebu City would be like this.

It was encouraging to see Paul Varberg in action, and witness his concern for the people in his church who lost so much. CSC decided to partner with him in helping rebuild homes, from the donations that came to us for relief work. Our generous and faithful supporters have been able to contribute more than $15,000 to help Paul reach out to these families with wood, nails, roofing materials, cement blocks and cement. He is a man of integrity and it is a privilege to partner with him.

Here are some pictures from Tacloban.

I am pretty much amazed on a daily basis about the creative works made by our kids here.  They have a knack for drawing, creating, writing, coloring and cutting---even folding letters into intricate patterns.  I, myself, do not have such a creative gene so I admire them even more I suppose.

But, truth be told, not all of the kids are able to make such effortless works.  Some struggle with the basics of writing and cutting longer than they should.  These kids often receive therapy from our resident PTs to improve their fine motor skills.  In class, they often work one-on-one with a teacher on projects and they also have Individualized Instruction, which is more one-on-one time with a teacher in addition to their regular classes to improve on the skills they are having difficulty mastering.  It is a HUGE blessing that our school and shelter can offer all of these specialized services because these kids, our kids, would be lost in a public or even private school where class sizes are 30 or 35 to 1 teacher.

Below is a picture I took of a very special gift given to me.  It was a class project, given to me on the day it was completed.  It is, as the teacher described, "a labor of love."  The child who gave this to me will be 7 in August, but he cannot yet write his name without hand-over-hand assistance from his teacher.  He is a child who received therapy to learn how to put on his socks and shoes for several months before he had mastered it.  He is a child who is still receiving therapy for cutting skills and other fine motor activities.  He worked really hard on this for a long time.  Cutting on the lines is a difficult task for him, following a curve or cutting irregular shapes, nearly impossible.  But he did it.  

He had ran up to me and excitedly given it before his class was about to start.  The kids love to give letters, flowers and things like that so I accepted it with a smile.  Later I realized it must have been a class project and I figured he needed it still.  I approached his teacher to ask if he would need it to complete assignments.  She said no, but she shared that it was a very hard work for him to complete.  What a treasure it is to me!  

I consider my work here to be a significant blessing to ME.  Visitors often come here and thank me for what I do, but really, no thanks is needed.  Every day I receive so many gifts that it is almost not right to call this work.  God’s hand is on this place and I am blessed to be here, in His palm. 

Thank you for supporting this ministry, for praying for all of us.  When I look at this child’s work, I am humbled by his gift.  I can see how hard he worked to make it, the painstaking care he took as he cut.  But I also see his progress, how far he’s come and it is because of CSC.  And it is because of all of you, who care, who get on your knees to pray, for these kids, for this work, so we can give them what they need.

Click on the team icon for pictures of that team participating in the 2014 Children of Hope School Sportsfest held on January 24 at the Shelter playground.