Staff Blog
“Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that doesn’t make you who you are. It is the rest of your story. Who you choose to be.” --Soothsayer, Kung Fu Panda 2
“I didn’t see my mother nor my father. I haven’t met them. No picture. No memories. I’ve been raised by strangers.”
“If only my father was gentle to my mother. They could have stayed together and we might not be here.”
“My mother left me. She even never said goodbye. I don’t know the reason.”
“The couple who fostered me and gave me home have shattered the very idea of home.”
Beginning. Once upon a time.
These are the stories of the beginnings of some of the older residents in CSC. Flipping the pages of their lives into the past would take a lot of courage and relationship. Some chose to seal those pages; while others are open about their once-upon-a-times. In counseling, children often share about their days, their dreams, as well as their past. For a child to paint these stories allows us to help them craft their life story.
“Life story is essential in developing one’s personality, values, and meaning. It’s the integration of reconstructed past and imagined future to provide life with some degree of unity and purpose.” --McAdams & McLean, Narrative Identity, 2013
Although this process may resurface the phantoms of the past, it helps the older resident embrace his/her whole story. By embracing his/her painful once-upon-a-time, it paves the way to acceptance and forgiveness. For some older residents, it was a privilege to hear them express how they acknowledge that no matter how painful their past was, it happened, it happened, it happened. It happened and they saw the collateral beauty of that pain. They are here. They are here with people who love them; who cares for them; who believes in them; who brought back the cape of their childhood; who gives them wings to soar the new horizon.
As our older residents navigate the new waters of independent living, they are more open to building bridges to their past. For some, they have birth families that they can return to; while others are starting to put together the pieces of their beginning. Their new journey is a navigation of mirth and melancholy; hopes and despair; and success and failures. They are now in the process of writing the new chapter, or perhaps, the sequel of their stories. Seeing the collateral beauty, they now have the power to restructure their future and have the power to direct their own narrative— narrative of an iridescent hope.
Small Pain, Big Gain
Kids or adults, men or women, nobody loves to see needles. It's still a needle, no matter how tiny its hole may be or how small it is. Giving vaccines could be challenging as it would hurt the child, the person holding the child, and the one giving the shot in different ways. Poking tiny little arms or thighs with a fluid-filled syringe containing different ingredients that help the body to build immunity against various diseases is not pleasing stuff. However, as adults and advocates of these vulnerable kids, we chose to submit them to these immunization shots because we know it will bring them better protection against illnesses later. That is what love is sometimes, as the scripture says in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Just as the Father sacrificially gave His only son for us imperfect people to have everlasting life with Him, we also, as stewards of these kids entrusted to us by God first before the government, always give thought and act on what is good and for the best interest of these kids.
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When Love is the Key
Love is defined differently by every one of us. It is, after all, a very significant matter. The necessity of this in our day-to-day existence is something we cannot fight or ignore. When it comes to writing, I am an inspired and driven teacher. I enjoy sharing my opinions and thoughts on various topics, including my own experiences. I simply enjoy expressing myself, perhaps to uplift and encourage others to feel comfortable doing the same, or even just to simply tell others about the goodness of God in my life.
I want to share my cooking experience with the sixth-grade students at CCHS. I am blessed for the opportunity given to me. It all began on a lovely Friday afternoon in January, with gathering the supplies and ingredients needed for my students.
Even though I'm not really into "cooking," I had great joy and excitement while I was preparing. To get compliments from everyone who tastes what we prepare will be fun. While the students started to get inside the kitchen, I was honored and excited. We snapped a quick picture before the activity started. I observed their joy and enthusiasm by their broad smiles. Take a peek at our cooking adventure!
It's now time to start cooking. The pupils were occupied in chopping the spices. One of the students among the four is already proficient in handling a knife. Even though the others aren't accustomed to it, they're making a sincere effort to learn how to chop spices with care. I could tell how much love they had for each other and how much they enjoyed what they did. Here, "love" is defined as having a strong passion for what you are doing. Despite their lack of experience or fear of getting a cut while using a knife, they persevered and made an effort to successfully mince and grind the spices into little pieces.
I helped them combine the remaining ingredients once they had minced the spices. All the ingredients (ground pork, eggs, veggies, salt, and other seasonings) were combined in a bowl. I taught them how to wrap after I had mixed them up. Amazingly, they did a great job. They wrapped successfully and neatly. They were able to wrap about 50 pieces, and they started cooking. I love seeing them happy and enjoying themselves. They love to help each other and to accomplish the activity together. They're wrapping and cooking lumpia rolls together. They shared laughter and shared compliments for each other's efforts. We were all happy, and I felt the real ingredient and secret joy of harmonious activity—love.
It's time to start serving the food! They prepared some drinks as refreshments and arranged the lumpia rolls on paper plates. The lumpia rolls were delicious! After learning and discovering the fantastic taste, we were overjoyed!
Love is the key ingredient; everything works out when there is love. That was all we knew up until we had the opportunity to eat. The best result arises when love is the key. Unbelievable or impossible things can come true - thanks to the mystical power of the four-letter word love! It encourages us to push ourselves to connect with others' skills, talents, and individuality while also assisting in understanding one another and accepting differences. Indeed, it is a gift from God because He is love. It has no end and is priceless.
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Birthday Prayer
Meet a delightful five-year-old who is eagerly anticipating his birthday this month.
Four months ago, whenever I had a chance to talk with him, the topic of our conversation was always his birthday. He was already excited for his next birthday! But, unlike other children who come up to me telling me what birthday gifts they want to receive, this boy had asked that he and I should celebrate our birthdays together, since mine is in April. He wants me to pray for him on his birthday and that he will pray for me.
This exchange of conversation has been going on since then. What struck me the most is this five-year-old boy giving a particular importance for prayer, birthday prayer to be specific. This is our hope. For children to have a heart of prayer. And for us at CSC, to be picked by the birthday celebrant to pray for them is such an honor. If you are celebrating your birthday or just celebrated your birthday, I pray that you will be a blessing to others and that the Lord will use you mightily!
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S.M.I.L.E.
"A smile is worth a thousand words."
Julie A. Walker
Most, if not all, of the children who come to CSC find it challenging to convey their feelings. While very few can use words, most of them are not able to. Sadness or fear are usually expressed in silence, tears, tantrums, or stomach aches. Joy or happiness is expressed in hugs, drawings, flowers, or petals picked along the driveway, and mostly in SMILES.
A child's smile keeps us going. When days are long and overwhelming, the genuine smiles on our children's faces give us the strength to carry on.
A child's smile reminds us to count our blessings, especially during the days when we lack cheerfulness and forget all the good things.
A child's smile speaks gratitude to our hearts. Even when words are absent, we still hear their "thank you's."
A child's smile is contagious. Even when our hearts are heavy, we smile because they do.
A child's smile matters because not all children can or will smile at CSC. But when they do, we know our language of love speaks to their hearts.
A CSC child's ...
S – smile gives warmth
M - making our day bright,
I - inspiring us to not give up,
L – leaving a mark in our hearts, and
E – encouraging us to look forward to brighter days ahead.
Dear child,
Thank you for your smile. You don't know how many hearts you have touched when you smile.
May God continue to put a smile on your face and make us instruments for such. May your smile
reflect God's sweet embrace and loving touch in your life today and always.
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A Happy Attitude Leads to Greatness
As the eldest of nine siblings, I was always responsible for most of the household tasks. I used to whine
about the chores my parents gave me. But then my father told me that no matter how simple a task is,
like picking up a spoon, if you don't put love into it, it will be difficult.
From that point forward, I used that simple concept to accomplish my goals, and I was pleased that I
was successful in several ways.
In my teaching career, I apply this through our morning meeting activities in the classroom. Morning
meetings are a school-wide classroom management strategy that meets kids' social-emotional learning needs regularly. Every morning, teachers assemble their students in a circle for 15 to 30 minutes to socialize and start the day. This classroom management technique is a fantastic help for us teachers as we transition students to their goals in class. I can tell which students require more time to code-switch
their feelings into a learning mindset, transforming negative emotions into positive ones.
In my eight years of teaching at CCHS, I've noticed that kids who are emotionally preoccupied with
unnecessary thoughts are unable to comprehend the concept being taught and it is challenging for them to retain the information.
To assist the students, I allow them time to process their feelings/thoughts that were unrelated to the
classroom discussion and be ready once they are inside the classroom, or I explained their role
through pre- or post-class discussion. Then, tell them that there is a time for everything, and to set aside
what initially bothers them and focus on the purpose of their coming to school and deal with their other
thoughts another time.
I believe success occurs when you have a positive attitude, choosing to love, and be cheerful in all that
you do. Being happy and contented in our daily interaction leads to great things in this world, no matter
how challenging the circumstances are.
Proverbs 15:13 says: "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit."
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