Staff Blog

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. 

Dear Friends,

Over and over again we have been touched by the generosity we've witnessed from around the globe for those families that were impacted by the typhoon. Amidst devastation we have seen the beauty of people showing love for other people--those they will never meet. We are honored to have been a part of getting needed items to those who were hurting.

At CSC, we are to the point where we have done what we can for those we set out to serve after the typhoon: families of staff members and families of former CSC residents who were impacted by the storm. As we have served them we have recognized that we are not in the business of disaster response, and at this point, feel it is wise to direct all our efforts to the care of our 88 children.

For that reason, we will no longer be accepting typhoon gifts. As new gifts arrive we will try to reach those donors to ask if they would prefer the gift be returned or redirected to another organization. In the cases where we don't reach the donor, those gifts will be distributed to other organizations that are doing typhoon relief.

Thank you for caring about the Philippines, and for caring about people that need help. May God bless you.

Matt Buley

I was giving a tour the other day to some visitors. I have done it hundreds of times over the years. Sometimes it is fun, other times not so much. It kind of depends on the people who are visiting and their interest level. Most people who come to see us are really into CSC and want to see the facilities and hear stories about how we got started and how we ended up with the great facilities that we now have in Cebu.

During the most recent tour I was telling about the miraculous ways that God provided for our buildings. I told about how we got the land to build on in the first place. I related how our school was built and how Harry Schmidt came through for our homes. I started to sound like a broken record. This was our need; this is how God provided it. Different people, the same basic story. We had been renting for years and needed some good buildings on land that we owned. God provided it. We needed a place where our children could get a quality education. God gave us a school. We needed additional housing and an infirmary. God gave it to us. We needed playground equipment and some gazebos for the kids to play in during rainy times or very hot days. One of our supporters gave the money for it. Medical equipment, computers for the school, vehicles, surgery for little Thomas, hospital beds for Jacob and Ginda? He came through. Everything we have is the result of gifts from people who God uses. We have dedicated staff and workers, but without the gifts of our supporters, all that commitment wouldn't amount to much. You dear people put the food, the medicine, the books, the baby formula, the Smart board, the toys, the clothes, shoes, diapers, cribs, beds, into our hands and into our homes so we can provide a great place for 90 children to live.

So I guess that giving an honest tour of CSC means that the tour guide will sound like a broken record.  It is unavoidable  at CSC, where everything comes from God.

We all take turns being on duty on the evenings when the House Parents in each home have their day off.  It makes our already long day even longer but I have learned that I usually leave the home more refreshed and certainly more blessed than when I walked in a few hours earlier.

It was my night to be on duty at the Duterte Home.  All the little kids had gone upstairs to bed.  I gathered the older kids together to ask for prayer requests and to talk about things that they wanted to talk about.  The conversation quickly became about the recent typhoon.  The kids had heard stories from our workers and from friends at school regarding the death and/or destruction that the typhoon brought,  some of it not very far away.  The kids were unsure about their birth families experience in the typhoon as well.   Everyone just seemed to have a sad story to tell.  Jacob,  who is 27 years old,  wheel chair bound and unable to speak was in our group.  Jacob has Cerebral Palsy.  It was obvious that these stories were hard for Jacob to hear,  he was making sounds indicating distress and was getting more spastic as time went on.   I was afraid he was either going to break the bindings holding him in his wheel chair or break a bone!  I asked one of the workers to take Jacob to another room. I explained that we would ask Jacob to come back for our prayer time.  Jacob agreed.

For our prayer time I asked for volunteers for each of the people, families or circumstances that we had put on our prayer list.  When we got to one family that the kids had told about who had lost their home in the tsunami like storm surge that came with the arrival of the typhoon in a nearby town Jacob shouted and raised his hand in the air, he wanted to pray for that family.  His name went on the list.  We spent time in prayer,  it got quiet and Jacob had not prayed yet.  I looked up at Jacob and he was looking at me,  I just nodded, indicating that it was his time to pray.  He shut his eyes and he prayed.  A more beautiful prayer I have never heard.  As I watched and listened to Jacob pray I looked around at the other kids,  many of them were looking at Jacob too.  I was not the only one with tears in my eyes.  We could not understand one word that Jacob prayed,  we did did understand his emotion and we did understand "amen!"

Later, when all the kids were in their bedrooms I went to Jacob's room.  I thanked him for his prayer for the family and told him that I knew that God heard and understood every word he said.   I told Jacob that I thought that God was comforting the family right then because of Jacob's prayer.  Jacob got his big "Jacob smile" that takes up his whole face and even tends to make his body spastic...but he worked hard and brought his arm up in the air, got his pointer finger extended and with joy pointed straight up.  Yes Jacob,  God in Heaven heard and understood every word of your prayer!  I knew that is what  he was telling me, and I agreed.   I left for home with a smile on my face and an extra blessing in my heart.  

I didn't have my camera with me that night.  This photo is a re-enactment of Jacob telling me exactly where his prayers go!