Staff Blog

God is in control of each of our lives.  He has a recipe for our lives.  Since each of us is a different creation, we require different ingredients in different amounts to produce the end product, us.

There are many people and things which God uses to influence each of our lives.  Some are big things that influence us in big ways.  Some are small things that influence us in big ways.  And some influence us in small ways which will change our course in life drastically.  We need to take time to remember the people and things that God has used in our lives to make us into the people we are today. 

Recently, several former CSC residents shared the ways in which God has worked in their lives.  It is wonderful to hear from the children about God’s recipe for their lives, helping them grow into the young people they are today.

What is God’s recipe for your life?

I can't help but feel closer to God after visiting Thomas at the hospital.  Thomas was sleeping; he had had his dressing changed earlier and had cried a bit, so he might have tired himself out.  I chatted with the Auntie, getting a quick update on how he was doing.  There has been some drainage from the surgical site over the last couple of days, so there is a potential for infection! :(

I prayed over him and held his hand, but thought I should let him rest, so soon left.  As I was leaving the hospital, I could not help but think on how Thomas is such a testament to God's provision.  We have had several meetings, even since before admitting him, about Thomas, his needs and our ideas about how we could meet them.  We prayed a lot about these concerns and sought guidance, but inevitably, just had to surrender them to God.  And we have seen God provide time and time again.  The financial assistance has come through, but even more than that, our plans for how to respond to the problems or possibilities we feared would occur were not even necessary.  

God is good.

Sleepy at the moment, but still such a trooper!

His toys, the books he likes to "read," tissue and a Bible---the essentials!

Here he is, receiving excellent care from his Auntie.  We are blessed at CSC to have such caring childcare workers!

All the time, God is good.  And we have seen His goodness in Thomas' life so many times already and countless times over the life of CSC. 

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.

I met someone the other day. Sometimes I go where she works and she had helped me once before, but that time it was just a transaction. This time we started talking and it wasn’t long before we were engaged in rich conversation. Somehow it came out that I am a Christian, and she is too.

She told me how hard it had been to find a church lately, and that she had been hurt by her church years ago. At the time, she was married with school-aged children and tragedy turned her world upside down. Her husband took his own life. It had been years, but her voice revealed how much it still hurt.

Even that painful admission couldn’t prepare me for what she said next.

After navigating the early days of the terrible loss, she sent her children back to school, which was run by the church the family attended. On that first day back one of her children’s teachers taught a lesson on why those who commit suicide go to hell.

I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. I stared at her with my mouth open before finally mustering, “that’s awful.” I had a depth of response that is hard to explain. I felt sad, and angry, and to be honest, ashamed. I felt ashamed that a fellow Christ-follower could do something so outrageous.

I wanted to apologize. In a situation that begged for grace, this teacher had cast judgment and embarrassment on a child who was still reeling from the death of a parent. It’s brutal. I found myself wanting to distance myself from this person who believes in the same cross-bearing, life-giving God that I do. I couldn’t make sense of it (then again, can I make sense of the sins I commit?).

As I drove home and reflected on this long talk I realized something. I was hit by a deep sense of gratitude for CSC that has nothing to do with being its leader or an employee or a donor. I was proud that this is what Christians do. CSC is a group of people who take in children who are hurting and alone and give them a second chance at life and family. There is something about CSC that transmits God’s love in profound, consuming and vivid ways. At the very root of all this is devotion to Christ--to doing what would please him. I love that one response to following Christ is this sacred work at CSC.

What we’re doing here, you and I, and all who care, is something to be proud of…if I dare say so myself.

More than anything else in the world, in relation to her work, a teacher cares most about what her students have actually learned. She always wonders if she’s getting through to her students every day. I know I do. It pleases me and gives me a sense of achievement whenever I see proof that my students are understanding the lessons. Imagine how God must feel every time we show him just how much we need to learn from him.

A week ago we were practicing our morning meeting, a 30-minute presentation done by each level to showcase what they have learned in class. There are four levels of classes: Pre-K, A, B, and C. I teach one of the Level B classes. Our reading curriculum is organized with lessons based around different themes. Recently Level B classes have been reading stories based on the themes of Kindness and City Wildlife. To make sure that our kids really understood the concepts we were working on, I found a video about kindness showing a Pay-It-Forward kind of concept with people helping one another in a chain reaction. As a preview for the presentation, the Level B students watched the video.  They enjoyed the video, but didn’t seem to give it any kind of special thought. I was a bit disappointed. 

One of the things that we train our kids to do at school is to be disciplined. Every morning as they change from their tennis shoes to their classroom slippers, we remind them they should arrange their shoes neatly along the wall. One morning this week I saw some pairs of shoes were not neatly arranged. I called the attention of the owners of the shoes to arrange them correctly. What happened next touched me and surprised me as well!

One owner was about to go to his shoes to fix them when the person standing next to the shoes immediately arranged them. The owner smiled in gratitude and was about to line up when he heard me call another of the students to fix her shoes. As the girl was about to go and fix her shoes, the boy who was helped first ran to her shoes to fix them himself. Then he looked at me, smiled, and said, “Like in the movie, teacher. He helped me. I’m going to help her too.” After saying that, he went back to his line and went to his room.

The day passed, I was done teaching my lessons and I finally sat down in my classroom. I pondered about the one seemingly insignificant situation that had taken place that morning.

They were all Level B students. They were the ones we showed the video to first. They were the ones we taught about kindness. I thought the unit didn’t impress them much. I was absolutely wrong. They had learned. And when they saw an opportunity to apply the lesson, they did it as if they had done it many times in their lives.  It was amazing! Another realization hit me. Unlike adults, kids don’t tend to be so dramatic and touchy about movies they see that teach them a wonderful lesson. But it doesn’t mean they don’t care. They are internalizing the idea, waiting for an opportunity to apply exactly what they gained from that lesson.

What a precious treasure!

-Ann Sabio