CSC's Children of Faith

CSC has been a ministry of faith since its inception nearly 32 years ago. All of our missionary staff who founded the work with homeless children here in Cebu City were people of strong faith; that continues until today with several new staff members added along the way. A ministry such as ours that works among the poorest of the poor in a country of great injustices could not survive long without leaders who have a strong faith in a just God. Our work with children who have faced untold atrocities needs a purpose. Our purpose is to serve and honor our living God – a God of great faith. It is a faith we don’t wish to keep to ourselves.

We like the 80 children in our care to know why we do this work. We want them to know why we are here from a different country caring for them. It is important for our children to know we are away from our families for a greater purpose. Our faith in God brought us here, it keeps us here, and it enables us to weather the challenges and difficulties we face caring for children from abusive and neglected backgrounds. We want our children not only to experience the benefits of our faith, but we want them to have that faith as well.

Our children are at many different levels of faith, much depending on their level of maturity. It is very encouraging that when we have visitors, they comment positively on how our children know scripture and the stories of faith from the Bible. Our children benefit from regular devotions and prayer in the homes, attending weekly Sunday school and worship in a local church, and special activities such as vacation Bible school and Bible Month activities at our school.

There are also other special activities geared toward our more mature children. On a weekly basis, CSC staff Joel Reasoner leads Boys’ Club for the teen boys. Assisted by our counselor, Eldie Allocod, Joel leads the boys in studying scripture and faith issues particular to them. Every Saturday morning, a dear missionary friend hosts our adolescent and teen girls in Bible Club. In addition to regular Bible learning activities, a small group of older teen girls are also mentored to be Christian leaders. These girls, in turn, host a weekly Bible story in our home for all of the younger children.

I meet on a regular basis with our children who are matched with adoptive families and waiting to leave soon. We talk about many issues important to their adjustment in their new families and a new culture. But we also talk about carrying with them what they have learned at CSC, including matters of Christian values, morals and faith. We don’t want our children checking those things at the door when they leave. As CSC staff members, we often refer to our children as seeds being planted around the world. We want our children not only to experience their own, faith, but we want them to share that faith with others as well. It’s a faith we don’t wish them to keep to themselves.

They're All Gone

It's been quite some time since I posted a blog. Not that I haven't had anything to blog about. I always do, but I get conflicted about how to do it. So many of the the things that I would like to share involve very personal situations with the kids or the ministry that I can't put in writing. So even though I think it would make very interesting reading for those who care about our children and CSC's ministry, it stays stuck in my head. I don't suppose most of those things will ever come out to my tappings on the keyboard.

But I was sitting in my office today and I looked up at the wall where I have a big picture of our 2006 CSC Twins baseball team. I went down all of the faces in the two rows of kids and thought to myself, "he's gone, he's gone, he's gone, he's gone, she's gone, she's gone, she's gone, and so forth. They are all gone, save for one kid I still have in my house. He's soon to be gone, too. That was a great season with a lot of terrific memories. We won every game and the championship. Anthony (a kid I used to have) and Neil helped me coach the team and every kid filled an important role on the team. Baseballs sprayed to all fields with the Twins at the bat and our defense was sterling.

But the best memories of those kids are not what they did with a glove on their hand or a bat at the plate. The best memories are of what they were like when they came to CSC, how they blossomed under CSC's care, and what they have become now that they have joined adoptive families. We hear about all of them from time to time, speak with one or another on occasion using some form modern technology, or even get to visit a few when we are in the States.

Some have continued to play baseball, while some have gone on to less demanding sports like basketball, football, soccer, or tennis. Several are excelling in music, while at least one is active in drama and dance. Most seem to be active in their Christian faith, while some are showing an interest in missions. One is even going off to college this fall. Oh, and that one kid I used to have is now a U.S. Marine.

I know how I feel when I look at that picture and see the bundle of personality, talent, humor, potential, challenges, and fun those kids were. The thing is, I could be looking at any picture from three years ago or 25 years ago and the feelings would be the same. I am grateful for the chance I had to be a part of their lives and for them to have been a part of mine. I hope they are grateful for the role CSC played in their lives, that they are serving God, and honoring their parents. I hope they see the picture the same way I do.

Giving Spirit

The past few months have been some very challenging times for CSC, especially in light of the fact that we are early in the process of our latest expansion of the ministry - from three homes to four, including our teen home. Over the three summer months, we have received nearly $100,000 less than what our budget calls for. And although we have been able to make up some of that difference with reserves here in Cebu, it has meant that we are not doing many things we need to be doing for the ministry. We have not had to cut basic daily services yet, but many maintenance projects are going undone, a couple replacements of nearly 20 year old vehicles are off the table, much needed vehicle repairs are being put off, outreach assistance is being restricted, a child's surgery is being delayed, IT systems are not being upgraded, and the hiring of a few more staff needed to fill roles in the expanding work is on hold.

We are trusting that God, who knows all of our needs, will provide. CSC's stateside organization is working to better make our needs known to our current donors while also taking steps to bring CSC to those who don't know about us yet. And it's encouraging that in the middle of CSC's great needs this summer, God has brought two new couples to help our ministry here in Cebu. Two Filipino couples, unknown to CSC before, both found our ministry through the Internet. Both sent e-mails expressing a desire to visit the shelter and to help in whatever way they could. Both couples did visit the shelter and shortly after gave very generous donations while sharing a desire to continue doing so. That has been a very rare occurrence here in Cebu.

We are encouraged that God is showing his provision for us. Those gifts we received may barely dent the summer shortfall we have experience, but they were very generous and help a great deal towards providing food, medicine, and education for our children.

We so greatly appreciate the giving spirit of these two Filipino couples - they were both so excited to be helping the children at CSC!

Two Minute Conversation Between Peers: An Expression of a Life Lived to Its Fullest

Competition With a Lot of Laughs

Life at the shelter can be a bit confining at times because of the unsafe reality of the surrounding neighborhood and the protective nature of CSC's ministry. It's just not possible for kids to go out the gate and roam the neighborhood looking for play opportunities. For any who have had the chance to visit the shelter, that would be very evident. Drugs, gangs, and occasional violence are not uncommon to our locale.

So our kids relish every opportunity to have some time out from the hustle and bustle of the shelter. It might be a weekly outing with their houseparents, going shopping with Auntie Sandy, Jollibee for lunch with Uncle Paul, bowling with Teacher Amy and Teacher Tammy, or out on a boat for some snorkeling with our family. We also enjoy going out for a bite to eat with the kids and playing several games of P-I-G at a local billiards room. P-I-G, introduced to our kids by one of our teachers, is an elimination type game that involves a billiards table with two balls, lots of action and strategy, and a ton of laughs.



While all of the kids play for fun, most of them want to win really badly. For a few it's pretty important. But more than that, they like to see me lose or make a silly error. That gets the most laughs. And if I end up on my back on the floor, all the better. Nothing like a good laugh at the expense of Uncle Mitch.



It's just a good experience for everyone all around. The kids get to get out and enjoy themselves, they get a chance to compete in a game where even the less talented kid has always got a chance to win, they get to see me do badly, and everyone gets to laugh a lot.

Our Friends from Stavanger

These past few weeks have we've had a couple of families visit the ministry who adopted children from us back in the late 80s and early 90s. Both families are from Stavanger, Norway as well as another family that adopted two other boys from us in the 80s but weren't able to come for a visit at this time. The family of Andreas Hernan and Anne Riyah arrived at the end of June and stayed here in the Philippines for about three weeks. It was exciting for us to have a chance to visit with their whole family on several occasions, but especially with their two kids, now adults in their 20s. Both Andreas and Anne were a delight to have and it was fun to hear about their lives after so many years. Anne was a top 10 finalist in Norwegian Idol a few years ago and is very talented young woman. Andreas is a very impressive young man who obviously has a very kind spirit. The night their family joined us for a birthday party, Andreas sat for the better part of two hours with Julieto and chatted with him while showing him pictures on his camera. I've never seen Julieto feel comfortable enough to sit with anyone for that long and carry on a conversation.

This week brought the adoptive parents of Mark and Jay to the shelter, although the boys, also both now adults, were not able to come with them to Cebu. Jay and Mark were both adopted in the early 90s. Mark and Jay's parents shared lots of stories about the boys and it's wonderful to hear they are both doing well.

Both families have been to visit Cebu several times and we feel as though they are close, but distant, friends. The families also stay involved with each other in Norway along with the other family who adopted the two boys, Jan Allen and Tor Alvin. All three families keep in touch, socialize with each other, and even share vacations together at times. We appreciate, too, how they stay involved with CSC, always make it a point to visit us, and support the work we continue to do.

With these three families, we feel like we have a little part of CSC that continues on away from Cebu on the southwest coast of Norway!

Kim, Now Joey

In recent months we have had quite a few of our former residents come back to visit CSC, including a few who were at CSC in its early days, 25 to 30 years ago. Arlie, Andreas Hernan, Anne Riyah, and Joey were all with us a various times in the 1980s. And just now as I write this I've had an IM pop up from another of our kids from the 80s, Cherry. Wow.

It's always a thrill for us to have our kids come back to visit us. Occasionally it is a situation where we have had little or no communication with the child or the family since the child left. It presents the occasion of having many years of catching up to do. Often a returning resident will have the desire to search for and visit a birth family, usually successfully. And sometimes they are adults already and have their own families.

Whatever the situation, it's always a blessing for us to welcome back those we have cared for and invested a big part of our lives in. It's really no different than any of us that have our own children and then getting to see them again after a very long absence. We feel as though they are one of our own. The affinity is still there even if the familiarity is not.

When Joey came to visit with his father, Frank, and sister, Kim, it brought back so many memories. We were all a lot younger back then and I remember being on duty (our CSC staff provided most of the childcare back in those days) with Joey, then named Kim. We fed him, bathed him, changed his diaper, and put him to sleep. But most of the memories come from playing with Joey. He was a solid little guy with a big smile and a lot of energy. I spent many hours on my back in the original Bulacao home on the floor with Joey and his buddies crashing down on top of me. Once thrown off, he would always come back for more. Always.

We hope he comes back for more here at CSC someday, too!