In the Middle of the Action

When our family returned to Cebu in June from a one year furlough in Washington and Minnesota, we came back one member short. We left our older son, Anthony, there to begin college in St. Paul. Ruth and I always knew that day would come, but we didn't really realize how it would come rushing up on us. I suppose most parents feel that way. But his 17 1/2 years of living in our home, most of that time here in Cebu where he was born, didn't seem long enough considering the thousands of miles and one very big ocean away that we would be. There was still too much to do and so much to impart. I suppose again that most parents feel that way - the thoughts kept drifting in that we should have done this or we should have done that. But then again he probably wouldn't have been able to leave home until he was in his 50s if we would have done all the things I thought of. We enjoyed all of our time with Anthony as a child in our home, but we raised him to be an adult. Now he is and he's getting along just fine (and many heartfelt thanks to many wonderful friends of ours who are a great extended family to him). We are very proud of him and the choices he is making.
It has also been Anthony's dream for some time to be an officer in the Marine Corps. He has long had a desire to serve the United States of America and it's causes for freedom. And even as a young boy the attack on our country on 9/11 seemed to have a profound effect on him. Perhaps being a resident of the Philippines where freedoms and justice are far less concrete gave him a desire to be a part of a cause where they are. But with that all said, he watched one idea about how he wanted to become Marine Corps officer fade and then saw another get clearer.

He Skyped us in the middle of August and said he would like to enlist.

It would get quite lengthy to go through all of the details of the past 6 weeks, but it would be saying enough that we wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into. With his own initiative and the help of good friends he seems to be well informed and with the right motivations. And he still has the goal of being an officer - an infantry officer. So a parent, at this point, has to ask. Why? Why not choose something a little bit safer (what is safer in the Marines)? Now all of that may come to pass, or it may not. There are a lot of hurdles between signing your name on the dotted line as an enlisted personnel to becoming any kind of officer in the Marine Corps. But his answer? He wants to be challenged and to make a difference where the action is. Somebody has to do that job.

Where does he learn this stuff???

I had to reflect a bit on what Anthony has been exposed to his entire life. He has lived among a group of people (his parents included) who, in a country far away, have been working to make a difference in other people's lives. There are certainly some who would say we are maybe a bit touched to live halfway around the world in sometimes very difficult conditions to help Filipino children. And those people may be right. But when you know you are in a work God has ordained and you see the way your efforts result in changed lives, you know you are doing the right thing.

The situations that most of our children at CSC come out of are desperate, if not sometimes horrific. And while some children may continue to face challenges as they move beyond CSC to adoptive families, by and large they are doing well. Through several means, we maintain contact with many dozens of our former kids and their adoptive families to see them be successful in school, maintain a healthy spiritual life, get productive jobs, and start families of their own. Those success stories would not have happened without a dedicated group of people here in Cebu in the middle of the action, doing the work that few others choose to do.

Somebody has to do this job.