Perks

This job comes with a lot of benefits. We don't have big salaries or extensive retirement plans. But the things that happen around here every day provide lots of emotional rewards:

Lots has been written on this site about Sheila May and the recent recon-
structive surgery that she had on her face. It was a glorious thing and we all have been celebrating with her. We talk about the fact that she was a beautiful girl before the surgery, and that God has only improved on that beauty in an outer way. We talk in those platitudes, of course, but the simple practical fact is that, when she looks in the mirror she doesn't see the hole that used to be there! Her smile isn't any more radiant now, perhaps. But she can walk into any situation now and not feel self conscious. A couple of hours of plastic surgery have changed her life! I remember back to the first day when we saw Sheila May and her siblings inside the pastors home in Lapu-Lapu City. Jonathan and Lois Larson were with us and these kids were still reeling from the loss of both of their parents within a few months. There was no joy in that family of kids. Every meal was a big concern. I think of the staff meetings where we discussed the idea of taking them in and how that day eventually came. And now we have the perks of being able to watch them grow, go to school, and, for Sheila, get a new and even more beautiful shape to her face.


The other day I took a peek into the Eicher Home nursery and saw John Nino and Danielle, two of the cutest little smiling babies you can imagine. They are healthy, happy and enjoying the attention of the aunties and staff at CSC. Their futures are bright; soon they will be matched with adoptive families somewhere in the world. But back a few months both were abandoned in a government hospital as newborns. Nursing mothers in the hospital helped save their lives, and CSC eventually took them home. From a hopeless situation their lives are now filled with hope.

Yesterday we had a baseball game to help celebrate the birthday of CSC staff member Amy Luck. The kids were psyched and it was a great game. I noticed one of our newest kids, John, having a ball playing baseball. He came to live with us on June 3, but was in isolation for a couple of weeks, due to tuberculosis. He was able to join the kids for the start of school in the 23rd, and he hasn't stopped smiling since his first minute at CSC. John and his sister Jocelyn, came to us together, and they are the older siblings of Jovan and Jeralyn. Jovan was the extremely malnourised 11 month old about whom much has been recorded on this site. Those kids grew up in abject poverty and never had a chance to run and play in a safe environment before coming ot live with us. Watching him run around the baseball field, and learn to hit and field was a whole lot of fun for me and the rest of the staff.


This ministry can be difficult and emotionally draining. We work long hours and have many issues to deal with every day. But it is a lot of fun, too, and provides all of us with emotional rewards that are so sweet.