What a day!

Our days are always full here in Cebu but today was especially fun. We are trying to make some decisions about admitting children to CSC now that we have some vacancies. So our social workers, child care team and nurses are trying to see the referred children and make some assessments about them. This involves lots of things: visiting them in the hospital; doing blood tests on the mothers and scheduling medical exams and additional tests. Carmelita, our head social worker, had clients dropping in all day, needing answers to questions and presenting her with their problems. Sometimes these folks have an appointment, but often they don't.

This morning a woman showed up with her three month-old baby which had been brought to Cebu from another island. Later the mother of a teenager who had give birth to one of our kids came with some financial needs. Another meeting with a birth mother that involves a very complicated situation with her child's birth certificate is scheduled for later in the afternoon. Just after lunch we had a meeting of the admission team: nurses, social workers, child care team and counselors. We talked about all the different referrals and came up with some priorities for admission and decided in which house each would be placed.

In the midst of all of this, children are brought to doctors, teachers teach, bills are paid, reports are written, meals are cooked, facilities are cleaned, counselors counsel and the children are supervised on the playground. Today we have seven children who are isolated in our infirmary with sore throats and fevers. This means that extra workers need to be scheduled and others will work overtime. One of our boys had major dental work done today so one of our child care workers needed to go with him. Our driver, Edwin, was scurrying to pick up kids, deliver workers and bring delivered items to the homes.

Luckily, we have a hard working staff that consists of people who are willing to work hard and can handle the stress of a day like today. There are lots of days like today, and when we wake up in the morning we never know exactly what the day will bring. Such is the life of those who work with children.

When I was younger, a day like today didn't seem to be tiring at all. Another meeting? Bring it on. Need to run across town on an errand? No sweat. Reports due today? I'll finish them up straightaway and get them in the mail. Go to Manila for a meeting or matching? When do I leave?

But I'm starting to feel my age. I sometimes get tired keeping up with all the activity at CSC. And even though there are lots of people to cover the various tasks that need to be done in a day, I still am amazed at the number of decisions that need to be made, and the increased complexity of leading this ministry. Its a real blessing, though, and we have a wonderful life here in Cebu. And days like today make us understand the importance of our work and the roles that everyone play in making things work here in Cebu.

Father to the Fatherless

The theme for our banquet this year will be Father to the Fatherless. Of course, that describes our Heavenly Father and his role in the lives of his children. But at CSC, it has an additional meaning. We have some very dedicated, loving and compassionate men working here who have taken on the fatherly role for children who have lost their biological fathers. Some of their fathers died, some just left them. Some were loving, but most were absent or abusive. Most of the kids that come to live with us have had a very bad experience with their father.

CSC plays a crucially important role for these kids in three ways. First, we try to restore trust. At CSC they have subsitute father images who offer understanding, acceptance and loving discipline - something most of our children have never experienced. Our desire is to stop the cycle of abuse and neglect in our children's lives, and it often starts with the love of a CSC father, either a house father, or a staff member.

Secondly, we are preparing many of our children to be able to accept the love of an adoptive father once they are placed. That might sound a little simpler than it actually is. They need to learn about expectations, and learn to accept that they will be loved and not abandoned by the next father in their lives. They need to observe good, Christian men who, though far from perfect, are doing their best to follow biblical patterns for their lives and for their parenting of their own children and the CSC kids.

The third way that the fathers of CSC impact our children is helping teaching them, through their example, about the unconditional love of their Heavenly Father. This is crucial for them. They need to be able to love God, to experience his love for them and to accept his gift of salvation. Those kids who have experienced the anger, violence and lack of acceptance from an earthly father might have a problem with the portrayal of God as a loving Heavenly Dad. If we are doing our job well at CSC, we can be giving them a different way of thinking about what a dad is.

We look forward to developing this exciting theme at our banquet on April 28th at Bethel University.