Saturday, May 31, 2008

Compassion at One


Today one of our staff witnessed that compassion can be learned even as a baby. Moses, age 2, was in a time-out lying on his bed crying. Andrew, who just turned one on May 16, has just begun walking and is beginning to waddle himself all over the room. He heard Moses crying and so he gingerly walked in and went straight to the closet and grabbed one of Angel's little dresses. He preceded to walk himself over to crying Moses and wipe away his tears with Angel's dress! This is definitely more than bottles and changing diapers...

DJ and Rachel

Friday, May 30, 2008

May Birthday Boys

Happy Birthday to Jeric and Fritz who both turned nine this month and to Andrew who celebrated his 1st birthday by shoving chocolate cake all over his face!

DJ and Rachel
Jeric

Jeric

Andres

Andrew

Fritz

Fritz

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Flowers for your car

Typically you can find kids on the street selling beautiful smelling flowers to put in your car. Kind of like car fresheners. But very rarely do you find a small bouquet of flowers on your car...
I was at the Cuatro community center working on paperwork and logistics for this next school year and there are always kids around the area so I said hi to some as I went in to the office and 2 of the girls I know well their names, Sunshine and Sanjie they have been in our school both years we have been open and they are very sweet girls and are always saying hi when I go by. When I was finished working in the office and headed out to my car I realized all the kids had gone home and no one was around so I just went to my car to leave and was surprised to find some beautiful yellow and purple flowers on my car. My guess would be that Sunshine might have left them for me but I am not sure but that is just one wonderful perk to be able to work with these kids.

Kim Courtright

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Moving Time

The long family is purging itself of some 'stuff' that others needed much more than us!! Its moving time after 14 years of living in the same condo building we are packing up and moving to the ministry center 30 meters or so from the children's home and adjacent to the Cuatro Community we have enjoyed reaching out to for the past many years... We are about 90% finished and its a good thing as since Colene, Jackie and Kyle will depart Manila on May 25 and Janel and I follow on the 31st. Kirk is already in the United States with his college basketball team in the greater Los Angeles, California area for three weeks. He is enjoying himself as he prepares for his starting point guard role in the upcoming season(opener on July 6 vs. arch rival LaSalle) Keep praying for Kirk to be strong witness for Jesus..
We enjoyed a recent two week visit from Josie. What a great thing to have the family together for two weeks. Josie "high" light was cutting , curling and coloring all of her family members hair while she was here. If you could see dad's you would know why she still needs another couple hundred hours of training! HA! No more gray and lots of RED.... Boy have I got some looks!!! Thanks Josie for making me look a young 60 again...


We hope we catch up with many of you along the trail this summer. Please come to our GOLF TOURNAMENT near PLEASANT HILL, MO on JUNE 9th if you can... Six of the LONGS will be there, Kirk will begin his second year of college that day...

Jeff

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Summer Fun!


The kids have been on summer vacation for a few months now and have been having a great time! Some of them spent two weeks at a summer camp for local kids, held at our new campsite facility. Others have attended summer classes to help them catch up in subject areas. Just this week the older ones had the joy and privilege of going to a Milo basketball training program, which they loved and some of them showed some real potential!

They have loved the outdoors, the freedom to run and play in open, green, clean places here in Malaybalay is a huge blessing! There is lots to discover, from rhino beetles to colorful caterpillars. Their favorite game at them moment is kick ball with the neighborhood kids. Riding bikes is all the rage and another real blessing for these kids. Making up games and just general craziness has been real fun to watch!

Being able to play with these kids and watch them enjoy life reminds me that kids are kids everywhere! And while things are rarely perfect, seeing them play together and show each other love despite the brokenness of their past, makes me see in action what Jesus said - that the Kingdom of God begins right here, right now, what a joy to be a part of that here in the Philippines!


Felicity Taylor
Malaybalay Home Director


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Sunday, May 18, 2008

Let the Truth be Told…


Summer. A chance for the kids to get a break from school and to have amazing opportunities such as the trip to Malaybalay, Vacation Bible Schools, and numerous other activities. That means for the staff, everyday, all 37 children are all at home at the same time, so all-hands-on-deck for 3 solid months. It can be chaos as you can imagine - swimming, taekwondo classes, summer tutoring, basketball league, and not to mention getting all the kids to the doctor and dentist before school starts. It can be challenging day after day. But at the end of the day, while saying goodnight to the kids and tucking them into bed, there are so many tender moments shared. Last night was with Armie. She was expressing that she really misses her father, but immediately said, “But it’s OK…I have a Father, His name is Jesus!” Let the truth be told Armie! That is what keeps us all going; it is what this ministry is all about. In the chaos of life and schedules at the home, it is worth it to know that this ministry IS impacting and making a difference in the lives of these children. But we still look forward to school starting on June 17!

DJ & Rachel

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Living Together

It’s always nice when family members move close to each other, well most of the time. But here with our Family, the move of our Nursery to the Children’s Home has been more than just nice; it’s been great for all of us. All 6 of our nursery babies (from ages 6 months to 2 ½ years) now temporarily occupy two bedrooms and the “big room” in between the girl’s and boy’s sides of the home. All of the children have had no difficulties adjusting to life in a different environment, especially when 3 of them had lived there before.

One of the best things about the babies living with the rest of the children is that all 37 of them are able to enjoy each other’s company. Not all at the same time, thankfully, but in groups of 3, all the older children rotate into the nursery to be with the 6 little ones. The younger children like to play with the toddlers. They have been playing side by side with the cars and roads, puzzles, balls and dolls! The oldest children enjoy playing with and taking care of the infants. In the midst of their fun they are learning life skills - how to hold, feed, change and play with a baby. It really brings a good sense of unity in our family. We are still on the squished side and look forward to the completion of the new nursery/dining room project, which will be wonderful to spread out into. Life is good and God is great!

Daisy Chell

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Back In the States

I have been currently been traveling all over the east coast recruiting for Kids International and it has been going very well. Teams are interested in coming as well as individuals. I have also picked up many donations to bring back to the Philippines.

Back on the home front, my teachers are in the process of getting more uniforms made for this upcoming school year. And the students from our children's home have been doing some one on one tutoring throughout the summer months (April and May).

As for volunteers we have several coming in for June and July so we will have lots of good help. We are looking forward the volunteers coming to interact with these kids as well as the upcoming school year that will start June 17th.


Kim Courtright

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Blessings

This past month or so some very cool things have happened in our ministry. A few include but are NOT limited to these.....

1) An organization blessed us with a gift for 30,000.00 usd to begin construction on our children's home in Mindanao.

2) Ted McMillin spent a few days in Manila this week preparing the way for his family to move to Manila(in our midst)for two years this coming July.

3) Nine new children joined our home in Manila(we are right at 40 now)

4) An Aussie work team came for two weeks to work on the children's home construction.

5) Four new children joined our home in Mindanao(we have 15 now)

6) We had a KIM board meeting on April 13th and allowed Jeff to step off the board and welcome Pastor Charlie Robinson, Pastor of Northridge Church in Sabetha, KS to step on.

7) A church gave 33,000.00 dollars over the past six weeks toward the building materials on the expansion of the children's home in Manila.

8) A church from Nebraska gave 5,000 and another church from Lawrence, KS gave 3,000 toward the same effort.

9) Three sewing machines have been donated and women out of the community are using them to sew our school uniforms for the kids who will begin school this coming June, 08. They would like to donate their time, but they have mouths to feed so we pay them 'under' the sewing machine.... ha!

10) Madalon called very excited tonight about a 10,000 dollar check that came in for Mindanao or whatever we deemed important..... It was fun for Madalon and I to realize the importance of a call/personal touch as she had just passed this person's name on to me as I was recruiting in S. California at the time and gave him a call last week... God is good. Lets see what do your think is important? A children's home project in Manila or Mindanao???? I will let you know how the vote comes out.

11) A very old grandma was waiting in the parking lot of the condo today as i left to run errands... I had never seen or met her before , but she greeted me with "Good Morning, Mr. Long" I gave her a ride, explained how we cared for a bunch of kids and I could not give her money, but that I would/could load her up with food.... Thanks for our food bank we have another friend and a person closer to knowing Jesus as their personal savior.

12) We received a call from an International Christian School in Hong Kong and they are bringing over 18 to work on the home in Mindanao, May 17-23.

13) We know of another team that is coming May 25-31 to work on the children home in Manila. They are 50 in all.. Some want to help with kids and others are coming to BUILD!!!

14) Kyle and Jackie are beginning the road toward braces for their teeth..... Not sure they would call that a blessing but mom and dad do!

15) We are excited to welcome a couple to help lead our team in Mindanao. Jeremy and Sarah Moody will be joining our effort spending a time at home this summer to raise support... They are from Oregon in case anyone would like to support their efforts as they return in June, 08.

I hope you excited to be a part of whats going on with KIM,

Jeff and Colene

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Water

Water is talked about a lot around here. There is the free water stations for the community outside the Children's Home and at the Cuatro Community Center, and the new community cooperative water stations going in other parts of the neighborhood. Our fellow Kids International Ministries friends Bill and Debbie Shaw launched their first issue of the Jeepney magazine (a street mag designed to raise awareness about issues of the marginalized while providing employment to underprivileged vendors) with articles on the struggle to find clean water for those trapped in poverty.

But today I am talking about different kinds of water - the chlorinated kind and that which falls from the sky. It has gotten hot recently. The hot season finally hit here in Manila and the days are consistently beaten with intense sunshine. That is why one of the greatest activities for us to do with the kids these summer months when they are off of school is swimming. We are blessed to have Faith Academy nearby, which has an amazing pool. We go swimming there twice a week, once with the older kids and once with the younger, so everyone gets a chance. Every single kid looks forward to swim days; we always have such a fun and satisfying time spending a couple hours immersed. Like today, there was almost a collective sigh of relief as we plunged in with the older kids, escaping the heat in the cool water. Really, it's that nice. Plus, swimming: what a great life skill for our kids to learn! Here we are in a nation of 7,000+ islands, surrounded by water, and yet most kids around here in urban Manila don't know how to swim. Thanks to the Minnesota YMCA for donating enough goggles for all the kids to use, we have plenty of little fish on our hands.

While the pool is a fun way to cool off during these summer days, so is the rain. We've been getting an early glimpse of the upcoming rainy season this week with regular afternoon downpours. While this is not helpful to the guys busily trying to finish the roof on the new dining room/nursery construction at the Children's Home, it can be fun and refreshing. Unique to places in the world like this is the glorious sound of a warm, heavy rain drumming on corrugated metal roofs. When we left the Faith Academy pool this afternoon, it was just starting to rain hard. When we arrived back at the Children's Home in the middle of a downpour, we realized we were all still wet in swim suits and perfectly dressed for the occasion. So instead of drying off and changing, we splashed around with some of the kids, playing basketball, soccer, swinging on the rope swing, and just having a good time getting drenched. With even more rain to come, that will be the first of many times to enjoy the rain this season!


DJ and Rachel