Hi friends of KIM

We are in the midst of seeing God provide something special for the kids in our Manila and Malaybalay children's homes. Currently we have over 50 children being served in our two homes. They are being nurtured and given significant doses of JESUS each and every day of their lives... We are learning as a staff how to most effectively teach our children in the best possible ways.. Please keep praying for us, our staff.... and our kids...

Pray for our staff and friend who help us so much with all facets of the ministry in Manila and Malaybalay, DJ and Rachel, Arnold and Genesis, Jeff and Colene, Josie, Dave, Brandon, Felicity, Larry and Belen, Leah, Kharen, Jeremy and Sarah, Rene and his wife Bhing, Annalyn, Veronica, Yolly, Daisy, Megan, Kim, Elizabeth, Jhett, Mae, Alma, Maricel, Zenny, Ricky, Errol, Angie, Merriam, Nika, Rollie and Linda, Myles, Laling, Malou, and other short term volunteers that impact the lives of our kids each day...

Pray for our kids in Manila and Malaybalay listed on our website...

Pray for five children that have recently been reunited with their families after living with us for several months and in three cases almost three years... pray for Aya, Cyryl, and Darwin who have been with us since the beginning and have recently returned home to loving mothers who are no longer in harms way from abusive relationships...

Due to a rapid growth in our home we have outgrown parts of our children's home. We no longer have room for a separate nursery and we no longer have room to eat as a family at one sitting.. This past November we began digging and laying the foundation for a new dining room and nursery for our children.. Six months later God has provided the roof, both floors have been poured, steps to the second floor are in, most inner and outside walls are in place, some windows have transition from our original building and now open the new addition with light from above! We have been blessed to see work teams come from Australia and Korea. Our Filipino nationals and foreign volunteers have all pitched in... God is good... Most of the steel purchased for this project rose each week in cost. We feel blessed to be done buying more steel...

As we near the finish line will you pray with us for God's final provisions. We will need to finish off the building with paint inside and out, finishing cement on the walls, tiles on the floors, fans and air conditioners, lights, toilets, sinks, doors and windows... After these items are all in we'd love to furnish it with beds, dressers, shelves,tables, chairs, furniture and appliances....

Thanks for praying through what part you might want to play in seeing us to the finish line so our staff can better serve the kids God has entrusted to us..

Thanks for journeying with us,

Jeff

The Hardest Part...

This week we said goodbye to the sisters Aya and Cyryl. Joyfully, they were reunited with their mother. On the one hand, this is a happy, redemptive story. Their mother has turned her life around and gotten her feet on the ground in the last few years. She is ready to care for her daughters again. And that is the hard part for the staff - loving and caring for children that are not our own, in some cases (like this) with the possibility that they will return to a family member after several years. But that is why New Faith Family Children's Home exists, why staff and volunteers come to love on kids - we will serve and care for children and families through all possible resolutions to their stories. We are happy for the mother and excited for the girls to restart their lives with their family. For anyone that has been to the children's home or been involved over the years, you know how bright and charismatic Aya and Cyryl are. We miss them very much, but are confident about their future. God can do amazing things through them; we are happy to have been a part of their story, of their early childhood years. They left New Faith with a new faith in Jesus, and we know that will stay with them. Pray for the girls, that they will adjust well to this new life and really blossom as they continue to grow. And pray for the staff as we process these emotional times of saying goodbye to kids that we love so much.

DJ and Rachel

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

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 Andrew Fritz

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

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

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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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

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

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

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

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

Welcome to the Family

April has been an interesting and busy month for us in terms of the growth of our family down here in Mindanao. At the very beginning of the month we had to say goodbye to three of our kids. It was a time of very mixed emotions. Iman, Ira and Isaiah were the very first kids we received into our home. It had been an amazing journey being a part of their lives, watching them grow, learn, change and be transformed by God's love and come to a better understanding of Him. While it was great to see their mum come back to get her kids again, it was also very hard to let them go. Not knowing for sure how they would go back home with their mum it was also a time of anxiety, but having to commit them to the Lord and pray that the things they have heard and learned would become seeds that grow. When the time came for them to go, many tears were shed and long hugs exchanged. What a privilege it has been to be able to love and care for these kids who God bought under our care for a time.

Just over a week later though our home began to grow again with the arrival of another girl Gemicel, better known as Ge-Ge. She has come from a very broken and sad past, so it is great to see her happy and feeling accepted, and safe here with us now!

Then a week after Ge-Ge coming we received 4 more! Siblings, whose father is unable to care for them for now. Diana - 6, Margie - 4, Jessabell - 2 and John Loydd - 1. They have certainly bought more activity, noise and energy to the place! They have settled in fairly well, and it brings our family kids to 13 now! Its great to finally have more girls, we were beginning to wonder what was going on. So while we have had some kids move on from us hopefully to better things, its a joy and a privilege to welcome 5 more kids in need, into our family and we pray, into the Kingdom of God.

Felicity
Malaybalay Children's Home Director

School Fun

Here are some highlight from school this past year….

And we are looking forward to another fun year coming up.

Kim Courtright

The terrific 2's

What do you do with an Angel that’s not quite, well, an angel?

Today I came home to my room to find that some of my things were out of place. “That’s strange” I thought to myself. Then I noticed a toy bucket on the floor and realized that I had had a visitor. My room has two doors, one leading outside to the living room and one that leads to Moses and Angel’s bedroom. . . . I then heard crying coming from my bathroom and had a pretty good hunch who was in there. I opened the door to discover that Angel, 2, had been playing dress up during nap time. I assumed she was only upset because she hadn't had a nap, because it looked like she had quite the time going through my toiletries. She had used her finger to dig my lipstick out from its casing and applied it to her mouth, cheeks and dress, there was nothing left in the tube. Angel then proceeded to paint all her fingernails and toenails with my red polish. I was more in a state of awe and weariness than upset that she had done all this. That’s some skill for a two year old. I took her back to her room where Moses was sound asleep and put her to bed.

Later today I saw that my camera was out and picked it up to look through the recent photos. I really was surprised to find that there were weird blurred pictures that I had no remembrance of taking. Then I came to a few photos of the culprit herself. At some point she had taken pictures of her “pretty nails”. I was very mistaken to think that she could even turn a camera on. Well, we all live and learn. I’ll not underestimate a two year old ever again. And our Angel had better think twice about going into my room.

Daisy Chell
New Faith Family Nursery Director

Moving Forward

In the last week, the construction of the new kitchen/dining room and nursery at the children's home took a big step forward with the pouring of the second floor. Thanks to the hard work from the local guys working on the project, plenty of volunteers from the Cuatro Christian Church, and the 12-man work team from Australia, the pour is finished and now they are working up to the roof. Even the children's home kids got involved in the building of their own family dining room - the nine oldest boys ditched their shirts and got in the bucket brigade line, helping for hours to pass buckets of cement. It was a long day, starting the pour early in the morning and working into the night, but a lot of help got it done. It is exciting to see this much-needed project move forward. Not only will it improve the way we can all gather as a family for meals with our growing number of children, and allow for our nursery kids to be back on-site at the children's home, but the completion of this project will be critical in finalizing some things with our accreditation for adoption process. A visitor from the Department of Social Welfare and Development was with us for two days this last week, going over every detail at the home in order to approve this additional accreditation. Things look very favorable - they will just wait until the construction is done to give us the thumbs-up. Thanks for praying with us for funds to come in to finish! DJ Langefels Director of Child Development (New Faith Family Children's Home)

Continuing to Grow

In Manila God has provided nine new children to care for this past month. As exciting as this is it also brings on some significant issues on how to feed the kids, care for the kids, where will they sleep... Fortunately we have known of this possibility for several months and were ready to spring into expansion to meet the need. In January Pastor Charlie Robinson came over to visit from Sabetha, KS. and as he went home dedicated himself and his church members to try to help us with the need. Praise God over 13,000.00 dollars has come in from those folks, another 5,000.00 from a church in Nebraska and this past Sunday a 3,000.00 dollar gift was received. We have an Australian work team in at the moment with 12 guys dedicating two weeks of their lives to seeing the project go forward! Thanks for praying for progress.... in 24 hours time they will be pouring the second floor.. Praise God. We believe we are about half way there in seeing the building raise to the top with a roof , all the walls and two floors... We'll catch our breath after May 1 and see how God will provide the windows, doors, lights, plumbing etc.. in the weeks to come! Anticipating great things from our Great God...... Jeff

What only He can do

Hi Friends,

After attending church this past Sunday several of our Mindanao friends and visitors from Manila went to the camp site and future site of the children's home in Mindanao. After praying over and determining with engineers the best possible spot for us to dig the well...........God did something only God can do.... a light rain came and a rainbow appeared ...........it started at/near our ongoing construction site and went directly over the soccer field/future children's home area and back down at the point that was determined best to dig the well.... Hair stood on end, goose pimples rose and chills went out from their bodies as they witnessed something incredible over this place....

Thanks for continuing to pray as we break ground this week on the children's home porton of the ministry site..


Continually amazed,
Jeff

Kids being kids

The other day I noticed that Andrew (10 months) had some strange skin or something that was peeling and flaking off of his ears. I though to myself, “What in the world is this?” Then I remembered, “Oh yeah, Angel (2) and Moses (2) fed Andrew his cereal this morning!”

Clearly the New Faith Family Nursery has really been enjoying life. We did all experience a time of loss though. During a healthy and happy family reunion we had to say a tearful good bye to Jimber and Jimbert. They were able to go home to their father, aunt and grandma, as well as other family members that will be a big part of their lives. Even though these delightful babies were only with us a short time, they will be in our hearts forever and we will continue to pray that they will come to know, trust, and love our sovereign LORD.

Daisy Chell

New Faith Family Nursery Director

Cuatro Christian School Update

Right now we are enjoying summer break from school. We had a great year teaching 72 students, and I have a great group of teachers. Teacher Merriam taught our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. She will be having a baby in August and we are looking forward to that. Teacher Nica taught our Kinder classes and Teacher Loida along with a Canadian volunteer teacher Janey taught our pre-school.

As for next school year, beginning in June, we will be having most of our same teachers back. Teacher Janey will be going home and we will have Teacher Maricel replace her with the pre-school. We have been using these summer months to prepare for next year. Along with the teachers, we have been preparing applications and we will have meetings in the next 2 weeks and hopefully have a formal list of students and classes for this coming year. I will also be holding teacher workshops before school starts again June 17. I will be getting teacher training materials when I go back to the States as well as other supplies for the school. After our first complete school year in the new Cuatro Community Center facility, we are very excited for this upcoming school year.

Kim Courtright

Goodbye...

Saying goodbye is never easy. When you pour into children whose past lives have been all but normal, and you love them with all that's in your heart it's hard to say goodbye. You may ask why I am talking about goodbyes a month before I leave...

I discovered it's harder still to say goodbye to a child that leaves the home. These kids are the strongest I've ever seen - for them no tears were shed - yet they were seeing a child go home that's been in the home for several years. Darwyn - a beautiful, sweet boy full of mischief and energy is going back to join his mother today. He's excited - he's talked about it all week- yet when the time came this afternoon you could see a sense of reality striking. I pulled him aside to say goodbye - biting back my personal feelings and tears - and asked him if he was excited. He shyly nodded his head. I asked if he knew what nervous was. He said no, so I asked if he was a little scared. He said yes. He's going back to what he knew before - it won't be like what he has here, but it will be better than what he came from. 

For me I know leaving is going to be hard; it's going to tear me apart. Granted I miss home- I miss my friends, boyfriend, beef, MILK, and hot showers, but I've also grown to like living here. It's hot and usually there is no air-con. There is pollution, it's dirty, the traffic is ridiculous, but at the same time playing with these children day in and out, providing them with an atmosphere they can feel loved and secure in, has been an absolute joy (more some days than others). But, no matter what the end of the day brings, there is always something that happened I can think back to that makes me chuckle and smile - EVERYDAY. 

Darwyn left, and I asked him one final question: "Who's always number one if your life?" His answer, with a smile: "Jesus". This little boy found Jesus and knows with his whole heart that he is forever loved by Jesus and has a Heavenly Father who will never leave him and always love him. 
I'm thankful he was one to add New Faith Family Children's Home to his life story. He knows he is loved - not just by us but by God. No matter how hard it may be to say goodbye, every one of us here knows we'll see him again one day- in Heaven. A day of rejoicing that will be- and I'm so blessed to be a part of his story - and been given the chance to love him. God's got bigger plans for him - now he can share with his friends and family the love of Jesus that he knows and glows with. I know God will use him and have no doubt that I will see others in heaven because Darwyn went home and shared with them the love of Christ!

Tessa Frye

Volunteer