Class Trip

On Wednesday I was able to go with the grade school class and we went and visited a Filipino school. We wanted to have our students see what it was like in a public school. It is so different from our school. The class sizes are above 65 in a classroom. The students are very well behaved to be in that setting. The teaching style is so different as well. It was very interesting to see.

Below are some pictures of our kids sitting in on a Filipino class.

Cuatro's Got Talent

On Friday was the first ever Cuatro Christian School Talent show! The students have been looking forward to this night for over a month and there was definitely excitement hanging in the air. At the children's home the kids were all getting ready, boys put in hair gel and girls got a little lip gloss for the special occasion, so much fun!

The second floor of the school was decorated with bright parachutes making a beautiful stage for the students to perform. With a very laid back feel, we invited parents and family members of CCS to simply come and enjoy the entertainment. When it was all set and done we had about 30-35 community members watching the students perform. The even began with the singing of the Philippine national anthem. The night was full of singing and dancing and what a great job done by all the kids. We had some soloists, some hand motions to popular worship songs, and of course a rendition of one of the songs from the famous High School Musical. It was fun to see all the students to use some of the gifts they have but don't get to use on a regular basis at school.

Over all the night was enjoyed by all and hopefully the students were encouraged to use their gifts for others in the future.

Kaitlyn

Simple Fun

I think the bottom line is that kids love puppies. It's so simple. Rachel's parent's have two dogs, and when a new litter of puppies comes along, they graciously let groups of the kids go up to their place to play with them. The kids absolutely love this. For some of them, it's playing with a puppy that gets them out of their shell, making them more excited and expressive than usual. This is a favorite activity and a great chance to get out and do something fun with a handful of the kids at a time. Here's pictures from the most recent puppy adventure:

DJ and Rachel

This and That

We have a great staff that are interested in taking great care with our kids. Today we were able to go through a refresher Red Cross CPR course at our newly acquired YMC building. Ate Laling's cinnamon rolls were a big hit as was lunch, the youth group from our local church provided back up at the children's home watching and caring for the kids.

Nurse Marilyn and her visiting Nurse sister Patsy also supervised and made sure all the little and not so little bundles of joy were well cared for..

The 'BIG" kids got to go to Faith Academy in the afternoon to watch Kuya Kyle play soccer and then they had a big swim in the Faith pool... Compliments of Uncle Ted and Aunt Rhonda McMillin who are paving the way for many cool things around the children's home already! Its been great having supporting board members surround us with lots of love. Thanks for praying for us and making ALL things possible as we seek to serve Jesus, the kids and the community around us.

Jeff for the team

Moving On Up!

At school things are going great. Our grade school kids will be going to another school tomorrow to visit and see what other students are doing and how other schools are run. Some exciting news at school is that in the last 2 weeks we have had a couple students move up.

Rene finished the third grade and now is working at the fourth grade level. He does very well in Math and Bible. Language and Science are a little tougher for him but he loves to learn and is doing great.





Angel Miles was able to move up to our Kinder A
class from the Kinder B class. She is ready to start
reading!





Jan Andre another one of our kids was able to move up to Kinder C on Monday. He is starting to put letters together to start reading simple words. And he is doing well in learning to write as well.




We look forward for more students moving up in the ranks soon. Thanks for all your support for Cuatro Christian School.

Kim Courtright

Farewell Tour

Last weekend the Children's Home staff got to spend a quick weekend away in Baguio, the "summer capital of the Philippines" to say goodbye to Jhett, one of our social workers. Jhett is heading to Vietnam to spend 13 months volunteering in program development for children with HIV/AIDS. For the better part of this year Jhett has already contributed so much to the home with her expertise and experience. With her leadership we received a key accreditation needed from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and she also helped pave the way for the first adoptions to happen in the near future. While we will miss Jhett, we are thankful for her months of service here and wish her blessings on her work in Vietnam. Plus, what we lose in Jhett we gain in our two new social workers Richelle and Sci. Along with Mae, we now have a dynamic team of three working hard every day for the kids.

Baguio was a great bonding time with the staff in a beautiful setting (and much cooler temperatures than Manila). We had fun seeing the sites in the city and also going out to spend an overnight at Jhett's family home, a 1920's traditional stilt house in the middle of mountains and rice terraces. We picked and ate plenty of fresh fruit, planted a rice terrace, and enjoyed each other's company out in the boondocks - literally. That expression actually comes from the Tagalog word for mountain, bundok. That's exactly where we were. Goodbye Jhett and thanks for all your hard work. And hurry back to Manila!

DJ and Rachel

God's blessings flow from KIM to OMF

Two days prior to OMF's appointed day for us to pay off the building we invited OMF leader Theo Jansen over to receive the check for the payment in FULL. The 11.5 million pesos(about 260,000 usd) allows us a building to use for decades to come. Another million or so pesos will be given to the government in taxes and fees and the remaining funds will be used to help spruce up the place and put a new roof on our garage/storage area. The twenty plus bedroom facility was built in 1983 and was utilized as dorm for the first two and half decades. We are glad we have a home for short term missionaries, the Jeepney Magazine, future older children home kids, our Filipino staff as well as missionary staff. The wonderful blessing will be well utilized for the growing ministry of helping kids know Jesus.

Read about this more on our 'location' section Yunjin Lyso Ministry Center page of the website..

To God be the GLory Great Things HE HAS DONE!
Jeff

When Things Go Right...

For anyone who has spent even a day in Manila you would agree that it is chaotic- efficiency and speed are not strengths of this city. Being fully prepared to spend the ENTIRE day in the city, 5 of us KIM staff ventured out to get our drivers licences, so we could legally be able to drive in the chaos! As it usually goes we spend hours filling out paperwork and being transferred from room to room getting hysterical medical and eye exams (which is a whole blog entry on its own) Today was my third attempt to get my licence because of what I mentioned earlier- the efficiency and speed are not the strong points of how things run here.

Today, however, today was different; a minor miracle! We arrived at the Land Transportation Office at 9am and by 12 in the afternoon all five of us had our licences in hand and were on our way home! We are very grateful and realize that it was a rare occurrence. In fact, so rare that is just had to be posted in a blog!

Almost Finished, With This Project

Friends,

As you can see by these pictures we are getting close! God has been so faithful to add funds at just the right time! We have walls, ceilings, a roof, inside walls.... Its been incredible to see teams arrive at the right time to do what they were gifted to do. Recently a team of six painters came from the KC area and really did heaps of work inside and out to get things 'rolling' in the paint area. Colors were chosen by friends in the know that had just arrived to serve and have a gifting in that area. Its really neat how God works.

As we go down the 'home' stretch we need a few things to see this become reality... What is reality? We will be able to feed and dine with our kids and staff over 60 in all at one time(family style) I LOVE IT. Above the dining hall is a great room for our nursery. In fact its has four bedrooms a kitchen, play room and four bathrooms. We are excited to be able to serve ten to twelve children in this area.

What do we need to finish?

Tiling the entire first and second floor? 5000.00 usd

Lights and fans? 3,000.00 usd

Table, chairs, appliances, beds, dressers? 4,000.00 usd

Remaining windows and doors? 4,000.00 usd

Thanks for helping us complete and utilize this GREAT addition for the kids,

Jeff

School Days

School is going really well. We are almost done with our first quarter. This past month some classes have been able to go on some field trips to Corrigedor and the zoo. We have were able to graduate one of our kinder classes to first grade so we are very excited for those students and they are doing well with their new curriculum. Many of our other students in the grade school will also be graduating to the next grade levels in the next month or so.
All the students love their art, PE and Library classes. I am able to interact with all the students as the Librarian. In the grade school class we are reading "Swiss Family Robinson" and in the younger kids we are reading "Treasure Island." The students love it so much that everyday someone asks me are we having "ribary" today? They can't say library very well.
As we finish this quarter we are also getting ready for a talent show that we will have in September and our tryouts for that will be August 18th. So many exciting things happening with the school.

Celebration of Life

One thing will always be true and that is time never stops. And there are so many blessing that come long with that truth. Here in the nursery we are able to enjoy many opportunities to see these precious children grow over time. Each one of our six babies continues to wow us with the changes they go through. Recently our family was able to celebrate the 1st birthday of twins, Daniel and Jacob. At the beginning of their lives they were faced with many hardships. Born premature, the boys weighed 2 pounds and needed to spend that first month in the hospital. What was truly a miracle was that they had survived several abortion attempts. In the past year, they have just continued to thrive. So on July 29th, with very delighted hearts we partied for the celebration of life! We know that the boys enjoyed their first cake. Of course frosting and chocolate cake went everywhere, but that was part of the fun. We had set up a pool outside on the grass for some fun is the sun swim time. There was lots of splashing, playing and laughing done by everyone. We are so thankful to our amazing LORD for the past year of life.

Daisy

Boys

New Faith Family Children's Home Manila is currently home to 9 boys ranging in age from 8 - 13 years old. We call them the big boys. Most families don't even have 9 kids, let alone that many boys in this age group. Therefore, as you can imagine, things can be difficult with them at times. The simple fact is that issues are bound to arise when that many boys are living together. Compounding that is the fact that most of these boys have grown up with broken families, no families, no father figure or a bad example of one, on the streets, etc, etc. We want these boys to grow up to be godly men, breaking out of the cycles of violence and neglect that they were found in, in a culture that frankly often writes off boys as trouble from birth. That is usually a self-fulfilling prophesy. But it doesn't have to be.

So, as an activity to specifically focus on the big boys, we recently did a three-day camping trip to Corregidor Island, a major World War II historical site just an hour into Manila Bay from Manila. Here on this tiny island, the devastation of the war is uniquely preserved in the ruins of barracks, gun batteries, and other buildings that still sit crumbling as they did the minute the bombs hit them all those years ago. And there are no ropes and barricades, just a free-for-all to explore these places. Plus, there are countless caves, beaches full of shells and treasures, monkeys, jungle...it's a great place for the boys to spend some time away from the Home, just them. And they had a blast. Besides exploring old ruins, dodging bats in caves, and learning a little more about their history, the boys overall just enjoyed camping on the beach and spending hours in the water. They were shocked at first to find how salty the ocean is! Now, in a nation of 7,107 islands we are surrounded by salt water, but not surprisingly, these guys hadn't really experienced that yet. They caught crabs, body-surfed, jumped off the pier into the water, had campfires and made s'mores...all with minimal fighting and a good spirit of camaraderie.

Working with the boys every day can be a challenge for the whole staff, but there is so much beneath the surface of each one of them, so much potential to be the kind of Jesus-following men that will make a difference in this world. We are happy they got to experience Corregidor and have an adventure of their own. There were some great moments there when all the other relational conflicts and dynamics were peeled away to reveal nine boys playing happily on a simple beach. Pray for Rene, Jude, Joseph, Benjie, Jomel, Fritz, Jeric, Regie, and Alvin - that wherever they end up in life, they will be quality men, serving God in their own unique way.

DJ and Rachel

Great Gifts Come From Above

Hi friends of K.I.M.,

Our teamsters of KIM are pictured here in front of the YunJin Lyso Ministry Center. This month God provided the funds for our ministry to purchase this OMF facility that has served the Faith Academy kids for over thirty years as a dorm. It is a solid building with over twenty bedrooms that will house the JEEPNEY magazine staff and office, a guest house, KIM missionaries, KIM Filipino staff, and loads more. In the coming years we envision using this home as a place for our children's home kids to transfer into as they reach high school and college age....

The name of the building comes from an incredible circumstance only God knows how to explain.. We have great friends in the Lyso family. A year ago God wanted Amos' wife to come home with HIM after twenty days of marriage. In the past year Amos, his family and YunJin's family have dedicated themselves to see this building be purchased and used for HIS glory to help K.I.M. help kids..

We are grateful for this amazing gift,
Jeff

Well, we are a month into the school schedule, so life at the Home has adjusted back to kids coming and going from school every day. With the majority of our kids behind in their education due to the inconsistency or lack of schooling before they came to us, it is good to see kids already moving up grade levels as they can get caught up with the flexible curriculum at the Cuatro Christian School.


Construction on the dining room/nursery addition progresses every day - we are excited to see it take shape and look forward to it being nearly completed.


We have had a great group of volunteers from various places working with the kids all summer. Between the school and the home, this has been really helpful in providing extra attention to the kids. This also gives the staff a break at times, which is appreciated.


With the reconciliation of a few kids back to family in recent months, we have seen some go, but are still always ready to accept more kids into the home. Our social workers are well-connected, and it seems likely that we will be welcoming in more children soon, whenever the right referral comes along.


DJ and Rachel

Busy Times

Well July has come upon us with a blurry of activity and a few unexpected events down here in Mindanao! For a start our home has shrunk considerably! We had a set of four siblings (Diana, BonBon, Jessabel and John Lloyd) who for some time we had been waiting for them to go back to their family, one Tuesday morning suddenly were gone. It was a sad and hard farewell, we had been caring for them for over 2 months and some very strong attachments were made, naturally. It was hard but they are with family who love them so we can thank God for that and the time we had with them. Then only a few days later we got some more very surprising news, two more of our kids would be leaving us. Angel and Jaypee, who had been with us 8 months. The grandfather had planned to come in 2 more weeks but suddenly had a change of heart and gave us two days warning of his arrival. It was devastating news to some of us. These two beautiful kids had become so much a part of our home, our hearts and our lives. Angel had started school for the first time and was doing great, and Jaypee was developing in leaps and bounds. The Day arrived quickly and there was much crying from all the kids and staff as well. Letting go can be so hard! The grandfather we trust is a good man and will continue to provide for their needs, they have left a big hole in our family though and are still greatly missed. So now, in the space of a week, our family of kids was down to 7! Things continued to keep rolling along however. We had the joy of hosting a youth group from Hong Kong for about 6 days. They came ready to serve in anything, and though they were young they got stuck into some hard work out at the construction site of the new children's home! Moving dirt, building a wall, shoveling gravel, pouring cement, whatever was needed! Then in the afternoons they had fun spending time with the kids at the home. Learning the kids favourite game - kick ball, taking them swimming down at the river, and even giving the staff an afternoon off, while they helped the kids make thank-you cards for those who help look after them. The kids loved it and were very sad when it was time for them to say goodbye and head home! During that time we also had a team of 13 Australians from Perth arrive!! They overlapped about 4 days, so it was a busy time feeding all these hungry hard workers and getting everyone from A to B, but God provided and we truly thank God for the amazing weather he gave us! It is supposed to be wet season right now, which means rain most afternoons for the whole afternoon. But the week that the Aussies were here working and preparing the second level of the children's home for the pouring of that slab, barely any rain fell! Then on Friday the 11th we had a massive day! We were up at 5am ready to pour the whole slab for the second storey of the home. Preparation was done by 7:30am and the two cement mixers were started up. Fortunately we had a lot of help from the local Bible College and other Filipino workers, and we worked all day until 8pm when the slab was done! With a break for lunch and one due to rain, we spent the day shoveling cement, passing buckets of cement, pouring cement, shoveling gravel and sand or carrying sacks of it up the ramp or stairs to the mixers! There were many sore hands and legs and backs the next day, but a very big feeling of satisfaction and a rather large, finished slab. And amazingly the day after we finished the slab, the wet season weather returned. God is good, and certainly has his hand of blessing on this ministry in Mindanao! Then on the Sunday we got a whole lot of second hand clothes, toys and a bunch of snack foods and headed up to one of the poorest communities in town with the Aussies. We attracted much attention, and a good crowd of the community, mostly kids came out to get the gifts we had bought. Once we had a good group, Ollie, the pastor of my church back home shared his testimony with the crowd, which Larry our houseparent translated for the crowd. It was very well received and only the Lord knows what seeds were planted, but it was a great opportunity to share Gods love with this very poor and highly Muslim community! The Aussies have headed home and we are now just back to us. What e blessed and busy these first few weeks of July have been!! Felicity Taylor Malaybalay Children's Home Manager

CCS Gears Up for a New Year

The CCS faculty and staff welcomed students for the third year in a row on June 17, 2008. Every classroom was filled with laughter, smiles, and first day jitters. The faculty and staff worked together to make it a successful day for everyone. This year, the CCS has 8 teachers and 69 enrolled students. Currently, the classes offered at CCS are: 2 sessions of preschool 2 sessions of kindergarten grade level classes (1st-3rd)

Students began the first day by reciting the Filipino pledge.	JP is working hard on coloring his letter “A”

Another Perspective

Hey ya'll, here is some news from the nursery. Daisy was gone for about three weeks, down in Mindanao at the other children's home. So instead I (Elizabeth) spent some time taking her place with the babies.
Things have been running at full speed, with six (recently seven) babies and their needs. Baby seven is a girl! Leila will be with us for two months while her foster family is in the States. All the other babies, especially Moses, seem to love her a lot. Moses will come up and just pat her gently on the head or lay his head next to hers. It is the sweetest thing to see :)
Moses and Angel have this new routine every night. After all the showers are done and the other babies are in bed, they go bug hunting. They started one night because Moses noticed a bug on the ground and Angel just had to come see. At first they were both terrified of the bugs and would both shriek and run to me for safety! But now, Angel is not scared of the bugs anymore, so she picks up the bug and chases after Moses, making him scream. I laugh so much when they do that!
The twins are growing like crazy. They are standing up and even walking with help now! When they wake up from their naps (or don't want to take naps) they stand up in their cribs and hold on to the edge. I love walking into the room and seeing them standing there, they are so big now! The twins and Leila are crawling everywhere now, getting into everything and chewing on everything too.
Andrew is such a joy. We have a game, where he sits on my lap and then stands up and tries to run away. but he is just toddling, so he usually does not get very far until I grab him and put him back in my lap. He laughs so hard when that happens, and that makes me laugh too. His laugh is very infectious :)
Kenth is sitting up with help, sometimes he does it on his own but usually his head is so wobbly that he can't. He is such an angel though! He can lay on the ground and play with toys for a long time, and he is doing really well at rolling over. When I look at Kenth I see God's handiwork; even though he is not the healthiest baby he is still so joyful and smiles all the time. I can learn a lot from Kenth, that even during times in life when things are not perfect, I can still be joyful and smiling.
There is so much going on in the nursery every day, new adventures, games and experiences. Pray for the babies, for their continued good growth and health. I thank God that He has brought the babies into my life!

Hi praying friends

Thanks for praying for us as we travel in the states. We celebrated Janel's 18th birthday yesterday,Hard to imagine! We have kids that are moving on up in age! That must mean the same for me! And as of a week ago or so I could verify that with my first ever sciatic nerve problem that left me in the hospital for 4 days and 3 nights in Manila! NO fun at all....In fact it was the worst pain i have ever experienced.

We are grateful to have a great staff to hold down the fort in Manila and Malaybalay while we travel around the U.S. sharing the ministry. Praise God for short term team members as well that fill the void and allow us to work with many of our kids one on one! God has blessed us in so many ways as we care for kids.

In July we have three teams coming to serve the kids in Malaybalay and help us build the future facility.Pray for Felicity Taylor as she transitions back to Australia later on this month. She has served our kids well down south. Brandon Stewart will also head down under after leading the way in our construction efforts in Malaybalay. We have been blessed by having these two Aussie's lead the way for us... God is so faithful.

Pray for Kirk as he is the only remaining LONG in the Philippines. Kirk has just started his second year of college. His first major games begin on July 6. Pray he could play well and be an effective person in sharing his faith.

God is definitely GOOD!

Jeff for the Longs and the kids