Thanksgiving and giving Tuesday

 

 

 

 

 

We celebrated American Thanksgiving here this past week and I am sure that most of you celebrated with family and friends back home.  Thanksgiving is a time to think back on all that we have to be thankful for.  What are you thankful for?  Most people I know would say they are thankful for God, family, a home and several other things.  Now I want you to think what it would be like to not have that family, that home the knowledge of God and your faith.  Life would be much more difficult and it would be harder to find things to be thankful for.  Well it is only with your prayer and financial support that the kids we serve can have these things to be thankful for.  

 

 American Thanksgiving in Philippines

 

 

Every year for Christmas We try to take our three orphan kids on a little get away and do something fun.  Last year we went to Cebu and gave them each a budget for a new outfit and a toy.  This is always something extra and cost some money but it is something we do to make the kids feel special and give them a chance to see more of their country than their little village.

 



 At the port coming home

 

 Breakfast in the truck on the boat to Cebu

 

 School kids

 

 

With your help we also are able to provide all of our school age children with an education.  They can learn and earn an education with the hopes that they will be able to have and provide themselves with a better life than they would of had if not living with us.

 



We have to keep them contained somehow.  HAHAHA

 

I close by asking that you would prayerfully consider how you might be able to be a part of our ministry.  We celebrated Thanksgiving and then I am sure some of you went black Friday shopping and maybe even some of you used cyber Monday to spend money.  I am asking you to consider supporting the kids we care for and help us provide them a nice Christmas get away again this year.  Consider the Lucas Shelter For Children as you consider what you can give on giving Tuesday.  Thank you and God bless.



Birthdays and fun

June and July is birthday months here for our family.  In a month and a half time there are at least 6 birthdays to celebrate.  Four of them are Jonah and the kids and the kids.  The others are extended family and friends.  For our kids we only do one big party a year and they have to rotate.  This year Precious had the party and the rest of them get cake and a dinner with a couple of families nearby.  The big party is at the beach with all there friends and family and we have a lechon baboy (roasted pig).  I can not seem to find pictures from her party this year.  Mom fail.  Mark and Faith we had dinner with the orphanage and there aunt, uncle and a couple of cousins.  Jonah does not get much for his birthday because he is to old for them, hahaha.  For Faiths birthday dinner she wanted a mix of filipino and American food.  Jonah had to go to the big city that day so he ordered a few pizzas and we had roasted chickens with rice.  

 

 Roasted Chicken

 Birthday girl

Pizza

 

 

Two days a week Faith goes to a friends house to tutor her in two of her classes that are in Tagalog.  That leaves me with just Mark so I have invited the two little girls from the orphanage to come and play with Mark and thought we would spend an hour or so with them to learn some shapes.  Last week we worked on the triangle and this week they are learning a star.  They are not into tracing them yet but they are loving coloring them.  They make one mark with the pencil and want to show me.  I take that opportunity to ask them what shape it is.  I ask them at least ten times everyday.  By the end of the week they know the shape.  It is fun to have some quite also.  When done with their work they have a snack and watch tv for a little while before they are sent home for lunch. 

Gianne working on her triangles

Mark coloring his triangles

hardest job in the world

Bold statement alert!!  Being a mom is the hardest job in the world.  I am sure not everyone will agree with me on this and that is okay.  This is my opinion though.  I have been realizing a lot lately how hard it is to be a mom.  With the job of mom comes so many more titles and they are all work.  I am not complaining (well maybe a little) but Being a mom is hard work.  It is exhausting physically but also emotionally and sometimes I think that is harder.  I am mom to three wonderful children and love them dearly but wow.  I knew being a mom was hard when I had my girls then my son came along and the hardness seemed to reach a whole new level.  It is hard in different ways.  My girls are emotional and while that is difficult, when I am not in the mood and need space they are old enough know I can tell them to go take some quite space and time and I will talk to them in a little while.  The little boy though is so energetic and curious that he is always into everything.  He also does not always listen well.  I am sure that is in some fault mine as a parent in not always being so consistent but He is also young still and testing the waters.  I am not just mom but I am also a nurse to all the owies that come with young kids.  I am supporter to all my kids but mainly my oldest who is in school and keeps trying new things.  She is trying sports and anything else that she is asked to join.  She knows she can say no and if she does not like something she will either stop or not do it at all.  She likes to know that she is supported.  I am teacher to all of the kids in that we as parents teach them right from wrong and how to behave, but some of us that homeschool are teachers to our kids. We are dishwasher and housekeeper.  I am discovering that dishes and housework is a never ending job.  I can do dishes three or four times a day and there are still always some dishes in the sink.  I also sometimes sweep three times a day and there is still dirt on the floor.  Beyond that We are also wife, cook and whatever else you can think of. 

 

 

I have to admit though that no matter how difficult it is being a mom I do not always like those post that say how much a mom should make if it where a paid position.  I am okay that it makes people think about everything that a mom does but we do not become moms because of the pay.  The blessing we get from watching our kids grow and learn is all the payment we need.  There are some days when I am watching all the kids at the playground and trying to now where they all are and what they are doing I feel like a glorified baby sitter that does not get paid nearly enough.  I am blessed beyond measure to be able to do the work the Lord has sent me here to do but there are certainly days I would love nothing more than to lock myself in a room and lay in my pajamas and just read a book the whole day long.  That is not possible here for me but I still find the strength to keep going and carry on being mom. 

 



 

 

Precious ten years old

mom Precious and Faith

Precious, Faith and Mark 3 of the 4 loves of my life

Faith and Mark

Faith is almost 6 and Mark is 3.

 

I am blessed to be mom to these three kids and love them more than I ever thought possible.  God bless to all the moms out there and may God always give you the strength love and patience you need on a daily basis.

 

Also a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PRECIOUS.  LOVE YOU!!!!!

summer break and back to school

 

Summer break was mostly spent relaxing and enjoying not having to get up early and being more of a relaxed schedule.  The kids spent a lot of time on the playground and finding trouble like all young kids will do.  We did a couple of special things with the kids so they could get away from the village and see a bit of the island.  The first was a trip just our family.  There was a fellowship with another church in our denomination in Cebu that invited us to join them for a couple of days.  We where gone about a week.  We spent three days in the town of the church a couple of days for the fellowship and then a day with some family while Jonah went to another island for a meeting.  When he returned from the meeting we went back to Cebu city and spent a night and two days there.  We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary as a family enjoying some nice meals out and did some shopping for clothes that the kids and I (Jessica) needed.  We took a late ferry and arrived home late at night.  I am thankful that I have kids that have been trained to sleep anywhere.  The second outing was for all of  us.  We went to a resort on our island that has several pools to swim in.  We went with some friends of ours and the orphanage. The kids enjoyed spending the day in the pool.  Once they all got in the water it was hard to get them out.  They would not even come out for the promise of food.  We spent about five hours there at least three or four of which was spent swimming.  This was a week or so before school started.  We started trying to get back into the school schedule that last week and boy is that hard.  The kids where excited to go back to school and see their friends again but getting up early is not easy.  June 4 is our first day of school this year.  We have four kids at the local public school, one that is homeschooled and three that are still to young for school.  The first plan for the year was to have five at the local public school and none homeschooled but Faith struggled the first couple of weeks and came home crying at least three times so have decided homeschool is better for her.  Precious is in 5th grade and almost ten years old.  Faith would have been in the second grade but will do that at home.  She will be six next month.  We are homeschooling her with a curriculum that is provided by a private school that is run by a pastor friend of ours.  Mickaela is in 2nd grade and turned 8 in March.  Andrew was going to start at preschool but they said age wise he belonged in kindergarten so we are trying it out and hope that he can learn and succeed.  He will be 5 in August.  So far he seems to be learning a lot and is growing by leaps and bounds.  Nathan is also in kindergarten and he will be six the end of October.  Faith's trouble at school comes from a fear of getting in trouble with a teacher I think.  All of the times she has come home crying was when other kids where talking to her when they where not supposed to be and she thought she might be in trouble with the teacher because they where talking to her.  I also think it is harder for her to focus in a group of so many kids.  She is my social butterfly and would rather talk and be a part of everything around her whenever possible.  We have to have her in a quite room at home when she is doing her work otherwise she is distracted by everything around her.  She is bright but distracts easy.

 Here they are ready for their first day.

 Mark wants to go to school to

 

 

 

Often when the other kids leave for school he will grab a small backpack and want a paper and pencil and snack for his bag and will try to follow all the kids to school.  He will get mad at me if I do not let him go.  He even knows some of the teachers names and will tell us who his teacher is.  Most often he wants to go with the grade six teachers.

 

 



school transportation

 

We do not  have nice yellow school buses that come to pick the kids up.  Most days the kids walk to school.  Not to worry it is not far from where we live.  On rainy days or days that are wet then one of the wonderful menfolk will drive the kids to school in our topdown.  It is most often used for hauling water but kids fit well to.  There is Mark with his bag.  He will often ride to drop his ate and Kuyas off to school. 

 

Andrew in uniform.  We did not think he was going to kindergarten so was not in uniform in the

first pictures.

 

 

 

Thanks for coming on this journey with us and God bless.

the latest

Things have been fairly quite without to much going on here.  We did partner with a friend of ours and co-missionary to start a basketball ministry for the younger boys of the community.  All the boys aged 8-16 have been invited to come play basketball twice a month.  We have a few of our local young men that come to coach the boys and help out with the games.  Evertime they come the coaches talk about a different aspect of the game and do what they can to tie that in with their faith.  Once a month or so they also get a snack after the game.  We have been rained out a few times so have only played a handful of times so far but are praying that we can establish some consistent teams and start to develop relationship with the boys that come all the time and mentor them not just in basketball but also in life and faith.  March comes with the closing of a school year for us and the kids.  They do not have closing ceremonies till the first week of April but this month is just tieing up loose ends and practicing for closing.  March also brought with it a broken leg for me.  I went out one Saturday morning with the kids to jog and play and slipped on a slippery spot on the cement.  I thought at first it was just a bad sprain and that it would be fine in a couple of days.  It was not any better by Monday and still exetremely painful and swollen.  decided I should have it x-rayed.  Found out that I broke the small bone in my lower leg in two places.  That is what got me this lovely purple cast for six weeks.  I will hopefully have it removed the 9th of April.  It has not been fun or easy.  It is very diffucult to get around here with crutches because the ground is so uneven and rough.  The kids and Jonah have stepped up and done what they can to help out.  I know I have an incredible husband always but he really proves it when something like this happens.  He has become the cheif cook, housekeeper and child care provider. We do have a busy summer planned.  We start with a youth camp the 15-17th of April.  There will be youth from the whole northeastern part of our Island.  Please pray for the youth that are coming and for the leaders that are planning this event.  We are going to take a long weekend in May to celebrate with our girls and all their accomplishments this school year.  

 

My cast after I broke my leg

 



 My wonderful family that I love and that cares for me.

A look back

Three years, what can happen in three years.  Well in the case of our family a lot.  Three years ago today we had just left the US to move and start our mission in the Philippines.  That ministry has become what God wanted it to be and he has proved that it is his ministry and we are just the vessels he is using.  We started out saying we wanted to cater specifically to true orphans.  and the first sibling group of three that came that was true.  Those three ultimately decided to move with other family and made there choices.  The sibling group we have currently are not true orphans but needed the help and God chose us to help.  These children are pictured below.  You all know their story I think.  I will give a brief summary if you don't.  We where told about a sibling group by some church friends that where extremely malnourished and may benefit from the ministry.  On January 2, 2016 we went to see the mom to see what help we could provide.  We did not have  any plans to bring them home that day but just to see the situation.  When we arrived Andrew and Mark where at the house alone and Mark was crying because he had a poop diaper.  it took ten minutes after we arrived for the older sister to arrive and then she went to find mom.  At some point in that time Mickaela arrived also.  The kids where so sick and needed immediate care that it was decided by us and the mom that we would take them with us that day.  This was late afternoon.  Next day we took the long trip to Tagbilaran to find a good pediatrician that could help get us on the right road to get them all healthy.  Mickaela was 5 years old and weighed 8 kilos or 17 pounds.  Andrew was 2 years old and weighed 10 kilos or a little over 22 pounds.  No the numbers are not backwards they are correct.  Most of his weight was from worms.  Mark was 7 months old and weighed 5 kilos or 11 pounds.  They all had worms and where so weak and sick they could barely stay standing.  We spent the next two months going back and forth to tagbilaran to the doctor to adjust meds and diets and so forth to find what was needed.  Here we are two years later with all of the kids healthy and doing well.  Mickaela is now 18.9 kilos or 41.6 pounds.  She is still short and we are sure that her growth has been stunted but she is healthy and learning well at school.  Andrew is 15.5 kilos or 34.1 pounds.  Mark is now 12.2 kilos or 26.8 pounds.  It is with all of the support we receive from you that makes this possible.  Amazing transformations.  It was not an easy road but one full of blessings, learning and struggles.  God directed this ministry and still does.  

 

 

 Andrew Two years ago

 Mickaela  two years ago

 Mark two years ago

 Mark Today

L to R Mickaela, Andrew and Marah today

 

 

 

We have expanded our ministry to involve youth outreaches and other training seminars.  These happen here at our local church and also on others islands.  We have a small mission team at our church made up of our family the pastors and some of the young adults.  We have done a three day leadership training in Mindanao and we have done youth camps and worship trainings in Negros.  We try to do at least two or three youth camps in a neighboring island when invited by the local churches.  we also do a two day youth camp at our home church every three to four months. 

 

 

Our family has changed also.  We are in process of adding to our family with the adoption of our son Mark.  Our girls have grown and learned so much.  They both have learned the language and speak it fluently.  Precious sometimes speaks it better than English.  Precious has also made the change from homeschool to public school.  She is doing very well there and makes great grades.  She is 4th in her class of almost 30 students.  Faith is completing what she says is her last year of homeschool and is planning to go to the public school next year.  She is also doing great in school.  She made it her goal at the beginning of the school year to be classmates with Mickaela next year.  In order to accomplish that goal she needed to advance through two years this year and she is a month away from completing her goal and she is a month ahead of when the rest of the schools finish class.  I speak a few words but not enough to have conversation.  I have tried and keep trying but does not come easy for me.  We have also started a water refilling business to supplement our income and mostly to support the orphanage when we God calls us to leave here and do something different.  We also raise pigs for meat and we have layer chickens.  the chickens are coming to the end of their laying years though so will  not do those again.  A lot of work and not really worth the payout.  We will keep raising the pigs for meat.  It does not necessarily save a lot of money but we know where they come from and we know what they are being feed and that the meat is fresh. 

 

What's next?  That is a  question we have to keep asking ourselves and we rely on God to provide the answers.  The first thing is we would like to grow our orphanage family.  We have room for two to three more kids and are asking God to provide the children but first we have to ask God to provide the support.  If we can get more people to support the ministry and get $300 in monthly commitments then we would be able to provide for those additional kids.  We would like to continue our youth outreach and training ministry as God provides the opportunity. 

 

 

Prayer points

• Pray for the licensing we are in process with for DSWD
• Pray for health for all of us.  We have all been fighting colds with the rainy season they linger for a long time.
• Pray for more support so we can rescue more kids and love them.
• Pray for the right opportunities for outreach.
• Pray for the adoption process to speed up a little bit.

Thank God with us

• For a successful school year coming to a close in a couple months
• Thank God for a blessed Christmas season.
• Thank God for the blessings in the ministry.