the happenings

Our last post ended with sending our kids off to school.  There is only one change in the school area and that is with Andrew.  He is "to young" for school and was struggling to learn and the teacher, himself and our houseparents where getting frustrated.  I learned that he does not have the fine motor control to write and do the work that was required of him at school.  He has since been pulled and spends his mornings with Faith, Mark and I.  I have learned a few things about my kids in this whole school process.  Precious does better in the scheduled, structured school setting so in some ways I think I failed her in previous years by keeping her home.  I know that it is all a learning process as parents and I thank God that kids are sturdier than we sometimes think.  Anyway Precious is thriving at school and is really enjoying it.  I am glad that Faith is still home because in some ways I fear that she would have gotten bored with learning in kindergarten.  She is excelling with the homeschool curriculum and could very well excell through two grades this year.  She has an eagerness and love for learning and that is all the motivitation she needs.  Precious needs the motivation of the structure that she finds at school.  Mark is a smart little boy and learns new things everyday.  He is using 4-5 word sentences and speaks mostly visayan but knows english also.  most people talk to him in visiayan so makes sense that is the language he would speak most often.  My girls even struggle to speak english sometimes so will be interesting when and if we move back to the US. 

The end of June saw us celebrating more birthdays.  We had a nice dinner at home for precious and Jonahs birthday.  Precious also had a cake to share with her classmates at school.  We would love to have a party to celebrate all our kids birthdays but they are so close together and it would cost to much.  So we rotate the kids that get a big party and the other two get to have dinner with the compound.  which consist of three houses, ours, the orphanage and there aunt and uncle and three cousins. 

July slowed down some if that is possible.  It seems there is always something to do.  July was made a little more difficult when an earthquake happened near our power source and damaged the structure.  we went about two and a half weeks with no power at all and since then we have been on a rotation for power. At first it was sporadic and we could not figure out a schedule.  know we are supposed to have power for a period of hours to days withit being shut off every so often for four hours but even that schedule is sporadic at best.  The one thing that is interesting here is that the world continues at normal when the power goes out.  there is still school, church, stores are open with or without a generator.  It makes life hard when it is power out at night when you have several kids afraid of the dark.  It is hard to sleep when it is so hot also but we have learned to survive and are thankful for power when we do have it.  This is supposed to continue till the beginning of August but who knows for sure when it will be back to normal.

Mid July was a lot of parties again.  We celebrated Faith and her kuya Ken's (nephews) birthday and had a good friend celebrate his birthday all on the same day.  The next day we had a house dedication party and the next Wednesday we had a dinner with the local teachers and gvernment officials as a way to bridge the gap between the two and try to come to an understanding that we are not agianst each other but should try and work in unity.  There was a roasted  pig at all of these parties.  We enjoyed the time with family and friends but definitly ready for something different to eat after all that pork.  Thank you for traveling along with us on this amazing, fun, and often crazy adventure we call our life.

That's all folks!!  see you next time.

June days

June is already half over and so much fun and tears have happened.  The fun and laughter first.  June 2 we celebrated the birthdays of our twins.  Mark and Marah.  It was about a year and a half ago that they arrived to us and they have grown so much.  Marah was healthy for the most part when she arrived and she has continued to grow and develop as a normal two year old.  Mark was extremely malnourished, underweight and not reaching developmental milestones.  With the proper nourishment love and care he has grown to be within normal weight and has exceeded all the milestones. Both kids are fun and full of energy.  We enjoyed celebrating their birthday at the local beach with lechon (roasted) baboy (pig).  We also had many wonderful family and close friends to celebrate with us.  It was a great time of swimming, eating, and fellowship.

 Marah the birthday girl

 Mark and Marah enjoying a snack during their swim

 Yummy Lunch

Marah kissing the Pig!!

A few days after the party it was time to get back to business and get the kids ready for school.  Sounds weird to many of you I am sure.  I have been reading and seeing so many things about last days of school and here we are just starting.  Our school year runs from beginning of June to the end of March.  The first day of elementary and High school was a busy day here.  I was smart in that I had all the bags packed and ready before, but Jonah had to be out of town and left early that morning so had to get two kids up and ready for school and get Mark ready to go also.  I had to go with the girls to get them enrolled and was going to wait for Faith so I could walk her home as she would be done an hour before the others.  Got my two girls there and enrolled and the whole time Faith seemed excited but when it was time to go to class and for mom to leave she started crying so hard and would not go to class.  It has been since decided that she will stay home and homeschool with me (Jessica).  It is very quite though because the only kids we have in the morning from 8-11 is the three babies and Faith.  We send five off to school every morning.  Two go to day care (preschool) and then three at the elementary school.  grades 1, 4 and 6.  It is controlled chaos here in the mornings to make sure they are all up fed and dressed.  There are some days I dread that alarm.  But it is such a blessing to be a part of Gods ministry here and to see the kids learn and grow is amazing.  We have to also give a special thank you to our house parents because without them things would be even more crazy in the mornings.  The picture is missing Andrew and Nathan because their first day at daycare was a week later and they where not ready the morning we took pictures.

first day of school picture. L to R Precious grade 4, James grade 6, Tata grade 7, Faith kindergarten and Mickaila grade 1

Thank you for reading and for all your support in our ministry here.  Blessings to you all as you celebrate summer vacation.

Thanksgiving and travel

  Many of you have asked about our travels so will try and put into words all that happened.  The end of April and May saw us very busy.  The end of April is our churches annual Thanksgiving celebration.  This is the anniversary of the church and a way to celebrate what has been accomplished over the past year.  The month of April is busy getting everything ready for the celebration.  Our family was very involved this year as all three of our kids had practice for there respective dance numbers and the girls where in charge of coming up with parlor games for the kids.  I (Jessica) was in charge of parlor games for the women and Jonah was part of the team that lead the basketball tournaments for the men.

A side note should include that Mark was not supposed to be part of the boys dance but he was at all of the practices and would practice with the boys so when it came time to dance they let him dance with him.

Mark dancing with the boys

Both girls danced during the Praise and worship and also where part of a group of girls that did a special number also.  The Thanksgiving celebration is an all day affair that is enjoyed by everyone.  The day starts with a service in the morning with a special guest speaker and several special numbers by the kids and youth of the church.  Service is followed by a potluck lunch for the whole church.  There are always lots of yummy foods and a couple of lechon (roasted) pigs to enjoy.  Following lunch is the parlor games for the various age groups.  This is a fun time to relax and enjoy the day and get to know others better.  After games everyone just relaxes and enjoys the rest of the afternoon talking and sharing fellowship till the evening service.  This service is usually a talent service with several special prepared numbers by the young people again. 

Meroy ready to chop the lechon

 Mark dancing with the boys

 Lunch time

After the Thanksgiving we had one day to rest before we left on our first trip in May.  May 1-5 we spent in Negros at the denominations national convention and youth/kids camp.  This is a few days set aside every year for the pastors and lay leaders to gather in one place for a time of learning and renewal.  It is also here that the business meetings and board meetings are held.  during the day there are divided sessions for the adults, youth and this year for the first time in about 25 years they had a kids camp again.  Jonah sits on the board so he is at the meetings and sits in most sessions and I spend time running around with Mark and Faith.  From Negros we came back to Bohol and had no more plans to travel.  We had been invited to Mindanao but did not have plans to go at first but thought more about it and decided to go anyways so When we arrived from Negros we where home for less than 48 hours before we left for Mindanao.  We had been invited because a good friend was hosting and conducting there 6th annual interchurch youth camp and wanted us to see it and also our my sister-in-law was one of the guest speakers.  I am glad that we did end up going because it was a great chance to observe and see what there camp is like.  This is a huge youth camp with anywhere from 300 plus registered every year. I learned a lot there and we are going to try and reproduce a camp similar here sometime but will take a lot of planning and the right people to make it happen.  For right now we are in the prayer stages of this happening here and waiting for God to make it his timing.  Sorry no good pictures from here all I have are pictures of signs and papers and such for my reference.  So where to from there.  After the camp we decided to go and visit one of Jonah's brothers for a couple of days and relax after all the travel to that point.

From Mindanao it was back to Bohol but only to spend one night at home before we went to another youth camp but this time it was only 30 minutes from home.  We camped out there in the tent and our main purpose was to be a support to the officers, mainly my nephew who is the chairman of the NEBEMA(North Eastern Bohol Evangelical Ministerial Association).  We spent three days there before returning home and trying to find a routine again.  All in all we spent more time away from home in May then we did at home.

It was a busy month but God truly blessed us is all our travels and we are thankful to be home for while as we await the day to celebrate Mark and Marah turning two.

Thanks for reading and May God bless you all!!!

Growing!!!

    Wow it has been way to long and there are no excuses, only my sincerest apologies.  So we have been on the field for over 2 years know and our ministry has grown and seen many changes in those two years.  I will try and limit the changes to certain topics so as not to overwhelm anyone and to not make these post to long.

    People first.  Lets start at the beginning.  The first three orphans we received where, if you remember was a sibling group of three.  Jerwin(tata), Donnabe (Ebec) and John.  John and Ebec has since decided to live with an older sister near Tagbiliran.  I still keep in touch with Ebec on about a weekly basis.  she is doing well and will be entering high school this year.  Our school year starts in June and ends in March.  Ebec and Tata where in the 5th grade and not doing well in school when they arrived here and so I was proud to see and be a part of there 6th grade graduation the end of March.  Tata had also decided to leave and go live with an aunt near by.  We would see him around but he had cut ties with us for awhile, but we are so happy to see him back here at the church and volunteering his summer hours to help our pastor around there home and the church grounds.  He really seems to have grown up the last year or so and I pray that God will keep working in him.  We love all of our kids and hate to see them leave but God knows best and we know it is better to stay in Gods will.

Jerwin (Tata) Dupalco

The next young man that came to us was Marvin.  A lot has changed for this young man and he still has a lot of growing to do and we have to entrust his life to God.  We have done what we can and he will always hold a special spot in my heart but he has made his choices and he has to live with those choices.  Marvin lived here for awhile then went home to Grandpa after he made some bad choices here.  Some family learned of his situation and he lived with them for a school year but did not learn from his mistakes here very well and they will not let him return to live with them for the safety of their new little daughter.  So he will be staying with Grandpa, unless God provides a better place that can meet his specific needs.  He still comes to church when he can find a ride so we see him then and always try to encourage him when we see him.

   That last group of kids that came to us was a sibling group of five.  This was the group that came from the neglected home and the kids that where very malnourished when they arrived.  These kids are Hazel, Mickaella, Andrew, Marah, and Mark.  Hazel has since chosen to return home and quite school all together.  The rest of this sibling group is still here with us and are not just growing but thriving.  Mark and Marah will celebrate there 2nd birthday with us in a week.  Marah was in pretty good health when she arrived so she has continued to grow well and is learning new things every day it seems.  She is learning to talk and to play nice with here friends.  Mark has grown so much and has become a very smart little boy.  growth wise he seems to be right on track for other kids his age.  He has learned so many words and is putting up to three words together to form short sentences.  most of his language is Visayan but he is learning English as well.  I appreciate the people here with him especially because when they teach him a new word they will try and teach him the Visayan and English word.  With him I am having to learn more of the Visayan so I can understand what he is trying to talk to me about.  If you could pray with us as we continue to work with the local Social Service agency to process his adoption.  He is so much a part of our family that it would break our hearts if he is not allowed to be part of our legal family.  We look forward to celebrating Mark and Marah next week and the gift they are to us and our family.  Mickaella has grown so much as well.  She is at a healthy weight and continues to grow physically, spiritually and emotionally.  She is still very small in height for her age and that maybe a life long thing for her.  She has finished kindergarten and will start first grade next month.  Andrew is growing well and is also at a healthy weight and height.  His vocabulary is growing by the week and he is talking in short sentences.  He will be a visitor to the local preschool this year so hopefully he will learn a lot there and learn to socialize better with other kids close to his age.  We hope and pray these kids will all continue to grow and learn and that they learn more about our savior and see his love everyday. 

L-R Mickaella, Andrew, Marah, Gianne, Nathan

An update on some other people you have heard about but are not our orphans.  Jolene is a working a high school student she is still living and working for my sister-in-law.  She will start grade 9 in a couple of weeks.  She sometimes struggle with staying because she misses her family but she knows this is the best place for her.  If she went home she would most likely be somewhat forced to marry and not be able to finish school.  I try to encourage her any chance I get and we smile and laugh together.  It is interesting with her because she does not understand English well but she pretends sometimes for my sake so we have interesting conversations that make us both laugh. 

Junrey and Ogeke are the two gentlemen that work at the water business that we own and operate here.  They are doing well and both work for us still.  Ogeke is a hard worker and never ask for time off.  He loves to help out in any way he can.  He is great with the kids and will help out by watching them or just taking them to play on the playground for a little while so moms and dads can get a rest for a few minutes.  Junrey is engaged and getting married in October.  He is planning to continue working for us after he is married.  He is the one that manages our day to day paperwork and operations.  He is also great with all of the kids and is willing to pitch in and help out with child care.

   The last people I can think of would be our family.  Jonah and I (Jessica) are doing well.  We just celebrated our 10th anniversary the other day.  Marriage is not always are walk in the park but God has blessed us with 10 years of joy and sadness and fun and adventures.  We look forward to walking this journey together still and pray God will continue to bless us so we can continue being a blessing to others.  Our girls are doing well also.  Precious finished third grade as a homeschool student.  This year was a struggle for us.  It was a new curriculum and somewhat of a last minute decision.  She started the year at the elementary school but struggled some with the language so decided to do one more year with homeschool and we had a friend from church that is a teacher come in about twice a week to tutor her.  She will be entering the fourth grade at our local elementary school here and we will encourage her to see the year through and evaluate at the end of the year.  She is growing so much.  We are proud of the daughter that God is growing her into.  Faith will start her official education in kindergarten this year.  She tried preschool last year but did not want to go to school when she was told mom could not stay in the classroom anymore.  We hope that she has outgrown that but there is a part of me that fears she has not.  We will encourage her to spend one year at school and evaluate at the end of the year.  She still has a lot of growing to do but she is a smart little girl.  she has started reading short three letter words this past year and counts to 200 with a little bit of help once in awhile.  She I think often has the desire to be an only child so can be hard sometimes when there are so many other kids around.

Precious, Mark and Faith

We thank you for taking the time to read about our journey here and pray you are blessed in a small way with what God has done here in the Philippines.

For a side note we want to praise God that after a year of processing our registration with Securities and Exchange commission (SEC) it was finally approved and we have received the registration.  We are officially registered as the Lucas Shelter for Children Philippines, INC,  To read more about the name look for our June newsletter in your mailboxes in a couple of weeks.

will try another update weekly till I can get us caught up to current.  Sorry again for the major time lapse.

Also a good friend of ours is in the process of putting together a box to ship.  I believe this one will be a medical/first aid one but if you have something you would like to include please contact Christine Davenport at email address davenport.christine@gmail.com  I will try to keep an updated list of desired items on the side of the blog.  I just have to remember how to create it.  God bless and have a wonderful day.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is almost here which also means that our two year anniversary is almost here as well.  It is hard to believe that we have been here almost two years already, but at the same time it seems that time has flown by.  So many changes have been seen in our ministry and a few even in our family.

Ministry changes first.  Our arrival saw the demolition and reconstruction of the orphanage building.  three months and a lot of dedicated men and man hours went into the building and with such love for the work that was being done.  Soon after completion God showed us who was in charge and that he would be the one to determine which kids would be coming to us.  We would have preferred younger kids but our first two where teenagers.  A brother and sister pair 16 and 13 they had lost there mom a few years previous and had just lost there dad.  With all the trauma of life they did not focus on school and fell very far behind.  they both where in the 4th grade when they arrived and should have been in there later years of high school.  Since there arrival one (Tata) the oldest has chosen to return and live with family.  He is in the 6th grade and doing fair in school.  We still see him and he comes to visit once in awhile.  The second (Ebec) is also in grade 6 know and still lives here.  She is doing very well in school and trying very hard to succeed.  She is a teenage girl and so has all the drama and emotions one would expect but she is growing into a wonderful young women who wants to serve her Lord.  The third kid was John and a brother to the first two.  He was 6 years old.  He also struggled with school.  He was supposed to be finishing the second grade.  but was held back because of grades.  He did not read or write or know any of his numbers.  We tried so hard to help him but learning is a huge struggle for him.  after almost a year and a half he learned the alphabet in order but could not point out any letters.  He learned to count to ten also but could not identify numbers.  Just a couple of months ago he and a married sister chose for him to move and live with her family.  Next was Marvin.  He was 13 When he arrived and also was very behind in school.  He was in the third grade and could not read or write.  He showed a large desire to learn and make life better for himself.  With the help of a tutor he know reads and writes.  He is in the 4th grade know and doing well with school.  He got into some trouble here and was given the choice to stay and be monitored closely or to go back to grandpa.  He chose  to go to grandpa.  But some good friends and a cousin of his heard of the situation and invited him to move in them.  So that is what he chose to do.  The last group of kids to join us was a sibling group of five.  They still had a mom but she was unable to care for them.  They where so underweight, malnourished and sick when we got them.  they where 13, 5, 2, and twins at 7 months.  one of the twins was cared for by an aunt so came about a month later when the aunt said she could not care for her anymore.  They all have grown so much and are learning and developing at a wonderful rate.  Hazel did not like all the rules and preferred the freedom that she had with mom and so chose to return.  She still texts and calls Jonah almost daily.  She has quite school.  The younger ones a right on track with school and are learning well.  They are back to full health and are staying healthy.  We have a wonderful couple that lives at the orphanage to help us out and act as house parents.  They have two kids of there own a son and daughter.  there kids are 4 and 1. 

The orphanage is our primary focus of concern but our ministry has taken on new aspects as well.  We help to conduct a local youth event quarterly here at the local church and also every three to four months we travel to other islands and help the local churches to conduct there own youth outreaches.   The funds for these ministries comes from our business income and tithes.

One other aspect of ministry that we are involved in is the Operation Christmas Child program with Samaritans Purse.  I (Jessica) and have joined the local staff as a volunteer resource coordinator.  I am in charge of helping the local team to raise funds to help with the cost of distribution of the boxes.  We have several members of our church that are ministry partners and receive boxes to had out to the kids.  It has been fun for our family to see this side of the ministry, because when in the US we also packed boxes. 

Our most recent family picture

Know for the changes in our family.  We have invested some of the money from my dads trust to start two businesses.  One is a water refilling business.  We have a 21 stage water purification system and have gained a lot of customers.  Our business has grown so much that we have hired two guys to work the business and handle all of the deliveries for us.  We still fill the occasional water container but the guys we have working are great.  The other business we have is egg laying chickens and we sell the eggs.  We have about 200 chickens.  Jonah's sister lives with us and takes care of the chickens for us.  The biggest change is the addition of our youngest kid.  We are in the process of adopting our son Mark.  He is a year and half old.  He was seven months old when he came into our care.  He is one of the twins.  He was the size of a one month old baby and developmentally he was an infant.  He has grown so much and has reached so many developmental milestones since he has been with us.  He is learning to talk and he walks and he is just so much fun.  He is so different from the girls when they where that age it is so much fun to watch him grow.  We have had two visitors since we arrived.  Our pastoral care couple from the mission agency we serve with was here to visit all the missionaries and stayed with us for a couple of days.  and we are excited to have Christine Davenport with us for six weeks.  She arrived about a week ago and is seeing all of the controlled chaos that makes up our lives here. 

With all that has been said there have also been two major changes in our support.  two of our big supporters have passed away and since we have lost there monthly support.  that totals 350 dollars that we have lost in monthly support.  So if  you would please be willing to pray with us in finding new support to fill in the lose that we have suffered.  We know that God is in control and he shows us that daily.  But the lose of that support does effect our ministry in a huge way.  Please feel free to pass this on to any friends or family even churches that might be interested.  We can send more information to anyone that is interested.  Thank you so much for all your love and support.

My contact is email or facebook.  email is jcajigas111081@gmail.com and my facebook name is Jessica Lucas Cajigas.  If you have people that want to contact me via facebook have them send me a message as to who and why they are friending me because I do not accept friend request from people I do not know.

Merry Christmas to your family from ours and the most blessed of New years.  Gods blessings!!!

Cajigas family,

Jonah, Jessica, Precious, Faith and Mark