Last weekend was a busy one! The big event was the annual Children's Shelter of Cebu Fundraising Banquet and Adoptive Family Gathering. People come from all over the country for this event and it is a great time to connect or reconnect with others who love the ministry at CSC. Our kids reconnected with a number of friends (and even relatives) that they had not seen since moving to the US. It was an exciting reunion for all of them. I could only imagine what they must have been thinking.
On Friday night, the adoptive families met at a hotel to basically "hang out". It was a bit crazy as about 150 gathered by the pool to catch up. The pool itself was full of kids and parents and there was a lot of noise as well. The highlight for me was to chat with a family in Wisconsin who have adopted the three kids who are related to Roselyn, Romeo and Rodrigo. It was fun to share stories and compare notes with them. Their children arrived just a few months before ours. It was also fun to see how much the kids looked, sounded and even acted like ours. We hope to connect again sometime this summer. We think it is important.
The banquet was on Saturday night. I believe that there were about 850 people in attendance! One of Roselyn's best friends from CSC gave a talk about her life and how God has touched her through the people and work at CSC. She also played an original composition on the violin in honor of the day she and her siblings were told that a family was waiting for them. It was very touching.
I felt a little sad when we had to go. Some of the kids that were at the banquet live a long way from Minnesota. It will probably be a long time until they are back in our part of the country. Those relationships were so important during a very uncertain time in our kids' life. There is a history and a bond there that we will probably never really understand. Now, we are all in the middle of a new chapter with a new family and new friends. Even so, I hope that they will always stay connected in one way or another.
Our kids had a great time, but it also seemed like they were content to get into the car and come HOME to Cambridge. In spite of all the changes and all the uncertainty that has occurred in the life of our kids, I do feel like they are happy and feel secure with our family. I am very thankful for that. I am also very thankful for the people at CSC who cared for Roselyn, Romeo and Rodrigo for three years of their life. They gave them the love and support that they needed in a very difficult time of their life. CSC is an AWESOME place.
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