One Last Afternoon/Evening (Eve of Departure Day)

My last full day in Cebu was bittersweet (Thurs. May 6, 2010).  I had to spend some time at the immigration office in the morning getting my approval to leave the country.  (Indeed, I did receive approval!)

 
After lunch with some staff, and some errands and packing, I returned to the shelter.  When I went up to the school, I was surprised with a special gift from John Ray and one of our therapist teachers, Jinkee.  They had put together a collage of pictures from my time there, and done it all with the theme "High School Musical"!  This had been a popular topic at school that year, after Level B performed the song "We're All in This Together" for one of our morning meetings!  The gift was done with such careful thought and love!  John Ray and Jinkee had become very special people to me; some of those friendships you just know will last, despite the thousands of miles that will separate us for long periods of time.

I sat in awe of the moment, and then they told me to turn the frame over, where they had written several encouraging notes and verses for me.  Whew, overwhelmingly wonderful!!  A lasting treasure that now hangs in my house. 

 

John Ray with his sister, Michelle - both such wonderful people!

 The CSC staff that I worked with all year - they became like family.  (Paul forgot to smile.)

After a staff gathering in the Eicher home with some visitors, there was some time to hang out with the kids before dinner.  The children gathered around by me, and we goofed off a bit while we watched to see if our planned outdoor dinner would stay dry or not as it lightly rained.  It was kind of an awkward hang-out time. Despite the giggles, jokes, and smiles, we all knew the looming sadness was present, but we tried to make the best of it.  The kids had definitely been acting different that week....somewhat quiet and sad....their gloomy looks and more frequent hugs showed me they were struggling just as I was with my departure.

 Love this pic!!!!

 One of the kids wanted to take a picture of Tammy and me.

 LOVE the flowers in Cebu!

 

 

 Despite the sprinkling rain, she was determined to finish her chores! 
She just held a plastic bag on her head to "stay dry"! :)

A while later, I was in the Duterte home and discovered Joemar organizing his room, which is a common occurrence.  He's lived at CSC his whole life and will continue to do so; he is an iconic member of the CSC family!  He's accumulated a large number of treasures, his favorites being Superman and Mr. Bean items!  He's one of the happiest people you'll ever meet, and he's got a great sense of humor.  He ended up a little speechless in this video, but usually he'll launch into a full explanation of what he's doing!

Joemar loves his raincoat, and takes it out even when it is barely sprinkling!

Hanging out with the toddlers before dinnertime.

I miss the Ohlendorf family very much!

The next day would be my departure from Cebu, and I would have my official "farewell" at the shelter.  So this was my final evening, and I decided to buy pizza for the staff and all the kids in all our homes, including the Teen Home, as a final thank-you and another way to show my love for them!  Unfortunately, it did begin to rain before our party so all 80+ of us crammed into the Duterte house for the pizza!  It was very fun and special to have a party with everyone!

 Yup, those are our pizzas!!

If you turn your lights off and look closely, you can see the children running to come to the pizza party!  It is an understatement to say that excitement was in the air!

I'm pretty sure Uncle Paul was the one who started this! :)

I started the party by talking to everyone a bit about why I wanted to treat them for the evening - that they all meant so much to me!  I saved the rest of the speech for the farewell the next day.  Then I prayed for the pizza and the evening before the food fest began!

  

The pizza party was crazy and entertaining!  We had six 30-inch pizzas for all the kids and staff, and everyone ate til they were full!  

 

 Get a feel of the party!  (The kids love hot sauce on their pizza!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then some of the staff surprised me by bringing out ice cream and chocolates at the end of the party too!

 Experience the chaos of an indoor pizza/chocolate/ice cream party with nearly 80 children! AWESOME!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Loving final moments with my precious, hilarious, and SNEAKY children!!

Tammy then surprised me with a little performance with the older girls.  It was a version of the "So Long, Farewell" song from "The Sound of Music".  It was super super cute, and I of course had to get out my Kleenex.  Some of the girls were clearly fighting tears too as they performed. :(  I couldn't figure out when they would have put this together, and how it stayed a secret.  What a wonderful memory!

So Long, Farewell- Teacher Michelle

There's a sad sort of feeling at the shelter today
And we all know why
Teacher Michelle is going to the United States and
It’s now time to say “goodbye”

Goodbye, goodbye

Regretfully they tell us,

but firmly they compel us
To say goodbye . . . to you

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

We’ll miss, you so, will you please write

So long, farewell, goodbye Teacher Michelle
We, enjoyed, yo-u can’t you te-ell

We want, you to, know we’ve understood
the things, you’ve taught, we’ll try to be good

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
We love, you and, we’ll pray as you fly

We’re sad you’ll go, we cannot tell a lie
We wish, you’d stay, and you know why

Gooooodbyyyyyeee

Goodbye

 Goodbye 

It was a really fun night of celebrating one last meal together with all the kids and staff.  Kids started pouring on the hugs that night.  They just looked so sad, it broke my heart!!  

 

 

 

 

 

My last shot with the Healy family, part of my staff family there!

After dinner, Tammy and I played a game with some of the kids outside.  By this point, I was completely exhausted from a jam-packed and emotional week, but I wanted to make the most of my last evening.  I did my best to engage in the game and laugh along, even though the tears would have come just as easily.  The game is a hilarious one called "Curses."  Although I don't like the name, the concept is hilarious!  There are cards that have something you have to do written on them.  You assign that card to a player, and throughout the game, they are required to follow exactly what the card says.  It might be talking in a certain voice, doing a certain action, or doing something to someone.  Once you build up three, four, five, six cards, it becomes even more funny!  The kids love it!

 

 

The dilemma here was who would be assigned the card that said you had to proclaim your undying love whenever the bell rang!  At the same time - when the bell rang, that cued several other people to do things that their cards assigned them to do.

At the end of the crazy game, I made rounds to the houses to say good-night to the kids.  It was very special to go from bed to bed, giving hugs and kisses, and telling the kids how much I loved them (through tears, of course).  There's something really neat about saying good-night to a child at bedtime.  The serene, sweet spirit of each child is adorable.  I knew very soon, I would not be able to give these hugs to them anymore, so I poured them on, even as we would do more good-byes the next day.  It was an extremely memorable last night!