November 27, 2011

Abinaya

1. What do you remember from your life before coming to the CCH home?

My Name is Abinaya.  I am studying U.K.G (Upper Kindergarten).  Before I came to CCH home I use to play and I am not going to school.  I never obey my elders.  I used to watch T.V. 24 hours.  I hated God I never pray to him.  I used to yell and fight other children.  And I use to speak so many bad words.

2. What is the best part about living in a CCH home?

I was come to CCH through my church pastor.  When I joined as a new child, I feel not comfortable with other children and I don’t understand what I am going to do here.  But pastor was very encouraging me to stand on my feet.  Then I decided to study more. Then I use to make a friendship with others. When I started to make a friendship with other children, really I feel very happy and I never feel that I am not alone. I started to pray also. Now I become a good in my studies and my behaviors and I love God.

3. If you were going to describe God to your class, what three words you use to describe God?
  • Jesus is good.
  • You are never alone with Jesus.
  • If you also believe him you will become good in your behaviors and you will get a good marks in your studies.


4. In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time?

At ten years I may get 18 years old.  When get 18 years, I want to see my life was beautiful and I able to stand on my feet.  I want to speak about God to others.  When I finish school, I want to be a doctor to help other children and bring them to CCH.





These Ponduru girls love to have their picture taken!  Their smiles are so sweet and so are their hearts!  Their home parents have two little girls.  Mercy is 2 years old and Blessing is just 6 months old.  These girls are great with their little baby sisters!   Please pray for their studies! 

Water balloons were a hit this summer!  We had water balloon tosses and they thought it was the greatest game!  They loved getting each other wet!  Sandhya in the back, in blue, is one of our volunteer staff members who helps CCH out when she is on break from college!  She is wonderful with the children!

These girls are girly girls!  When school started we gave them ribbons to match their uniforms.  Most every school age girl wears her hair in braids with ribbons tied at the bottom.  When we went to visit them in school, I noticed that they did not have their ribbons.  I asked them why not.  They told me that ribbons are not in fashion at this school.  They asked for clips.  I told them when they finished their 1st term exams we would give them clips.  The picture to the left is them doing each others hair after receiving the clips!  Gotta love the fashion!  :)

November 20, 2011

Lazar

1.  What do you remember from your life before coming to the CCH home?
My name is Lazar I am studying 5th class.  Before I come to the CCH home I use to play on the streets.  I never obey my elders, and I use to speak very bad words to other children.  I used to go school but I don’t have an interest in school. And I don’t have a any vision for my life.  No one will care for my life no one is giving me direction to my life.  I always use to think, what’s going happens to me?

2.  What is the best part about living in a CCH home?
I came to the CCH home through my church pastor.  When I joined in a CCH home, a few days later, I feel want to escape from there.  One day my pastor made a prayer meeting in the church.  As I was praying, God showed me one small plant is growing very big like tree.  When summer comes that tree was never dry.   It’s getting very shining and then I don’t understand what it means.  After I finished the prayer I just told my pastor about this dream.  He explained it to me. Then I come to know Jesus loves me.  I come to know he never leaves me alone.

3.  If you going to describe God to your class, what three words would you see to describe God?
  • Jesus is great believe in him.
  • Jesus was died for you and me.  Will anyone died for you and me, “No”.  Do you know why?  Some people love us but no one will died for us. But Jesus loves us and he was died for us, so really He is great here.
  • Jesus will give victory for our life.
4.  In ten years, how old will you be? What do you want your life to be like at that time? 
In ten years, I will be 23 years old.  I just want to see in my life will be good and that I able to help to CCH homes. Those who are struggling, I will bring the children and I will keep in the CCH home.  I decided to study well and I will get a job.  I will be an engineer.





This is Lazar at VBS reading part of the story of Jesus walking on the water.  He is a very good reader in Telugu (the local language) and he is also very good at reading in English!








These are the boys of NTR Colony.  They are some of the sweetest kids!  They are in the school store getting their first pair of shoes!  We have 2 sets of siblings in this home!  Three of them are biological brothers and then we have two others that are biological brothers!  Now they are all brothers together!




Visiting these boys at school is such a pleasure!  Their principals and teachers have GREAT things to say about them!  The CCH staff is very proud of how these kids are doing in school!  Two of them are the top in their class!  Yeah Adithya and Anil!  Keep praying for the NTR Colony boys and their studies!

November 13, 2011

The Best Christmas Present Ever!!

What a great time of year it is!  The holidays are here and we are so excited to celebrate with our children!  Today is Children's Day in India - not sure why they don't have that holiday in the States but here they do!  We had our 2nd Saturday celebration last Saturday and that was so much fun!  We were able to give blankets to all the children, it is winter here you know!  Here is Ravi Teja receiving his blanket!  These blankets are great quality and everyone was so excited to get them! 


Now we are on to thinking about Christmas!  There are so many ways to give this time of year and I would hope that you all would think about giving to one of our CCH children or giving to a whole home.  We have 200 hundred children in 20 homes!


For the girls - Beautiful Dresses
For the boys - Jeans and a collared shirt

When I saw this little girl in this outfit, I told Chinna, a CCH staff member, that I wanted to buy all the girls of CCH homes this dress.  He got a big smile on his face and said, "They will really be happy with that, sister"!  So, here we are, getting ready to purchase the cloth and make each one custom fit.  We had the girls measured by the tailor on Saturday!  

I asked the boys if they wanted jeans or slacks.  They said that jeans are more popular now.  Jeans it is!  We are so excited to get these children a personal gift!  We will be gift wrapping all 200 of the outfits and putting the name of the child on their gift!  They will be so excited!  Needless to say, these types of gifts don't come their way very often, if ever.

When we asked the home parents what they wanted for Christmas, they all said, electric mixers for the kitchen!  We are very happy to be able to give this to them!  They cook for 12-15 people 3 times daily!  Mixing by hand can be a bit rough! 


Here is what we need from you:
One child - $15 for the dress/jeans
One home - $150 for all ten children (dress/jeans)
One mixer for the home - $60 

Christmas Package (one home) - $210 
One outfit for every child and a mixer


How can you give, you ask?
Use paypal on the right side of the blog home page or
Mail a check to the address on the right side


November 6, 2011

Andhra Pradesh Children’s Homes Tour – Recap!

The CCH children are amazing!  Each with a unique story, a brilliant smile, and a bright future!  We are so thankful for all the pastors and their wives, the church members, and the CCH staff that makes this program run so amazingly well!

Here are some pics from the Northern trip, along with one beautiful story of Monika.

Somavaram girls in their bedroom 
Some of the Domakonda girls enjoying the bubbles
Choppakatlapalem Girls with their school bags

Punukula girls with their finished puzzles

Saravaram boys loving the games

Monika's smile made our day the minute we saw her face...let me explain why.

In April when we went to see the facilities before the children moved in, we were able to meet Monika.  Her eyes were dark and she was a very sad.  When we were praying for all the children, I felt that she needed some extra prayer because I thought she might be having nightmares.  I talked with the pastor and we pulled her aside and were able to talk with her.  Indeed she was having nightmares and she was afraid to fall asleep at night.  We asked if we could pray for her again and ask God to protect her in her sleep.  She let us pray for her. 

This is Monika

When we saw her last week, she had bright eyes, a smile, and joy was pouring out of her.  I asked the pastor what changed.  He told me that she had run away twice in the night and that someone in the village had brought her back to the home.  He had a talk with her and asked her not to run away.  She said she wanted to stay in the home but felt like she needed to run away.  He told her to pray and ask God to help her stay in the home.  At first she would just repeat the prayer after him and then she was able to do it on her own.  She has not run away from home since, she doesn't have any more nightmares, and her face, when she prays, just lights up!  

Our God is so good and He loves these little ones so much!  Praise the Lord for the work done in Monika's life through this pastor and the CCH home!  This is why we do what we do!