Dear AAI Volunteers, Family and Friends,

I am up before sunrise today after traveling across the world once again. As the morning light expands across the lake here in North Carolina, I am mesmerized by the glory of spring, the bird songs and new buds exploding with life. I feel refreshed, honored, and loved today to have shared such an incredible experience with all of you in the Philippines! Life is so precious, and our bond, with the children and with each other, carries us through this day and beyond.

What I hold dear are the moments of joy, the glorious trees adorning Shepherd of the Hills Children’s Foundation (SOTH), and the laughter and tears shared with all of you. What I am realizing is that our time there is not enough and I want to stay longer. Sometimes our hurried and busy lives take us far away, but we have this special place in our hearts to return.

Our Airline Ambassadors International Spring Mission Trip 2018 was a huge success and I thank you for your participation. This was our first actual excursion with the Abatex community. It was an exciting change and the children loved it. Thank you Pastor Pascual and his wife Rizaline for making this possible for AAI and for sharing the traditional Filipino meal with us!

From the moment we stepped off of the bus at SOTH, we felt the love from the children and a sincere welcome home. It was great to be a part of the graduation ceremonies. It is our endeavor, at the request of Nathan after the passing of Nay Ruth, to include these children into the SOTH home for education, art and music. Our community sponsorship program is underway and I will be adding more children to the program in the next several weeks. The cost is only $23 a month, so if any of you would like to be a part of such a special program, please let me know? Thank you to the “Delta Girls”: Megan, Jamie and Heather for kicking off the program last spring with the sponsorship of Railey. He is a little “butterball” of energy and is all smiles. Also, thank you Katherine and Kathi for sponsoring Irish and Jayceren and a special thank you to our new sponsors, Andrew and Dee, for sponsoring the siblings Larr Avren and Bernadette. You are helping to make Nathan’s dream a reality!

All of us at AAI have a unique situation at Shepherd of the Hills in the Philippines. We stay right at the orphanage and create lifelong bonds with the children. This is absolutely priceless! I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to Connex and Leah for coordinating our efforts with AAI and making our stay at SOTH possible. Every thing was very organized and each time the food gets better and better. Thank you!

Our AAI sponsored Coastal Cleanup and beach and pool time at Punta de Uian was so wonderful! I enjoyed meandering from the beach to the pool. Our hot lunch was provided by SOTH and we enjoyed snacks and yummy watermelon and mango too. Also, the highlight for me was when Uncle Philip arrived! Someone told me I seemed noticeably happier and more relaxed once he was there. I am extremely fortunate to have a loving partner who flew half way around the world to be with me and the children (or the children and me, ha ha) I think this made my nephew Josh just as happy!

Our Filipino Cooking Class and Market Excursion went really well. From beginning to end, we learned what meats and vegetables to buy at the local market and how to, step-by-step, prepare the meal. Our AAI groups made pork menudo, chicken curry, vegetable spring rolls and chop suey. What a feast we had! I was especially impressed by the new cooking skills of Uncle Brian, Auntie Katherine and Uncle Hugo. Great job everyone!

Playing games with the kids is always fun. What I did not realize is that we had egg toss champions in our group. Our mother/daughter team of Auntie Joanie and Auntie Jamie were triumphant! Thank you Nathan for coordinating these efforts and leading the games. We had a lot of bonding and movie time with the children too.

Our Health and Wellness/CPR Workshops were fantastic! I want to give a BIG thank you to our team leaders with AAI and for all of your efforts. Our First Aid and Health and Hygiene workshop was lead by Auntie Linda. Thank you to Auntie Kathi and Uncle Tyler for teaching the children the basics of first aid and good hygiene.

Our “Have a Heart/What’s Your Pulse” class was lead by Uncle Philip and assisted by Auntie Katherine and Uncle Joshua. At this station, the children learned how to take a pulse and the healthy benefits of exercise. Katherine made nametags with stickers with the heart rates of all of the kids. Josh was in charge of the stopwatch and timing. It was fun to watch the kids learn to take their pulses during rest and after jumping jacks!

Our AAI CPR Class was led by Auntie Megan. This was probably the most fun to watch as the children lined up to be a part it. Thank you to Auntie Janelle and Auntie Jamie for your infectious energy. Thanks to the influence of American Airlines and Delta, our CPR compressions were done the Bee Gee’s song Staying Alive!

Last, but not at all least, was our Heimlich Maneuver Workshop led by Uncle Hugo and assisted by Auntie Casey and Uncle Brian. This class had a slight comical element to it with Uncle Brian as the recipient of the Heimlich. We did, however, keep things in line with the seriousness of choking. Auntie Casey demonstrated how to give the Heimlich on a baby doll. I do believe that this class in particular, will save a life one day!

When I was asked to lead this spring mission, I wanted to do something different. I originally was hoping that my retired doctor friend “Doc” would join us from North Carolina or that Auntie Karen would be able to break away from her volunteer work with the American Red Cross. They both tried but the timing did not work out. I want to thank our AAI volunteers for stepping up to teach these basic first aid, health, hygiene, CPR and Heimlich Maneuver classes. I am honored to have shared something truly remarkable with the SOTH and community children.

Nothing is more FUN, FUN, FUN than an evening bonfire and marshmallow roasting with the kids! I felt transformed back to my own childhood while at the SOTH Campground. The sound of the crackling fire evoked so many memories for me. I hope that all of you experienced your own little “Private Idaho” that evening. Thank you again to our SOTH leaders who coordinated this and the triple marshmallow sticks. What a gooey, fun time!

The highlight of our AAI trip this time was the wedding of John Anthony and Karla, now known as Mr. and Mrs. De La Fuente. It was a beautiful ceremony! We were all asked to wear a shade of peach and some of us even had respected places within the wedding ceremony. I have witnessed the true love of John and Karla over the years and could not be happier for them! Thank you to our SOTH family for including us in all of this. Maybe I will be next…

In closing, I want to say that I am humbled and truly grateful to all of you. The sun is fully shining now on the lake here in North Carolina and the morning mist is no longer. It is my hope that I will always return to the Philippines to be surrounded by love and hopefully to leave a little behind. Thank you to Auntie Linda for bringing the team safely back to Manila. Thank you to everyone who endured the long flights to be a part of this. And most of all, thank you to God for bringing us together once again.

With Sincere Love,

Christine Davison