July 2010 News

From Preemies to Youth it has been an exciting summer at Glory Reborn! Preemies! Glory Reborn has had an exciting month of hands on learning how to take care of premature babies. With the public hospital closed due to flooding and the expenses of a private hospital stay for many weeks beyond our reach, Glory Reborn, together with our amazingly kind pediatrician embarked on learning how to care for wee-little ones. It seems that most events of maternity care come in pairs or triplets and so this proved true with our two babies. In less than 24 hours from each other a little baby boy, David and a little baby girl, Eliza Molly, were delivered, both under 4.5 pounds. They stayed under a make-shift warmer all bundled up when they werenʼt cuddled up on their mommyʼs tummy. Both eventually graduated from oxygen use and from the warmer to the phototherapy lights as they continued on their medications, and fluids . Over the course of the three weeks that they were in the clinic we had tough moments, lots of prayer, and the joy of seeing them grow stronger and healthier with each day. We were honored to be able to take care of these precious two in a way that the public hospital could not provide. We are ever so thankful for your generous support that supplied these two precious lives with the resources that they needed to be alive today. Both families are living under the poverty line and even if the public hospital had been open to serve them, they would not have been able to provide their babies with the medications and payments for treatment that was required. This truly is the heart behind Glory Reborn: to help those who deserve a chance to live despite the situation they may be in. These two mommies would continually cry tears of thanks for helping their babies, for caring for their babies when others would not look twice. Our one mommy was so touched that David would even take the time to talk to them and check in on their baby that she named her little guy David. What an honor. We certainly could not have provided for these infants without your partnership, so please know that your contributions directly saved two very precious lives that will be part of our Glory Reborn family forever! While we were excited when the day came for baby Eliza to go home first (followed a week later by baby David) it was sad to see them leave as we and our staff had truly adopted them into our hearts and lives. Of course they have already been regular visitors back to the clinic for check ups and love and hugs. Youth We were also happy to have many visitors join us in Cebu…33 to be exact. I was honored to have my cousin and her friend work as nurses in the clinic for two months. They worked many hours, days and nights, and were such helpful hands to have around during a very busy month of delivering babies. We also had a midwifery student come finish up her needed experience of catching babies. Last but certainly not the least, the Youth With a Mission group, Kingʼs Kids El Paso came to the Philippines for an outreach and spent two weeks with us here in Cebu. As many of you know it was our own travels to the Philippines with Kingʼs Kids that played a large role in us ending up here today. We were happy to have thirty of them sleeping on our floors to serve in the communities we work with in Cebu. From tribal villages or unreached people groups, to the thousands of families who live in the city dumpsites, to ministering to our pregnant mothers at Glory Reborn, it was two weeks of reaching out to the families of Cebu and imparting a heart of ministry and service to the youth who came. It was a wonderful time for everyone and we are so thankful for these visitors! Next month Glory Reborn will have three German midwives partnering with us in the clinic as two of our own staff will be adding babies to their own families! We are so excited for these new little ones and for the timely help. If you are an experienced labor & delivery nurse and would like to volunteer please send us an email: info@gloryreborn.org. We gladly welcome experienced help! In other exciting news Glory Reborn has continued to partner with local private hospitals and laboratories in Cebu City. We have now connected our clinic with three private laboratories as well as a private hospital that allows our patients to have any laboratory test done at extremely low and sometimes no cost! It has certainly taken a solid commitment to the community, but with your faithfulness and our focus on providing the highest quality care, we have been able to find local partners who understand what we are doing, and agree to help our patients. We are thankful that our clinic has built a positive reputation in the city and is able to continue to make relationships and partnerships to further enhance womenʼs health care in Cebu. We would like to thank each of you for your partnership that has allowed Glory Reborn to remain faithful in our monthly obligations and build good rapport with the hospitals and laboratories we work with. Thank you, and please continue to help us make a difference in the lives of these women!

Budget Update As July recently ended, we have passed the half-way point of our annual budget! Thank you so much for your continued faithfulness to support Glory Reborn. We need your help to finish the year strong and meet our annual budget of $135,000. While this may seem daunting, consider this: On average, we have 40 individual donors a month, who average $100/month contribution. This faithful base in addition to our fundraising events supports our operation! If you could partner with us monthly and double our donor base we would raise twice as much! No amount is too small, as every dollar goes a long way. Many of our existing supporters make a huge difference in our mommiesʼ lives in small faithful contributions. Whether it is $20 or $100, it can make a difference! If you already support us, know that your financial support and prayer are making a difference. Thank you and consider spreading the word. If you arenʼt supporting us currently, then we hope you will consider doing so.