Praying For A Sister...

For the longest time our daughter, Ayantu, has prayed for a sister.  Having been adopted when she was 11 months old and being an only child has definitely brought up some interesting and emotional conversations and questions.  

“Papi, how come you and mama can’t have kids?”  

I must admit I didn’t imagine hearing that question from her at such a young age.  I guess I could respond with what the doctors and medical field have told my wife and I over the years, 12 years to be exact and counting.  It’s called “unexplained fertility.”  However, rather than diving into that discussion with my 10 year old, I have opted for a more subtle response.

“I don’t know why sweetie. We want more children, and have prayed for more, but for some reason God has a different plan for us.”  

Her response to my answer usually sounds like this, “...well, good thing we have an orphanage cause its like you and mama have a lot of kids.”

For the past 7 weeks we have had the privilege of having Natalia and Carolina live in our house with us.  When COVID-19 hit Mexico, 10 of the 12 children in our orphanage were able to return to their moms and family to quarantine.  Unfortunately, Natalia (age 10) and Carolina (age 16) don’t have that opportunity.

Natalia was abandoned by her biological dad by the time she was 3.  She has never met him nor knows anything about him.  Although her mother lives just 7 minutes away from the orphanage, Angela is unable to take care of her daughter Natalia and at times, doesn’t seem like she even wants to.

Carolina lost her dad when she was in 1st or 2nd grade.  He died of a head injury.  She and her siblings were than abandoned by their mom, who met another guy and moved in with him.  So, ever since she was about 5 or 6 years old, Caro has been raised by her grandparents.  She came to the orphanage when she was 12.

It has been an absolute joy being a father-like figure to these two girls who have never experience that.  And yes at times, very challenging, especially for Ayantu.  Trying to balance being her dad and yet loving on Caro and Natalia as a father figure as well.  This to has brung up very deep and heartfelt conversations with Ayantu.

A few weeks ago her and I were taking our usual morning walk.  Hand in hand, I asked her how she was doing with things, COVID-19, school work, sharing a room with Natalia, you know, the usual stuff.  I could tell her mind was racing.

“Well, I like having Natalia because I always have someone to play with and its fun sharing a room with her.  And she doesn’t have a family so its nice we can be like a family to her.”

She went on to explain some of the obvious frustrations or challenges that comes with sharing a room, toys, close quarters, etc. As we neared the end of our walk, her next response moved me to tears.  Tears that I had to fight back so she wouldn’t see that her brave, strong papi was crying.

“Plus, you know what dad, I have always wanted a sister.  And now I have one.”

Wow, I was floored, blessed and crying all at the same time.  You see in the midst of pandemics and great challenges like COVID-19, there are still encouraging and hopeful things taking place.  And i will forever treasure that morning walk with my sweet little Antu Faith Sanchez!

Update From The Orphanage!

Dear friends, family and supporters.  I wanted to take a moment to update you on what’s going on down here at the orphanage in light of this Global Pandemic.  Like all of you, we are having to change the very way of doing life, our routines, etc.  With so many unknowns and uncertainties, we are VERY thankful for your faithful support and prayers.  We ask that you would please continue to pray for our staff, team, the children and our community. We are definitely praying for you all and the world as well.  Fortunately Mexico has not experienced a high number of cases of COVID-19.  We are praying fervently that this remains this way, especially for very poor and rural areas, like Bachiniva, who don’t have the resources, supplies, etc to handle a massive outbreak.

On March 14th, Mexico announced that they would be closing ALL schools from March 20th until April 20th.  We began receiving calls from some of the mothers of our kiddos as to what the plan was during this time.  Some of them expressed they would rather keep their kids with them rather than have them be here.  This is what we were initially hoping for as we tried to figure out ways to fully run the orphanage during the CONVID-19.   After much prayer and talking as a board, we felt it would be best to give the moms and families of our kids the option of what they would like to do.  They all understood and agreed to keep their children with them as long as they could.

So, we basically “shut down” the orphanage on Monday March 16th.  There are 2 girls, Natalia and Carolina, who have moved into our house.  Natalia’s mom is not able to care for here.  Carolina’s mom and grandparents live in the Sierra Madres, about 6 hours away.  Due to lack of food, money and poor living conditions up in the mountains, Carolina will stay with us.  The other 10 children are currently with their families.

The orphanage has never been more quiet OR clean.

Even though most of the kids are not with us now, we are working closely with their famililes in ways that we can continue to help and support them. This past Monday Kim (our administrator) and her husband, Pastor Luis, took clothes, money, food and school packets to all the families. They had a chance to visit with the moms, check in on the kids and let them know we are praying for them and are here to help in any way that we can. Some of the moms are already worried that they will lose their jobs as the government of Chihuahua has begun to close down restaurants, factories, businesses, etc.  Kim has been doing a fantastic job of staying in touch with these women through calls and text messages to encourage them.  We are praying that this will be an even greater way to show the Love of God to them.

We had a great staff meeting with our team last week as well to give an update of whats going on.  Some of them expressed a concern for their jobs and if they would continue to get paid during this time.  I reassured them that we would continue to pay them for as long as we can during this time.  Unemployment does not exist in a town like this, or really in Mexico … and it would be all the more difficult if we had to start laying off employees.  God has SO FAITHFULLY provided every peso/dollar that we have ever needed AND even more.  We are fully expecting that He will continue to do so.

Please continue to check out our facebook and instagram accounts for updates and pictures as well as look for additional email updates.

Praying for you all!

Jason

Exciting New Chapter...

This week was VERY exciting for the House of Blessing. Sort of a new chapter as we launched two new outreaches both to the community as well as to some of the moms of the children we care for.

For the past 6 months we’ve had a young woman from Oregon, Jenna, who has done a fantastic job giving English classes to our kids.  They are learning very quickly.  Well, word sort of got out about these English classes and people in the community began to express a desire to learn English as well.  After much planning, prepping and posting fliers throughout the community, last night was our first of a 3-week series of classes.  We had 19 people initially sign up and 14 came out and joined us. It was a wonderful time and they are so eager for next weeks class AND are also inviting their friends to come as well.

This week we also launched our new sewing outreach.  One of the visions for the orphanage has been to not only minister to and care for the children, but also to their moms as well.  For a lot of women their children are here because they don’t have the money and resources to adequately care for them. 

For the past few years we have been able to purchase some very beautiful handmade goods from a few of our moms.  Things like bracelets, necklaces, baskets, other types of jewelry, tortilla warmers and even dresses.  Many of you have either purchased or received some of these wonderful items.  Any time I have a trip to the States I try to purchase as much as I can and then take them to sell.  We then are able to use the donated money to continue to help support these women and purchase more items.

As we have wanted to see this opportunity expand and grow, we decided to launch a sewing outreach. This will give a chance for some of these moms to come to the orphanage a few days a week to begin to be trained and learn how to sew with machines.  When we shared the idea and vision with two of our moms they were incredibly excited and eager to start. This past Tuesday was our first official day and Teresa and Mariela had a wonderful time. We have been caring for Sandra (Teresa’s daughter) for 5 years and Berta and Irene (Mariela’s daugher and step-daughter) for 1.5 years. 

Every Tuesday and Thursday, they will take the bus from a town about 30 minutes away and work from 9:30-2:30 PM.  Not only will this begin to provide a steady income for them, but also a chance to invest in their lives. Initially, they will be making tortilla warmers and drawstring back packs for our Golf Tournaments.  Our hope and desire is that there will be enough interest for these items and more, that we can continue to provide a steady job for as long as possible. My wife Jackie and Jenna will rotate taking are of their children so they can focus on the task at hand without any distractions.

Thank you for your continued prayers, encouragement AND financial support, which helps make new endeavors like these possible!