#GIRLDAD

On January 26 2020, NBA great Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash along with his 13-year-old daughter and 7 other individuals.  After this tragic accident the #GirlDad went viral.  Dads were inspired by Kobe to be more supportive dads to their daughters and to share stories of how their girls have changed their lives.

In an interview with ESPN anchor Elle Duncan, she shared with Kobe that she was pregnant and expecting a girl.  Kobe responded with a high-five and told her ‘Just be grateful that you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing.’  When Elle asked Bryant how he and his wife would feel about having a fourth girl, Kobe responded, ‘I would have five more girls if I could.  I’m a girl dad.’

For the past 10 days, my wife Jackie has been visiting family and friends in Seattle.  Its been a bit hectic trying to balance my normal duties and then my Mr. Mom duties.  I’ve done more cooking, cleaning, laundry, garden watering, carpooling, tutoring and navigating girl drama and emotions, then I have in a very long time.  Lets just say I am all the more appreciative of all that my wife does for the three girls and myself.  I can’t wait to have her back home tomorrow. 

Fortunately, the girls have done a great job helping out.  There has been minimal complaining and maximum volume of talking, laughing and singing.  

The other night the 4 of us went for our normal evening walk with our 3 huskies.  It was that night in particular that I will never forget.  As the girls were walking slightly in front of me, I had a bit of a revelation.  All three girls, Carolina (16), Natalia (12) and Ayantu (11) have either lost their biological father or never had the opportunity to meet him.

Carolina’s dad died of a brain injury when she was 7 years old.  She was then abandoned by her mom and raised by her grandparents until she came to live here at the orphanage in August of 2016.  Natalia never met her dad.  Her mom, Angela, told us that he left shortly after Natalia was born.  Angela has never heard from him again.  We have been caring for Natalia since August 2015.  And then their is our daughter Ayantu Faith.  We adopted her from Ethiopia when she was 11 months old.  Antu was left on a dirt road just days after being born.  She was found by some women walking to work and spent her first 10 months in an orphanage.  By God’s grace, Ayantu joined our family on February 14th, 2011.

As I continued to watch these three beautiful girls walk and giggle, I was overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude.  What an honor and privilege God has bestowed upon my wife and I to not only raise our daughter Ayantu, but to also care for Natalia and Carolina.  It has been one of the greatest joys in my life for the past 15 months to have Natalia and Caro live in our house with us.  They moved in with us when COVID-19 hit Mexico.

I don’t know what God has in store for the future of Natalia and Carolina or how long they will live with us.  But, for the moment, I am treasuring every second and opportunity I have to be a father-like figure in their lives.  I’m praying daily for wisdom and discernment of how to raise and care for these girls. I am searching for ways to have conversations about God’s saving Grace, His Love and how much He treasures and adores them.  And I am most definitely and forever will be, proud to be a #GirlDad.  I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world.

I want to give a shoutout to my two brothers Joey and Jeremy.  Between the 3 of us we have 7 girls and no boys.  This past Thanksgiving our three families gathered in Nashville for a wonderful time together. We sure do love our girls, Lucy, Mae, Opal, Ayantu, Evangeline, Violet and Nora.

The Beauty Of Yellow...

I have never been more excited to see the color yellow than I was when I saw this picture of Mexico.  

This is a very good sign for Mexico in their fight against COVID-19.  Mexico uses a color system (red, orange, yellow, green) to determine what “phase” we are in. Chihuahua state is the big yellow one.  For the past 15 months we have spent most of the time in either red or orange (the highest phases).  I think we hit yellow once last September but that only lasted 2 weeks before going back to red.  Every two weeks, Mexico announces what “color phase” we will be in for the next two weeks.  Talk about exhausting, things changing every two weeks.

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I assumed that 2021 would be a much better year than 2020.  I assumed Mexico would follow suit with the United States as they have opened up more and more, restrictions are lifted, no masks for the vaccinated, and things return back to normal life.  I assumed the border would be open again, school would have resumed in person and mission teams would be able to come down and serve with us.  Unfortunately, that has not been the case so far this year.  It has definitely been tiring and discouraging at times, literally feeling like this is never going to end.  Who knows what will happen after this week or what phase we will be in, but for the moment, we are enjoying the color yellow and having a bit more freedom.

Carolina and Natalia continue to thrive living with us.  They are both doing great with their online schooling.  Caro has officially finished her junior year of high school.  She did an outstanding job with excellent grades.  Natalia is finishing up her final year in elementary school (6th grade).  She is now fluent in English and speaks more English in our home than Spanish. Ayantu is in her final weeks of 5th grade and both Jackie and I can’t believe our baby girl will be in 6th grade this August. We are hoping and praying that school will be able to resume in-person classes this coming school year.

Our house addition is going well.  We are adding 2 more bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry room.  Meny and Juanito have done an incredible job on the project. We hired Juanito to help and its been a blessing having him work with us. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to him today. He has a great opportunity to go work up in Idaho. He was able to get his visa and paperwork to be able to work. What an exciting opportunity for him, but we are sad to see him leave. 

Thank you again for all your prayers after our car accident in April.  It was definitely one of the scariest things I’ve been through.  So thankful that Caro and I were safe and escaped with only minor scrapes and bruises.  Last week we finally received our settlement from our insurance.  It was huge blessing to get over half of what we initially paid for the vehicle.  I don’t know whats normal in a situation like this but for down here in Bachiniva, we are thankful for the amount.  Now its time to find a new vehicle.

Jackie and I hope you are all doing well and enjoying a little more freedom.  We often think of you and are so thankful for your faithful prayers, encouragement, financial support and kind words via text messages, emails, phone calls, etc.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!

Jason, Jackie, Ayantu, Natalia and Carolina

An Exciting Video Update...

Things looked quite a bit different around here this time last year. This week I came across some pictures that I took in February of 2020. Things were very busy and very exciting. The orphanage was noisy with children. Our english classes for the community were off to a great start. We launched our sewing project which provided jobs for some of the moms of our kids at the orphanage. We had begun construction on a building that would become our new recreation room.

And then things drastically stopped and everything seemed to change. During this time of change, we have sought to continue to care for and minister to children and those in need here in Mexico. Even though that looks very different now, the intentions and motivations are the same. In fact, in some regards, we are even more excited about the new opportunities that change has brought forth.

For the past 2 or 3 months, I have sought to find the best way to share with you all some of these changes. Last month I was in Florida for a board meeting as well as sharing at a church. I asked my good friend Daniel (who is one of my board members) if we could do a video interview. So the two of us sat in his office and talked through some of these changes and answered questions that have come up as of late. I’m really really excited about the 21 minute or so video that came from our time together.

Many of you have faithfully walked this journey with us over the past 8 1/2 years and we are forever thankful for that. Jackie and I would love if you would take a moment sometime, grab a cup of coffee and watch this video.