These past few months, we had a few opportunities to love on families and kids in our community, as well as spending time as a family.
November started off with us traveling to see Santiago perform at the Bands of America Marching Band Nationals completion. It was incredible!!! Well, one of us may be a bit of a band nerd and the other one hasn’t seen bands perform at that scale, so our mouths were wide open most of the time. Ximena’s parents came from Ohio to see the performances as well, so it was so fun to spend time with them. Santi’s band made it into the top 25 semi-finalists!!! It was a huge honor, since our band is pretty new and small compared to all of the huge Texas bands, which of course were incredible! Bartlett Band was able to perform a 2nd time, even though we knew that they wouldn’t make it into the top 10. It was so much fun and we are excited to be able to help out with the band this next year.
We drove all day back from the band competition in Indianapolis to help out with a Foster Care Awareness event at our church, The Orchard Church. When Richard was first working on planning this event, we had not made the connection with Santi’s band competition date. But it worked out! We were able to organize a panel of incredible people who are involved with foster and adoption ministries here in Memphis. We also were able to incorporate an outreach side to the event, where our church members stuffed 200 hygiene bags with toothpaste/toothbrushes, shampoo/soap, and a bunch of Cerave products for the kids coming into DCS custody. We also wrote 100 thank you notes to the DCS workers with gift cards for them to be able to treat themselves to lunch. The event went very well and there were so many people excited about what God is doing in our city!!!
We had a lot of friends and supporters who strongly encouraged us to get away and rest after the huge changes to our family in September, but it was difficult with our kids in school and still waiting for Julian’s reunification with his mom. So Thanksgiving break it was!!! We first headed to California to visit Meme and Papa. They live close to the Redwood National Forest, so it was beautiful to be able to check that off of our bucket list at the same time. We were able to enjoy a few other things as we drove around California, like riding the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, seeing the house off of the Full House show, and hanging off the side of the cable cars in San Francisco after eating in Chinatown. It was amazing! We then headed to Denver to visit the Brennans and we were surprised with a bunch of snow the night after we arrived. The next day, it felt like being in Narnia and it was just magical. We had such a fun time playing games with everyone and enjoying some time to catch up with friends. It was a healing time of new experiences, while also just being able to spend time with our kids.
Right after we came back, we started preparation for Red Tub Day. One of the organizations here in Memphis, MFCC, organizes 400+ red tubs filled with specific Christmas presents that foster kids have requested. Then they throw a party! They invite the foster families to bring their kids to a kind of Christmas “Trunk or treat”, where there are different tables set up with snacks, toys, and other items that they will enjoy. This year, we were able to represent both Orphanos at one table and The Orchard Church at another table. It was so much fun! The best part was Ximena and Leilani dressing up as Christmas elves. We do have to brag that our tables were the most talked about, due to the Chick-Fil-A cookies (special thanks to Anthony House at the Germantown Chick-Fil-A donating them!) and some incredible fidget toys. It was such a beautiful event and we are looking forward to doing it this next year too!
As a part of Richard's ministry through Orphanos, he partners with CarePortal to serve families who need help to prevent their kids from going into foster care or families who recently were reunited with their children. A few days before Christmas, our FAM ministry received a request for a single mother who needed clothing for her 4 children. Through a partnership with Threads of Hope, Richard was able to get a bunch of great clothing and even some Christmas gifts that were leftover from Red Tub so that this mother could surprise her kids. She shared a few days later: "Thank you! The boys loved those gifts, they are playing football and basketball every chance they get! Everything worked out well. They loved all of the Memphis Grizzlies attire as well. Thank you for everything." It is so beautiful to be a part of the body of Christ and see His hand in each aspect!
At the end of December, we headed to Houston to help our Uncle Mark and cousin Matt with the Texas Marathon Kingwood. This year, Inti and Santiago both decided to run the half-marathon, although they didn’t have that much time that they dedicated to training. Also, our cousin, David Gladney, was running his first full marathon to support our ministry! It is such a beautiful way for us to start our year! Not only do we get to be around family (even Ximena’s family came down this year!), enjoy our Aunt Cindy’s enchiladas, and help raise money for such good causes, but there is also such a fun energy for people who are literally starting off the New Year by running. The marathon went so well!!!
One of our Christmas traditions is to partner with our kids to bless people who are in need during the Christmas season. They have their giving jars where they save throughout the year and we are able to help with a little bit extra. This year, we met a sweet family a week before Christmas who had just moved to Memphis from Venezuela. They had it so tough, moving around to different cities in just a few weeks and then being “welcomed” to Memphis by an armed robber trying to steal their car. They were buying something from us off Facebook Marketplace, but as we talked with them, we felt burdened to help even more. After talking with Rafael, he shared that they would like to go to church with us! We were able to go with them to Esperanza Church, which is a Spanish-speaking church here in Memphis that we go to occasionally. At church, Hamuris shared as well that she didn’t have very many kitchen items, so we immediately knew how we could help. With the help of a few people on Facebook and our kid’s giving jars, we were able to get together some of the items they were needing. Sadly, we then were out with the flu for a few weeks and then to Houston, but we were able to go over to their apartment this past week to spend some time together. We are excited to see where this friendship goes!
And then we were hit with snow!!! 6 inches of snow!!! The kid’s school has been cancelled, roads are closed, and Memphis is at a standstill for now. So there has been plenty of sledding, snowballs, and warm soups at our house, which just happened in time to celebrate Richard's birthday. Let’s see what the next few days hold…
Answered prayers!!!
1. Marelyn/Julian: Marelyn was able to find a new job at Fedex, just a few days after Richard had helped with her resume. It is only temporary for now, but she is working hard. The first few weeks with Julian back on the weekends/evenings and with us after school were difficult for everyone, but now we are starting to get into a rhythm. Marelyn is taking so many healthy steps for her family!!!
2. Our Kids: We have been able to have so many great conversations with our kids living at home (Inti, Santi, and Lani) as well as with our kids in Ecuador (Erick and Mayumi) and Mexico (Gustavo). We have also been able to stay in regular contact with Claudia as well!
3. Recovery for our Family: We finally feel like we are in a season where we aren’t stretched thin. God has given us rest and space for our new family of 5.5 (Julian is our half!) to grow together.
Prayer Requests:
1. Nico/Naty*: Please be praying for these two kids. We have had no contact with them since they left our home and we understand their desire for distance. Please be praying for their relationship with God, healing of past wounds, and their ability to surround themselves with good people.
2. Marelyn: She is taking so many amazing steps! Please pray that she would still be able to process through her own story while being a mother. Also, it is very common to become overwhelmed with everything that is going on, so please pray that many of these steps would not be overly complicated and that she would be able to stay regulated through it.
3. Our Kids: Please pray as we continue to navigate the teen years with Santi and Lani and for Inti as he starts this new semester at college and is looking forward to starting counseling to work through childhood trauma.
Hope you have a beautiful 2024! We hope this year is as fun and crazy as Inti's sledding video below!