As we begin this new year, we wanted to share with you some exciting new steps in this journey! We have been serving with Orphanos now for 15 years and God continues to be full of surprises.
To look back a little, at the beginning of 2020, Ximena and I started conversations about what could be next in ministry. We both felt a longing on our hearts that we have come to recognize as God leading us to next steps. We spent time in prayer, time seeking God, and time discussing it with trusted peers, missionaries, and ministry leaders. We had many doors slam shut in our faces over the past few years and many doors that were wide open later be shown as opportunities that would have led to selfishness and pride. It was shocking at times, because God was asking us to not seek clarity, but trust in where He was leading. That can definitely be uncomfortable!!!!
One trust step, which was also a step during that waiting period, was taking M and J into our home last year. It was a time where God repeatedly asked us to trust Him and continues to ask that to this day. But He used it to open our eyes! As we continued to pray, it stood out how so much of our blog was focused on the ministry God is doing through us to the community of Memphis. It is also something that brings us so much joy and excitement. But at the same time, we are limited in what we can do, as I was working full-time at the Orphanos office and Ximena is working 20-30 hours a week at the Orphanos office as well.
With that said, I have decided to step away from the role of Member Care at Orphanos and fully dedicate my time as a full-time Orphanos missionary to the foster care community in Memphis. Over the past 5 years, it has been a beautiful thing to serve international caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children, and God did such amazing things for our missionaries. He spoke truth, built friendships, and loved on each missionary in such tangible and sweet ways that I could never have done alone. But at the same time, a deep longing to be working with children again has never gone away.
God is directly at the helm of these next steps and I don’t pretend to know what exactly this role looks like, because I truly believe it is beyond what I could ask or imagine. But there are a few things that we feel He has revealed to us:
1. Community Care: I have a strong desire to unite the needs of the foster community with the church. There are three huge connections that are just starting off in Memphis: one being with the CarePortal, one with TN Kids Belong, and another with a Memphis alliance of churches. Much of it centers around community mapping. I have already been in a lot of conversations and trainings and it is exciting to see what God is already doing!
2. Pastoral Care: I am at the end of a two-year program with Moody Bible Institute to become a Spiritual Director. God seems to be pointing me to put it to use in caring for foster parents who are needing a place to help relieve some of the emotional and spiritual burdens that they walk with.
3. Foster Care: We are in the final stage called the home study to becoming foster parents in the state of Tennessee. Our home study writer expects us to be approved by February or March. We don’t know what it will look like, but we are planning on opening our home for emergency foster care and potentially for long-term foster children in the future.
Ximena is going to continue caring for the children in our home and our community ministry as she has been, while she is also being led to carry on with her ministry in the Orphanos financial department, as she has been doing the past 5 years. And just a quick shout out to her, she processed over 5 million dollars for our Orphanos missionaries and ministries this past year!!! She is truly incredible and it is amazing to see her dedication to what God continues to call her to do. We have also been spoiled by having her love on each person in our home in such unique and special ways!
God has also been so kind to the missionaries of Orphanos in selecting such amazing people to continue on with the Member Care roles I have been in. Stephanie has been working alongside me the past two years and the spiritual depth of her relationship with our Father continues to astound me. She is going to be continuing on in her role, providing pastoral care to our missionaries. Joshua was someone who God truly “dropped in my lap” to serve as one of the facilitators and caregivers at the Orphanos retreat in October. When he was approached in December to serve in Member Care with Orphanos, it was exactly what he had been praying for! It just further helped to relieve my personal burden of leaving behind a well-loved role, knowing that each one of these missionaries who I love and admire will be cared for. I will be spending the month of January providing training and insight to both of them as they take on these roles.
And now to the rest of the update!
We know that many of you had been praying for our Thanksgiving with M and we so appreciate your prayers!!! We were able to have Thanksgiving with her and the boys! It was the most unique and different Thanksgiving that we have ever had. First, this was the first year that we didn’t cook a big Thanksgiving meal and instead turned to Honey Baked Ham for support. That has always been a big tradition since we were first married, but we were both emotionally and physically exhausted! We put it all in the oven at our house in the morning, adding a few homemade touches as well. Then, we headed out to pick up Baby C to be able to have the whole family together. Holidays and special occasions can cause high stress for M, so we took each step knowing that we could potentially show up and not be able to reach her. But God is so good and that didn’t happen!!!! We spent around 4 hours eating, playing with the kids, and enjoying time together. Both Santi and Lani shared how beautiful the Thanksgiving was to be able to see M with her two babies, and to see how happy J was to spend that time with his mom.
We have continued to have a really good relationship with J's grandparents. He usually spends every other weekend with them and they have also taken him on days when we had a need. It has been a beautiful friendship and partnership with them. Also, J is beginning to understand that both our families are there for him and loving him no matter what. He is able to have a lot more healthy drop offs and pick ups than at the beginning.
The beginning of December, both Ximena and I were given opportunities to love on a few foster families in Memphis. There was a single, foster mom who does emergency foster care for teenage girls who needed some help with her lawn. It was a lot and I can see why it was a daunting task! I was there for around 5 hours and was able to get most everything done, but I sure did feel it the next day! I am definitely not as young as I feel! There was also a need for someone to come and fold clothes for a foster mom with 6 kids. Ximena was able to spend an afternoon folding baskets and baskets of clothes. She was able to talk with the mom about the kids that we have fostered and the ongoing relationship with M. This foster mom is dealing with the emotional rollercoaster of spending a few years thinking she would be adopting the sibling group, but now having the biological mom seeking custody. Ximena was able to talk with her about the incredibly opportunity that we can have to partner with biological families to hopefully be that lifeline when things don’t go well. The foster mom was able to invite her boy’s mom over for dinner the following week and she said that it was so beautiful! We are excited to see where our relationship with their family can go and how we can walk alongside them!
Then, we started travelling!!! We spent over 40 hours on the road, driving to Texas to have Christmas with some of the Roseland family and then to Ohio to have some time with the Solis family. It was both incredibly exhausting and totally worth it! We were very worried that we were going to have nightmare-ish experiences with J in the car, especially with the current toddler phase and being in the middle of potty training. But he did so good and it was such a beautiful experience to spend time with family. It was so worth it, even if it did come with some New Year’s consequences.
We ended the year 2021 with just our family, isolating after a positive COVID test for the first time in the two years since COVID started, a few days before New Year’s Day. Thankfully, Julian was spending time with his grandparents, so it made things a little bit easier. We had plans to spend New Years with our friends from Puerto Rico…great food, great company, and lots of fireworks…but it was a little different than expected. Our friends actually ended up being sick as well, as so many of our friends and family are this season. But we are so thankful that none have been severely affected this time.
And that’s where we are! We are excited to see how God will continue to lead and call us to trust Him. We are so incredibly thankful to have each of you on this journey with us!!! Please feel free to reach out with any questions that you may have regarding these next steps.
Also, we’d love to have prayer!!!
1. M and J: Pray for our continued relationship with M. We are having Christmas at her apartment on January 5th. Pray also for the next court dates on January 7th and January 31st, specifically that there will be clear next steps.
2. Our Family: We have a lot going on with our family! First, we are going to be grandparents! Mayumi is 3 months pregnant right now and is due in June of this year. We are planning to be there for the birth. Second, Inti has been in contact recently and he is getting settled into Toronto. He is enjoying snow! Third, Gustavo has still been MIA since he last called on Father’s Day in 2021. It isn’t unusual for him to disappear like this, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Pray that he is in a healthy place, even if it is separate from us.
3. New Role: Pray that God would give wisdom to Richard on relationships and connections to engage with in the Memphis area. Also, that God would give him wisdom as he trains Joshua and Stephanie to take on his roles at the Orphanos office.
4. Fostering: Pray that God will give us wisdom on who to take into our home and when, especially for safety and insight into how to care for the three kids that are already under our roof.