The Sacrifice

On February 2013, while Jack was in Haiti for her 32-day immersion time, we were doing a series called ALL IN at our church. We were challenging people to be “all in” with Jesus, “all in” on mission and “all in” with generosity. The series was also the start of a two-year capital campaign called ALL IN, we were asking people to make a two-year financial pledge to help us acquire and renovate a building that our church is buying to create a community center. The weekend before the commitment, we talked about sacrifice, people were challenged to make a sacrifice to be “all in”.

A few months before this series, Jack and I had made a big and difficult decision, we had decided to downsize from the house we had bought to start our family. It was a gorgeous, thirty five hundred square foot home; it was our dream home and the house we were going to grow our family in. But the dreams changed and we started praying about what God wanted to do in our family and we felt led to start exploring adoption. Part of that exploring was coming up with a financial plan to adopt (since it’s very expensive). We decided to cut cost in order to save for the adoption. Our housing expense was our biggest expense we could cut significantly. So we decided to start looking for a smaller house. Meanwhile we had moved to a 650 ft. apartment while we started the series ALL IN. We were able to start saving about $400 a month towards our adoption fund.

Then, I remember calling Jack in Haiti the week before the commitment weekend to talk to her about what was going to be our financial commitment to ALL IN. We had been praying about it for a few weeks but I wasn't sure what to expect from that conversation.  I remember Jack saying that she felt God calling us to give those $400 a month that we where starting to save towards ALL IN in addition to our tithe.  I didn't say a word for like 10 seconds, it felt like an hour of silence but it felt right. In those 10 seconds God totally made it clear to me that that's what He wanted from us. So we decided to sacrifice our adoption fund for the Jesus Mission.

The decision that we made in that conversation happened so fast! We didn't let ourselves reconsider what we were doing. After I hung up, I remember thinking about Abraham when God called him to sacrifice his son Isaac. I felt like I was sacrificing the kids we were adopting before we even had them. I thought of Abraham’s three-day journey from his home to the place of the sacrifice. What was Abraham thinking as he walked next to his son knowing what was going to happen to him? Maybe he wasn't thinking about it. If he did, I'm sure he would have turned around, he would have reasoned with God to find a different type of sacrifice, he would have offered God more time with him or more time worshiping. He would have promised to be a better man. Anything else, but sacrificing Isaac. He made it to Mount Moriah where God showed him where to do the sacrifice. Abraham raised his arms with a knife in his hands and was about to slit the throat of his son Isaac, who was tied on the altar they had build. If He had given it second thoughts, he wouldn't have gotten to that point. Maybe he believed that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead. Maybe he believed that God would give him another son, even though he was over 100 years old. But he didn't. He simply obeyed.

If Jack and I had given it second thoughts, we wouldn't have gone through with our commitment. We decided to obey; even if that meant that we had zero dollars to save for our adoption fund, even if that meant that we had to halt our adoption plan for 2 years. I didn't even want to think about that. All I could think about was how God provided a ram for the sacrifice to replace Isaac when God saw his obedience. And if God provided for Abraham, God can provide for us.

It Really Does Take A Village!

I’ve heard the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child”, many times before and I have to say I have never experienced it like this past week. It truly will take a village to raise our children. Raise them into a family, a home and the hope of a brighter future.

This past week we received great news from our liaison helping us navigate the choppy waters of adoption. We have been waiting for seven months on what was next to proceed with our adoption and finally we received news we are ready to move forward. Move forward rather quickly due to some changes coming up in Haiti (as always). This phase requires us to get paperwork in, home study finished and this all costs about $10,000. Yes, $10,000 by March 30^th!!!

After a day of just sitting still (freaking out), crocheting and talking to God we sought our “village” for help! Many stood up and proclaimed “WE CAN DO THIS!” Starting with one woman in particular, who came out and met with us the very next day and planned our kickoff event for our one-year of fundraising. Early in a frigid morning she sat across from us and without a doubt in her voice led us out of our fearful “what are we going to do?” state. She turned our “we are doomed” fear into fearless fundraiser machines. God knew who we needed and what we needed right now.

The next woman was the one who received my phone call, as I looked over the notes I had taken earlier that morning, and with a calm tone in her voice said, “What do you need me to do? You have my help!” Then there was the woman, who met me in the cold of the night to donate towards our adoption after a long one hour drive, the other women who stayed up late to make items to sell for fundraising events, the woman who tirelessly researches, makes phone calls and emails to get us one step closer to bringing our kids home. It was also a dear woman that came to me in the beach of Haiti and said, “Your children need their mom and dad, what are you going to do about that?”

What I am trying to say is, it really does take a village to raise a child and I am thankful for our “village”. Our children will be coming home to a beautiful village that will help shape them into a man and woman of courage whom will be comforted and guided by extraordinary people and for that we thank you.

Getting $10,000 in less than 40 days will be nothing short of a miracle but I know for my God there is nothing impossible.  Stay tuned for all the upcoming efforts in which you can be a part of this beautiful journey of the Arellano Adoption. 

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32 Days

As I prepared physically, mentally and spiritually for 32 days in Haiti fear would creep in once in a while. Fear of loneliness, rheumatoid arthritis, longing for my family and fear of falling in love to the point of no return. I was going to be living in an orphanage with 50 kids whom desperately needed a mom to love them, nurture them, teach them and all I wanted is to be a mom again. I wanted to love, nurture, teach and I didn't have children to do so. I know, it was the perfect formula to falling in love with a child or a couple children. It's inevitable! What was I thinking?!

I've believed for most of my life in loving fearlessly, living passionately and (in the past ten years) in walking in faith. Haiti was no exception! I had already fallen in love with the cutest little couple of kids but I never expected what would happen in the next 32 days. I fell in love with all 50 kids! They were the reason for every single day there. God had taken me to this place for such a time as this! A time of genuine unconditional and selfless love. These children cooed their way in to my heart. These children served their way into my heart. These children played their way into my heart and I was head over heels for them.

They serenaded me, they helped me when I was sick, they prayed over me, they ran across a rocky courtyard into my arms and day and night my name was chanted in songs! They took my breath away they made me feel loved, wanted, and valued. All of the things, they lacked in feeling; loved, wanted, and valued. How can that be? How can they abundantly give what they don't get?

See these children have horrid stories of rejection, abandonment, and of loss. They have felt so much more rejection in their short lives than I ever could fathom in mine. They have survived maltreatment that is unimaginable in our world. They have withstood the loss of their families through horrible events. How? How can they have the capacity to give what they haven't received or lost along their short lives. There is where I see Jesus! Jesus restorative power! They represent an unwanted, unloved, and undeserving group of people in society, yes these precious loving children. Yet the Bible talks about how to care for these children over and over.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Esther. She was Jewish girl who was orphaned when her parents died and was adopted by an uncle. This little orphan girl named Hadassah turned to be Queen Esther. The Queen of over 127 provinces that stretched out from India all the way to Ethiopia! The one who saved the Jews from total annihilation. An orphan turned queen and used by God for the salvation of a whole nation.

God has a purpose for each and everyone of the 50 children I lived with in Haiti. He loves them, He wants them and He values each and every single one. He considers them masterpieces and beloved. He is their protector, their defender and he seeks justice for them all. And he calls us to do the same!

So there I was in the middle of a hot Haitian day, sitting under the jasmine tree, I sat wondering how God only called me to adopt two and not fifty. :)