This is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Simply stopping in to quickly say we are THANKFUL for you. For every sacrifice you have made in saying yes to partnership. We are just forever grateful.
We hope today you are surrounded by loved ones, celebrating the year and reflecting on all the good this year has brought you and your family.
We love you.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy almost Black Friday!
We know for many this years ‘shopping traditions’ may look a bit different than years past, a lot more online and a lot less in person. But we hope that as you shop this year, that moments are still special, and that the gift giving experience is filled with joy and anticipation for those you are giving to.
Many have reached out this year to find out how they can shop but also give back. So we wanted to make it easier for you to know how to shop and give back and put it all in one place. Here is a simple breakdown with clickable links of how you can partner with MARKED this holiday season.
1. Shop MARKED: Every dollar spent is equivalent to 1 meal.
100% of proceeds go towards the kids and community.
2. Shop Amazon using Amazon Smile, selecting MARKED by heaven as your charity of choice:
By shopping on Amazon Smile, all your regular Amazon purchases give back. Nothing changes for you, Amazon simply donates a percentage of every purchase to MARKED!
And you can shop using Amazon Smile all year round.
3. Shop our Amazon wishlist to purchase a gift for our community center this year:
These items are via Amazon Mexico. All items on the list are listed in Pesos. If you have a question on how to order due to the site being in Spanish, feel free to reach out!
jaclyn@marked.org
4. Want to give a onetime gift online? Click the link below.
5. Want to become a monthly partner?
6. Want to give via text?
Text any amount and the word MARKED to 45777
(example: marked 50 to 45777)
7. Want to mail a financial gift?
Mail to:
MARKED
9217 Irish Creek Lane
Redding, Ca 96001
8. Want to mail a physical gift?
Mail via FedEx or DHL Mexico to:
Samuel Luna/MARKED
Ramón corona 219 poniente colonia centro,
Poncitlán Jalisco Mexico 45950
Thanks again for believing in us, our kids and communities. Your on going partnership means the world.
Adoption has been a core desire since before we were married. From our organization working with the orphan community in Mexico combined with Micheal having been adopted himself we have always known that adoption was going to be a part of our families story.
For us, the journey of building our family through adoption has been filled with challenges, road blocks and heart breaking dead ends. Some of this is in part due to the fact that we have never really taken the easy road. We often find ourselves unintentionally on the "road less traveled" taking on difficult situations fueled only by love, passion and the burning question "if not us then who?".
After pursuing an international adoption in Mexico for nearly a decade only to find ourselves at a dead end over and over again we decided to pursue a more traditional route in domestic adoption. At the end of April 2019 we hired our incredible CAC consultant, filled out the paperwork and went through the process of completing our home study. Everything seemed to breeze by and in August we were matched with a baby girl due October 17. We were elated. Not only were we matched with what we thought was our dream baby but the process for the first time in our lives felt like it was just simply running smoothly.
About 2 weeks before the baby was due to arrive we packed up our things and went to await her birth in San Antonio, TX. We were so excited, nervous, hope-filled, terrified and and and... However, just about a week before she was to be born something changed. The mom stopped responding to our agency all together. She didn't answer or return calls, text messages and most oddly didn't show up to receive her regular weekly support. After many attempts to make contact the week went by, the due date had come and gone and still there was only silence from the birth mother. Once again after all we had done and all we had been through we found ourselves with an all too familiar sense of disappointment and ultimately a second failed adoption. Packing up an empty carseat and flying home once again.
Micheal wrote this a few days after our return home:
"The truth is that we are broken. We have way more questions than we have answers. All we can say is BUT GOD. When we don’t understand, BUT GOD. When we are filled with sorrow and anger, BUT GOD. When we feel like maybe the God that we trust isn’t so trustworthy after all, BUT GOD. We still believe in His goodness. We still believe in His kindness. And we still believe that His plans are better than ours and when there is nowhere left to lean we lean in further to Him. I don’t get it and maybe thats ok. Because what I do know is that the fruit of faithfulness is always greater than the pain of process.”
A few more months went by and it seemed that cases were coming in slower than ever and every case that we did see had one of the only two things that we had predetermined were our absolute “no’s”. Through the pain and rawness of it all, we remained hopeful.
Fast forward to the morning of February 10th, 2020. Micheal came into our bedroom and woke me up, “did you see the email? It was an email from the agency where we had had our interrupted adoption. It read: “Have you all had a placement? If not, I do have a situation that arose last night with a hispanic baby girl born on Saturday. Please call me if you would like more information.” We called immediately. This agency had only a few hours to find a family, though she didn’t tell us at the time, we were the only family in her file that was Texas home-study approved to receive this baby. Was this our BUT GOD story? We got off the phone with the agent and called our consultant immediately. Was this a safe case to pursue? The answer was a loud YES.
This was the start of the craziest 24 - 36 hours of our lives. Less than 2 hours later and in a mad scramble to clean, shower and pack (not my typical enneagram 1 style!) we were on our way to the Sacramento airport on the first flight out to head back to San Antonio, a place we never thought we would step foot again. After a long travel day with every possible delay due to Denver snow we finally touched down at 4:00am. By 9:00am the next morning and with adrenaline running through our veins, we were at the agency’s office signing paperwork. Then after a quick stop for coffee we were headed to the hospital. We arrived to the hospital at 11:00am, and only a few moments later we had our sweet baby girl in our arms. The nurses brought us to a room where we would talk to a few doctors and social workers and by 1:00pm we were discharged from the hospital. With our beautiful, healthy, head full of hair, itty bitty DAUGHTER. For the first time, heading to our airbnb as a family of 3.
It has now been over a year since we held miss Everly in our arms for the first time and we remain awestruck at the Lord’s faithfulness. His ability to see through the pain of our deepest human desires and disappointments to the greater good that He has had planned for us all along. Had it not been for our failed adoption that previous October, we would not have been Texas home-study ready meaning the agency would not have had our information on file and according to the agency this perfect baby girl, full of promise and hope, would have ended up as just another child in the sea of faces surrendered to the foster care system.
This is our story of hope, faith and redemption. Hope that even in the midst of hard questions and uncertainty that God is still good and He holds us. Faith that what He has done for us and our baby girl that He will do again for many more. Then redemption in all the areas of our story no matter how big or small God proved once again that the fruit of faithfulness is always greater than the pain of our process.
Our lives have forever been changed.
If you have ever considered adoption, it would be my honor to talk to you. Now, an adoption consultant myself through the same organization we adopted E through, you can reach me at jaclyn@christianadoptionconsultants.com , I would love to explore the conversation with you. What a month to do it! #NationalAdoptionMonth
Cheers to 10 years.
It is hard to believe we have been at this for a DECADE. It still feels like yesterday when I was mailing off our application, document packet, and check. Hoping on a plane to Guadalajara that same afternoon hoping that we would hear back from the Secretary of State sooner rather than later, but fully anticipating it to be sent back with a list of things we needed to change, correct, or amend.
Much to my surprise, 2 weeks later, arriving home from our trip there was a certificate of incorporation waiting in my mailbox. MARKED was officially born.
These 10 years have held some of our highest highs and our lowest lows. It has met us with challenges we never could have anticipated and miracles unimaginable. It has brought us closer, made us stronger and has led us to the feet of Jesus time and time again.
It has been 10 years of YOU showing up, 10 years of lives impacted, 10 years of needs met, 10 years of bellies filled, 10 years of lives empowered and transformation taking shape. It has been 10 years of dreaming, and 10 years of dreams fulfilled.
It moves me to tears thinking back on the past 10 years. The relationships built, and the faces that are forever changed because of it.
To say I am grateful is an understatement. What an honor it is to do this with each of you who choose to say yes to partnership. I am forever moved, forever thankful and forever honored by your yes.
Heres to the next decade of dreaming together and lives transformed.
A few weeks ago we as a staff were talking and praying about a few things together. We were discussing strategy in this next season with schools going back into session, the needs of the community changing once again and where we were to stand in all of it.
It was then that I felt the Lord say we were suppose to go back to what we did at first.
But what does go back to what we did at first really mean?
It was then that the conversation turned to the need increasing of bellies being fed once again. With the pandemic, jobs lost, medical needs arising, we realized it was the Lord preparing us to do exactly what he said, go back to what you did at first.
As we were in discussion our kitchen coordinator said, I feel like we need to start delivering sack lunches again.
And it was in that moment we all came into agreement that that is exactly what He meant when he said go back to what you did at first. Only this time, elevated. Rather than meat and cheese on white bread, our communities have grown to love vegetables. So this time, it is a sandwich with added nutrients through vegetables, fruit, popcorn for a snack and a protein bar of some sort.
Each meal packaged, and hand delivered. Back out in the community, participating in house calls and connection with the most vulnerable. No it doesn’t mean we are stopping what we are doing. It simply means we are willing to adjust and meet those where they are at. For us it is always about listening, growing and leaning in when we hear Him speak.
We cannot wait to see the stories that come out of simple obedience, because if we have learned anything, it is that we can trust His plan, knowing He is in it all.
The MARKED family is sad to share the news of the passing of our friend, Hilario Morales Guzman. Founder of Fundacion Emmanuel Guadalajara. Our hearts go out to their family and all the children whose lives he impacted.
We are so thankful to have had the privilege to do life with the Guzman family for over 15 years.
Hilario’s testimony from a double life sentence to encountering Jesus and being released was just the beginning of the story. Committing his life to care for those in prison, who were homeless and without parents was his life’s message. MARKED wouldn’t be what it is today without him opening up the doors to us all those years ago, and giving us keys to his heart and home.
Would you join us in praying for each of the children who lost a father figure as well as his family today?
Empower | Sustain | Transform | Repeat
Although we do have our own and intend to build more bases and centers, we believe that to truly change the world we must carry vision not to just build more structures but rather empty the ones that already exist through a model of empowerment, sustainability and whole families.
We believe in reunification when possible, adoption when necessary and family always. All the while, teaching, training, equipping and empowering families in high risk communities with the tools to succeed, no matter the cost.
For us at MARKED, this comes in a variety of ways, both in Mexico as well as the United States. It has been such a fun season partnering with Christian Adoption Consultants here in the US to match expecting mama’s with adoptive families so that these children never have to know the world of foster care and that these mama’s who make the difficult choice to place have a support system standing behind them.
If you have ever considered adoption, but didn’t know where to start, I would love to talk to you!
I received a message from a staff member this week that read:
“I have come to the bank in the plaza near my house multiple times and have met new faces of those who are from the San Pedro community who have received some government help and are needing to withdrawal their support from the ATM but have no idea how. They have waited, some for hours, until someone shows up that they know they can trust. This is my second occasion as of late when I arrived in my MARKED t-shirt where I have been approached, asking for help. The part worth mentioning is that these people only know us by our (MARKED) name. We have never met prior. But simply because they saw my shirt, they felt safe. Being present day by day in San Pedro has created a reputation that even if our paths never crossed prior, we are safe and they can trust us knowing that we are for them and we desire to help.”
There is something so special and so important about the safety of presence. There is something so significant and powerful when you are reminded that even if they are not apart, they are watching. That how we choose to love daily, echos throughout all eternity. Our prayer as a staff is that with every person that we meet, they would feel known, safe, loved and protected. That they would encounter the ONE who holds peace, love, and authority. That their lives would be transformed simply by encountering Love.
We just want to say THANK YOU.
Thank you for loving our communities well. For supporting, engaging and carrying us in your hearts each and every day. We could not do what we do without you and for that we are forever grateful.
If there are ever things you would like to know more about, or hear updates on, please don’t hesitate to reach out! We do our best in keeping you up to date! But know that our world moves fast and that we often miss things!
Again, from the bottom of our hearts. We say thank you. And not just from our staff, but also from our kids and communities as they too recognize that it take a village to do what we do, and they know you are a big part.
We love you.
We are SO excited to finally host you again!!!
After a year in lockdown and new procedures we are finally ready to see your beautiful faces! We would love nothing more than to host you, your family, your church, school or business.
For more information you can email us at hello@marked.org or click the link below!
We look forward to planning your trip with you!
After our centers re-opened post the pandemic we have noticed a surge of families not only desiring but needing to share a meal with us on Friday’s before going into the weekend.
Many families have lost their jobs or have been barley scraping by to provide for their families. Though I would say their physical bodies are hungry, we are also watching their spiritual bodies desire more as well.
With that being said, we have never had to turn families away for lack of food and this is another one of those seasons where we are believing for multiplication. Would you believe with us for that?
Here is what we are asking of you:
1- That you would join us in prayer for multiplication. We have seen it time and time again and we are confident that we will see the miraculous in this.
2- If you aren’t a monthly partner, would you consider partnering with us? 100% of your donations go to the communities in which we serve. In addition, we have no set amount that you have to give to be apart! Which means you can give $5/mo to $5,000+ a month!
3- Share with your friends! Would you share with your friends about the work we do at MARKED? We have found that the best connections come out of personal relationships!
For those of you who love numbers, it costs us around $7.00 a month per person who attend our feeding programs. Right now we are growing anywhere from 20-50 individuals a week.
For more information:
As many know, when we first started working among our communities education was the last thing on anyones mind, let alone a priority or even a desire.
Today however that is not the case. Conversations around the topic of education have become more frequent, enrollment was up to nearly 95% of all children according to the governments statistics prior to the pandemic and more and more programs are being supported by the local government offices and agencies.
We too have expanded our programs to help partner with the government and schools to see that the children and families are getting the best support as they prioritize education for their kids.
This past month we had the privilege of hosting a graduation for all the pre-schoolers whose parents (and children) were enrolled in our weekly class. It was such a significant day, not only for sense of on going partnership but because for the first time, parents were valuing education from the base line of their child’s education and were committed to get skills and tools to help them along as they get older. It was a MARKing day and one we will never forget.
This past year I began looking into areas where I could expand my educated in the areas in which we at MARKED work, I am a firm believer in continuing education in every and all forms. For me, most my eduction has been hands on and come in the most unique forms. I guess it often has to be to navigate some of the types of things we do! With that said, nothing was landing so to speak. I assumed it was due to the pandemic as most the courses I was looking at were being postponed or canceled all together.
Turns out, like always, God had a different plan. It was in February this past year I got a phone call out of the blue from our adoption consultant who we adopted Everly through asking if I would be interested in joining their team.
It was in that moment I felt like the Lord said, this is the next step of eduction you were asking for.
After praying and pondering through a few things, I realized I had worked in the foster care and international adoption space but never in the area of domestic adoption. Not only did it feel like a full circle moment, but there was so much peace and rest on my yes.
A few weeks later, I became active with Christian Adoption Consultants in my role.
Not only has this been more than I could have hoped or dreamed, expanding my knowledge and skill in the space, but it has been so fun helping couples build their families through adoption.
MARKED is thriving, and despite the busyness of this season, it has allowed us and given us space to also grown our team on the ground in Mexico expanding our reach.
My prayer for you in this season is that you would encounter unexpected growth in all areas of your life, and that you would feel supernatural peace and rest on your yes.
- Jaclyn
If you ever have, or are considering adoption as a way to build your family. I would love to talk to you!
We are always adding to the shop and wanted to make sure you saw our latest inventory!
There is something magical when a little gets to create, explore, learn and discover. In our home, we are big fans of the Montessori style of learning and are always searching for items to add to our collection. Not only do we incorporate that personally but also in our centers. Encouraging children to learn through play will always be something we advocate for!
Here is what we have been loving in our home!
Something so simple yet so profound. A class that has opened doors into hearts and homes.
Over the past year, we have partnered with B.E.S.T Academy on training our Kitchen Coordinator on all things nutrition. Weekly she is meeting with a team of nutritionists who are teaching her, so that she can turn around and teach those in our villages.
Twice a month, around 25 mamas funnel into our classrooms to learn not only about the benefits of nutrition, but the why and how they can incorporate it into their own lives and homes.
Not only are these mama’s learning, but daily their kids are also learning during their nutrition class as part of our weekly programs. That means, they’re learning and growing together.
Conversations around food have changed, and the family unit as a whole is beginning to develop a whole new appreciation and perspective on health and we could not be more excited for what the future holds in the area of nutrition and dietary health.
If you have followed us for any amount of time, you may feel like you recognize her and you wouldn’t be wrong. Katrina has played a major role from the beginning of MARKED, mainly behind the scenes, in addition to her ongoing partnership through her company B.E.S.T Academy. Her along with her husband Israel have been on our board both in the US and Mexico and have played vital rolls from the beginning. It was their house the Miller’s moved into when first arriving to Mexico and it was always us sitting around their dining table that we would dream up crazy ideas of how we could make this whole thing possible. They have been our greatest confidants and friends. Our translators, advocates, connecters, prayer partners and more. Really the list continues of what this family has done for us over the years. They are the definition of love, sacrifice and family.
As of June 1st, Katrina took an official role with us as our regional coordinator. She will be partnering with the vision to dream and expand MARKED by means of oversight, and high level management locally in Mexico. Her role of dreaming and planning with us won’t change but practically speaking, she will be using her skill sets to monitor, manage and review programs, procedures as well as registries of local staff and the organization at large. Katrina will be responsible to bring perspective, cultural references that are relevant to the communities in which we work, also bringing proposals and projects to the table and seeing that they are executed by the correct department, center and/or base of the MARKED team at large. She will play a large role in cultivating and carrying out MARKED culture to our staff and volunteers so that it can be replicated in every area in which we work. Lastly Katrina will help us in the areas of managing government relationship, correspondence and appointments as part of her role here at MARKED.
We cannot express our gratitude enough to each of you who make hiring positions like hers possible. Having Katrina on our team not only empowers growth, but long term sustainability and transformation at large.
Please help me officially welcome Katrina to the MARKED family.
This past week we received a call from a local tomato farm who had got word about our organization. They called and spoke with our staff and said they would love to donate tomatoes to our center. Little did we know when we showed up HOW many tomatoes they would be giving us.
They shared that they would like to keep the donations coming, and as the seasons change, they would love to donate other types of produce as well.
When our staff showed up to receive the donation, not only was there enough tomatoes for every meal at our centers throughout the week but enough for every family enrolled in our weekly program to take a box or two home.
There is nothing more beautiful for us than when the local community gets involved and generously gives to those in their community that were once deemed as the outcasts.
How beautiful it is to see the spirit of generosity take root in the hearts of those locally.
We received a call not too long ago from a friend from a local church in Guadalajara asking to come see our bases. That they were apart of the missional side of their church and that they wanted to come see how they could be apart of what we were doing out in the La Peña community.
Not more than a couple weeks later they came for a visit and asked to come back and make our base reflect the beauty of what was taking place inside.
We weren’t totally sure besides a couple coats of paint of what they had in mind, but we passed along a few of our thoughts and desires for the space and WOW did they deliver.
They transformed this little run down village space into the most beautiful venue. They went above and beyond in every little detail, from the plants, to the logo, to shelves and more. Then they surprised us with our first hand washing sink at that location (no more buckets of water!!!) and a beautiful prep table for the kitchen.
But more than all of this, their generosity and love was evident in all that they did. They took time with the kids in the community allowing them to be apart of each project. They prayed and prophesied over our staff. They filled our pantry with donations to give, cooked breakfast and brought bags upon bags of donations for our MARKED store.
They loved and encouraged each person that was placed in front of them. They were a walking message of hope. The hands and feet of Jesus.
We cannot thank Maś Vida enough for their love, care, and generosity. The kids came the following Friday and couldn’t believe what they were seeing with their own eyes. You created a space that represents the beauty taking place inside, and left us all speechless.
There are so many stories that we would love to share, but due to the nature of our work, most we cannot. In those stories, however, there are lives that you have generously given and partnered with to see changed and impacted forever. These are not only their stories, but yours as well:
To the little girl, who was thrown into a ditch, now rescued and safe in a place she calls home. Whose only future was to be sold, now bold and fierce, learning both Spanish and English, this little girl now only remembers the love that she has felt, and the bond between those who she considers to be her sisters and family. She knows love.
To the little boy, who was thrown into a dumpster at birth outside of a hospital building, being told he had no hope to live. He is now a teenager who is defying the odds. Full of life, laughter and personality, this one now changed forever. He has been healed.
To the little girl who for the first seven years knew nothing more than abuse, being sold from one person to the next for their pleasure and pleasure of others, she now knows love, safety and the warmth of someone who was willing to fight for her freedom. She is free.
To the little boy who spent over six years in the streets of Guadalajara earning rank among the gangs, stealing, drugs, and exploitation is now safe in rehab, and his life is being restored. Once suicidal, now full of hope. Desiring to see others lives changed. He is dreaming again.
To the little girl who disobeyed and was burned and beaten, scared for her life, mute for years. She is now the most lively in the group, full of peace and joy. She has been transformed.
These stories don't end here. Every child, teen and young adult we encounter has a story of their own. Our prayer is that every person that we meet will encounter the love that they were made for. That their knowledge of what was, doesn't dictate what can and will be. That there is always hope at their core. May they know that there will always be someone fighting for them.
“Creation - The basic origin of something living and breathing that starts at conception.
Something so pure that when birthed has the potential to become so remarkably beautiful, inspiring, creative and powerful.
But just think what happens when that same something or someone is birthed not into beauty and opportunity but rather into chaos. Chaos thats met with trauma laying the foundation for a life filled with fear, danger & relentless turmoil.
Imagine being born into circumstance that wasn’t your choice but instead the choices made from generations of brokenness. Choices that develop roots that are cracked and splintered who exist only to try their best to survive inevitably repeating the same patterns of old.
For many in our reach this is their story. Splintered roots. Desperate to survive. Products of dangerous patterns. Today the average child earning their rank among some of the worlds more dangerous criminal organizations is just 11 years young. By joining these groups they start the clock on the last years of their young lives with a life expectancy of only 3 years inside these organizations.
To further the devastating reality, Mexico continues to lead the world in child prostitution distributing over 60% of the worlds child pornography to the nations. With over 63% of those under the age of 15 claiming to have encountered sexual violence through organized crime at least once throughout their short lives.
This is, at least in part, the reality of our world.
But thankfully the story doesn’t have to end there. Our hope is not found in bad news or statistics. These children do not have to have their hope defined by the circumstance of their birth. For these children, Hope has a name. Hope has a face. Hope has a mission.
Over the past 9 years, we at MARKED have seen with our own eyes those statistics begin to change for good among the communities in which we serve. From reduced crime rates to increased job opportunities for families, allowing thousands of children to come out of the workforce and putting them back into school with over a 95% enrollment rate.
We have watched as our MARKED soccer team has transformed themselves from gangsters who once represented torment and fear back into young men who now represent pride bringing joy and unity to their drug stricken town.
Having served now over 1 million meals, we have watched as the faces of thousands light up coming through our doors to receive a meal and a hug and find safe refuge.
When hope takes over dreams are recovered, cycles are broken and roots become mended. When hope takes action young men learn to say NO to crime and YES to family. Passing on the “easy way” and pursuing instead the way which sustains and transforms forever.
Hope is alive, because WE are alive.
From splintered roots to a MIGHTY OAK. Healthy and tall and unfazed by cycles that tried to define them and unmotivated by the things of old.
There is a new story being written.
A story where hope prevails, love takes hold and children along with their families are made whole and set free for freedoms sake.
This is MARKED. We are MARKED. By Love. For Love. “
