"We are all God's children"

"Do you realize that you're like Jesus? More like him than other children: you have an adoptive father too," Mar and Andrés tell their adopted children. Their explanation of how God changed their plans to form their family is both natural and supernatural.

There are years of struggle and difficulty behind the simple explanation they give their children. After all, as the couple explains, the road that has led them to their children is the road to Heaven, and every road to Heaven goes through Calvary.

Before they learned to accept that they could not have children the way they expected, they had to struggle interiorly. "Lord, don't ask this of me," Mar Serrano remembers praying.

But then came the yes: "I said yes: okay, I accept."

That "yes" was not a closed door. Rather, it allowed God to open others. Thanks to this, Andrew, Alvaro, and Anna came along. Each of them has their one story, and each is at once their child and God's.

“Lord, don't ask this of me,” Mar Serrano remembers praying.

When he sees human generosity, God is even more generous. The family has come to understand—with difficulty—some transformative truth of faith. "Our true Father is in Heaven."

Andrés Saiz learned to understand divine filiation by adopting his children. "We are all God's children, and no one is anyone's property, not even their parents'," he says.

Saint Josemaría's teachings are also very present in the Saiz Serrano family's journey. They explained to Andrés, for instance, that he is black and that "there is only one race, the race of the children of God" and "only one colour: the colour of the children of God."

None of us choose our families, but some truths are more obvious to this family than they are to others. They understand that we are all in God's hands and that surrendering to his will may change your plans, but it will never disappoint.

In fact, if they had a family theme song, Mar insists that it would be Pau Donés' "Eso que tú me das": "what you give me is so much more than what I asked for."