Sacrifice can come in many shapes and forms. For some, it looks like laying down your life in a dangerous situation to save others. In some situations, sacrifice looks like a mother spending her last bit of money on shoes for her child. For one father, it looked like taking in five children all at once when a horrible tragedy took place.
Officer Nicholas Quintana was on his lunch break when the station got a call that you never like to hear… a homicide call.
“Trying to enjoy my lunch and this urge, this abrupt urge, that’s the best way I can describe it, came and I ended up going to the call,” he told FOX5.
Heading to the scene on Osaka Pearl Street, Officer Quintana found a woman that had reportedly just shot a man. That man was later revealed to be her husband. When more officers came on-site, they learned that the couple’s five children were in the house when the shooting happened.
For Officer Nicholas, a thought immediately went through his mind.
“Wow. That’s sad. That’s extremely sad because now these kids are going to go to Child Haven,” Quintana said.
The story wasn’t “just work” to the officer either. When he was a child, just about the children’s age, something similar had happened. His father lost his life at the hands of another family member, a story identical to the five children that were now without parents.
“For me, it brought back a memory from my childhood where my father was killed by a family member of mine,” he told FOX5.
Knowing the pain they were going through was a unique position that many adults just couldn’t understand.
As a result, he decided he was going to help the kids out, however he could. Finishing his shift, he raced home and talked to his wife with a big proposition. He explained to his wife that he didn’t just want to help the kids, he felt it on his heart to foster them. Without doing so, it wasn’t likely they were going to be placed together in the future.
After Officer Nicholas’s wife met the kids, it was settled.
“Understandably so, she was absolutely reluctant towards it,” he said. “I was like, ‘Well listen hun, just meet the kids, just meet them, because you might just fall in love with these kids. Just meet them.’”
Only two days after meeting together, they drove home as a new family.
“I look at the kids and I say, ‘Hey, look, the reason why we’re here is because I had a thought. I’d like to take every single one of you. I’d like to take you in our home.’ And the 16-year-old gasped for a sec and said, ‘Really?’ and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and of course, the oldest one says, ‘All of us?’ and I said, ‘Every single one of you,’”
As you could imagine, the new lifestyle has taken some adjusting.
Going from a family of two to a family of seven is a huge jump. The North Las Vegas Police Officers Association set up a GoFundMe page for the Quintanas to help with some of the costs of caring for the five beautiful children. As of now, they’ve raised over $68,000.
Thankfully, there is a lot of grace, especially from the five children who now have a home. Sacrifice doesn’t always look the same for everyone, but for Officer Nicholas and his wife, it looks like five kids who they love with their whole hearts.
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