AND YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DONE....? ACTUALLY AND WE THOUGHT WE WERE DONE! GOD SAID "NOPE"!
THIS BLOG POST IS WE ARE STILL IN THE "U" OF GOD'S DYNAMIC U-TURN! (IF YOU HAVE READ THIS POST ALREADY SCROLL DOWN TOWARDS THE BOTTOM TO SEE WHY WE ARE STILL IN THE "U" OF THIS TURN!)
God's U-Turn Is the Best Way I Can Say This........
As folks
that have been following us know we went to Ukraine in March & April
2013 and met Scott. We were asked to advocate for him prior to the
team trip and Joe and I knew we were called to adopt another teenage
boy. Who and where, we did not know. When my friend put Scott in my
lap after the nights before's prayer was Lord lay him in my lap so I
literally know this is him, I looked at Scotts photos and said
....no....no way...to God. LOL! That was funny. This team trip it
looked in no way possible that we could go because we were in a
hurricane of medical issues with our two little HIV positive children we
adopted along with family losses (death) and a round of sicknesses
going on in the family. I saw no way possible to be on that plane let
alone the money to get to Ukraine for the mission trip. So my son Kolya
and I prayed and told the Lord if you want us on this trip it will have
to be all you to get us there. No money and we seem to be in over our
heads right now with so many obstacles. The Lord met our every need
from financially bringing us on the trip to every cent we needed, to
bringing us an incredible medical team to care for our children and meet
their medical needs to working with an INCREDIBLE missions team to meet
our soon to be son Scott. It doesnt end there.......
Sebastian...some
of you may have seen me advocating for him soon as I hit the US ground
running. He goes to the same school as our Scott. I met Sebastian in a
room full of rowdy kids playing because it was raining outside and I
was waiting to interview our Scott and I happened to sit right next to
Sebastian while I waited. I did a little slap on his left knee and said
"Hello how are you"? He looked at me and smiled right at this exact
moment. Snap shot moment.
Soon as I
took down my camera I felt God say clear as day "this is your son". I
sat there smiling at Sebastian but yet confused at what I heard as I am
preparing to interview who I believed and thought I was there called to
adopt. After I interviewed Scott, Scott held my hand and walked with me
outside BUT Sebastian never left my side the entire time I was there
for the whole mission trip. He was there waiting for us in the morning
and saw us off in the van in the evening. I remember after Scotts
interview Sebastian walked out the doors with me and I cracked a joke at
him and he did not laugh. I looked at him and said "this is where you
are suppose to laugh. I tell a joke and even if it is bad you laugh".
He laughed and again never left my side. I called Joe that night and
told him I am confused and torn.....because there are boys tugging at my
heart and I am having to sort my thoughts and praying for wisdom in all
of my emotions and seeking Him. Never did I believe my husband would
go for bringing more boys home. So I did not entertain the idea with
him. Scott even asked me if we could adopt Sebastian as well. He
talked to me about how Sebastian was also aging out like him with no
family and Scott looks out for him. Scott said that because Sebastian
is quiet he is often picked on by others because he will not fight
back. I made a necklace for Sebastain and noticed he wore it everyday
and never took it off. By the end of the trip Sebastian would hug me
and you could tell although this was foreign to him oh how he longed for
it and our last hug goodbye it was clear he did not want to let go. He
wrote me this letter before I left.
The letter
says "Nicole thank you for finding me a family. I am very grateful to
you." I left there torn but focusing on Scott. And again believing I
needed to find Sebastian a family and advocate because our family may
not have been what he needed. Especially with him being calm and
collect and we have a Tania tornado. All I could think is she will
drive him nuts. LOL! A wonderful family stepped up to adopt him that
has open hearts but because they were up against the clock to get back
to him before he aged completely out and possible things they may have
faced while in country to adopt him they decided to let Sebastian go
knowing we would be right behind them. When Joe found out the time
crunch the family was up against he looked at me 2 weeks ago and told me
to prepare the fields without me saying a thing. He said we need to be
ready to adopt Sebastian if they cannot. So we have changed documents
to prepare for this exact moment right now. This is why I am titling
this "Gods U Turn". Every single one of our kids have been Gods
beautiful U Turn. BUT God may not be done with us yet!
Let me introduce you to "Steven". Yes we have an "S" thing going on here.
I met Steven pretty much after that brief moment of God telling me Sebastian was to be our son and I was still in process mode. Steven literally popped out of no where right behind him with a precious grin on his face.
Soon as I looked at him and then Sebastian and spotted our Scott behind both of them (if you look closely he is in the red jacket) I realized I was in trouble and how again would I ever explain this to my husband!
And of course he gets along and is buddies with Sebastian! OH MY! And of course he and Kolya become inseparable!
And then I interviewed him! As I am interviewing him he is talking about animals and being raised on a farm and training horses and I was raised on a farm with horses and trained them. He talked about wanting to be a builder and rehab houses that is what I use to do and still would love to do again at some point. He loved the ocean. Well our whole house is decorated like the ocean. Besides having an awesome interview James who helped me interview the kids and I looked at each other and were thinking this is a solid kid and determined to make it in life. He knows what he does not want and what he does want. He avoids temptation and stay out of trouble. He wants to make it in life and provide for himself and his family some day. Things you just DO NOT hear on an interview. Ok then the funny part comes in. I am staring at his sweatshirt and have him turn around to see it is a Santa Cruz, CA sweatshirt with a shark on the back. I started laughing and at that point I think he realized him and I had a lot in common. I told him I use to surf in Santa Cruz when I was his age and sharks are my favorite animal so much that I got a big ole tattoo of one on my back (Now of course I did not show him....) But at that point like Sebastian and Sash he was never not within my reach or too far away. The next morning I arrived into my class to find out someone placed him in our teaching class so we only got to know each other all the more.
This photo was taken withing the hour of us leaving the boarding school not to return until we arrive again for the boys adoptions.
So how and when did Joe say YES to a third you ask? Well before we knew we were going to be adopting Sebastian, Steven wanted to be part of a hosting program to come a visit America. I asked him if I could get him into one would he want to go and he said "Yes"! So we had planned to get him along with a couple other kids into a hosting program and if timing worked out I was hoping we could host him without coming out and openly asking Joe it was a thought at this point or at least visit him when he was being hosted. Well the hosting program got removed from their boarding school and region so no one was able to come. When I told Joe no more hosting for the kids he said again like he did with Sebastian after his original adoptive family let go "Prepare the fields" get ready to adopt him to. We do not know if he will want to become part of our family. I know in the interview he said he would like to be in a family with Kolya so that was a good hint. But that was a hint. This is a life long decision for him to make. We love and adore him and praying his heart will be opened and softened to let us in and become our son. We know ultimately this is all in the Lords hands and we know the outcomes but we are moving forward in obedience and a love for these children and cannot wait to get back to each of them!
God's U Turns:
When we
found Kolya we had already picked another child to host from Russia. We
happen to call in to inquire about some information for fundraising at
Belks and was told we picked the wrong child. Little did LeAnn with
NHFC know on our fridge was Kolyas photo because I could not shake him.
She told me Kolya was the right fit for us. Well now he is our son.
Tania and
Stopha....1 1/2 years before their adoptions I was suppose to be on a
mission trip to Ukraine with Joe and funny enough we were suppose to be
at their orphanages loving on them. We did not go in an effort to save
money to adopt Kolya. We would have met our two little ones 1 1/2 years
prior to! But God U Turned us back for them.
Scott...we
knew there was another teenage boy, we prayed Lord put him in our lap.
The next night he was placed in my lap and I said no...no way.......and
pulled back and said oh Lord...you will have to change this heart of
mine. Much controversial information came in to me on Scott and Satan
was already at work trying to make a sticky web to stop this young mans
path of ever finding a family and we get to Ukraine and now we are
adopting him.
Gods U Turn
I let go of Sebastian and God has U Turned us back for him after letting go.
We hoped and wanted to host Steven but it is not an option now so we are U Turned to gamble and go back for him and give him with our hearts and hope he accepts.
Gods U
Turns have been a beautiful thing to witness and see unfold in our
lives. We have no idea what our future holds as we prepare to head back
for the boys July 29th but we do know God had undoubtedly has the lead
in this as it should be.
Steven, Kolya, Scott, Nicole and Sebastian
We have
have 7 weeks until blast off and $12,000.00 to raise to bring all three of these aging out teens home. How will the
funds come in? We have no idea but considering God brought us to
these boys we know the is not to BIG for him. Please follow us on our
journey as we go to bring these two aging out boys home at MOCK GOD
SPEED AHEAD!
P.S. There are no more boys hiding to add to this blog that we are moving to adopt! (:
To read more about our story please visit:
http://reecesrainbow.org/56718/sponsordewberry-3
If you would like to help us bring the boys home please see the following things we have going on in order to help bring them home!
$5.00 A RAFFLE TICKET TO WIN THIS HAND MADE POPLAR WOOD CANOE AND EVERYTHING YOU SEE HERE!!! ALSO SEE BELOW FOR PHOTOS!
FOR DETAILS VISIT THIS LINK:
OR
EMAIL NICOLE AT:
DIVESHARK@YAHOO.COM
& LET HER KNOW HOW MANY TICKETS YOU WOULD LIKE! ALL TICKETS ARE
TAX-DEDUCTIBLE WHEN MADE TO THE BOYS REECE'S RAINBOW ACCOUNT!
http://reecesrainbow.org/56718/sponsordewberry-3
DON'T WANT A CANOE BUT WANT TO HELP SUPPORT US BRINGING THE BOYS HOME? SEE LINK BELOW THE UKRAINE EGG!
CHECK OUT THE ONLINE "MAKE AN OFFER"
AUCTION WE HAVE GOING ON!
WE LEAVE JULY 29TH SO WE NEED TO MOVE THESE
ITEMS ON OUT! WE LIST ON EACH AUCTION ITEM WHAT WE PAID FOR THE ITEMS
AND YOU MAKE US AN OFFER WE CANNOT REFUSE AND WE ACCEPT IT THEN IT'S
YOURS! ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE WHEN MADE TO THE BOYS REECE'S
RAINBOW ACCOUNT!
http://reecesrainbow.org/56718/sponsordewberry-3
LIKE TO
TRAVEL BUT HAVE NO TIME FOR AUCTION ITEMS OR DESIRE TO PADDLE A CANOE
BUT WANT TO HELP SUPPORT BRING SCOTT HOME???? WELL I HAVE A TICKET FOR
YOU! HERE IS AN ONLINE AIRLINE TICKET UP FOR AUCTION TO ANYWHERE IN THE
US EXCEPT HAWAII BUT INCLUDES ALASKA. NO BLACK OUT DATES. DONATION
FOR THIS ITEM WILL BE TAX DEDUCTIBLE IF MADE TO SCOTT'S REECE'S RAINBOW
ACCOUNT AT: http://reecesrainbow.org/56718/sponsordewberry-3
FOR MORE DETAILS PLEASE VISIT LINK BELOW PLANE:
https://www.facebook.com/events/523829854336951/
