And This One Matters......: Still In The "U" Of Gods U Turn!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Still In The "U" Of Gods U Turn!

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

Never in a million year when this snapshot was taken that I thought I would be here right now typing this.

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:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.531766856870234.1073741828.486219068091680&type=3

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!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.513078288739091.1073741825.486219068091680&type=3

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/photo.php?fbid=533601546686765&set=a.533601543353432.1073741829.486219068091680&type=3&theater

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What Does Nicole Mean By Advocating For Orphans?

So glad you asked! In Ukraine many hosting programs are shutting down. The reason being is boarding schools (orphanages) are being condensed the more the foster care system grows in Ukraine. This leaves the school Directors in fear of losing their jobs if they do not hold a specific number of children in their boarding school. Then the threat of shut down looms over their heads. The second reason is with hosting programs that means many children will find their forever families which means again the number of children falls under what is required for the school to remain open. It is a double edge sword. You have many Directors that want their children adopted but then they know if they loose their job they cannot support their family. It is not easy in Eastern Europe to find a job in a couple days. Especially with the current climate Ukraine is in with war at hand.

5 years ago Nicole started to notice the decline in hosting programs being allowed to continue to bring children over to America. With the adoption of their children, especially their 2 littles ones Nicole & Joe knew they did not have the allotted time needed to dedicate to volunteer with NHFC and not be able to give it their all like they had done in the past. They did not want to fail the NHFC team. So they resigned and Nicole went freelancing in Ukraine. On Gods timing, when she was able, wherever God lead and with the team God put together. On these trips Nicole, her son Kolya and/or the team would teach children English, teach them about Jesus, love on them and then fight for them. Meaning if a child or boarding school staff came to Nicole and said this child wanted a family Nicole would interview them and spend as much time with them as possible to get to know them personally. Nicole would do this in an effort to learn as much as possible to help advocate for the child in hopes their forever family would come forward. Nicole would learn the good and bad in an effort to be upfront and honest with a potential adoptive family.

Nicole is not an adoption agency, a hosting agency, nor a professional and she does not work for anyone accept God. She is a gal after God's heart and children, a stay at home Mama that has worked with teens for 20 years and this is her heart and passion.

Why Ukraine Nicole?

In Eastern Europe it is very different then America. In America if a child is in the foster care system they can remain with their family for care until they are 18 years old. In America there is opportunity for just about everyone even if it is working at McDonalds. You are not labeled as an "Orphan". In Eastern Europe an orphaned children is basically wearing a stamp his/her their forehead that says "Orphan". It is like a permanent tattoo that is with them for life and never washes off not only in their mind but to others. They are not wanted or welcomed in many cases. On a trip to Ukraine a sign was spotted that stated "No orphans allowed" that was posted up on the door of a store. At the age of 16 these children age out of their boarding schools and have a choice of trade school or the streets. Most of them have no family to turn to. So just imagine a 16 year old child left to their own with NO accountability. With the economic crises and war in Eastern Europe the children that have extended family like Grandpa, Grandma, a sister or a brother cannot afford to take in the child so they only visit. If the child should choose to go to trade school it generally consists of coal mining, hair dressing, etc. Even with that in school the kids again are accountable to themselves and if they do not hold up their grades they are on the streets. If they graduate they still are stamped "Orphaned". So should they apply for a job with many other folks they will be the ones tossed because of this label. So their chances of graduating trade school and then getting a job are slim to known unless they are one determined child. The trade school housing for the kids is old hospitals that are now used as dorms. If a child is not back to their dorm by 10PM they are locked out for the night and they will call the streets then bedroom. Many children have been noted to say that they are scared to be in the trade school dorms because of the violence, rap, prostitution, drugs and alcohol. One child was noted to say that he would find kids shooting up drugs in the hallway and passed out. He bought a gun illegally in order to be able to protect himself of the unknown there. Then you have the rebels that take the world on by themselves that either at this point in their life want to live independently and not report to anyone or just cannot handle the trade school life and want nothing to do with it. So they take the streets to make it. They generally fall into becoming thieves, go into prostitution or commit suicide in order to survive. No matter how you flip this coin the statistics are grim from these children. They are all survivors doing just that.......surviving.

There is such a significant need all over the world even in America. Joe and I were foster parents and have served with youth in the US for our entire marriage and Nicole prior to marriage. God steered Joe and Nicole on a different path when they were introduced to NHFC and adopted their first son, Kolya from Ukraine. God has continued to call them to Ukraine in an effort to reach the voiceless and give them a voice, hope and love. God calls each of us to a specific place, time and season to do His work as Christians. God has shifted their call to Ukraine.....for the time being. Again they go where God leads where ever it may be.

Meet The Dewberrys

The Dewberrys came together as a family after hosting their now 18 year old now son, Kolya from Ukraine during Christmas 2010 through an International hosting program called New Horizons For Children, Inc.

In the midst of hosting Kolya, Joe and Nicole felt the Lord was going to lead them through more then just hosting in Ukraine. Nicole and Joe was were blessed to work with NHFC as a volunteer Regional Directors in North Carolina for the orphan hosting program. Nicole realized that in time there seemed to be a decline to host children from Ukraine with all the politics that was abounding in Ukraine. So she felt a lead to break away from hosting and go where God leads to travel to Ukraine and be wide open to God to lead her to orphanages to met children that could no longer be hosted and advocate to find them forever families that were aging out. For the last 6 years Nicole has been traveling to Ukraine several times a year to teach English in orphanages, teach the children about Jesus, show them the love of Christ and advocate for true orphans that want a forever family. Nicole brings aid to the Ukraine military, visiting the military in the hospitals as well as meeting active duty and on the field military and serving with mission teams the local folks that remain in regions that are devastated by war with her oldest son Misha. The Dewberrrys children have returned with Nicole to Ukraine on many occasions to serve the people of their country.

Kids are Joe and Nicole's love and passion. Nicole has worked with teens for 22 years. Joe and Nicole together have done mission work with youth and have specifically worked with at-risk youth and in church youth ministry for 17 years. The Dewberrys arms are wide open to show the love they have for the lost and forgotten youth.

The Lord lead them back to Ukraine in 2012 to adopt Tania, 10 years old & Stopha who is 8 years old and are HIV+. In 2014 the Lord lead the Dewberrys back to Ukraine to adopt Bogdan 12 years old who is HIV+ and Angelica 19 years old and Kristjan 16 years old. Then in 2015 the Dewberry's returned for Vova 16 years old and Viktor 12 years old. None of the Dewberrys children would not be home without the prayers and the hands of feet of Christ of folks coming alongside their family to see their children home and also all the mission trips Nicole has been on.

Nicole and her children continue to return to Ukraine to do mission work advocating for orphans that want forever families, teaching them about Jesus, teaching them English as well as doing doing mission work with the military and regions of devastation by serving those left behind.

With the greater increase in adoptions which is amazing there is also a greater need for support for adopted children and their families. Nicole is now working with Hope Connection International holding classes and support groups to teach pre-adoption classes, connect families that have adopted within the US and abroad and work with families in crises to help prevent disruption.

Our family prayer is to go where God leads.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27

About This Blog

This blog is dedicated to our heart and soul, the orphans that cannot speak out of Eastern Europe. This blog is about our journey of the adoption of our children, the mission work we do in Eastern Europe, advocating for orphans and wherever God leads our family.

This blog is also about the trials and tribulations we have faced with hosting, adopting, missions work already and yet to come. The grace, mercies and restorations of our hearts and minds. The incredible friendships God has provided along the way. About our missions trips to Ukraine working with orphans. The blessings of when Nicole volunteered with New Horizons For Children as Regional Director. All our crazy stories & adventures we have had along the way here in America and in Ukraine. And oh how we have adventures and stories! This blog is a dedication to our Lord and Savior encompassing the one thing he treasures more then anything, His children.....the orphans.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Still In The "U" Of Gods U Turn!

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