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.
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.
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.
We have have 7 weeks until blast off and $10,000.00 to raise. How will the funds come in? We have no idea but considering God brought us to both 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!
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