And This One Matters......

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Check Out The Adoption Shirts We Designed To Help Fund Taylor's Adoption!

Check Out The Adoption Shirts We Have Designed To Help Fund Taylor's Adoption! Any Shirt You Purchase Will Help Us Get One Step Closer To Adopting Her!

Perfection Is In The Eyes Of The Beholder Tshirt by andthisonematters
See more Adopted T-Shirts

Chosen T Shirt by andthisonematters
Shop for other tee shirts from zazzle.com.

James 1:27 tshirt by andthisonematters
View more Orphans T-Shirts

Beauty Is In The Hands Of The Beholder T Shirt by andthisonematters
View other Adoption T-Shirts

Chosen Twice! Tee Shirts by andthisonematters
Create a personalized t shirt on zazzle.

I Am His! Shirt by andthisonematters
Browse His T-Shirts

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Does Your Child Boy Or Girl Love To Skate Board? Want A Custom Skateboard For $5 BUCKS!

DOES YOUR CHILD, BOY OR GIRL LOVE TO SKATEBOARD?? THEN WE HAVE A DEAL FOR YOU!!!!! KEEP READING!

Folks were are coming down the wire here to head to Eastern Europe for Taylor! Found out today our USCIS update is in the mail and on it's way to us NOW. Our homestudy update is complete and in the mail to us NOW. All will be submitted with our dossier next week! So this means we can be flying ANYTIME because our dossier is already submitted, we are just updating it!

So what does our family know how to do besides have fun and goof off with kids.....WE KNOW HOW TO SKATEBOARD AND BUILD BOARDS.....


Sample Board We've Made

SO WE HAVE A DEAL FOR YOU TO SAVE ON BUYING YOUR KIDDO A SKATEBOARD! Don't spend over a $100.00 bucks at a store, come to us!!! For a $5.00 TAX- DEDUCTIBLE donation it will get you one entry giveaway chance to win one of our custom/personalized designed skateboards we make as a family. CHECK OUT OUR MINISTRY AND BOARDS AT: www.fallenbutsaved.com.

Another Sample Board We've Made

YOU CAN BUY AS MANY ENTRY GIVEAWAY CHANCES AS YOU WOULD LIKE FOR A $5.00 DONATION EACH!!!!!!

Joe and I have been skateboarding for 13 years and the graphics on boards these days seem to be getting more inappropriate by the day....this is your chance to get your kiddo a one of a kind personalized boards with a design or graphic they would like (we will not design anything that is deemed inappropriate, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. This is a family ministry and my son designs them.)


Another Sample Board We've Made

The mission it is to raise funds as fast as possible to bring our girl Taylor home! We need to sell a minimum of 20 entry giveaway chances to break even on our costs to make a board. SO PLEASE HELP US TUMBLE OVER THE 20 ENTRY GIVEAWAY CHANCES so we can raise extra funds towards Taylors adoption!

REMEMBER YOUR DONATION IS TAX-DEDUCTLE WHEN YOU DONATE FOR AN ENTRY GIVEAWAY CHANCE! YOU CANNOT BEAT THAT!


Another Sample Board We've Made

Please donate to Project Hopeful (see below) on the "Donate" button and the funds will go right into Taylors account. Please contact us letting us know you made a donation for the skateboard and the amount you donated and we will enter you into the drawling for each entry giveaway chance you donate to! Just email us a copy of your donation receipt! Contact us on the tab above that says just that "Contact Us".

WWW.FALLENBUTSAVED.COM

Yeah! We passed the "PINK" test!

We are very grateful to know a gal in country right now adopting from Taylor's orphanage. She is so wonderful in sending us updates when she see's her. I asked Janice a couple days ago if she can see if Taylor seems to like a specific color. Although most of the time clothes are chosen or just assigned and given to them sometimes they are able to wear a specific color they like. Today I got this news:

Got to see your sweet little one again today. Pink shirt, light pink pants.

And hair in a double ponytail-- you know where they pull the top back and ponytail it then do the bottom and put them together with a scrunchie? She was spinning, backwards, on the merry go round. Seeming to be having a blast.

So it appears we passed the official "PINK" test! She likes PINK by golly! Take a look at her bedroom Joe and Kolya designed before we even found her! I think we may have done OK!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A Wonderful Gift From A Dear Friend And Sister!

A wonderful gift from a dear friend from my sister I believe I was separated from at birth. I want to thank you Deanna for taking the time and energy to do this selfless act to help us bring home our girl! LOVE YOU GIRL!

Please visit this link to visit her blog and ministry.....incredible ministry I pray the Lord expands for her. Mother The World.

http://www.mothertheworld.org/2012/05/gift-of-mother-my-mothers-day-wish-for.html

Monday, May 7, 2012

Our Weekly Adoption Goal! Can You Help Us Meet This Weeks Goal To Help Bring Our Girl Home?

THIS WEEKS GOAL FROM 5/8/12 THRU 5/15/12 IS A TOTAL OF $4550.00 OR AIRLINE MILES FOR JOE, KOLYA & NICOLE'S FLIGHT AND TAYLORS RETURN FLIGHT HOME. YES KOLYA IS GOING WITH! HE HAS WAITING SO LONG FOR A SISTER AND HE AIN'T MISSING THIS!

We are breaking it down to weekly goals to meet in order to tackle one area at a time of the adoption. Will you help us meet that weekly goal? Kolya's birthday is May 15th and he asked us to adopt "Taylor" and bring her home for his birthday! Can you help us make this happen?

We want to share with you the remaining expenses we have left to fund Taylor's adoption. We want everyone that helps us and her by being in prayer and/or makes a tax-deductible donation to follow us every step of the way. We could not do this without you!

We have already paid for the complete dossier and again it is submitted in country. So we have no time to loose! We are in need of raising a total sum of $26,000.00 to bring her home.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation towards our weekly goal for our travel to bring Taylor home please click on either image or "donate" button below. WE CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH!

Grab This!
Be sure to right click on the box below and then select all.

SHOP & LOOK GORGEOUS WHILE HELPING SUPPORT BRING TAYLOR HOME!

HOW CAN YOU HELP BRING TAYLOR HOME AND BE FASHIONABLE AT THE SAME TIME YOU ASK???

Our passion at Noonday Collection is to connect you with the lives of artisans struggling for a better future while styling you along the way. Fashion and design are a vehicle for opportunity and change. You, too, can be a voice for the oppressed!

Noonday Collection provides jobs that create a pathway out of poverty for families. A stable income means a family is less likely to abandon their child.

With each purchase you make for one or more of their lovely items it with help us bring our lovely girl home!

This is how you can view the gorgeous items that are made all over the world in order to help support bringing Taylor home:

1) Order directly through: www.kristinharvey.noondaycollection.com

2) At the top of the checkout page, select “Kristin Harvey” from the ambassador drop down box.

3) At the bottom of the checkout page, in the box after FOR AMBASSADOR USE: TRUNK SHOW type in “Dewberry" so the funds are specifically sent to the Dewberrys for Taylors adoption.

TAKE A PEEK BELOW AT SOME OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL ITEMS NICOLE WEARS DAILY TO HELP SUPPORT NOONDAY COLLECTION AND WHAT THEY REPRESENT!

Why A Child That Is HIV+ And There Are So Many To Adopt Without???

Today I was mailed actually an email by a concerned individual in regards to us adopting a girl we know that has HIV. The woman was not unpleasant at all and I so appreciate her concern for our family in us diving into adopting a girl with HIV.

For those of you who ask why would we adopt a girl with HIV when there are so many children to adopt without.

Here is my answer......

We're jumping either way to Taylor. God divinely called us to adopt her SPECIFICALLY. We tried negotiating our way out of adopting in Ukraine again with God and well it did not work. Everytime he pointed us to her we backed up to make sure if was not our own desires of feeling specifically lead to adopt this girl. Again God won that one too! God lead us to her....period. I use to work with children with HIV and am very well aware of the losses because I did loose a girl I worked with that had AIDS when I was in high school. But our lives do not have a timer...God will take us when he takes us HIV positive or not. We cannot negoicate out of it. There are orphans all over the world why should I be the one to say because they have CP, DS, HIV, AIDS, TB they are not worthy to be adopted. That is not my call. Didn't God the creator allow these diseases to surface to begin with. I think he's looking to see who will step up to the plate to adopt these special needs children. Another way I look at it is I would rather adopt a child and give them the love they deserve and desire then not risk to adopt and love and they die alone. Plain and simple. No matter how you flip this coin of us adopting Taylor her chances of survival if we do not go are grim. She is medicated now and doing well. Her future is an institution with no chance of adoption once she arrives there. If she should be released and on her own she will have a stipend and medication to make it. But you give a 16 year old kid and tell them to take their medication and let's see how long that kid and that medication stay together! She will either "Feel OK" and not take it and could loose her life or sell it to make money to eat beacause she will be unable to find a job because not only is she labeled as an orphan but also and orphan with HIV. Then she is broke and in trade school living in a hospital turned into a dorm with no supervision nor anyone to make sure she takes her medication and again this is if she is released to trade school and not living her forever life in an institution now what does she do? A nice gentleman shows up and sees this pretty girl and offers to care for her. Before she knows it she is in over her head either being sold into sex trade or becomes a prostitute. So no matter again how you flip this coin....she gets moved into an institution, she goes to trade school and does or does not take her meds her future is GRIM.......Grim to nothing. So do we take that chance of adopting her knowing perfectly well we are adopting a girl the Lord very well could take away from us. YES! No ones time here is negotiable.

We refuse to walk away from a child because of their diagnosis. Should God take take a child we adopt, I would rather him take them in our arms with the love of a mother, father and brother then not to feel that at all.

It's worth it! Our loss his gain!

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.