And This One Matters......

Saturday, April 6, 2013

2 Timing Out Teens, 2 Adoptions & Our Mission Teams Eastern Europe Adventure!

2 Timing Out Teens, 2 Adoptions & Our Mission Teams Eastern Europe Adventure!

Here is the crazy mission team God so perfectly put together heading to Eastern Europe to minister to orphans the love of Christ and love on them. We cannot thank each and every person who helped our team get there to serve!!! We arrived to snow waiting for us. I blame my son, Kolya....he had been praying for snow without running that by me first.... (:

On this team trip I served with an incredible Christian gentleman named James. I like to refer to him as the "Hulk". You would not want to attempt to rob him in a back alley, he would take you down. Total brother in Christ and such a blessing to serve with him and the team!

On this team mission trip I met our princess....I mean prince. Joe and I knew there was one more teenage boy out there not knowing where or who. When I was asked to advocate for him he became so heavy on the heart and of course God literally laid this boy in my lap thanks to Tiffany on the team (our prayer the night before was God lay this young man literally in our laps). Little did I know God was going to lead us back to Eastern Europe to adopt him. I had a hunch that may had been why but I wanted it to all be the works of God and nothing less.

This young man won the hearts of the team from the previous year, mine and my son, Kolya's. Clearly we are moving to adopt him and God is opening doors faster then ever and the 1st (chunk) part of our dossier is headed to Eastern Europe this weekend! In one day God allowed the flood gates to open (totally awesome) and nailed about 60% of the dossier and day two in the mail and off she blows!

AMEN!

OK now back to the Hulk with his posh Euro purse........where does he come in all this?????

This man of power and made of steal has had his heart stolen and broken by a young lady named Lisa that goes to the same school as our Scott and he and his family will be bringing her home.

James and I made a packed that we would go through our adoptions together and help one another. We loaded our suitcases in country with what we could to bring home to sale in an auction and fundraise together to bring our kiddos home. We are hoping and praying to land in country together to bring our kids home that God brought us both to on this incredible mission trip.

Please follow us on our journey of bringing Lisa and Scott home to our families!

We are asking first and foremost for prayer and protection for our kids, the children we ministered to and our families as we move to bring the kids home.

Financial Need For The Dewberry Family For Scott is:

$24,000.00

Financial Need For The Livshin Family For Lisa is:

$15,000.00
You can visit their blog at: http://godsizedadventure.blogspot.com/

WE HAVE APPROX. LESS THEN 2 MONTHS TO RAISE THESE FUNDS AND PREPARE FOR TRAVEL BECAUSE BOTH OUR TEENS ARE AGING OUT. LISA IN LESS THEN 2 MONTHS AND SCOTT THIS SUMMER AT GRADUATION!

FUNDRAISERS!
Puzzle For Scott

In traditional Dewberry style because we are a bunch of Nutballs so we are doing a fundraiser puzzle with our boy Scott! With the help of my best bud Amy McCoy and her handi work with photo shop as you will see below....her work is so talented and professional. I mean look how serious I am about this!

So with Amy's help we have put together a 504 piece family photo puzzle with our boy. Doesn't he look happy? Fits right in!

When we go to see our crazy kiddo we will bring the puzzle to him of our family

(He's going to bust up on this one!)

and on the back of each puzzle piece we will put your name on it or anything you like that will fit on it so he will know and see all the folks that helped us bring him home and have been praying for him! For a $20.00 tax-deductible donation per piece you will help make one less orphan! All donations can be made directly to his Reece's Rainbow Page at:

http://reecesrainbow.org/56718/sponsordewberry-3

AUCTION FOR LISA & SCOTT!
We are also holding an auction of items purchased in Ukraine to bring our kiddos home. Here are some of our lovely items and please take a peak at them to place your donation on the link below! All donations are tax-deductible and will be divided between both families and can be made directly to our children's Reece's Rainbow Pages.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.513078288739091.1073741825.486219068091680&type=1

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

THE FRONTAL ASSAULT HAS BEGUN!

YES THE FRONTAL ASSAULT HAS BEGUN!!!!

ME VERSE THE DOSSIER!

MY SPEED IS PICKING UP WITH EACH ONE.....OH MY ON NUMBER 5 DOSSIER AND OH HOW IT REMINDS ME OF MORNING SICKNESS. YOU WANT TO THROW UP BUT CAN'T AND SO DARN EXCITED KNOWING WHAT IS ALL TO COME AND THE BLESSING IN THE END! DAY ONE OF DOSSIER PREPARATION AND ABOUT 60% DONE....AT LEAST I THINK. (:

THIS IS MY & OUR BLESSINGS AT THE END!!!!!

JUST RETURNED HOME AND ALREADY PREPARING TO GO BACK! I LOVE IT! EASTERN EUROPE HERE WE COME! ARE WE SUPPOSE TO MOVE THERE?

THE STARTING OF THE EASTERN EUROPE ADOPTION PILE!

FUNDRAISING OH MY.....

SO BUSY WITH THE DOSSIER I FORGOT ABOUT NEEDING TO FUNDRAISE.

THE JOY OF GETTING BACK TO OUR BOY I GOT BLINDSIDED! SMITTEN WOULD BE A GOOD WORD TO! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP US BRING OUR BOY HOME WE GOT A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE HE TIMES OUT THIS SUMMER THEN HE IS ON HIS OWN, SO WE ARE HORSES BREAKING OUT OF THE GATE TO GET BACK THERE TO HIM!

PLEASE VISIT OUR REECE'S RAINBOW PAGE AT:

http://reecesrainbow.org/56718/sponsordewberry-3

AUCTION SOON TO COME FOR BOTH SCOTT, OUR BOY & LISA A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL I GOT THE PLEASURE OF MEETING MY FRIENDS ARE ADOPTING! ITEMS IN AUCTION BOUGHT IN UKRAINE!!!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

And This One Matters.........

By Amy McCoy

So, here it begins at the airport with a team from Redline Hosting, who are headed to southern Ukraine to do a week of VBS type activities at an orphanage there. Our son Alex, in the camouflage jacket, is one the team members as is his buddy and my friend Nicole's son, Kolya (3rd from left).

Here is the team waiting at the airport, looking comfy. Nicole is the cute blonde seated all the way to the left.

Our boy Alex can sleep anywhere and the team was somewhat jealous of this fact.

The team made it to Kyiv but there is 2 feet of snow on the ground and gale force winds...ack! Let me share Nicole's words on this harrowing piece of the trip: "Thank you girl for asking for prayer. I think everyone on that plane with us was praying. At least the two next to me were praying as I was then the electricity on the plane went off as we were on the runway gaining speed for takeoff. So we all were wondering would this be our last flight as the snow was piling down hour after hour and very windy. We landed and safe in region around 4/5AM with all body parts! Our orig. 9pm flight took off after 2PM but we are thankfully counting our blessings we landed. We got the last flight at this time out of Kiev to here because of the snow so the airport is on lock down. Blessed we are. The snow followed us and we have had snow all day here in region and the roads turned into an ice skating rink. We went to an awesome church tonight to visit with the youth group and it was a wonderful lesson and time and great company and ended with our bus getting stuck and cars parked all over the road stuck in the ice and Alex, James, Scott and myself trying to push cars in the snow to get them to a dry enough spot to move. It was NUTS and good times....good times!!"

She is a trooper, she is! I don't think I would have been on that plane...yikes!

Here, they made it south! Nicole and Alex, holding each other up on the ice.

James, looking very Ukrainian ;)

Here is the team, beginning their mission work by pushing cars that were stuck in the ice to get them on their way again. Until the police came and scolded them and blamed the traffic problems on them! That's what you get for helping...

Kolya and Alex with the boys they met from the Baptist Church's youth group. Apparently these boys were amazing and faith filled. Great influence on our fellas...

The whole team with the Youth Group.

Here they are at the orphanage and you can see that Alex and Sasha (on Alex's right) have become fast friends!

Here the kids are, with Alex and Sasha, pointing to God during the team's presentation.

Kolya and Alex, in a skit. Alex is a blind man and here they are praying.

Here Kolya is taking Alex to see Jesus.

Kolya, Sasha, Nicole and another young man who will age out of the orphanage system next month. Nicole will be hitting the ground running to try and find him a family quickly. An I-600 will need to be filed quickly to put a hold on him before he ages out!

As you can see, Kolya and Sasha have hit it off wonderfully. This was a MUST for the Dewberry family if they were to consider Sasha for their family. With Sasha being one of the cool kids and at the top of the heap and Koyla being sorta, well, um...not, it is no minor miracle that these boys became close very quickly. The pecking order that is normally present did not exist for these boys and you can tell, things went really well between the two of them.

This is the photo that just rocks my world and says it all. Nicole put Sasha through the ringer, asking him a million questions, grilling him on his life and behavior and history. Every day he came back for more. Apparently he was not one to stay for all the activities before when other teams came, but he never left the team this time and he and Nicole and Kolya spent a lot of time together. The look on his face here is one of a boy who is content and safe and at home!

Nicole asked him directly if he wanted to be a part of her family and he say, YES! What a happy ending to what began as a sad and desperate story. Sasha has had many, many people asking about him and praying for him and considering him for their families. I can tell you, I know Nicole very well. She will come home will not stop until her dossier is done. I give her a week to get it all done LOL She is a machine. And I bet you a big fat dollar she will be traveling to get him in a few short months. They will need FUNDS! She will bust her fanny shopping and auctioning items on Facebook in order to raise funds to go and get him and I'll be sure to post those auctions here. Please stay tuned and help in any way you can. Details on how to do so will follow :) Thanks again for all who have worried and prayed over this boy. One day soon he will learn of all your love for him and he will know that all along, in his pain, his Father in heaven was looking out for him and preparing a place for him. All praise to Jesus for the one who was lost is now FOUND!

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.