Sunday, July 31, 2011

The miracles of this morning...Part 2

MAKE SURE YOU READ PART 1 BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE....
SO this lady who i love but rarely see anymore actually was right near me in the foyer after the service and knew that she had to share what miracle had happened with her INDIVIDUAL self this morning.
She went on a walk & she told the Lord that she really needed to hear from him...she wanted to know that He really could speak to her....so she said that she had $20 that she wanted to give to someone...NOT $15, not $25 but $20!!!!! She wanted the Lord to make it abundantly clear, very obvious, without a doubt as to WHO that $20 should go to!!!!!! I could fill this whole page with exclamation points!!!! I THEN told her about how the video was suppose to be played last week and how they didn't have time because they wanted to send out the Horol Team in prayer...which our eldest and her fiance are a part of!!! She wept some more as she heard of God's amazing goodness to her INDIVIDUAL need! WOW!!!!! (there are those exclamation points again...but seriously, WOW!)

Then someone told me that their friend was asking about the woman who spoke this morning and the man that he was asking had not been in the service as he was suppose to be the person who walked the hallways looking for people that may need help with any number of things. This man is a good friend of ours SO he knew that we were adopting and figured out who the man was asking about and gave this man our phone number as he has more questions...we will see what happens with that.

Then there was a couple, who was talking to a sweetheart of a missionary young lady whom i hadn't seen for awhile so i had to go hug and love on, who said that i was the first person they met at church. You see she had asked them if they had met me or not. We smiled and said that we had met quite a few times. (My daughter and her fiance are VERY good friends but she didn't know that as she has been away for a long while) This couple then said that they wanted to come help me with our garage sale!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! They hardly know me and yet they are giving their time! WOW! What a blessing!

Then a woman handed me $20 and asked for her family to be put on the quilt!

Our PCA asked..."So, has anyone donated the $100 yet?" I was shocked that i had to say, "No! Isn't that weird?" I then went looking for a woman who i knew needed to come to our garage sale & finally found her! There was hardly anyone left in the church. As i was talking to the lady i found, i saw a lady quietly standing there looking like she wanted me so i excused myself and she quietly asked, "Connie, i was wondering, has anyone given that $100 yet?" "No! Can you believe it?" She answered by opening her wallet and giving me all she had....$100! I told her of how i thought that someone may just scream out that they had it and she said that she REALLY WANTED TO DO JUST THAT!!! SO...God used this quiet, selfless, servant of a woman (who is almost always in our nursery whenever those baby doors are open) to fulfill the need of a 10 year old boy to give ALL of his earnings...$250 for Ethan!!!

A man told me that his wife loves me and i replied that i loved her. He then told me that he will be sending his wife over this week to help me with the garage sale and that he has off this Friday and that he is going to be with their tribe(my word) so that she can come and be with me!!! HOW FUN WILL THAT BE!?!?!

By the way, a man (whose wife was not there this morning) said that his wife has been aching to adopt a child with Down Syndrome and that his heart just was crushed to see what he saw on our video. He said that he couldn't wait to tell her about what happened this morning!

SO...i don't know, what do you think? Do you think it went well???? I am floating on air as to how amazing and glorious my God is!!! AND how amazing His people are! We are SO very grateful! thanks, Connie for our crew....who is ALWAYS blessed!

THIS MORNING's VIDEO showing at our church-PART 1

This morning was the morning that our video was shown at our church. Remember how it was suppose to be shown last week? Well, i have some stories for you that will tell you that there is a reason that God is God and i am NOT!!! God knew that it was suppose to be this week and not last and it changed people's lives that would NOT have been changed if it had been last week.
First of all, the music was AMAZING!!! Some of my all time favorite music so that time with the Lord was so sweet! "We Will Walk by Faith and Not by Sight" i just about came out of my body with worship!
The man who preached last week, well he and his wife adopted two boys from Ethiopia...one of the reasons that i thought LAST week would have been perfect was that he would be perfect for our video to be on. What i didn't know was that he WAS perfect for introducing our video...HE did the announcements!!! He did a great job giving the intro for the video.
While the video was playing, my hands started getting very sweaty, my heart started racing and i started shaking. Then our Ally told me to look at Scott, who was sitting next to her, he was weeping and his lip was wobbling. Just in case you wonder, that is NOT normal! Well, that was the wrong thing for me to have done...i started crying! I had to go get the mic and when i walked up people were clapping.
I only had a few minutes and i forgot to give the people our blogpost address!!! UGH! I only had time to let the people know of our financial need so i told them that we needed quilt makers, embroider people, people to buy $20 quilt pieces, told them about our garage sale this Thursday/Friday & about the 10yr old boy needing $100. i REALLY thought that someone would yell out that they had the $100 but no one did. ;]
They had us shake hands and greet people and a lady came up and said that she would take care of all of the embroidering of the quilt as she had an embroiderer machine!!! THAT was HUGE!!! I was so excited!
Then the sermon was amazing! The sermon TOTALLY went with the video and how people could be encouraging of the body of Christ. It was one of the most wonderful sermons! God used him mightily!
He even made it personal by talking about how his wife had never seen him cry and how the video had him in a weeping mess right before his first time preaching at our church! He talked about how he couldn't believe what he was seeing and how moved he was by people taking action that is godly! I leaned over and whispered to Ally..."God knew it was suppose to be this week...wow!"
Oh i forgot...the fighter verse for this week was done by our pastor, who was sitting in the congregation on vacation, and he did it ....perfectly...with such feeling and just beautifully. I thought last week's verse was perfect but having HIM saying this week's verse was .... PERFECT...the verses??? OH....Psalm 139:15-18!!! God is so good! He stood and used his body language to SEE what the words meant!
Then the sermon was done and i was praying for many people to ask us questions...but it didn't happen SO we will only see what will happen in the future. What DID happen was amazing! The people right behind us were so sweet with Sophina and the Mrs. said that she will help me cut pieces for the quilt...i am praying for MANY more to help with that.
Then there was a dear friend whom i rarely see anymore who could not believe that she saw me to tell me her story....
OH....and then there was the woman who came up to me when almost everyone was gone and said.....

Saturday, July 30, 2011

We have a 10 yr old who wants to give to Ethan's grant

There is a ten year old boy who has been in my class that i led for our homeschool group who also just recently started attending our church who is wanting to do something AMAZING for Ethan...it just warms my heart! HE IS TEN YEARS OLD!!!!! OK...anyway, he wants to make, with his own hands,...Marshmallow Shooters (i did tell you that this was a BOY:)) Not just FIVE Marshmallow Shooters but FIFTY!!!! He was wanting to do something to help bring Ethan home and he knows how to make these SO he knew that this was something that he COULD do! Talk about a sacrificial gift! WOW!
Well, there is an issue that my friend called me about. My friend is a friend to BOTH of our families and she asked if i would come onto our family's blog and let you all know that this boy needs $100 for his supplies. SHE was thinking that tomorrow even...at church, there would be someone who would donate $100 for THIS cause and give this money to me before church so that i could get it to this young man! He would earn $250!!!! AND HE WANTS TO GIVE IT ALL TO ETHAN'S ADOPTION!!!!! (so your money would not be tax deductible i don't think)
SO...if you are as impressed as i am....would you please be willing to give the needed $100 tomorrow morning???
We are in awe of the incredible selfless act of this young man's hard earned money AND his summer time!!!
thanks so much, Connie for our crew
PS. Just thought that i would let you know that this friend who called me....well, her mother ordered 25 of them from the Orphan Care Garage Sale last month for her family's Christmas presents for stocking stuffers!
PSS. You can order yours tomorrow at church too;})

Friday, July 29, 2011

Ummm....WOW!!!!

This morning, we were so excited because we had two people give...we were so thrilled! I was holding the computer in my hand and the girls were all around me and we cheered. When my girls wake up in the morning, i wonder what they will do when they go to the computer to check it this time! THEN there is Scott, Liz in Ukraine (who CAN use a computer), & Alex in London! WOW! Wish i could see each of their responses! THREE gifts in one day!!! What a 24 hours!
SO, this is to announce that we had two givers that covered Scott's birthday fund raising event and it was taken care of BEFORE his birthday! I cannot wait until he wakes up in just a few hours to see this...then work a MASSIVE amount of hours and then drive nine hours to come home to us! THEN we will be in church on Sunday to announce to our congregation that we are adopting Ethan! WOW!!!
I am so grateful for each gift and giver! God bless each of you who have given....some of you even sacrificially! thank you

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Emotions of adoption....i wonder what it will be like when...

I have been seeing others blogs on adoptions of children from Reece's Rainbow...it is amazing. I have seen things that i never knew existed just a little over four months ago. I have seen children who could have easily been put in our daughters' history books for being in a concentration camp in Hitler's time and no one would have known the difference. I have seen all kinds of things that our son, Ethan, COULD have and have wondered "what we will do if he has....." I have seen first time meetings in their country where the child cuddles right up to the mother, making her break down in tears then also to where the mother is sitting off far away from her child...just watching. I then wonder...."how will Ethan respond to Scott and i...." I have seen people bring gifts to their child and i have seen the joy on the child's face....and i wonder....."what would Ethan like....."and "would the children in the orphanage be mean and try to take it from him once we left....would it make his life worse if we brought him something that was nice...would the orphanage people even let him have it or would they take it away until we came back?" I have seen quite a few homecomings....this is where, honestly, i have tears....i wonder..."will there be people there for Ethan's homecoming....who will be there....and who won't be" I have seen the LONG overwhelming flights that sometimes take more than 24 hours with changes of planes with delays or issues and some children did amazingly well while others struggled the whole way....'will Ethan be scared....will he sleep at all and if he doesn't, will i be able to cope?'
THEN there is the case of all of the fund raising....they are amazing!!! There are always ones that have wonderful gifts....i have seen Gizmos and gadgets to diamonds to well, you name it.....and i wonder..."do i have to go and buy an expensive item in order to have someone give...is that what we should do since everyone else is doing it?" There is a LOT more that i have wondered with all of the fund raising....it IS HARD TO ASK.....just in case YOU have wondered.
There is so much more.....seeing others amazing stories...and thinking that the mothers are nonhuman-they're wonderwomen, brilliant, so much better in all areas of their lives than me, and wondering....'why in the world would God ask ME to be Ethan's mommy....(weeping again....) why i am i honored to be his mother? What a gift....what a treasured gift to be asked....that i SO do not deserve. My husband and children are amazing AND I AM SO BLESSED. THEN I read other posts....where the mothers tell just how real they are....just as unorganized as i am....just as impatient as i am....just as much in need of forgiveness as i am.....just as in need of JESUS as i am....and i realize that if God has called me to be Ethan's mommy (tears again...just that thought keeps amazing me) then Jesus will bring me the strength and the wisdom and the humbleness when i am wrong to BE HIS MOMMY! Yes, i will still be unorganized, very human, not so smart,emotional and have a big mouth with a foot in often times;}) but i will be Ethan's mother.....a proud mother who has been allowed the privilege of watching a little boy become a bigger boy who will grow to become a young man to become a man. One whom i pray will know and will have no doubt that THIS Mommy.....his Mommy loves him deeply!

Monday, July 25, 2011

A way to honor Scott's b-day in 11 days

My husband has been amazing through this adoption journey from beginning to now. He has wanted to fight Russia to get the little girl that i was desperately wanting to adopt even though i knew that we couldn't take the risk of losing her to the institution if we lost. He held me as i cried my heart out in agony wondering if we had made the wrong decision....what if we SHOULD have fought...what if no one gets to her in time. Thank God she has a wonderful family who was created to be her family! There was such joy when we found out she was going to be saved!!!

He has been there working through all that adoptive parents go through....all of those what ifs. We spent weeks upon weeks working it all out. Then he stepped up and said that we WERE to for sure adopt a little one from Reece's Rainbow. He wanted an airplane full of children to save. I was the one who was concerned about my heart being broken again now and he was the one who was my rock!

He is the one who has encouraged me and lifted me up when i despised the FIRST part of paperwork that we have had to go through! He has been amazing! He has made me so proud of the man i married doing whatever it takes to bring our Ethan home! He has stayed up late reading, even up til this very evening Skyping so we could finish our Home Study, and being so great with computers to at ease, correct what needed to be done so we wouldn't have to wait an extra day while the agency corrected what we found!
SO....all of that to say that i thought of a way to honor him. Scott is going to be 1 year shy of the big 5-0...cannot believe it! SO i was wondering if in these eleven days we could have 50 people give $10 or 10 people give $50!!!
There is a family who is donating a $400 check for their names to be on the quilt (which should show up soon on the grant fund and i know of another couple who has also donated a $50 check for the quilt that should also come up soon SO that means that would put us at $960. AFTER that total i am praying that we would be able to have people give in honor of Scott....$500 BEFORE his birthday on August 5th!!! Which would put us at $1,460! Our total cost is going to be @$22,000. (i will be giving a break down of where that money goes as soon as i figure out how to put it on the blog;}))

We will also still be having the quilt fund raiser going as there are many pieces left for friends and family to add for the memory quilt. THANK YOU SO much to those of you who have already given for that!
Share this with your friends if you would! thanks so much, lovingly, Connie

Friday, July 22, 2011

Our video that will change lives!

This is a video that our Ethan's prayer warrior's big brother,Caleb Lococo did for us to share with our church. It may be a little while before we can share it there, we HAD to share it-so we thought we would put it on here for those who read our blog/FB! PLEASE pray for these ministries, people and for us.
Again, the ministries are Reece's Rainbow

Speaking for the Silent can be found here


Caleb and i worked hard on this and finished it yesterday with excitement as to what God can do with it. Kirill's family and Carrington's family and especially we pray that Teri Lynn and other children just like her and Ethan will be blessed because of it. Here it is!



Lindquist Family Slideshow from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Would LOVE more names on Ethan's quilt!

More than the money for Ethan's grant...NOT KIDDING....we want our friends and family to have their names on his quilt! If you can only give one time during our fund raising days and you are a friend of ours...THIS is where i would want that gift to be given! We need to have at least 40 people buy a square and i know that there are people out there that would LOVE to have this opportunity to share their names with our son's treasured quilt! The instructions are already written on the blog! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
PLEASE make sure you let us know your name and that you gave because all gifts come up to us as anonymous so i have NO IDEA who has given otherwise.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

PLEASE PLEASE

We are so thrilled that the money for Ethan's grant is going up but wanted to remind you that if you gave and were wanting to have your name on the quilt....YOU HAVE TO LET ME KNOW.  I have no idea as to WHO gave so i have no idea whose names to put on the quilt!  This quilt is a precious item that i would be devastated to have missed someone so PLEASE let me know if you gave...you don't even have to tell me how much!  Let me know at my FB in my message box....Connie Clark Lindquist OR you can email me at lquist6@charter.net and let us know!  THANK YOU SO MUCH! KEEP praying!!!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Another way to give if you don't feel comfortable using paypal

Donations made by check can be made payable and 
mailed to:
Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885
I would put a piece of paper around the check with our 
name and Ethan's name on it.



Friday, July 15, 2011

FUND RAISER

Help us create a meaningful keepsake quilt for our son, Ethan!  Details on the right side of our blog. I would love to see our wonderful friends-both new and old AND our extended family have their names on the quilt.....you could ask to have Grandma or Auntie or Mr & Mrs or Joan & Jim...etc......can't wait to see all of the names on his new quilt from our family memories. We will be able to tell him his family's memories using his precious quilt.

PLEASE share this with people you know would love to participate and know our family! Not everyone reads blogs or has FB!  THANKS so much!

Drum roll please......

Scott let me know what his choice is for our son (from the five choices given;]) ) SO are you ready?????





His name is Ethan Scott Andrew Lindquist.........which goes with Scott Lester Lindquist.....Scott's dad's name is Lester;})  I never thought we would be able to have that legacy continue!

Ethan was not his real name but Ethan will always be Ethan to us (especially the girls) and we just couldn't see him as something else.  I already shared why we want Scott's name in there and then the Andrew is my part. Since our other children's names are very regal and Victorian, you may think that it is because Andrew is also BUT then you'd be wrong for the REAL reason.  Yes, Andrew DOES go well with Elizabeth Jordan Marie, Alexandra Jessica Mae, Victoria Joy Madelyn, Catherine Jo Marilyn and Sophina Jane Merry BUT the reason was given WAY before Liz was even thought of.

You see, i have wanted to name our son Andrew since before there was even a 'we'!  I have always loved it for the above reasons but the main one is because of what i learned at Oak Hills Bible College.  Whenever Andrew is mentioned in the Bible he is ALWAYS bringing someone to Jesus.  You may say...how could a little boy from Eastern Europe who has been in an orphanage his whole life AND has Down Syndrome be able to bring people to Jesus?  My friend, I can't wait to watch it happen because i know it is going to happen!

Lovingly, Connie for us all
PS. Did you know that the name Ethan is in the Bible EIGHT times???? Well, i didn't either until our Lizzie told me.  Did you know that he wrote an amazing Psalm? Well, if i did know that, it didn't matter to me but two nights ago i read it.....i think it is one of the best Psalms in the Scriptures! SO....oh! You want to read it....OK....it is Psalm 89
I am now passionately in love with my son and want desperately to bring home more and more as each day passes. (on to the testing!)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I am so excited that i cannot stand it!

Today, our son was moved to the New Commitments page on Reece's Rainbow which means that people can now read our story. People that we don't even know. People who are like we were....never knowing about these precious children until they clicked onto RR.  People who will click onto our family's story and read how they can be people just like us....with house payments, desires to have a vacation, have needs that need to be taken care of, have a child with DS who changed their lives forever, have more children than most...have more daughters than most, had one mate who was all for it and one who never thought it was for them.....until he saw these children and now wishes he could do more, a family who has tough days with many raw emotions, a family who loves each other most moments, a family who loves Jesus passionately and will do what He asks them to do.....even though MANY think that they are out of their minds.  Even though many would rather they not talk about such hard things and would stop already about the orphans.  Even though many would rather ignore than have to see the faces.  Even though it is a subject....their son, is a subject that gets changed often and the eyes are diverted.  Even though......
We are so overwhelmed with love and such URGENCY to get him HOME!!!!  We just want to go there and get him and forget ALL OF THIS PAPERWORK and computer stuff!  BUT we WILL do whatever it takes to get him home!

OH how we cannot wait to hold him and let you all fall in love with him....we pray that you each will fall in love with him....no matter what.  My mind was racing a million miles a minute last night with an idea that was started when i was in my twenties and just got WAY better with adding our son to the mix!
The idea is for a fund raiser to help with the cost of our adoption...working furiously on it...with FB and phone calls.

I find myself trying to not get too excited because i don't want to hurt if anything happened and yet....when i allow myself full reign (which is happening more and more) ...my heart about bursts from the love i have never experienced before.....a mother for her son;})  Scott will have a son....he has always been SO grateful to have daughters (as have i!!!) but now he will know what it is like to have a son. (yesterday we were messaging each other and it was the first time i saw him write...."That's me and my boy."  Oh, did i forget?  I married a man who did a 180 degree turn on adoption & had to remind me two days ago as to why we are doing all of the unbelievable things one has to do to adopt! He has amazed me with his BIG heart for the orphans!

Before you think that we were just wanting to adopt so we could have a son....ummm...we were NOT looking for a boy....they scare me;})  God brought us our son and we will love him so much that he will beg us to stop making such a slobbery mess on him;})

By the way, i don't know if you have noticed but i haven't been using Ethan's name....this is not his real name we found out.  Scott and i have been talking furiously about what his name should be and should be letting you know VERY shortly!  We are so excited!
We so appreciate your love and support and crave daily prayer warriors on our behalf! We also pray that you will be able to come alongside to help bring him home! lovingly and very blessed, Connie for us all

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

We can announce who our son is!

Today has been a day of massive ups and downs!  First, my passport came today so i was thrilled!!! Not long after that though we got news that was not so good.  Our home study cannot be completed until our government comes back into working order.  We were so close.  My daughter's paperwork and mine had just gotten through for our fingerprints but because my husband works out of state his was not quite done but was almost there.  It didn't make it before the shut down and our home study cannot be completed without that piece of paperwork!
We also found out that there is a new government mandated item that has to be taken care of ...our cat has to be up to date on his vaccinations!!!  Well, our cat hasn't seen a vet in probably seven years!  He is an indoor cat who never goes outside.  He is loved but we have no idea what we are going to do.  We will be calling a vet tomorrow to discuss what we can do.  (please no yelling at us about what we haven't done with our cat;})
THEN after that hard news, we got the amazing news that brought you to read this particular blog post....our son can be made public news!!!
His name is Ethan!  He is on the site on Reece's Rainbow right now in the My Family Found Me section!  SO GO and have a lookie see!!!  WE are so very excited!
PLEASE be praying for our son and for our family through this time....thanks in advance....Connie for the whole crew