Lord God, grow my faith!

This past week, the most extravagant gift of sacrifice that i have ever seen with my eyes happened, on our son's behalf! You can read it in our last post......seriously, if you don't know what has happened in this past week....stop and read the last post THEN come back for the 'rest of the story'.


I didn't tell anyone how much i had prayed for the etsy shop fund raiser to raise. I KNEW it was going to happen. THEN i wavered LATE last night!  I wondered if it could REALLY happen! I ALSO was completely overwhelmed with the fact that what i was really asking for was for these friends of mine to donate THAT much money THEMSELVES!   THIS, after they had paid for the materials and put in the time....it was a lot of money that they had invested -have you looked at the cost of fabric lately????? Then there are different colored threads, needles, bobbins, upkeep, and i don't really know what else! I can guarantee though that it is NOT cheap!!!  I then didn't WANT them to give us THAT much...how rude to be praying for that much! I was assaulted with doubt!  I had prayed that this etsy fund raiser would raise $1500!!!  Last night...well, this 'morning' we were right around $1000. THAT took SIX DAYS!!!

Krista's attitude is... the most selfless attitude i have ever met.  I know a lot of people that have other qualities that are "the most that i have ever met" but if you were to ask me who was SELFLESS - she would be the one that would come to mind!  WHY?  She doesn't make this a big deal at all!!!  She is not acting like i now 'owe' her or anything else. She is humble.  She was kind to EVERYONE who wrote her with questions and she did SO MUCH above and beyond what was even in her store!!!  She is not one who is going to look for a pat on the back but i am praying that you will let her know how grateful you are for what she did.  Also, will you PLEASE PRAY for her business to be blessed one hundred fold!? Yep, one hundred fold!  I am praying that she will be covered in blessings with her business!

There were others who gave GENEROUSLY too....Angel Larson is the one who donated ALL of those beautiful hair clips...yep, Grandma Lindquist made sure that Sophina will be sporting some beautiful ones!!!  Another mother who is using her talents and her time and her resources for the cause of the orphan.  These ladies LOVE the orphan and are in charge of our orphan ministry at our church!  Calvary Community Church is learning to love orphans because these women have taken ACTION!
THEN early this morning, i saw that there were even MORE people who had given...some that i don't even know who it was! SO GRATEFUL!!!

THOSE OF YOU WHO PRAYED!!!!!  OH MY!!!  Thank you!!!  Do you believe in the power of prayer to Jesus Christ our Lord?  Well, do you believe that Jesus Christ is mighty?  The prayers of the righteous......thank you to those of you who stopped what you were doing and took time to PRAY.... Dear God, i pray for this....... THANK YOU!!!  May i tell you that i CRAVE knowing that there are people who are REALLY PRAYING DAILY for our Ethan, our family, our transition that is coming, our finances that are needed, our HOPE to be kept, our encouragement to continue, etc..... How i value that gift!!! THANK YOU

Those of you who were BOLD and shared it on your FB posts! MANY were not able to, yet many of you did AND when you DID---OH MY!!! People bought!!! They saw the incredible prices and the adorable items that were there and they LOVED the shop!  I pray that they will continue to SHOP there!!! SO many of you shared today....so very grateful!

Those of you who bought....oh my goodness! Especially TODAY!!!  WOW!!! Thank you so much! Thank you for getting excited and loving the items! Thank you for talking with me or with Krista! THANK YOU!!!

BUT God......who is rich in his mercy toward sinners....of which i am definitely one!!!  BUT God... who loves with an everlasting love...even when i disobey and come back AGAIN...HE FORGIVES!!!  BUT God...who amazes me with his extravagant gifts....my husband, our children.... including our son and son-in-law even when i doubt of His faithfulness....he shocks me with His grace and adds a cherry on the top just because....He loves me!  Jesus' sacrifice for me blows my mind!  His generosity is amazing!

He was amazing! My friends and their families were amazing!  You all were amazing who prayed, SHARED, gave and were INVOLVED!!! Do you want to know what happened?
Did we make the amount that i had prayed for?

Krista's etsy shop raised $1558.97!!!!!  GOD ROCKS as He lead people to give and YOU guys ROCK as you obeyed!!!
We also had people giving to our tax deductible Reece's Rainbow grant fund for Ethan this week and that was $216!!!  For a total of $1774.97!!!  We are ever closer to reaching our $5250!!!  Those are our last adoption fees that need to be paid!!!  We are SO absolutely thrilled with the help that this week has been for our Ethan!  I will be checking to see how close we are to being able to write out a check.
(i don't like it that i have to explain this but i do....the total amount that is in our RR grant that is showing right now is NOT correct.  They sent us the grant money that we had in it when we went on our first trip...BUT it does NOT get taken off of the total that is showing. Ethan really only has $846 in his total grant right now.  SO....the total is $2404.97 that has been raised!  We need to write out a check ASAP for $5250....i am praying that it will be under two weeks!!!

PLEASE #1 GIVE THANKS TO GOD WITH US!!!
PLEASE #2 Tell Krista, her children, her mother, Angel and the others...THANK YOU!!!
PLEASE#3 THANK those who PRAYED and SHARED!!!
PLEASE#4 Pray for our Ethan to stay safe, the MOJ to sign papers, for our family's transition!!!
PLEASE#5 Pray for our needed funds to cover our $5250 adoption fees will be raised SOON!!!
PLEASE#6 THANK GOD for what has ALREADY happened!!!
We are ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie (Ethan's mommy)

Ethan's Birthday...his third in an orphanage

Our sweet boy is having another birthday in an orphanage! UGH! My heart! He may not even know that it IS his birthday....but his Mommy does :(  I see him.....feel him in my arms....smell him....hear his amazing laugh and my eyes ache...my arms ache....my nose and ears ache to have our son HOME!!!


This past week the most extravagant gift that i have ever been given outside of God's gifts to me....is being given.  Krista, her children and her mother along with our friend Angel are donating not only their PRECIOUS TIME (BOTH of them are mothers of young children so TIME is almost worth more than money) BUT they also then are giving all of the items that they had worked on.... AWAY.... completely giving the money from it to our Ethan's adoption tonight!!! Keeping nothing for themselves!!!

I helped promote the sale that they did for Constance last year....a LOT, but even with all of my promoting i still didn't FULLY 'get it'!!! THEY GAVE IT ALL .....ALL of their profit!!! Not only one time....to Constance but now this week they are giving it to Ethan! Do YOU 'get it'????  Have you taken TIME in these six+ days of the fund raiser to think about what they have done and ARE DOING TODAY!!??? (the etsy sale ends TONIGHT at 9pm) I am asking that you DO take time right now....on Ethan's birthday! I want to give that extravagantly!

I was praying for $1500 to come in this week and i am almost sure that the $1000 has come in in the six days of their etsy shop sales!  BLOWS MY MIND!!!  I STILL believe that the $500 will come into Ethan's account!

We have to write out a check for $5250 ASAP for our last adoption fees. I would say that Krista, her family and Angel have done their part!!!  ((although Krista told me that her prayer was that every dress would be sold in this week (there are ten left) and i LOVE it that her children even made things....SO i would LOVE to see the incredible water colors be sold (her daughter created them) and then...i went and looked under almost all of the items just now...there were more families that gave to this than i even realized (as i know that they must have asked to be anonymous) AND if you see Shotsi Granny on items-oh she did SO much and she doesn't even know me!!!)) AMAZING generosity!  What a wonderful gift they are giving to Ethan and to end it on his birthday....GOD DID THAT!!! Krista didn't even know!

SO we are in need of $4250 ASAP (with the sales from the etsy shop included)....if you would like your gift to be tax deductible, you may give at our Reece's Rainbow DONATE button here on our blog!  TODAY, in celebration of Ethan's 3rd birthday....i would LOVE to be able to finish his adoption costs!!! i would love for Krista to be overwhelmed by how much has sold but i also would love to see Ethan's Reece's Rainbow grant grow on his birthday!!! Will YOU be willing to donate extravagantly? Some of you already have and we SO appreciate that!!! THEN, will you PLEASE PRAY!? We cannot wait to bring our little one home so all of you who HAVE given, PRAYED, and helped be a part of this will see what the fruits of your labor are!!!!
We are ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie for the crew

Update on our Etsy fund raiser

Our fund raiser is going well and we are so thankful to those of you who have given!!!  Thank you to those of you who have SHARED this on Facebook AND with your friends! We only have 2 + days left in this sale SO please continue SHARING.....PLEASE PLEASE PRAY....stopping right now even-gather the children and your mate and take time to pray for our son, our family, this fund raiser and the other orphans who are in such dire need!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! PLEASE KEEP IT UP!
Have you taken a look yourself? The items are so great! The prices are fantastic!!!  PLEASE share with your friends! Remember ALL of the sales will go toward our adoption costs (minus the shipping costs, etsy and paypal fees)  ONLY GOOD UNTIL WEDNESDAY NIGHT at 9pm!!!  If you have questions make sure you look at my last posting!!!   ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie

http://www.etsy.com/shop/shotsibaby?ref=top_trail

OUR FUND RAISER!!!!!

For those of you who don't know us, you may go to the bottom of the page and i have a quick take on who we are and what we are doing!

A dear friend (along with her family and a friend) who has a heart overflowing for adoption & has gone WAY beyond what i can grasp by creating, making, sewing, and working hard on being ready for this sale! She is going to be giving ALL of the proceeds to our grant!!! (minus the fees for paypal, shipping, and Etsy) YES, so that means she is going to give TWO times....one time in her time and effort of creating it and THEN by giving the money to our adoption grant!!! BLOWS.  MY.  MIND.  SO, are you ready to help?  NOTHING can happen unless YOU buy ;)

If someone wants to pay with check or cash or money order then there is no paypal fee! She is totally fine with that. If someone lives in the St. Cloud area and wants to arrange pick up or delivery with me or with Krista they can type in LOCALDELIVERY to the "coupon code" on etsy and there is no shipping charge.

 Also if someone has questions about an item- She put limited info on the items to get them up on the site quickly but she's more than happy to answer any questions!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/shotsibaby  GO and SHOP!!!  THEN PLEASE PRAY!!!

LINDQUIST FAMILY
Scott and i have five daughters and one son-in-law!  We will have our 25th wedding anniversary THIS YEAR!  Our eldest daughter is twenty, our next is 17, then 13, then 11 and then an almost 3 year old and she has Down Syndrome.  Ethan and she will be fifteen days apart from each other!!!
Our daughter changed our lives and we found out that there are hundreds of families on waiting lists here in the states waiting for CHILDREN with DS!!!  HUNDREDS are waiting for babies with DS! We found out that there are HUNDREDS of children with DS in EE who are often malnourished, unloved and uncared for BECAUSE they have DS. We found a site called Reece's Rainbow and i was hooked...i have never cried so hard and so long for anyone.  I couldn't imagine a child like ours being unloved! I never dreamed that we would adopt but then the Lord brought us through an incredible journey of listening to His breaking heart and we finally said YES!
Ethan is in a most beautiful country in Eastern Europe!!! We were able to go on our first visit this past December...coming home on the 23rd.  He is amazingly handsome, cuddly, playful, and looks like our family even!!!  We are waiting on our final paperwork to be taken care of in his country so our attorney can go to court on our behalf and we can get our final dates to go and bring him home!  We are in need of @ $8,000 yet for our last fees and airplane tickets, hotel and food for our last trip!  We are praying that we will be able to bring home in April but are waiting to see what happens and PRAYING!
If you would like to know more our blog is
 http://www.godsadoptioncall.blogspot.com/  

My bittersweet day

THIS MORNING I GOT TO SING ON WORSHIP TEAM!!! The utter JOY of doing this is indescribable.........but you know me....i will try my best to describe it! ;) 
I have sung so little since Sophina was born....first not being able to sing at work...the Cafe Renaissance was a place where i used to be able to sing with Chris Stone during the Christmas season...O HOLY NIGHT or if someone would ask for a special. I miss that!!! (O HOLY NIGHT is one of my all time favorite songs whether Christmas or otherwise) 
ANYWAY, THEN i used to sing almost EVERY Sunday up front for almost two years and before that...OFTEN for MANY years....i LOVED it because I GOT TO WATCH THE PEOPLE WORSHIP!!! WHAT DELIGHT!!! (Better is one day in God's courts than a thousand elsewhere)  THEN to sing with some of the people that i got to sing with...doing majorly beautiful parts.....oh my!  I miss hearing that 'FULL' sound! Today I was asked after the sermon if it was my first time singing up front :(   It has been way too long!
This morning i had chills watching and partaking in the worshiping of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with fellow believers. I saw a friend overcome in tears as she tried to sing, people with smiles, others with arms raised in awe of our God! I could care less if there was a mic....to just be able to turn around from my front row seat where i normally sit every Sunday and see what i got to see was AMAZING!!!  I just had this thought (which i have had MANY times while helping lead worship of music) but it must be a little taste of what it looks like to God!  (except for the fact that He gets to watch hundreds of thousands at once ;))
BUT.......it came at a price. THIS is where YOU come in....our Sundays are ALWAYS hard with Sophina....will YOU please remember to pray for us on Sunday mornings.....feedings are always a fight BIG TIME!!!  THIS Sunday....it was just Ally. Ally tried and tried and Sophina only drank 1 Tbsp of milk! NO food...ZERO!!! UGH!  Our Sophina does NOT do well with little food but today we are grateful that she did do fine with no food.  All of our girls changed their Sunday morning so that Mommy could sing up front today and i am so grateful!  Ally took over the care of Sophina COMPLETELY. Victoria woke up early so she could come with me AND instead of her staying for the meeting with her friends she came home with me to help get all of our stuff home and help feed the baby (without my asking her to). MAN, i so very much appreciate that!  Catherine needed to get a ride with someone else in order to get to Sunday School and i am very grateful for Taylor's family for doing that for us!  Liz and Nate needed to help us get Allly and Sophina to church so they changed their life for me too!


Today there is a meeting going on at church where there are going to be people sharing what God has done in their lives and i will be missing it!  I TEACH a class called Life Stories....because i am PASSIONATE about people's life stories!!!  Oh how i miss being able to BE WITH the gathering of the saints with all kinds of different things that I was able to do!  It is so very hard to not be able to do this and i SO want to BUT GOD....  


My life is not about this right now in my life!  THEN when we bring home precious Ethan...well, it will be a REALLY long time before i can do it again.  MY LIFE IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! My life is about serving Jesus by serving my family! i am so thankful that the Lord blessed my life....yes, i mean specifically MY LIFE with Sophina.....not my husband's nor my children's lives but MY LIFE....God brought Sophina into my life to open my eyes ....to bring perspective to LIFE!!!  Things that used to be REALLY important are NOT as important!  Things that were important aren't anymore.....you ask for an example?   I LOVED FOOTBALL!!!  YES, ME!  If you don't believe me ask our girls, or Scott or Nate for that matter.  I grew up watching Monday Night Football, Sunday night football and Sunday football all day and i LOVED THAT!!!  Now, it doesn't even matter to me and i don't miss it one bit!  My life has become more focused on things that will last for eternity!  Children who need families!!!  People who need Jesus!!!  People who need prayer or encouragement!!!  Playing games as a family....LOVE to do.  Give me a game of Mexican Train or Rook or Settlers with the family any day BUT playing a game on an electronic device by myself....a waste of time!  We have such little time left....i am not going to live forever....how am i living my life?!!?!   Go read a book with your child!  Take one of your children out on a date...or just bring one child with to the grocery store!  Catherine and i are reading our Bibles together every day!  SHE ASKED!!!  She said that she would love to do that so she doesn't get behind on her daily reading...she is going to read the WHOLE Bible for the first time this year and she wants to discuss what she has read!!!  OH how i have been convicted of not wasting the things that the Lord has given us....not just the 'stuff' BUT our TIME!!!!!  (ok...WOW that was a HUGE bunny trail) ALL of that to say that our Sophina has brought such perspective!!!!  ETHAN will be worth any sacrifice that will be needed....how do i know???  Sophina is worth the changes that were made in my life!!!!  FOR SURE!!!!  Do i miss a lot of things.....YES!!!!  Would i trade it if i could do life all over again.....NEVER in a MILLION YEARS!!!  


Let me tell you that singing up front is not something that i take lightly....what an incredible honor! What a delight that my children and friends allowed me to partake in!!!!  SO grateful!!!  Thank you Chris, Liz and Nate, Ally, Vika, Catia and even Sophina!!!


......it was a glorious and wonderful day but bittersweet! I CHOOSE to focus on the sweet part.....as i am ALWAYS BLESSED!!!  Connie for the crew who cannot wait for the day when Ethan is finally HOME

Time of prayer and fasting....

FEBRUARY 14th is going to be a day where quite a few of us parents who have children in BG are going to be praying and FASTING for our children....for their safety, for warmth, for the weather to make it so the families can go and see their children who are often in remote places in high foothills, and very specifically for the Ministry of Justice to start signing paperwork that needs to be signed. WILL YOU JOIN US? PLEASE let me know...i can not fast from food as i would get a horrible migraine SO i am going to fast from FB.....the day before our new fund raiser....yep, can't lie...that is going to be hard!!! BUT nothing could be harder than not getting to see our children due to waiting for signatures or weather to clear. Will YOU please fast and pray with us on VALENTINE's DAY and if you have plans with your honey then have it be from something else that will make you remember to pray ALL throughout the day! Thank you and again...please let me know if you will be joining us
ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie (Ethan's Mommy) for the crew

I have had quite a few occasions to be told of people giving HUGE amounts of money in this past month.  One big amount went directly to an orphan who is STILL needing a family....it was over $5,000!!!  Another to a family who is already adopting ....$15,000!!!!  Another family $4,000!!!  Families receiving BIG HELP from families who could have used that money for a new car or a better car OR they could have put it into their savings account for those upcoming days that may happen...just to be SAFE! INSTEAD, they stepped out in FAITH and GAVE SACRIFICIALLY!
This made me ask....i wonder what my friends are doing with their tax returns?  Are YOU giving an offering from that?  If you are then may i tell you to not forget these orphans that are waiting for families to adopt them! There are children who may LITERALLY die because they are not in the care of a family.  Just yesterday i read of a family who is WILLING and WANT to bring a needy child into their home but they cannot because of the huge amount needed.  They WANT to step out in faith and care for the least of these but cannot because of money.
THEN there are families....i gave you THREE just last week that are in the process of adopting....they NEED HELP!  Would YOU be willing to give of your tax return.... put in a donation for Charity...not charity but her name is Charity! ;)  Her family needs help!
Then there is Charlotte...her mom is with her right now but has to come back home one more time...she will be coming home on the 15th of this month. She goes back to bring Charlotte home on St Patrick's Day!!!  They need the final few thousands of dollars yet.  No more chances to "win" anything but the knowledge that you helped a family!!!
Then, my dear friend, Mandy and their soon to be boys...Samuel and Joseph! There are necklaces that you could buy for friends or you could just give to help...straight up!!!
Look back a couple of posts here and you will find their blogs so you can GIVE to help them!!!
ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie (Ethan's Mommy) for the rest of the crew
PS OH and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not forget a blog or two before that one where i talk about Shannon with her Shannon Jr.....they are going to their first visit SOON and are in great need too!!!