We have a son!!!!!!!!!! His name is Ethan Scott Andrew Lindquist!!! The court decree was officially granted!
In seven calendar days it will be legal and binding. About three days later we will be given our dates for when we will be going to be bringing OUR SON HOME!!!!
ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie - ETHAN'S MOMMY
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
HOW MUCH WE NEED???
Just found out EXACT numbers for how much we REALLY have in Ethan's grant fund. REMEMBER, they do not show how much we have taken out from the first trip costs and for using to help with the costs of our dossier. SO that means that there is a LOT less in there. What exactly? We have $786 for this last trip!
We have to cover two airplane tickets round trip, one one-way, hotel costs and food expenses and are trying to get things that are needed for when he gets home.....HOME!!!! Whatever you are able to do, we will appreciate! Thank you so much!
We are doing the quilt for Ethan THIS WEEK!!! SO, if you haven't gotten your name to be embroidered on his quilt PLEASE PLEASE let us know ASAP!!! ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie
We have to cover two airplane tickets round trip, one one-way, hotel costs and food expenses and are trying to get things that are needed for when he gets home.....HOME!!!! Whatever you are able to do, we will appreciate! Thank you so much!
We are doing the quilt for Ethan THIS WEEK!!! SO, if you haven't gotten your name to be embroidered on his quilt PLEASE PLEASE let us know ASAP!!! ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Apology #2
My passion... well, i think that it is a rare thing SO therefore it is scary to a lot of people. I have been this way since i was a young child. There are some positives...i could sell candy bars to ANYONE when i was a kid! I am good at sales! I have been offered jobs on the spot because when i believe in something...i go all out. There are also negatives. I have been called many many things with the tones not being the greatest when spoken...different, unique, special, pushy, know it all and many more.
I have tried over the years to soften the edges but i have failed MANY times. Many times over the years i have been harsh when someone doesn't believe the same way that i do. I have prayed that i have grown and i KNOW that i have, YET...my passion gets so frustrated when it isn't understood and then my passion gets desperate. Tears... THEN my passion turns people off.
I have some explaining and i also have some clarifying BUT i also need to apologize.
I could go to the line with SO MANY things but the things...well, the list of things is getting less as my perspective has changed SO dramatically. My focus has been forever changed. LIFE is SO important! My STUFF is so NOT important!!!
Explaining... this is the part that is going to be the hardest...because to make someone understand something that they have NEVER experienced themselves is SO hard to make clear. Four years ago, i had never known what it was like to ACTUALLY have a baby with DS (the reason i capitalized the word ACTUALLY is because i was told with our Ally that she more than likely had DS when i took what is now called the "Quad" test...they had to do testing to confirm when she was born that she did not have DS...she didn't) Anyway, in those four years...LOTS has changed. I have had a miscarriage. I have had a daughter with DS who has had MULTIPLE issues, surgeries and procedures and STILL has major issues with food aversion. My life view has been changed. How does one explain that?
Then enter March 21, 2011 and the change is even MORE drastic. I saw a site called Reece's Rainbow http://reecesrainbow.org/. I saw children who looked just like our sweet Sophina except i was reading what their lives were like. I hardly slept those first three days. I SOBBED! Heaving sobs when i read about children's lives in some of these orphanages. I saw that children had actually DIED because no one had ever come for them and they didn't get the medical care that they needed that is RARE in their country but here is BASIC!
I would be up MULTIPLE times at night with our Sophina who at that time would gag at night. MANY times i would go to sleep wondering what would happen if one time i didn't hear her and that time she wasn't able to clear her airway without my help! It was not rare to be up 4/5 times a night. At the time of our getting more serious about not just praying and giving to these children but actually thinking of trying to bring one child home to be ours was happening...Sophina was VERY sick. Scott was not home at this time and i would walk her for literally HOURS due to needing her to be in the upright position. I would be holding her and praying for Constance who i knew was over in Rus*ia NOT being held when she was sick...no one was whispering loving words into her ears, no one was feeling her heart beat next to theirs...no one was praying over her to be well...and i would weep for these children as i cared for our own. My heart would literally hurt!
THEN there was one day when i had talked about a child to our children. I had shown them his picture and we had talked about him....and the next day he was gone...i couldn't find him...tears....they had just found out that he had passed away and no one had adopted him yet. I sobbed again! My justice and sense of RIGHT was so stretched!!! HOW can i sit here in a home where our pantry is full and our fridge and our freezer and this child DIES!?!?! How is what we are doing enough? We are only adopting one!
We had both felt strongly that we were supposed to only be adopting ONE child but let me tell you there were many times that that decision was questioned. God let us know many times that it was just one. From the beginning, we told the Lord that we were open to two (even making sure it was on our paperwork that way) if He chose that but we only had until our dossier was sent over and God never led us to more. My hubby was actually questioning that decision just last night!!! God answered again...just one for you. I DO have to tell you that it delighted me to hear my husband who STRUGGLED greatly with the very idea of adopting a year ago to sound excited to try to add another though.
We as parents of a child with DS will never be able to explain the passion that we feel with what we are doing now as adoptive parents fully enough that people will get it...but i pray that this will help.
I have realized that i have felt desperate as i keep realizing that people are getting sick of my sharing adoptive family's fund raisers, showing such sad and horrible situations that these individual children are in when there are things that are more pleasant to think about and games to play. It is REALLY hard to keep putting it out there as i have felt more and more that people are seeing my desperation as pushy and cold and condemning. How can i explain the desire i have for all of these children to be adopted without losing the very people that can help? How do i share the TRUTH without making people turn their heads?
I don't know.
All i know...i am crying....i know that there is a HUGE need for people to PRAY, to SHARE the children's stories, to GIVE to these precious families, and to adopt. I WANT everyone to DO WHAT THEY CAN.
All i know is....i know that there are SO many places where there are HUGE needs that are just as worthy as bringing home these children that people pray about with as much passion as i do for these children, BUT sometimes in my passion...i forget that i am not praying for the 4000 people who are still missing from the tsunami in Japan...i forget that i don't pray for our military men and women by name, and the list could be LITERALLY MILES long here. I don't SHARE EVERY fund raiser...i actually only share about 2% of them. I can't ....as much as we would LOVE to...give to every child that has a family let alone every child AND then i can't give to every organization that i love either! Not every family is to adopt....and i think that in this ONE area i have been fine.
SO....HOW do i do the mixing of both!? PLEASE do not give me the answers...
I am going to tell you that i have FAILED at remembering this last paragraph. In my overwhelming passion....i forget that there are people who are just as passionate about THEIR godly calling and they feel just as frustrated as to why people aren't responding to them. I have condemned instead of just prayed. I have guilted. I have failed at keeping a balance. I apologize for those times when i have come across as haughty or proud or better than 'all of the rest of the world'.
I am going to tell you though that on the outside of my life....my FB wall is not going to look that different. I will tell you about my dear friends who are trying to bring home children with as little debt as possible. I will tell you DAILY about children who are in need of a family, prayer, etc.... I just pray that i will do it with more honey and less judgment. I pray that you will forgive me for the harshness.
I want to clarify though.....i am NOT apologizing for the sharing, for the prayer requests, for the passion, for the knowledge that i am giving out, for the fact that i have made people feel uncomfortable or bored or the "have you got it out of your system yet' attitude...my purpose of this apology is NOT to say that what i was doing was too much....BUT HOW my tone ...was sometimes wrong and THAT part needs to change.
I don't know....maybe this will not make sense to anyone but i pray that wouldn't be true. I pray that you will see my heart...my heart wants children to have families, lives to see more of the eternal matters than the STUFF as being important, and children and adults to see others with a sense of -"if that was my child what would i do?"
Always blessed, Connie....as just me
I have tried over the years to soften the edges but i have failed MANY times. Many times over the years i have been harsh when someone doesn't believe the same way that i do. I have prayed that i have grown and i KNOW that i have, YET...my passion gets so frustrated when it isn't understood and then my passion gets desperate. Tears... THEN my passion turns people off.
I have some explaining and i also have some clarifying BUT i also need to apologize.
I could go to the line with SO MANY things but the things...well, the list of things is getting less as my perspective has changed SO dramatically. My focus has been forever changed. LIFE is SO important! My STUFF is so NOT important!!!
Explaining... this is the part that is going to be the hardest...because to make someone understand something that they have NEVER experienced themselves is SO hard to make clear. Four years ago, i had never known what it was like to ACTUALLY have a baby with DS (the reason i capitalized the word ACTUALLY is because i was told with our Ally that she more than likely had DS when i took what is now called the "Quad" test...they had to do testing to confirm when she was born that she did not have DS...she didn't) Anyway, in those four years...LOTS has changed. I have had a miscarriage. I have had a daughter with DS who has had MULTIPLE issues, surgeries and procedures and STILL has major issues with food aversion. My life view has been changed. How does one explain that?
Then enter March 21, 2011 and the change is even MORE drastic. I saw a site called Reece's Rainbow http://reecesrainbow.org/. I saw children who looked just like our sweet Sophina except i was reading what their lives were like. I hardly slept those first three days. I SOBBED! Heaving sobs when i read about children's lives in some of these orphanages. I saw that children had actually DIED because no one had ever come for them and they didn't get the medical care that they needed that is RARE in their country but here is BASIC!
I would be up MULTIPLE times at night with our Sophina who at that time would gag at night. MANY times i would go to sleep wondering what would happen if one time i didn't hear her and that time she wasn't able to clear her airway without my help! It was not rare to be up 4/5 times a night. At the time of our getting more serious about not just praying and giving to these children but actually thinking of trying to bring one child home to be ours was happening...Sophina was VERY sick. Scott was not home at this time and i would walk her for literally HOURS due to needing her to be in the upright position. I would be holding her and praying for Constance who i knew was over in Rus*ia NOT being held when she was sick...no one was whispering loving words into her ears, no one was feeling her heart beat next to theirs...no one was praying over her to be well...and i would weep for these children as i cared for our own. My heart would literally hurt!
THEN there was one day when i had talked about a child to our children. I had shown them his picture and we had talked about him....and the next day he was gone...i couldn't find him...tears....they had just found out that he had passed away and no one had adopted him yet. I sobbed again! My justice and sense of RIGHT was so stretched!!! HOW can i sit here in a home where our pantry is full and our fridge and our freezer and this child DIES!?!?! How is what we are doing enough? We are only adopting one!
We had both felt strongly that we were supposed to only be adopting ONE child but let me tell you there were many times that that decision was questioned. God let us know many times that it was just one. From the beginning, we told the Lord that we were open to two (even making sure it was on our paperwork that way) if He chose that but we only had until our dossier was sent over and God never led us to more. My hubby was actually questioning that decision just last night!!! God answered again...just one for you. I DO have to tell you that it delighted me to hear my husband who STRUGGLED greatly with the very idea of adopting a year ago to sound excited to try to add another though.
We as parents of a child with DS will never be able to explain the passion that we feel with what we are doing now as adoptive parents fully enough that people will get it...but i pray that this will help.
I have realized that i have felt desperate as i keep realizing that people are getting sick of my sharing adoptive family's fund raisers, showing such sad and horrible situations that these individual children are in when there are things that are more pleasant to think about and games to play. It is REALLY hard to keep putting it out there as i have felt more and more that people are seeing my desperation as pushy and cold and condemning. How can i explain the desire i have for all of these children to be adopted without losing the very people that can help? How do i share the TRUTH without making people turn their heads?
I don't know.
All i know...i am crying....i know that there is a HUGE need for people to PRAY, to SHARE the children's stories, to GIVE to these precious families, and to adopt. I WANT everyone to DO WHAT THEY CAN.
All i know is....i know that there are SO many places where there are HUGE needs that are just as worthy as bringing home these children that people pray about with as much passion as i do for these children, BUT sometimes in my passion...i forget that i am not praying for the 4000 people who are still missing from the tsunami in Japan...i forget that i don't pray for our military men and women by name, and the list could be LITERALLY MILES long here. I don't SHARE EVERY fund raiser...i actually only share about 2% of them. I can't ....as much as we would LOVE to...give to every child that has a family let alone every child AND then i can't give to every organization that i love either! Not every family is to adopt....and i think that in this ONE area i have been fine.
SO....HOW do i do the mixing of both!? PLEASE do not give me the answers...
I am going to tell you that i have FAILED at remembering this last paragraph. In my overwhelming passion....i forget that there are people who are just as passionate about THEIR godly calling and they feel just as frustrated as to why people aren't responding to them. I have condemned instead of just prayed. I have guilted. I have failed at keeping a balance. I apologize for those times when i have come across as haughty or proud or better than 'all of the rest of the world'.
I am going to tell you though that on the outside of my life....my FB wall is not going to look that different. I will tell you about my dear friends who are trying to bring home children with as little debt as possible. I will tell you DAILY about children who are in need of a family, prayer, etc.... I just pray that i will do it with more honey and less judgment. I pray that you will forgive me for the harshness.
I want to clarify though.....i am NOT apologizing for the sharing, for the prayer requests, for the passion, for the knowledge that i am giving out, for the fact that i have made people feel uncomfortable or bored or the "have you got it out of your system yet' attitude...my purpose of this apology is NOT to say that what i was doing was too much....BUT HOW my tone ...was sometimes wrong and THAT part needs to change.
I don't know....maybe this will not make sense to anyone but i pray that wouldn't be true. I pray that you will see my heart...my heart wants children to have families, lives to see more of the eternal matters than the STUFF as being important, and children and adults to see others with a sense of -"if that was my child what would i do?"
Always blessed, Connie....as just me
Apology #1
I am feeling like i need to explain some things. Not because anyone has said anything...just feeling like it is needed. I am asking that you read this post. (and now the next one too)
This adoption has been a LONG LONG journey. One that i NEVER dreamed that we would EVER be on! Especially at the age that we are! (we have since found out that we are actually some of the YOUNG ones!!!! SO if you are thinking that our age is old to be doing this...you haven't met a lot of my new friends....many of them are in their 50's AND LOVING these children immensely!) It has been ONE YEAR since MY life was changed. I know that i will NEVER EVER be able to explain it to anyone who has never experienced it but i am going to try.
When i first saw the children that we have advocated, prayed, and given to since March 21st, 2011...my life was FOREVER changed. Have you ever experienced a time in your life like it-where a moment changed your life? I saw children that were JUST LIKE OUR SOPHINA whose only problem was that they were born on the 'wrong side of the world'!!!
I want you to know a few things. My heart is NOT angry with MOST of the orphanages that are in these other countries. (DISCLAIMER: My heart IS JUSTLY angry at orphanages that treat their children the way that some have been shown to do and my heart is feeling hopeful that changes are slowly being made in some places!) My heart is actually compassionate. You can ask my girls. I have tried many times to explain to them that YEARS ago...OUR country was the same way. NOTHING made it more clear than the story that we read last week of a fellow-adopting-lady who shared her story of going into one of these places when she was a teen. When our Victoria read it, she looked up at me and said, "But Mom, it sounds just like Russia or Ukraine!" We FINALLY had a connection where it was REAL....what we are seeing in these countries WOULD HAVE happened to me had i been born with DS. You see i was the SAME AGE as the little girl in the story who the teen visited for three years as often as she possibly could! (just ONE of the MANY things that struck me when i read this story was the response of the workers when the teenager asked if her parents could adopt the little girl.....)You can read this incredible story at http://theblessingofverity.com/2012/03/love-never-fails/ and you won't be sorry. I agree with many that it would make a wonderful movie! (it is VERY VERY long but i really think that it is on my top three favorite of all times blog posts that i have ever read)
ANYWAY, i want my children to know that a lot of times it really is because people have no idea. My goodness, do YOU know that March 21st every year is World Down Syndrome Day? Highly doubtful, unless you have a friend who has a child with DS. SO, the question should have been...before you met our family did you know this info??? THIS is in a country that HAS children, in school systems now even, WITH DS in the REAL world...they aren't being hidden away somewhere. We have such a long way to go in OUR OWN country. MANY MANY people have no idea about details of DS and what it would mean if their child in their womb had it. Would an average pregnant woman know to believe what the Dr. suggests when it is said, "My advice is that you could have an abortion now as this child's life will only be a harsh struggle. Your child will have a very high chance of needing an open heart surgery. Your child will NEVER be "typical" and do what your "typical" child would do." Would she have met someone with DS where she could answer with some facts from that family that she knows? As an overall nation we abort our children with DS at astronomical rates. Do you know what the rate is? Check it out. SO please don't say that a Dr wouldn't say that. MANY people in our country do not know what they are missing!
SO, may i tell you that there is empathy with these families who may never know what they missed out on. I think that our girls are 'getting it' as they asked just this past week (after reading the above blogpost)... "Mom, what happens when Ethan's parents DO find out what Ethan could have been?" I said that i didn't know. I pray in forty years that these countries will have learned that children with DS ARE different BUT they are SO worth that difference because they are a HUGE blessing! (i didn't say that they were EASY remember)
SO....if you have read anything where it seems that i am condemning these countries for the way that they treat their children OVERALL....i am truly sorry. Again, outraged when there is obvious abuse in its truest form and yes, you can make the claim that that is what it is BUT MANY of them it is just lack of knowledge, finances, information to even start to do things differently, etc....
My apology however does NOT change the FACT that there are children who are DYING because of that lack of information, finances and knowledge. That apology however does NOT take away the sting of what i saw on that FIRST day to what i have seen friends go through throughout this past year. It does NOT take away the PASSION that i feel when i talk about it.....BUT this is already long....SO there will be an apology #2. THAT ONE....is the reason i started this particular blogpost.
SO this apology is for if i have come across as condemning the countries and peoples of these countries.
I am STILL ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie for the crew
PS. In case you didn't know...a reminder is....our court date is in on the 27th of THIS month!
This adoption has been a LONG LONG journey. One that i NEVER dreamed that we would EVER be on! Especially at the age that we are! (we have since found out that we are actually some of the YOUNG ones!!!! SO if you are thinking that our age is old to be doing this...you haven't met a lot of my new friends....many of them are in their 50's AND LOVING these children immensely!) It has been ONE YEAR since MY life was changed. I know that i will NEVER EVER be able to explain it to anyone who has never experienced it but i am going to try.
When i first saw the children that we have advocated, prayed, and given to since March 21st, 2011...my life was FOREVER changed. Have you ever experienced a time in your life like it-where a moment changed your life? I saw children that were JUST LIKE OUR SOPHINA whose only problem was that they were born on the 'wrong side of the world'!!!
I want you to know a few things. My heart is NOT angry with MOST of the orphanages that are in these other countries. (DISCLAIMER: My heart IS JUSTLY angry at orphanages that treat their children the way that some have been shown to do and my heart is feeling hopeful that changes are slowly being made in some places!) My heart is actually compassionate. You can ask my girls. I have tried many times to explain to them that YEARS ago...OUR country was the same way. NOTHING made it more clear than the story that we read last week of a fellow-adopting-lady who shared her story of going into one of these places when she was a teen. When our Victoria read it, she looked up at me and said, "But Mom, it sounds just like Russia or Ukraine!" We FINALLY had a connection where it was REAL....what we are seeing in these countries WOULD HAVE happened to me had i been born with DS. You see i was the SAME AGE as the little girl in the story who the teen visited for three years as often as she possibly could! (just ONE of the MANY things that struck me when i read this story was the response of the workers when the teenager asked if her parents could adopt the little girl.....)You can read this incredible story at http://theblessingofverity.com/2012/03/love-never-fails/ and you won't be sorry. I agree with many that it would make a wonderful movie! (it is VERY VERY long but i really think that it is on my top three favorite of all times blog posts that i have ever read)
ANYWAY, i want my children to know that a lot of times it really is because people have no idea. My goodness, do YOU know that March 21st every year is World Down Syndrome Day? Highly doubtful, unless you have a friend who has a child with DS. SO, the question should have been...before you met our family did you know this info??? THIS is in a country that HAS children, in school systems now even, WITH DS in the REAL world...they aren't being hidden away somewhere. We have such a long way to go in OUR OWN country. MANY MANY people have no idea about details of DS and what it would mean if their child in their womb had it. Would an average pregnant woman know to believe what the Dr. suggests when it is said, "My advice is that you could have an abortion now as this child's life will only be a harsh struggle. Your child will have a very high chance of needing an open heart surgery. Your child will NEVER be "typical" and do what your "typical" child would do." Would she have met someone with DS where she could answer with some facts from that family that she knows? As an overall nation we abort our children with DS at astronomical rates. Do you know what the rate is? Check it out. SO please don't say that a Dr wouldn't say that. MANY people in our country do not know what they are missing!
SO, may i tell you that there is empathy with these families who may never know what they missed out on. I think that our girls are 'getting it' as they asked just this past week (after reading the above blogpost)... "Mom, what happens when Ethan's parents DO find out what Ethan could have been?" I said that i didn't know. I pray in forty years that these countries will have learned that children with DS ARE different BUT they are SO worth that difference because they are a HUGE blessing! (i didn't say that they were EASY remember)
SO....if you have read anything where it seems that i am condemning these countries for the way that they treat their children OVERALL....i am truly sorry. Again, outraged when there is obvious abuse in its truest form and yes, you can make the claim that that is what it is BUT MANY of them it is just lack of knowledge, finances, information to even start to do things differently, etc....
My apology however does NOT change the FACT that there are children who are DYING because of that lack of information, finances and knowledge. That apology however does NOT take away the sting of what i saw on that FIRST day to what i have seen friends go through throughout this past year. It does NOT take away the PASSION that i feel when i talk about it.....BUT this is already long....SO there will be an apology #2. THAT ONE....is the reason i started this particular blogpost.
SO this apology is for if i have come across as condemning the countries and peoples of these countries.
I am STILL ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie for the crew
PS. In case you didn't know...a reminder is....our court date is in on the 27th of THIS month!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
PART two-answering questions
SO....if you did not read part one....you may do so now ;) Ok, i will wait :)
Welcome back! We left you off with an incredible story of how a stranger became a friend and how God used her to come into our lives at the most wonderful time and how God's timing is perfect;) THEN we also talked about the incredible miracle that happened with our court date. SO, i am sure that you have MANY questions! I will give the answers that i will be expecting to hear in these next days.
#1) No, Scott and i do NOT need to be at court. Our attorney was given Power of Attorney from us in January.
#2) No, it will not be FINAL until seven calendar days after the court date.
#3) No, we do NOT have his room ready, his clothes ready, his quilt ready, his bed ready
#4) Yes, the house is completely utterly trashed even though this morning it was beautifully clean
#5) Yes, nesting HAS happened!!!
#6) Yes, Scott and i will be going together!!!!
#7) Yes, we would LOVE to have people meet us at the airport when we bring him HOME
#8) Yes, we will now be needing to raise funds for our final trip as this is WAY sooner than expected BUT DELIGHTED to be in this situation!
#9) Yes, our amazing church DOES have an orphan ministry that has an incredible program where if it becomes necessary, we can borrow the needed funds to get us there and then pay it back with a ZERO percent interest rate SO
#10) No, money will NOT stop us from bringing him home!
#11) Yes, a garage sale is going to happen!!! OH MY WORD! THAT was decided TODAY!!! To say that today was busy is a MAJOR understatement! We are going to DO WHAT WE CAN to raise the money ourselves. We are going to be selling things that three years ago, i would have NEVER dreamed of selling! We have been gathering LOTS of things for some reason that i was waiting on God to tell us what for.....yep, THIS would be IT!
#12) Yes, my heart has been hurting ALL DAY LONG for my friend, Jessica who has also been waiting to hear of her court dates....IN FACT, the first thing i did when i went to put it onto FB that we had our court date...i checked her wall first and prayed that she was just waiting to share for some reason.
#13) YES!!!! PLEASE PRAY for them to hear GREAT news too!!! Pray for miracles for them also!
#14) Yes, we are SO grateful to God for this amazing miracle of answered pleadings of my heart to the Lord, yearnings of your hearts of YOUR prayers on our behalf, and ALL that SO MANY OF YOU have done on our son's behalf!
#15) No, i still cannot believe that it will be even BETTER than what we had prayed for
#16) No, i will never learn to have COMPLETE faith....just the other day i was asking the Lord to forgive me for my doubtings, for being like Peter SO often and for my unbelief and lack of HOPE that had been happening during a 7-10 day period just last week!
#17) Oh SORRY...yes, so court happens, then the seven calendar days until it is FINAL THEN about three days of our attorney doing some paperwork, then she gives us our LAST travel dates!!!
#18) No, but then again i didn't feel ready when i was about to have our first child.....then also didn't know how i would do with our fifth child....such a new experience.....YET, God has been so faithful to a servant who fails so stinkin' often!!! (choked up) I was telling the Lord that i don't deserve such a blessing as this answered prayer that went SO FAR BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS (tears) I am so very very grateful!
#19) (clearing throat and fluttering eyelashes and wiping eyes) YES, IF you have become a part of this whole adventure and you had not given the $20 to have your name on Ethan's treasured quilt...we WILL let you do so but it will not be for very long as we are now FRANTICALLY trying to get it all figured out. We would love to add more names of people who are close to Ethan's adoption to be added on so we can tell him about you or your family and how you have prayed and what YOUR story has been in bringing him home. I would really prefer that this donation would be of people who know our family (through FB even). We have names of people that HAVE given that i don't even know and i can't wait to tell him about them..."even people who had never met us, or you, or would know us if we passed them on the street, CARED enough to give". I would just love this to be a quilt of MOSTLY people that i can tell him stories of. This is going to be a VERY special quilt as it will have SO many meanings!!! CANNOT WAIT FOR CUDDLE TIME WITH THE QUILT AND OUR BOY!
#20) YES! IF you would like to otherwise donate to help us on these last trip costs, you may just give to our RR account that is on our blog. I think that we have $800 in the account to help us with these last costs... SO a great start!!!
#21) I know! It IS hard to be able to tell what we have in the account BUT it is showing the total amount that has been raised through RR's grant for Ethan so far. SO we will be starting with the amount SHOWING in our grant at $5071 which is really @$800. If you would like, i could get you an exact as to what is in there.
#22) No, we have NO IDEA as to how much we will need right now....two round trip airplane tickets to Ethan, one one way ticket ;), hotel costs for the three of us for a full week, plus food
#23) YES, there ARE prayer requests for our family!
1) First pray for Jessica and Wes so they can get their court dates SOON
2) THEN please pray that the paperwork that our strict but friendly-to-adoption judge has asked for would be ready in time (it is NOT from us but rather from the Social Services for Ethan in his country and ONE WEEK to get that in)
3) PLEASE pray for energy, peace, physical health, mental/spiritual/mind health would be great too;), that we would be able to get finances raised quickly, focused on what needs to get done & prioritize correctly, uniting of our family as one....the whole transition, all of the changes that will happen for not only us BUT especially for our precious Ethan!
4) We would be FAITHFUL!
#24) Yes, we are still ALWAYS BLESSED!!!
#25) Yes, loving and thanking Jesus, loving each other, beyond belief grateful and thankful
Connie for the crew
Welcome back! We left you off with an incredible story of how a stranger became a friend and how God used her to come into our lives at the most wonderful time and how God's timing is perfect;) THEN we also talked about the incredible miracle that happened with our court date. SO, i am sure that you have MANY questions! I will give the answers that i will be expecting to hear in these next days.
#1) No, Scott and i do NOT need to be at court. Our attorney was given Power of Attorney from us in January.
#2) No, it will not be FINAL until seven calendar days after the court date.
#3) No, we do NOT have his room ready, his clothes ready, his quilt ready, his bed ready
#4) Yes, the house is completely utterly trashed even though this morning it was beautifully clean
#5) Yes, nesting HAS happened!!!
#6) Yes, Scott and i will be going together!!!!
#7) Yes, we would LOVE to have people meet us at the airport when we bring him HOME
#8) Yes, we will now be needing to raise funds for our final trip as this is WAY sooner than expected BUT DELIGHTED to be in this situation!
#9) Yes, our amazing church DOES have an orphan ministry that has an incredible program where if it becomes necessary, we can borrow the needed funds to get us there and then pay it back with a ZERO percent interest rate SO
#10) No, money will NOT stop us from bringing him home!
#11) Yes, a garage sale is going to happen!!! OH MY WORD! THAT was decided TODAY!!! To say that today was busy is a MAJOR understatement! We are going to DO WHAT WE CAN to raise the money ourselves. We are going to be selling things that three years ago, i would have NEVER dreamed of selling! We have been gathering LOTS of things for some reason that i was waiting on God to tell us what for.....yep, THIS would be IT!
#12) Yes, my heart has been hurting ALL DAY LONG for my friend, Jessica who has also been waiting to hear of her court dates....IN FACT, the first thing i did when i went to put it onto FB that we had our court date...i checked her wall first and prayed that she was just waiting to share for some reason.
#13) YES!!!! PLEASE PRAY for them to hear GREAT news too!!! Pray for miracles for them also!
#14) Yes, we are SO grateful to God for this amazing miracle of answered pleadings of my heart to the Lord, yearnings of your hearts of YOUR prayers on our behalf, and ALL that SO MANY OF YOU have done on our son's behalf!
#15) No, i still cannot believe that it will be even BETTER than what we had prayed for
#16) No, i will never learn to have COMPLETE faith....just the other day i was asking the Lord to forgive me for my doubtings, for being like Peter SO often and for my unbelief and lack of HOPE that had been happening during a 7-10 day period just last week!
#17) Oh SORRY...yes, so court happens, then the seven calendar days until it is FINAL THEN about three days of our attorney doing some paperwork, then she gives us our LAST travel dates!!!
#18) No, but then again i didn't feel ready when i was about to have our first child.....then also didn't know how i would do with our fifth child....such a new experience.....YET, God has been so faithful to a servant who fails so stinkin' often!!! (choked up) I was telling the Lord that i don't deserve such a blessing as this answered prayer that went SO FAR BEYOND MY WILDEST DREAMS (tears) I am so very very grateful!
#19) (clearing throat and fluttering eyelashes and wiping eyes) YES, IF you have become a part of this whole adventure and you had not given the $20 to have your name on Ethan's treasured quilt...we WILL let you do so but it will not be for very long as we are now FRANTICALLY trying to get it all figured out. We would love to add more names of people who are close to Ethan's adoption to be added on so we can tell him about you or your family and how you have prayed and what YOUR story has been in bringing him home. I would really prefer that this donation would be of people who know our family (through FB even). We have names of people that HAVE given that i don't even know and i can't wait to tell him about them..."even people who had never met us, or you, or would know us if we passed them on the street, CARED enough to give". I would just love this to be a quilt of MOSTLY people that i can tell him stories of. This is going to be a VERY special quilt as it will have SO many meanings!!! CANNOT WAIT FOR CUDDLE TIME WITH THE QUILT AND OUR BOY!
#20) YES! IF you would like to otherwise donate to help us on these last trip costs, you may just give to our RR account that is on our blog. I think that we have $800 in the account to help us with these last costs... SO a great start!!!
#21) I know! It IS hard to be able to tell what we have in the account BUT it is showing the total amount that has been raised through RR's grant for Ethan so far. SO we will be starting with the amount SHOWING in our grant at $5071 which is really @$800. If you would like, i could get you an exact as to what is in there.
#22) No, we have NO IDEA as to how much we will need right now....two round trip airplane tickets to Ethan, one one way ticket ;), hotel costs for the three of us for a full week, plus food
#23) YES, there ARE prayer requests for our family!
1) First pray for Jessica and Wes so they can get their court dates SOON
2) THEN please pray that the paperwork that our strict but friendly-to-adoption judge has asked for would be ready in time (it is NOT from us but rather from the Social Services for Ethan in his country and ONE WEEK to get that in)
3) PLEASE pray for energy, peace, physical health, mental/spiritual/mind health would be great too;), that we would be able to get finances raised quickly, focused on what needs to get done & prioritize correctly, uniting of our family as one....the whole transition, all of the changes that will happen for not only us BUT especially for our precious Ethan!
4) We would be FAITHFUL!
#24) Yes, we are still ALWAYS BLESSED!!!
#25) Yes, loving and thanking Jesus, loving each other, beyond belief grateful and thankful
Connie for the crew
An AMAZING miracle! PART ONE
Awhile back there was a woman named Cynthia who let me know that she lived in my city, that she had a son with DS and that she related deeply to my life stories. She said that she would love to meet some time. SO i looked up her name in the phone book and called her! ME! Connie, CALLED someone! (NOT a phone person am i!) Anyway, for the two days prior to Cynthia's comment i was trying to figure out how i was going to be able to gather some women to get started on Ethan's TREASURE of a quilt. Cynthia and i talked for awhile. At the end of the conversation she said that she was feeling very strongly that she was supposed to be DOING something to help us bring home Ethan. She mentioned a few things BUT the last thing she said almost gave me goosebumps!!! She said,"........or i could make a quilt for you to sell or..." as i interrupted with an "are you kidding me?" She then let me know that she LOVES to quilt and that she has an embroidery machine even!!! I let her know that i would love to talk more.
Well, we were going to get together but then Sophina got sick, then Scott had things for us to do while he was able, THEN something else happened but over this time we learned a few more things about each other. I told her the story about how we were having our clothes from the past twenty years (that i have been saving for each of the girls to have special quilts made out of their favorite clothes that they wore) be made into a special quilt for Ethan from people who have been involved in the process of his adoption. How it is going to be a quilt with people's names that love him, have prayed for him, have donated money for him to come HOME. I let her know that i was way behind on it as i was waiting until we got closer to the end to do it and then all of that "stuff" happened. She said that she would LOVE to help do the quilt!!!
SO FINALLY, this morning, i had Cynthia over. I just wanted to have her see all of the clothing items i had to choose from and see what she thought would be best. We all visited for almost two hours before Catherine and i started with Cynthia down to the basement to see what we could find, as Sophina's therapist had driven up to have PT with Sophina (our PCA, Becky, was with Sophina). We had hardly been down there when i heard Victoria VERY excitedly say, "MaaaaaaaaauuuUUM........ MAAAAAAUUM"......and then again (that is the way she was saying MOM...just in case you didn't get that :)) I told Cynthia that either something very exciting happened OR something terrible. ( it sounded like wonderful) SO we started for the stairs but before i could even get to the second step Victoria met me and was trying to scream something about an email from Toni (our attorney) and she choked out "court date" so hard that i couldn't tell if she was meaning that there WAS a court date or that she was hoping for it or what! She almost threw the computer at me and i went running up with it SCREAMING as i saw that it SAID "COURT DATE ;)" BUT that was not all! At this point we were ALL VERY LOUD and had COMPLETELY interrupted the PT's therapy that had just gotten started. Janine was trying to tell us to settle down....i heard her the second time and saw that Sophina was totally scared! I had just sat down on the couch to read the email out loud and before i could get up Catherine grabbed Sophina and gave her to me so i could hold her! THEN I READ THE EMAIL!!!! I don't remember anything else except the date. When i read it though, it didn't sink in. I didn't see it as what it really was. OH WAIT!
Back up, now remember that i let you know in one of my last blog posts that we had something else that had to happen and then it seemed to be three weeks from that next step to hearing about court dates and then it seemed that once you heard your court dates that the court dates were also about three weeks away? ALSO remember how we prayed that there would be a miracle and we could just jump right to hearing the court dates so instead of having to wait six weeks for court, we would only have to wait THREE weeks? Just wanted to make sure that you remembered this ;) OK...back to TODAY!
All of a sudden, let's just say that our therapist had to take Becky and Sophina into the kitchen and shut the doors. ALL of us females were talking at once as the girls were all asking questions and i was reading it again out loud and THEN it hit me......it isn't a month away...it is in exactly ONE WEEK!!!!! ONE WEEK from TODAY!! Our court date where our Ethan will be named Ethan Scott Andrew Lindquist!!!!
Yes, there is going to have to be a part two! I know people don't like these posts to be too long ;)))
ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie
Well, we were going to get together but then Sophina got sick, then Scott had things for us to do while he was able, THEN something else happened but over this time we learned a few more things about each other. I told her the story about how we were having our clothes from the past twenty years (that i have been saving for each of the girls to have special quilts made out of their favorite clothes that they wore) be made into a special quilt for Ethan from people who have been involved in the process of his adoption. How it is going to be a quilt with people's names that love him, have prayed for him, have donated money for him to come HOME. I let her know that i was way behind on it as i was waiting until we got closer to the end to do it and then all of that "stuff" happened. She said that she would LOVE to help do the quilt!!!
SO FINALLY, this morning, i had Cynthia over. I just wanted to have her see all of the clothing items i had to choose from and see what she thought would be best. We all visited for almost two hours before Catherine and i started with Cynthia down to the basement to see what we could find, as Sophina's therapist had driven up to have PT with Sophina (our PCA, Becky, was with Sophina). We had hardly been down there when i heard Victoria VERY excitedly say, "MaaaaaaaaauuuUUM........ MAAAAAAUUM"......and then again (that is the way she was saying MOM...just in case you didn't get that :)) I told Cynthia that either something very exciting happened OR something terrible. ( it sounded like wonderful) SO we started for the stairs but before i could even get to the second step Victoria met me and was trying to scream something about an email from Toni (our attorney) and she choked out "court date" so hard that i couldn't tell if she was meaning that there WAS a court date or that she was hoping for it or what! She almost threw the computer at me and i went running up with it SCREAMING as i saw that it SAID "COURT DATE ;)" BUT that was not all! At this point we were ALL VERY LOUD and had COMPLETELY interrupted the PT's therapy that had just gotten started. Janine was trying to tell us to settle down....i heard her the second time and saw that Sophina was totally scared! I had just sat down on the couch to read the email out loud and before i could get up Catherine grabbed Sophina and gave her to me so i could hold her! THEN I READ THE EMAIL!!!! I don't remember anything else except the date. When i read it though, it didn't sink in. I didn't see it as what it really was. OH WAIT!
Back up, now remember that i let you know in one of my last blog posts that we had something else that had to happen and then it seemed to be three weeks from that next step to hearing about court dates and then it seemed that once you heard your court dates that the court dates were also about three weeks away? ALSO remember how we prayed that there would be a miracle and we could just jump right to hearing the court dates so instead of having to wait six weeks for court, we would only have to wait THREE weeks? Just wanted to make sure that you remembered this ;) OK...back to TODAY!
All of a sudden, let's just say that our therapist had to take Becky and Sophina into the kitchen and shut the doors. ALL of us females were talking at once as the girls were all asking questions and i was reading it again out loud and THEN it hit me......it isn't a month away...it is in exactly ONE WEEK!!!!! ONE WEEK from TODAY!! Our court date where our Ethan will be named Ethan Scott Andrew Lindquist!!!!
Yes, there is going to have to be a part two! I know people don't like these posts to be too long ;)))
ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie
Sunday, March 18, 2012
PRAYERS NEEDED
It has been such a long wait for hearing any news of our son, Ethan and this adventure of making him a part of our family!!! Would you PLEASE do us a favor and take two minutes right NOW to pray- yes PLEASE PRAY that we will have court dates THIS WEEK (that would mean that the next step that we are waiting on would be bypassed and we would go right to the next step).
PLEASE PRAY and even fast (for a morning or even a full day) for the dates to start moving in his country as SO MANY of our friends are also waiting on their news, of anything from their first trips to their article 5's to like us, our court dates. PLEASE PRAY for hearts to be strengthened and encouraged and for peace.
We are so grateful to those of you who have continued to lift our family and Ethan in prayer as wait to become one family! PLEASE continue to pray also for Sophina's eating as she continues to struggle in this area!
We are remembering that we are ALWAYS BLESSED (even in the long waiting), Connie for the crew
PLEASE PRAY and even fast (for a morning or even a full day) for the dates to start moving in his country as SO MANY of our friends are also waiting on their news, of anything from their first trips to their article 5's to like us, our court dates. PLEASE PRAY for hearts to be strengthened and encouraged and for peace.
We are so grateful to those of you who have continued to lift our family and Ethan in prayer as wait to become one family! PLEASE continue to pray also for Sophina's eating as she continues to struggle in this area!
We are remembering that we are ALWAYS BLESSED (even in the long waiting), Connie for the crew
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