Thrivent to the Rescue!

Good Afternoon!  We have just spoken with our Thrivent Representative, Wayne - A great guy with a great big heart!  He has embraced the cause of adopting Nikita and Alexei (Dusty) through Thrivent Insurance for Lutherans.  Here's the deal - tax deductible donations can be made toward rescuing these two little angels, and Thrivent will MATCH donations up to $1258.00!  God is good, and through your prayers and support, we can bring these children home and bring them to Jesus!

Checks can be made out to Thrivent Financial in Fredericksburg (under memo, put the words "Hinz Adoption").  Mail donations to Wayne Sprick, 1220 Heatherbrook Court, Fredericksburg, VA, 22407.  The matching donations are good through December 31, however, donations made after that time will be welcomed, also!

Thanks again for your prayers and help - we need it, and more importantly, Nikita and Alexei need it!

Dusty's CHRISTmas Warriors are such a Blessing!

I really NEVER imagined that our lives would be linked with and blessed by so many people!  I feel like George Bailey at the end of the movie in It's a Wonderful Life!

Here is a comment I received from our post "It's...another BOY!"

Our whole family is THRILLED that you will be making Dusty a part of your family! Our son Jacob (5) started praying for him beginning this time last year. He has prayed for him faithfully every day for the past year and asks us often if Dusty has a family! I wish I had thought to record the moment I shared with my kids that Dusty finally has a family! Their absolute joy brought tears to my eyes! We are also Dusty's Christmas Warriors and have been working on a fundraiser for his Angel Tree grant. That fundraiser includes a special quilt that we will send to your family so that you can wrap Dusty in the love of all of those who have prayed and helped to bring him home!!

Congratulations on your commitment to both of your beautiful arrows! We are so excited to follow your journey to bring them home. You are in our prayers!

Hugs,
Valerie

The quilt they are making sounds amazing - "Stitched Together by Love."

http://fromthetrenchesofadoption.blogspot.com/2010/11/celebrating-christ.html

 Valerie writes in her post... We will be putting together a "Heart" quilt that will be presented to Dusty's family once they have committed to bring him home (each heart pattern has been designed by my children and will be appliqued to the middle of each quilt square) . For every $5 donation, the name of the donor will be written on a heart that will be stitched to a quilt square. For every donation of $25 or more, your family's name will be stitched to the square. For donations of $35 or more you will also receive a beautiful Christmas ornament from Reece's Rainbow with Dusty's picture (when donations are made BEFORE December 15th).


Such an Awesome Family - We are forever grateful!  


   

It's...another BOY!

YES,  another ARROW in our quiver!  His Reece's Rainbow name is Dusty.  What a cool cowboy name - right!?!  I can just picture Dusty sitting in the saddle and Johnny leading our horse around as Nikita & Carolyn cheer them on!  

Dusty will be turning 6 in March, so please pray that the adoption goes smoothly & quickly.  We don't want him to be transferred to an institution! 


The Bill concerning adoptions is set to be heard the week of December 14 -17.  If it passes the way it is written  - all adoptions would be stopped.  Please pray without ceasing that it will not pass because their lives depend on it!


John and I feel very blessed to be Dusty's Forever Family.  We are so excited!  Thanks for all of your prayers for our family.  We serve an AWESOME GOD and we can't wait to see how HE works everything out for GOOD!

Nikita, Nikita, Nikita!

To recap... We were at the Adoption Expo and saw Nikita's picture.  Unfortunately a law in Ukraine states that there can't be more than a 45 year age difference between the child and the parent. Well, John had just turned 49 that day and Nikita is only 2 1/2 years old.  A big let down for us.  Now we would need to go to the Reece's Rainbow website to look for a different child who would fit the age parameters.  We looked and looked and looked some more. We prayed and prayed and prayed some more.  Many beautiful children, however, we couldn't let go of the idea of adopting Nikita.  He was stuck in our hearts!

Well, when someone closes a door - God opens a window.  I fit the age requirement and so I could adopt Nikita as a married individual.  There are risks involved, however, John and I feel it's a chance we MUST to take.  I was very encouraged by a post I read one night by Autumn who is adopting two boys from the SAME orphanage as Nikita and the same room as Julia.  Here is the devotion I read from Autumn's blog...
                              From Charles Swindoll's book Day by Day page 73.

Go For It

 Luke 5:1-10

In his fine little book  Fully Human, Fully Alive, Author John Powell relates an experiences of a friend who was vacationing in the Bahamas. The friend was site seeing when he noticed a crowd gathered toward the end of a pier. He walked down to investigate the commotion. Powell says :  

         "…he discovered that the object of all the attention was a young man making the last minute preparations for a solo journey around the world in a home made boat. Without exception everyone on the pier was pessimistic. All were actively volunteering to tell the ambitious sailor all the things that could possibly go wrong.... When my friend heard all these discouraging warnings to the adventurous young man, he felt an irresistible desire to offer some optimism and encouragement.  As the little craft began drifting away from the pier towards the horizon, my friend kept shouting: "BON VOYAGE! You're really something!  We're with you. We're proud of you!"

How few are those who see beyond the danger...who say to those on the edge of some venture, "Go for it!" Funny, isn't it? I suppose it's related to one's inner ability to imagine, to envision, to be enraptured by the unseen, all the hazards and hardships notwithstanding.

How glad I am that certain visionaries refused to listen to the crowd on the pier. I'm glad....

• that Edison didn't give up on the light bulb
• that Luther refused to back down
• that Michelangelo kept painting
• that Lindbergh kept flying
• that Papa Ten Boom said "yes" to frightened Jews

Almost every day -certainly every week- we encounter people who are in their own homemade boat, thinking seriously about setting forth.  The ocean of possibilities is enormously inviting, yet terribly threatening.  Urge them on! Dare to say what they need to hear the most, "Go for it!"  Then pray like mad. How much could be accomplished if only there were more brave souls on the end of the pier smiling and affirming.

Thank you Autumn for posting this devotion.  We are praying for you and your family! BON VOYAGE!  

We will not to listen to the crowd on the pier.  We will not give up... and God willing... we'll soon have our arms around Nikita!

God's Plan

Wow!  I am so moved by all of the comments posted.  It is wonderful to know that people had been praying for Nikita to find us!  It is amazing to see how God works.  I had no idea that we would be linked in prayer with people we have never even met!

Here is how the chain of events happened.  Our friends Carey and Steve read a blog by Adeye about a little girl named Julia, who needed a family.  On October 31 Steve and Carey had a lunch at our church to update everyone on Julia and raise money for the adoption.  It was there that we met Adeye and her family.  As soon as I saw Adeye's two little girls - Harper & Hailee it brought back many fond childhood memories of my dear sweet neighbor Melissa.  At that moment I knew I wanted to be blessed by the adoption a child with Down Syndrome.    

The following week, my husband, John, asked if we could, as a family, celebrate his birthday by attending the Adoption Expo at the Hyatt Hotel in DC.  In the car on the way there I asked John how he felt about adopting a child with Down Syndrome.  He thought it was a wonderful idea.  My husband is a Special Education Teacher and knows the joy that flows out of children with Down Syndrome.  

We arrived at the Expo (down in the basement) and walked down the first aisle without much fanfare.  We turned the corner to address the next aisle, and the first booth we saw was Reece's Rainbow! How is this significant?  We found out that Reece's Rainbow is the coordinator for Adeye's adoptions and also for Carey's pending adoptions.

After talking a bit with Andrea, we leafed through a short pile of photographs of the children waiting to be adopted.  We were immediately drawn to one little boy.  Andrea told us his name was Nikita, from the SAME orphanage in Ukraine as Julia and Harper and Hailee. 

 More to come! 

A Blog is Born!

Psalm 127 gives us hope for living God-pleasing lives - He Calls us blessed to add "Arrows to our Quiver."  More to come soon!  Must go to Church now!  A Blessed Thanksgiving to you all, and thank you for your prayers that we will become adoptive parents and add an "Arrow to our Quiver."

In Him, John & Amy & Johnny & Carolyn Joy