Oleg has a family

If you have met Oleg,  then you know his irresistible personality.  God has blessed him with a vibrant, joyful demeanor... a spark.   So,  it is easy to understand why an Italian family recently fell in love with him too and is adopting him.  He'll be heading home to Italy within a few days. 

While this news came as a shock and a heavy disappointment to us, we are happy Oleg has a family now.  We have been praying God would quickly meet the family need in his life.  We hoped to be that family ourselves,  but we are grateful for God's ability to act on Oleg's behalf. This whole process started with a a desire to meet Oleg's needs and we recognize God has been working to do so long before we entered the picture and He will continue.  Please pray with us that Oleg will grow into a man of courage, humility, honor and love...that he will know the joy of Christ. 

As you might know, Ukraine practices "blind adoption" where individual children can not be pre-selected. This practice protects orphans in many ways;  and from the beginning, we understood we had no gurantees to Oleg specifically.  The program this summer was always just a hosting program whereby families here can be introduced to terrific Ukrainian children and they in turn have a great holiday.  However, falling in love with Oleg, we decided to begin pursuing an adoption process, with a request Oleg might be matched to our family. The adoption process is lengthy and will hopefully be complete early next year. But, for a child, that is still a long time to wait; and we are glad there is a family ready for him now.  We will always love him like a son;  but we will continue pursuing adoption of another child in Ukraine, warmed by three incredible weeks with Oleg and looking forward to what God has in store. 

We celebrate God widening our perspective through this process.  We are beginning to wake up to the weight of the millions... and millions...and millions...and millions of orphans around the world.  We have also been introduced to so many compassionate people devoted to orphan care both in the US and in Ukraine. They are wonderful.   And finally, the last dust of questions like, "Can we really love a stranger as family?" has been washed away. 

Thanks to all of you who helped Oleg enjoy his time here and have encouraged us at every turn.  We love you. 

Home Study Completed!!

Yeah!! We finished our home study and are moving forward to the next step in the paperwork chain.  Please continue to pray for a smooth path.  The women we have worked with love the Lord and His children and it has been a blessing having them to answer questions as they arise.

God's hand has been so evident in this whole process.  The day after Oleg left, I missed him so much that I googled his orphanage to see where he lives.  I found a  site from a woman who had adopted a son through the same orphanage and she posted a ton of photos.  While looking through her pics, I came across photos of our Oleg smiling among other beautiful children.  We have been in contact with her since, and heard some of Oleg's history.  We have also been in contact with another family who hosted Oleg last summer and received some amazing photos of his vacation in California!  Yet another mother has sent me some spectacular photos of Oleg that she took while adopting her son from Oleg's orphanage earlier this summer.  What a blessing to know that these women have made a positive impact on our boy's heart.  This was such an amazing gift directly from the hand of God.  I couldn't stop crying from the joy.  Thank you Jesus!!  

Also, we have learned that Oleg has a 5 year old sister; we are hoping to learn more and pursue her in adoption as well!!  We know that with man it is impossible, but with God all things become possible.  

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the One who is leading."

-Oswald Chambers

Oleg's Holiday with us

As some of you know, this summer we hosted an 8 year old Ukrainian orphan named Oleg. We spent three weeks enjoying our warm Indiana summer and falling absolutely in love with him. He's an energetic, fun-loving, soccer playing, vegetable devouring, little guy who stands about two inches shorter than Lukas and has a real spark of joy. The day he arrived he learned to ride a bike, and never slowed down from there. By the time he went back to the Ukraine, he was swimming, diving, playing ping-pong and speaking more English than we were speaking Russian.
But in the between time, our hearts grew in new directions; and we've decided to make an attempt to step in and become the family Oleg needs through adoption.

If all goes well, we should be able to travel to Ukraine somewhere around April of next year to bring Oleg home. This is a major shift for our family with some financial hurdles, as well, so please be praying along with us that we will be trusting our Father every step of the way and letting Him make the path straight. Also, please be praying for Oleg's health, safety and faith. We're so looking forward to seeing what God will do in Oleg's life.

Thanks again to all of you who helped make Oleg feel befriended while he was here. It was a joy to be with you during this time.

Thanks be to God for His ability to surprise us.