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.