Empty House

Well, the girls are gone and the house is empty. We are still in a bit of shock over Tanya and Luba. We will be fine, though. We realize that this is God's plan for them, us, and their new family. We don't want anyone to feel awkward or upset over this. Please continue to send comments and e-mails, we love hearing from all of you! We will take a few days off and not post to regroup. The phone call to Zina this weekend will surely raise our spirits. I'm sure we will be ready to post then and tell you all about it.

~ Felix & Heidi ~

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
~ Psalm 34:18, NLT

Blessings in 3's

Three wonderful things happened yesterday, despite the fact that Tanya and Luba will be leaving.

1. My dad turned 68. The Lord has blessed him with another year of good health and he is still kickin' it old school down in Louisiana (correct pronunciation for those of you north of the Mason Dixon line is Lew-zee-anna).
2. The family that adopted T & L's brother flew in last night. We are so happy for the girls to be reunited with their brother. This is the first time in three years that they have been together. The family has never seen the girls in person, having been refused a visitation by the orphanage, even while they were standing outside the grounds asking. We welcomed them with open arms and asked them to spend the day with the girls. We are sad inside, but ecstatically happy for Tanya and Luba. They need to be with their brother.
3. OK, hold onto your seats...WE GOT OUR DOSSIER SUBMITTED TO THE SDA! Woo-hoo! Next stop...appointment day!

God continues to laugh at my silly little plans. So, I'm gonna kick back and let him run with it.

Letting go

Thursday, Tanya and Luba will be boarding the plane, back on their way to the life that they have known for the past few years. For 10 weeks the girls have had a great time and have encountered many new experiences. One of my fond memories will be the time I spent teaching Luba how to ride a bicycle. I am glad to have put that permanent smile on her face and I get to see it often. Hopefully, we have made a huge impact on their lives and things will never be the same again for them. Nor will accepting mediocrity or failure be an option for them. I believe that they have a different outlook on life now.

We will not be going to Mariupol to adopt Tanya or Luba. They have a little brother who was adopted in the U.S. and we have learned that this couple has been working to adopt them and reunite the family. They have their dossier in Ukraine and seem to be close to traveling. We even talked to the family's facilitator today and we will be contacting the family soon. Frontier Horizons called today and broke the news to us. We had been trying to find the brother all summer, but we were unable. It wasn't in God's plan.

Don't be disappointed for us, something didn't feel right recently. All along we got lots of "maybes" to our big question, but maybe wasn't good enough for such a decision. I believe God was laying the indecision on all four of our hearts because we couldn't see his big picture for all of us. Combine his plan with the fact that other children we have met just want to be with us so much, and we get it now.

It is the right thing to do to let Tanya and Luba go and let another family bring them all together...It is God's plan. Wow, funny how all things return to our blog title!

Farewell dear Tanya and Luba...may all your dreams be realized. We hope you will never forget us and we will be praying for you every night. Don't forget the man who taught you how to ride a bicycle. He will never forget you, you will always have a place in our hearts. God bless you both.

The last week

Sorry we haven't posted in awhile. The UOO camp ended last Friday and we were recovering. The kids had a blast and they arrived safely at home. Needless to say, we miss them all.

This is the last week that Tanya & Luba will be with us. They leave for Mariupol next Thursday, the 28th. There have been some interesting developments with them over the past few weeks that we will discuss in future posts. Stay tuned for details. We will be sad to see them go home, too. Our nieces Shannon & Jessica and nephew Drew arrived Tuesday to visit us for the summer. Their mom and dad, Sally & Gary, arrive today (Thursday). The house is full again!

Zina called us this week. She borrowed a cell phone from a friend and dropped a call to us. Heidi returned the call to the phone number that came through and it was her! Heidi said that you could "hear tears of joy" from her. She is fine and she will return to the Kherson internat sometime at the end of next week, probably the 28th. It seems schools starts for all of the orphans Monday the 1st of September. We will call her next weekend when she gets back to the internat.

Our facilitator is holding our dossier after talking with the SDA. It is moving so that is good news. We hope to get submitted in early September.We haven't been forgotten after all!

All for now, enjoy the picture of me with Vasya, Vitalik and Zshenia at the airport last Friday. This was to be our last picture together, kudos to our friend Kari. We all three bonded during the camp like no others. I hope to see them all again soon when we next travel to Ukraine.

See the 9-news story about the 2008 UOO camp here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VBcqaDd4Ic

UOO Camp - More Happy Kids

Vitalic, Batman, Luba and Vasya


My buddy at the rodeo, Natasha at the birthday party, Luba taking a big swing


The Birthday Party, Ilona and Tatum at the Races, Vasya, Vova and Austin at the Races

UOO Camp Pix