UOO 2009 Camp - Day 20

The kids’ last full day with us would be spent completing arts and crafts, some more scrap booking, and just riding bikes and being a kid. We did this at my house and opened the house to all who wanted to visit with the kids one last time. They enjoy being in a family environment the most and we wanted to send them off with this last memory fresh in their minds.

Around five o’clock or so, we prepped dinner, which was left-overs from the Ukrainian Dinner the day before. The kids really liked the American-made Ukrainian food and commented on our ability to make it just like they have it back home. Cabbage rolls and Varenyk were served up and I’m happy to report that I won’t be eating this food for the next three weeks like I thought I would! We finished the whole thing! There were plenty of tears as everyone knew this would be the last that they would see of the kids. Heidi is going to Ukraine in September for Rimma’s birthday and I know that she will probably have some calls from people wanting to accompany her on that trip now. I hope to see the kids again at the end of the year when Heidi and I return for Rimma’s adoption.

It was hard, as it always is, to see the tears and hugs from children that want to stay and from Prospective Adoptive Parents, or PAPs, letting go of the children that they have come to love as their own. This is the major goal of UOO, to raise awareness of the plight of older orphans and perhaps to start a family or two’s adoption process to Ukraine. It’s all in God’s hands now for these families and these 8 little representatives of the thousands of children-in-waiting in Ukraine and around the world. We will meet next week with one such family and answer any questions that will help them make a decision to pursue Ukrainian adoption.

~ Felix ~