UOO 2009 Camp - Day 18

Saturday had us at the Carmen’s lake house again. Most folks have to work Monday through Friday, so we schedule a weekend on the lake in hopes of getting these beautiful kids in the community’s eye. Besides, the kids can never get enough of the water and the tubing and I love to drive Eric’s speed boat. Nothing says power like a V-8 I the water! We even got a few of the kids up on water skis for the first time in their lives. Unless they are adopted internationally, most of these kids will never do this again. It is truly a once in a lifetime achievement for them, literally!

After I drove the boat for what seemed like forever, we got the kids cleaned up for a church service at Timberline Church in Ft. Collins, CO. You may remember a post about a year ago when Heidi and I traveled up to TL for an adoption seminar where Tom Davis, author of Fields of the Fatherless, was the quest speaker. We set up our UOO booth and got a lot of response from the audience. Timberline is home to a couple of our newest UOO volunteers that we met during that visit. We are always expanding our church base and we are happy to have new friends there. The kids were special guests at the children’s church and were recognized on stage. They played a few games, participated in a relay race of sorts and listened to the message presented to them on Forgiveness.

We ended the day at the Stoeszs house for dinner where a lot of new faces were on hand to meet the kids. That evening, the Stoesz’s held another bon fire and worship service for the kids.

UOO 2009 Camp - Day 17

On one day of each year’s camp, my sweetie Heidi holds a scrapbook party with the kids. Today was that day. All of the UOO members forward their pictures to her and she combines these with our pictures. All-in-all, there are hundreds of electronic photos to go through and send to the printer. Heidi likes to group the pictures so that each kids gets a specialized stack of photos of themselves, another stack of the UOO folks, and a stack of the group as a whole. It’s always interesting to see what the kids will do and if they will select pictures of themselves or pictures of the UOO folks. It’s usually half-in-half and this year was no exception. The kids liked the stickers and cut-outs, too.

Later that evening, we went out to yet another delicious pot luck dinner at the Stoesz house. I did mention that I like pot luck’s, right?!

After dinner, went traveled over to our church’s youth center to put on our first ever UOO talent show, or as I like to say, the “lack of talent” show. Actually it was a lot of fun! We had everything from a family song & dance routine by the Stoesz’s to a play with an aria by the Pals family. I think the highlights of the show were the chicken dance and the marshmallow-mouth stuffing contest. The winner was Josh Volf with a total of 12 giant marshmallows. WOW!

UOO 2009 Camp - Day 16

Swimming and haircuts was the order of the day. Every summer camp I request two special swim days at the Longmont Rec Center. The first one, last week, got moved to Sunset pool due to a chlorine level issue at our regular pool. No worries though, we made the move seamlessly and I knew that we would have a second day at the LRC.

The girls had to reschedule their hair cuts a few days prior to the swim day so the boys and I went on over without them. The girls showed up in due time and everyone had lots of fun. The LRC is a camp favorite due to it's twin sliding tunnels, the dive board, the lazy river, the kids pool with water pipes and the jacuzzi all in the same area. Not only that, the kids can be kids without too much correction. It's a freedom that they and we the volunteers come to enjoy. There are several lifeguards on duty and one young man even speaks Russian, so I tend to let them take charge while I oversee everyone. NICE!

The activity planned for the evening was sleep-overs for the boys at one volunteers house and the girls at another. I haven't heard about it yet, but I'm sure they had a great time. The whole camp has been a great time!

~ Felix ~

UOO 2009 Camp - Day 15

On day 15, the kids traveled to the big city! That's right, the big D, Denver. We were going to see critters!

Our first stop was the Denver Aquarium. Always a big hit, the aquarium has cool fish to look at and even a few "touch" tanks so that you know what a sting ray's back feels like, not that I ever had a desire to know. But, I joined in the fun. The kid insisted, really!

We next ventured over to a park next to the Denver Zoo where we had lunch. A game of capture the flag was started by Clarke right after lunch. I hear it tired out our weary campers and that they slept good that night. At 2 pm, the kids and chaperons headed over to the Zoo while I dismissed myself to take care of some UOO business. Besides, if you read my post a few weeks ago you'll know that I took my kidos to the very same Zoo, so we had "been there, done that".

After the Zoo, everyone gathered at a restaurant named Cinzetti's in north Denver. I'm sure everyone slept on the way home that evening. It was a long, event packed, hot day. But, everyone is still having a good time and dreading the day that they will leave us. We will have them with us until this Tuesday morning. I miss them already, so I will attend every event from here on out to spend as much time as possible with them.

~ Felix ~

UOO 2009 Camp - Days 13 & 14

I returned to work Monday & Tuesday, but the camp continued. The kids went to a Painting Potter event in Lafayette, CO on Monday morning. I haven't seen their creations yet, but I was told that they really had a good time! While they were there, they were treated to a BBQ lunch and some swimming and the host's home.

On Tuesday, the kids went on a dairy farm tour. We do this every year at Pickets Dairy in Berthoud, which happens to be a mile right down the road from the Stoesz house. They dairy folks also have a pool at their house, so you guessed it, they swam some more. You can never do enough swimming for kids in the summer! By the way, I would humor you with some cows jokes if I had time, but that would be udder-ly ridiculous!

~ Felix ~

UOO 2009 Camp - Day 12

On Sunday, we went to Cornerstone Church in Boulder, CO. The kids went to Sunday school while the adults attended service. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a nice Sunday lunch at church. I grew up a Southern-Baptist and some of my fondest memories are having lunch in the church kitchen after service while enjoying the fellowship. I’m glad that I had the maturity to appreciate those moments, even as a child. The event brought back a flood of memories as I watched the happy faces of the children, the conversation of the adults and the interest in our UOO mission. I do believe we picked up a few volunteers for next year’s camp and fueled the fire for an interest in Ukrainian adoption. Mission accomplished!




The kids participated in a Field day at the church. There were many games; one included a water-balloon toss. It was like the egg toss, just water balloons instead. I couldn't stay, but I hear it was a great day and a happy event for all.

That night, everyone gathered back at the Stoesz house for a Bonfire and Gospel message presented by our Grace Place children’s minister, Kim Land. The glory part of this is that one young man, Dima, is close to making a decision for Christ. This has long been another goal of UOO. It is amazing to see the Spirit working in these children, despite their seemingly insurmountable futures.

~ Felix ~

UOO 2009 Camp - Day 11

It was an early rise for the Greeley Stampede parade for our Saturday! The kids got to see a real, authentic cattle drive, which is how the Greeley parade starts. There were lots of cowboys & cowgirls, bands, floats, old cars, etc. Everyone commented that they had never seen a parade. This was a real treat and something that they would never forget.

"Holy Cow!!"

I took the kids to a local Greeley park to wait while our other UOO members went to KFC to get food for our park lunch. While they were in line, a nice lady asked them what the t-shirts meant and our UOO president, Clarke, explained. She donated $20 on the spot for our lunch! God’s hand is always looking out for us no matter where we go and He routinely causes these kinds of things to happen regularly. Thank you to that person and may God bless you.

No Bull! It's a bunch of "Bol-shoy Ka-ro-vahs" (Big Cows)

We left Greeley behind to travel to Berthoud, CO for more horseback riding. The kids can’t get enough of this and we had a second gracious volunteer give her time and horses to us for a couple of hours. Needless to say, there were smiles all around!

Fun in the sun

Did I tell you that I love a good potluck dinner? Well I do and we’ve had two of them this week! That’s what we did next. Everyone gathered back at the Stoesz house for dinner and conversation. I snoozed for a few minutes on the couch until sweet little Olya sneaked up on me. I was OK with it, time spent with them is the most treasured and I will miss them once this is over.

Our group was invited to Lake Loveland for the Fourth of July fireworks show. The kids have seen fireworks before. Actually, when we were in Ukraine last winter, there seemed to be one big boom every night from a fire work. No explanation as to what was being celebrated, though. The kids, however, had never seen so many at one time and all the brilliant colors that a Fourth of July celebration entails. We had spread out a big tarp by the lakeside and it was a treat to cuddle-up with these sweet kids for an hour. Another fine ending to a fantastic day!

~ Felix ~