Matt and Mattie will arrive home this afternoon from Ukraine. They won’t have any children with them, but they will have a richer heart than when they left Dec. 12.
God has us on a wild journey, but His faithfulness and sovereignty prevails. He is good all the time, and all the time, He is good.
Vlad and Dima’s bio aunt is not changing her mind. She isn’t filing for custody of the boys due to fear of the boys coming to America, she is filing for custody because she loves them. She wants them to be her sons. She has been actively involved in their lives for much longer than we have, and she truly loves them, just as we do.
The bio aunt shared her address and phone number with us, and she welcomes us to stay involved in the lives of Vlad and Dima. We are welcome to call her, and even visit if we would like to. And, if things don’t work out, the boys would like to come live with us. We all feel a peace about this decision. A peace that passes all understanding.
As hard as it is to let go of our “sons”, boys who we felt were meant to be a part of our family, we know this is God’s will, and His will is always better than we can fathom. Vlad and Dima will always be sons in our hearts, even if they’re not in our home.
Vlad and Dima will have a forever family, just not our family.
God is good.
As you know, Matt met two other boys, ages 11 and 13, on Monday, Dec. 19. Through much prayer and discussion, we felt God was not leading us to adopt these two boys. It was really sad to feel like we were rejecting them, as we’ve never been in this position before, but God had a plan for these boys as well.
When Matt was at the orphanage in Mariupol visiting these boys, a Ukrainian foster family who had formerly expressed interest in these boys just happened to stop by to see the boys. They saw that an American family was visiting with the boys. The very next day, this Ukrainian family petitioned to foster these boys in their family, in their culture, in their community. They were not rejected, they were chosen, just by a different family.
These two boys will have a forever family, just not our family.
God is good.
So that left us with the question of WHO does God want us to adopt?!?! We had been praying for 10 days for God to show us specifically who He wanted us to adopt, if it wasn’t supposed to be Vlad and Dima. Countless emails came in from people who were advocating for specific orphans in Ukraine. We looked at countless faces, countless stories, countless orphans, all deserving of a forever family, yet none of them seemed like “the ones” God wanted us to adopt.
God reminded us of our calendar’s scripture, quote, and photo for December 15, the day of our original SDA appointment, the day we were SHOCKED to find out that our host sons were not adoptable. They were the reason my husband was in Ukraine. They were the reason we even had an SDA appointment. We were NOT prepared to discover the news that the SDA officials shared on that day.
Once we finally came to peace with the decision that Vlad and Dima were to live with their aunt, believing this is God’s will for them at this time, we recalled the calendar message from December 15, along with the significance of the photo. If you’ll recall, God spoke to us often using rainbows with our Serbian princess, Chrissie. The calendar quote was significant in itself, but to be accompanied by a rainbow photo, well that just put Chrissie all over it. (We now associate rainbows not only with God’s covenant, but with Chrissie as well.)
When one door closes on us, another usually opens. The trouble is that we often look with so much regret and longing upon the closed door that we do not see the one which is open for us.
Well, we could not see the open door because we were looking in all the wrong places. We were looking for typical children, a mere substitute for Vlad and Dima. Perhaps a couple of healthy children, maybe even 4 children, but they’d be healthy, for sure. Just like Vlad and Dima. God began to show us that His best was not a mere substitute for Vlad and Dima. His best was something we had not even been considering.
God spoke through our calendar quote, scripture, and photo for December 20, the day we found out that Vlad and Dima would for sure be going with their aunt. What do you know? Another rainbow. (This is NOT a calendar filled with rainbow photos, I promise!)
Your best bet is to stake everything you’ve got on God, and you’ll come out a winner—that’s a 100% guarantee!
“I will put my trust in Him” –Hebrews 2:13
God had been asking us to stop looking at typical kids and open our eyes to something much bigger. Something much more grand than what we ever fathomed. Something that would give God more glory than we ever could.
God told my husband he was in Ukraine to rescue a child (or two). Those rainbows in the calendar photos not only reminded us of Chrissie, and how God told us He would be using Chrissie to “hunt” in heaven (for orphans and lost souls, uniting orphans with their forever families), but it also reminded us of the organization God used to bring Chrissie into our family: Reece’s Rainbow.
We hadn’t looked on Reece’s Rainbow’s site for our possible children, mainly because we’d spent so much time focused on a mere substitute for Vlad and Dima, typical, healthy, “normal” kids.
Well, lo and behold, God showed us our children, the very children He had chosen all along, He just had to align things in such a way that would get us to these precious children. Children in desperate need of rescue. Children who would be transferred to an adult mental institution in a matter of days, a place no child should have to spend one minute in, much less the rest of their lives. Children that were being prayed for by others, that God would make a miracle happen for these precious children, yet we had no idea anyone was praying for these boys. We didn’t even realize at the time the magnitude of all the intricate details God had so miraculously woven together to get us to our sons.
God is good!
We are so very excited to announce to you today that God has chosen us to be the forever family to two precious boys found via Reece’s Rainbow:
OLEG and SHANE for the Patterson family — Wimberley, TX
These precious boys are God’s best for our family, something far better than we ever fathomed. Both boys are six-years-old, both boys live in the same orphanage in Ukraine, and both boys have Down syndrome. Both boys are TINY, both boys were within days of being transferred to an adult mental institution, and both boys were in desperate need of an immediate forever family. Both boys are now chosen and cherished.
God is good!
The SDA is closing for the holidays, so Matt and Mattie are on their way home!!! They’ll be home for Christmas! On January 2, 2012, our facilitator will submit our request for a new SDA appointment, to specifically request the official referral of these boys. Matt and I will return to Ukraine together in January 2012 to go get our newest sons!!!
And, guess what? There’s another family in Ukraine right now, adopting a boy from the exact same groupa as our sons, and this is what she emailed me:
I got to hold your boys today!!! Oh Lorraine!!! What a BLESSING these boys will be to your FAMILY!!!! Both boys held right on - they didn't want me to let them go. Shane weighs more than Oleg for sure. Shane is solid - Oleg is teeny tiny! Oleg laughs - Oh my it is a beautiful laugh. Shane smiles and my heart lit right up. Shane is strong, I could feel his strength. Oleg has very low muscle tone I imagine but his eyes light up like you wouldn't believe. I am absolutely in LOVE with your boys!
I wanted you to know that the caregivers told us today that they were about to be transferred to institution but the Director put a stop to it today!!! Isn't that just so amazing!!!! Oh My Gosh!!!!! So the Director is holding these beautiful boys for you!!! Oh My!!! I can't even believe this Miracle!!!! Witnessing it is something I will always cherish!!!!!
Yep, GOD IS GOOD!!!!
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