Oleg!

I talked about it a bit on Facebook, but never really specifically explained or announced on the blog: we are planning to adopt TWO boys. Tolia, of course, is the first, and also his friend, Oleg. We learned of Oleg in November, very shortly after our dossier was submitted. A friend of ours who was there adopting met him, and learned that he was asking for a family. She began advocating for him, and we quickly began to seriously consider adopting him.

Oleg has never been hosted. Everyone who knows him says that he is a wonderful boy. He loves soccer, volleyball... basically all sports. 

That's Oleg in the orange.

I have held off on talking about him publicly for a few reasons. One, I don't think we are supposed to share his pictures publicly since we don't officially have his referral yet. Two, with Tolia I got such a clear word from God about him, "He is your son." Now, granted, I never heard anything so explicit about really any other relationship in my life. God never told me that Dave was meant to be my husband. And He HAS told me a few times when things WEREN'T meant to be. (The Russian adoption, for instance. Did I listen? No.) So, we're going to pursue Oleg's adoption unless we hear a specific word from above saying otherwise, or if we hit a complete impasse. 

He doesn't know us yet. So, I really can't imagine how scary the thought of that would be to him- leaving his country, school, and most of his friends. On that note, though- Tolia has been 100% in favor of us adopting Oleg from the get-go. He has vouched for Oleg's character which counts for a lot with us. Hopefully, he's also vouching for us with Oleg!  

We have been able to FaceTime with him several times, and sent him some Christmas gifts. He knows that we are coming and passed along the message that he is happy we are coming for him. That's about all for now. I earnestly ask you to pray for the whole situation, that the Lord's hand would be in it, and His will so evident to all of us, and that we would all have incredible peace about whatever God's plan is! (Do you like that when I tell you exactly how to pray? I'm sorry I'm so bossy!)

That's about all for now. I was starting to edit a previous post to introduce Oleg, when I realized Oleg definitely deserves an introductory post all of his own! Have a good day, everyone!