Matt is Oksana's hero today

For those of you who have not read on facebook already about Oksana's change of heart, here is a little update on today.

We arrived at the orphanage this morning about 9:30 to visit with the director and ask them to separate Vlad & Oksana for us to adopt Vlad. The director is out for the day in Odessa, so vice director talks with us a bit, then has Oksana & Vlad come down to the office. Again both her and our translator Yuri keep trying to convince Oksana to agree, and she digs her heals in and says no again.

At the end of this meeting the vice director asks that we wait out for a minute while she speaks with Oksana alone. While we are sitting out in the hall, God must have been giving Matt the words to say, he tells me this is enough I am just going to tell her she is going, and not give her the choice that will ruin her future. After Oksana comes out they ask us to go talk in that visitation room again. We sit for a minute and Matt asks Oksana to look at his eyes and he says, "Oksana you are going to America" " It is good for you and I am not giving you a choice, you will tell them yes today and we will start the paperwork" Over and over he tells her this, and every time she tries to look away and say some thing to object he tells her again, she smiles and laughs a little and then the tears start and she runs into his arms, now they are both crying as he tells her how much he loves her and that there is no way he is leaving Ukraine with out her. He tells her that he needs her in America so he can take care of her, that he will always take care of her, and that no boyfriend here in Izmail is ever going to care for her the way she needs. It was so amazing the way she melted.

Just to make sure she does not try to take it back, he gets out his phone and videos her saying yes I am ready to be adopted and go to America.

It occurs to me that all she was waiting for was for Matt to pursue her and find out if he really loved her enough to fight for her. She was upset yesterday when he told her after about 5 hours of this back and forth, that he had had enough and we would just go back to Kiev and start over with a new referral. She needed to know that she was The One he would give his life for, a deep longing that God created us females with, we all need to know that we a beauty worth fighting for, and we need a hero who will do this over and over, no matter what, who will go to the ends of the earth to bring us to him, or even give his life for us, just as Jesus did. Today Matt was her hero, her Jesus, her father.

Matt is also Vlad's hero as now he gets the best of both world's America, his family, and to be with his sister. He was hugging her today and telling her how much he loves her and that she is the best sister ever, it must be a wonderful peace in his heart to know that they will stay together.

I love my husband, he will always be my hero!

The rest of the day was good, we played games, got the tour of the kids bedrooms, met their teachers, and then took the kids to a late lunch at a very yummy Ukrainian style cafeteria, and then shopping at the big market, it is like Ukraine's Super Wal-mart, they have anything you could need.

As we sit here on the bed tonight, it is such a different feeling than last night, I am so thankful for God's intervention, and all of you who have been praying, Thank you so much!

This is Yuri with Vlad & I. He is our constant companion during our visits at the orphanage. He is one of the three boys who were there last night telling Oksana how crazy she is being and that she needs to say yes and go with her family.

Yuri is in Oksana's group which means he is probably between 12-14. He has wonderful English, he can speak and read it, and does quite a bit of translating for us. He went to America once for a Christmas visit, does not seem like the family will be coming to adopt him. He is a blast, has a great sense of humor, pokes fun at Matt, cute smile, cheats at Uno, and studies my every move, always watching and trying to make eye contact. If I look back at him he gets a huge smile, and his cute dimples come out, then he will even wink a bit it is so funny. He is good friends with both Oksana & Vlad. He has no siblings of his own. He managed to stay out of school all day with Oksana & Vlad, and just hang out with us, not sure how he does that but he was loving it!I think he is a future sales man, he just has that personality that gets everybody in his camp. Matt & I both want to take him home with us. Matt said early on in the day "I would come back for him, no I will, come back for him" You know that is probably true, we will come back to Izmail for Yuri, unless another family steps up and lets us know they are coming. I did not want Vlad to be our only boy anyway, and Yuri will fit in wonderfully with our family. I know this is crazy talk but that is how it happens in these orphanages, there is always at least one more that grabs onto your heart. We do intend to try to get more details about his status and such as our time here continues. We will see what happens I guess.