How it All Began...

So, on with the long part... My name is Kym and my husband John and I have 3 terrific children. Christopher (age 20), Bryceton (age 18) and Aidan (age 5). We were blessed with Chris & Bryce biologically, and additionally blessed to adopt Aidan at birth. (That’s a whole other story in itself!) I work as a Staffing Manager for a large staffing firm, and John has worked 20+ years for the local city fire dept. We are happy, albeit busy Christian family currently on a mission to adopt a child from the Ukraine named Oleg. Unlike a majority of soon to be adoptees, we have actually met our child prior to submitting our dossier. Here is how it all began...

At the airport picking up Oleg


While attending church in November 2005 I heard an announcement concerning a Ukrainian hosting program taking place through the holiday season for approx. 3 weeks. A child that had been given the privilege to participate was in need of a sponsor family to assist with his travels. This was due to the original family having no choice but to back out at the last minute for unforeseen difficult financial reasons. (To this day I am grateful they did! You will see why as I write). That was God's first play in all this... Marie, another member of our congregation who was a past participant in this program - and who had recently adopted her son Velera from the Ukraine - was asked to assist in this search. She showed us the picture of Oleg - with this awesome grin on his face - and I knew we had to do this! We had to give this child a Christmas he would never soon forget. With the aid of our church we combined funds to complete Olegs sponsorship and awaited the day he would come to visit us. Oleg is 11 yrs old and from the Sakhnovschina boarding school (fancy way of saying orphanage!) in the Kharkiv region. As we waited at the San Francisco airport at midnight December 21st I had no idea how this adventure would change my life forever. As instructed by the hosting Director, we had sent Oleg a picture of our family and a letter from us welcoming him and telling him how happy we were to be meeting him. Armed with that and the knowledge of what we looked like, he locked eyes with my husband and raced towards us when he came down the tarmac. He embraced John, then saw me and hugged me tightly! Although he did not speak much (actually VERY, VERY, VERY little) English, but his smile and his face said a thousands words! He just kept hugging us and speaking Ukrainian. When we asked the hosting Director to interpret she said, "He is happy to be here, and wants to know where Chris, Bryce and Aidan are?" We laughed and had her explain it was midnight and they were at home in bed! Then he said something to her and she smiled as she said, "Oleg wants you to know he is happy to be here with his family." He then made a circle with his hands and said "family"...I think we were goners at that point - we knew he was a special boy! The ride home was 5 hours long. It was filled with Oleg showing John how he could say colors, numbers, and a few other choice words in English. As we made our way home he was amazed at first by all the cars, then Johns camera (he takes excellent pictures!) the houses, then as we walked through the door to our home, the beautiful Christmas tree all lit up to greet him. His eyes were big as saucers when he saw all the presents!