On February 29th Conner(Oleg) and Cooper(Shane) left their groupa room for one last time never to return, as soon as they went through that big orphanage gate their life changed forever...........
In January 2011 I became an "Orphan Warrior" for a sweet 5 year old boy named "Oleg" I saw him on RR many times before that and always thought that he was so precious... but then I started to feel like God wanted me to become his warrior, so I lisned to God and I emailed Laurie Rhodes and requested to become his Orphan Warrior little did I know that 3 different families would commit to him in the course of one year......
His reeces rainbow information stated that he was healthy, with no heart complications, very active and an orphanage favorite. And in big red letter it said "he is facing the institution soon" my heart broke for this sweet child.. I asked for more pictures of him and I was given 8 photos...I fell even more in love with him after seeing these pictures.
I prayed for this sweet boy every night for 3 months then on March 18th 2011 I woke up to news that made me so happy..Oleg (and Shane) had been found and would be coming home to a family in Florida... I was so excited.... then on March 27th just 9 days after Oleg finding a family the family had to back out and Oleg was relisted on RR (so was Shane). I was heart broken but I didn't give up on finding his family.
I "met" a lady named Bianca during the summer and she had the same love for Oleg that I had. she helped me do a fundraiser for Oleg that raised around $50 and she prayed with me for Oleg (and Shane) to find a family... She so wished that Oleg could become her son but that was not Gods plan, her, her husband, and their 3 daughters are now anticipating the arrival of their little guy Jackson (Darren on RR) and I couldn't be happier for them....
On July 22nd Oleg and Shane both appeared on the MFFM page and I was beyond excited..I couldn't wait to find out who the lucky family was. When the famliys FSP showed up on the New commitments page I got goose bumps...They were the family that I was picturing in my mind for Oleg..a young couple that had no children yet and they lived in Idaho which isn't far from Oregon (where I live) I was extatic and emailed Trish and Justin (the family) right away. I got an email from Trish within a day of me emailing her she told me all about her and Justin and how greatful they were for me, she also said that she 'secretly' followed my blog and they had been wanting to commit to Oleg and Shane for a long time! I got goose bumps as I read the emails from her, we talked about me coming and visiting them once the boys got home..we emailed back and forth for a awhile and then we found eachother on facebook, to say that we became "good friends" is an understatement... we talked almost everyday checking in on eachother... Trish and Justin let me know whenever they hit a "bump" or whenever they had something to celebrate I felt like I was right there with them on the "adoption train"
Around Thanksgiving time Trish and Justin ran into a very big "bump"......The boys were relisted on RR and I felt like my heart had shatterd into a million pieces....Trish and Justin never gave up on adopting the boys though..they talked with a whole bunch of people about the different ways they could bring the boys home and they would let me know of any news they got.....On December 21st the boys appeared back on the MFFM page I was sure that Trish and Justin got everything fixed and that they had re-commited to the boys. I asked Trish right away if that was the case and she said "no, did someone get to them before us?" again my heart sunk Trish called me that night and we were both so heartbroken we cried together and talked for nearly an hour...
A few days after them showing up on the MFFM page I found out who was adopting them it was the Patterson family, a family that I have known about for nearly two years..They adopted their sweet daughter Chrissie from Serbia in 2009 and in May of 2010 she went to live with Jesus after her major heart surgery, they are such a strong family! They have 10 children (including Chrissie) 7 of which are adopted....
They were planning on adopting 2 little boys that they hosted in the summer but the boys went to live with their aunt so they became unavailable, when they saw Oleg and Shane on RR they felt like God was leading them to adopt these precious treasures so they commited to them and began to fix all of the paperwork to adopt them. On January 16th they met the boys for the first time, the boys were small they were the size of 2 year olds at the age of 6, I couldn't believe how little they were.
On January 31st Oleg became Conner Patterson and Shane became Cooper Patterson, brothers, friends, cousins, neighbors, grandsons, sons, and nephews that will be treasured and adored for the rest of their lives. On February 29th they had Gotcha day... They will never have to see the walls of that orphanage ever again PRAISE GOD..
Which brings us to today, today March 3rd 2012 Conner and Cooper will be home forever they will meet their 9 siblings, their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, their cousins and they will know the LOVE of a forever family!
I cannot wait to meet these sweet boys someday (hopefully soon)
(I will share pictures later once I get permission from their mommy!)