Christoffersons? Whatcha doin'?

When we last joined our heroes they were bidding a sad (but slightly relieved) farewell to the two foster girls they had loved and cared for going on 9 months. The two girls had, against all projected odds, gone home to mom. This is a good thing, really, because kids really do need their families. However, adopting domestically had been more difficult then first thought. This was the second time the fost/ adopt children had left and it was getting old. Yet, this is were their heart was leading them and they would continue until Jesus or County Social Services stopped them.

But first, a well deserved break was in order. These last two were a handful! A little time to do some laundry, read a novel and repair damages.
Josh and Ransom (ages 25 and 21 respectively) liked having a little time to spend with their folks while in a somewhat sane state of mind (the folks). Camping with only the sound of the woods, playing questionable video games and wrangling dad for a little evening of MST3000 were difficult if not impossible with a 7 and 3 year old hanging around.

But life moves on and boredom sets in. When Ransom moved out, I started to wonder what I wanted to be when I grew up. I've always been committed to being a stay at home mom. Partly because my own mom couldn't, partly because I'm just not high energy enough to work and do a family at the same time (if I had the choice, which I do). I was wide open for celestial suggestion of the God variety.
Early in '05 I read an article on the terrible need for foster and adoptive families in America.

(Little did we know how awful it is to deal with government agencies with too much power. So many good-hearted adoptive parents have been heartbroken here in this very county by the agencies that say they are out for the good of the children. It can be just as frustrating to adopt children here as overseas. Cheaper yes, but not fun. )

The term "family-less child" tore my heart out. Still does. It didn't take long to convince Rolan, my soft-hearted, compassionate , gentle husband, that we were meant to adopt the girls he had always longer for. We called our local social services, jumped through all the hoops and feminized the two bedrooms that had been masculine since we had moved into the house years before. By May, we were ready. Finally, in December, we got a call. A sweet, quiet little girl needed a possible permanent home. Would we take her?
Little Lily moved out 6 months later to live with cousins.

Ukraine
So how did it come to this?

The last set of girls moved home in late August. By November we were ready to get moving again. Rolan had turned 50 and we knew our child rearing years were numbered.
I heard through a friend that there is a group in our area that hosts orphan Ukrainian kids for a couple of weeks to give them a good time and make people aware of their incredible needs. They needed people to help drive, feed, entertain and generally hob-nob with these kids. So what am I doing? (Nothing.) I volunteered to help pick them up from the airport and transport them to their host families. I knew all I needed to do was get Rolan in the general area and he would lob onto them like silly putty in the carpet. . .