Our Story

Both, Sergey and I were raised in Ukraine. Sergey moved to US when he was 18 years old and I moved from Ukraine to the United States when I was 15 years old.

God was working on our hearts way before marriage.  Before we met, Sergey was involved with a program that did sponsored orphans; he was helping financially an orphan in the Ukraine, paying for his food, clothing, education and etc. He always had a heart for orphans, but never considered adoption.

When I (Tatyana) was still a young girl God started to prepare my heart for adoption. When I was 12-14 years old, and still living back in Ukraine. I remember seeing one family in our town, they had 12 adopted children. I remember walking by their house, and thinking “it would be awesome, if someday I will have a chance to adopt”. Also we had an orphanage close to our home, and I remember walking by and watching children behind the gates, it impacted my life a lot, and I still remember their sad, lonely, and teary eyes. After permanently moving to United States in 1999, I had an opportunity to go back to Ukraine for a missionary trip. In 2005, I was presented with an opportunity, a missionary trip to Ukraine. Our group was privileged to visit few orphanages.

When Sergey and I got married in 2006, we wanted to have 2-4 kids (didn’t talk about adopting before marriage). We think that God had a good laugh when he heard us. J  It was our plans but not His!

After having our first biological son in January 2008 something changed in my (Tatyana) heart. I started to view the less fortunate differently, especially orphans. I started to research and read about orphans. I was meditating on the thought how many children in this world don’t have what my son has. Orphans will never experience or have a mom and a dad. They will miss out on love, gentle touch, family, peace and security. I was thinking about how much love we have, and how nice it would be if we can share it with another child. This child who doesn’t have what our son has. When I shared my thoughts with Sergey, he just wasn't ready to say yes, and take on this huge responsibility. He never said no, but he told me that there is other ways to support and help orphans. If God really wants us to adopt, then God will have to clearly show a sign. There were many prayers on our side, and God been with us and showed us many personal signs. God was working on our hearts, and when our firstborn turned one, we started our first adoption process.  In 2009, God opened our eyes to the orphan crisis; our family started a lifelong adventure, called adoption.

Daniel J. was born in February 2002, became our son on December 19, 2009, he was our first adopted son. This was our first adoption, and this one was out of birth order. While preparing our adoption paperwork for our first adoption, we got pregnant in the middle of the process. I was 5 month pregnant by the time we had our SDA appointment in Ukraine.

Our first biological son was almost 2 at that time. Also I was 6 month pregnant with our baby girl when we brought 7 year old Daniel J into our family.

In June 2012 we brought home two more boys, 10 years old and 7 years old (were hoping for a girl but God had His plan). Our first adopted son was 11 at the time, our firstborn was 4 and our baby girl was 2 years old.

In January 2013, we heard about two boys who needed a family. They were adopted in November 2012, by older couple, and parents decided to disrupt their adoption. Their first family is amazing, and they tried to do everything and anything to make it work, but sometimes things just don’t happened the way we plan. We took these boys in as a respite care, and later just couldn't let them go. These boys were 5 and 8 years old at the time of placing.

Now we are in the process of adopting 12 year old girl (she will be 13 in October 2015).

We have a huge heart for orphans, and would love to help as more as possible. We just know that need is great. We are thankful to our God for letting us understand and see the orphan crisis all over the world, and it was amazing to feel such a strong and unexpected calling!