MOC-FV coach waiting on adoption word
By Terry Hersom Journal sports editor | Posted: Thursday, March 16, 2006
DES MOINES -- The call could come at any time and Loren DeJong will have to drop everything.
DeJong is just thankful it didn't happen while his MOC-Floyd Valley basketball team was playing in another state tournament.
The defending Class 3A state champs reached the tourney semifinals with a dramatic 65-62 win Wednesday over Cedar Rapids Xavier. They'll face Grinnell at 8:15 tonight.
Meanwhile, DeJong and his wife, Patt, are basically on-call, awaiting word on when they can take the next step in their bid to adopt two orphaned children from Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
The couple traveled to Siberia in January to interview with various officials whose approval is necessary to complete the process.
"The next time, we'll have to appear before a judge,'' said DeJong. "Then, hopefully, they'll be able to come back with us. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that's how it works, I guess.''
The DeJongs are adopting an 11-year-old girl named Irina and her 7-year-old brother, Roman. The Russian youngsters join a family with a daughter, Kim, a ninth-grader, and two sons, Derrick, 22, and Dale, the senior point guard on his father's team.
"We got the idea in October of 2004,'' said Loren DeJong. "We were at a Lifelight Concert in Sioux Falls. It's a huge Christian music concert.
"A 40-year-old performer, Stephen Curtis Chapman, was talking about adopting children. It's just something the Lord has led us to. We've prayed a lot about this.''
DeJong and his wife missed MOC-Floyd Valley's January game with arch-rival Sioux Center while they traveled to Moscow, then made the five-hour plan trip east of Moscow to Krasnoyarsk.
"It was 37 below zero when we got there,'' he said.
Bethany Christian Services of Orange City is handling the adoption process.
DeJong is just thankful it didn't happen while his MOC-Floyd Valley basketball team was playing in another state tournament.
The defending Class 3A state champs reached the tourney semifinals with a dramatic 65-62 win Wednesday over Cedar Rapids Xavier. They'll face Grinnell at 8:15 tonight.
Meanwhile, DeJong and his wife, Patt, are basically on-call, awaiting word on when they can take the next step in their bid to adopt two orphaned children from Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
The couple traveled to Siberia in January to interview with various officials whose approval is necessary to complete the process.
"The next time, we'll have to appear before a judge,'' said DeJong. "Then, hopefully, they'll be able to come back with us. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that's how it works, I guess.''
The DeJongs are adopting an 11-year-old girl named Irina and her 7-year-old brother, Roman. The Russian youngsters join a family with a daughter, Kim, a ninth-grader, and two sons, Derrick, 22, and Dale, the senior point guard on his father's team.
"We got the idea in October of 2004,'' said Loren DeJong. "We were at a Lifelight Concert in Sioux Falls. It's a huge Christian music concert.
"A 40-year-old performer, Stephen Curtis Chapman, was talking about adopting children. It's just something the Lord has led us to. We've prayed a lot about this.''
DeJong and his wife missed MOC-Floyd Valley's January game with arch-rival Sioux Center while they traveled to Moscow, then made the five-hour plan trip east of Moscow to Krasnoyarsk.
"It was 37 below zero when we got there,'' he said.
Bethany Christian Services of Orange City is handling the adoption process.
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