Cali Pics

Well, we've been back from our trip to California for a little over a week now. We had a great time with the friends and family we visited while we were there. It was wonderful to introduce Sam to so many of his extended family, including his fourth great-grandma. Even though he doesn't understand the idea of family yet, I know that having so many people love on him is good for his soul.

These are our dear friends who work for The Navigators in Riverside. The last time we were all together, none of us had these beautiful children. It was fun to meet Silas and Noelle (and see their parents too!). It was a blessing to spend a couple days with these friends.

We got to celebrate Halloween with some of Ben's cousins and their kids. The older kids were so excited about their candy that they didn't always wait for Sam to keep up, but he had a great time walking up to the door, choosing a piece of candy, and then signing thank you to the people. I was very proud of him! I was also shocked that he kept his costume on all night--including the hat.
Our adorable little lion cub. The only animal sound he does is a dog barking, so we had a barking lion!

The original reason for our trip to California was for Ben's cousin's wedding. Sam was a little too rambunctious to sit through the ceremony, so I sat in the nursery with him. I was able to hear the whole thing through the sound system, and that was nice. After the ceremony, we went out for family pictures. Whew. That was an adventure. What kid likes to stand around all dressed up and not be able to run around? We were able to get a great family picture though. I haven't seen the big group shots yet. With four kids five and under, I'm guessing there's not going to be a "perfect" one!

We recently had a social worker visit our family to complete our six-month post-placement report. Her two-page report, along with eight photos we chose, will be sent to Russia to give them an update on how Sam is doing. Today we have been home from Russia for five months. (The report has to be IN Russia at the six-month mark, so it gets done a little early.) It's amazing to look back on pictures and see how much Sam has grown and changed. We can't believe all that he has learned, and how much we have all grown to love each other. We love being a family, and look forward to the fun adventures ahead. This will be our first holiday season as parents, and I can't wait to start some family traditions for us!

The surgeries are over!

Well, I was just spending a little time reading some other blogs, and realized it's high time for me to update our blog again. Someday I really do hope to get the hang of doing this more often. Otherwise, people are going to quit stopping by to read it!

Sam had his follow-up surgery last Friday. They went in to remove his stent, and then circumcised him. This was mainly to prevent further urinary tract infections, though we were happy to have it done. He was under anesthesia for about 45 minutes. We had been warned that he would be really cranky and in a lot of pain when he came home, but we were shocked to discover that was not the case! He did sleep for about an hour in the hospital before we were released, and also on the whole car ride home from Jax. But then he got home and was playing pretty normally, in his regular happy mood. Amazing! All weekend, the only time he cried was during diaper changes. And now that's down to just a little whimper, so things are looking great. He'll have another ultrasound in a month, and then another three months later. If all looks good, then we are in the clear! Can't wait for that report!

Since Sam's first surgery (almost a month ago), his Papa and Dandie (Ben's dad and stepmom) have visited for a weekend, his uncle Packy and aunt Christina (Ben's brother and his wife) have visited for a weekend, and Sam and I have flown to Minnesota to visit my parents, my brother and his wife, and their son. Whew! That is a lot of visitors and traveling to squeeze into one month--not to mention in between two surgeries!

He enjoys seeing family (though he doesn't get who they are yet, obviously), and loves to be with people who play with him and give him attention. He had a ball with his cousin Isaac in Minnesota. Sam is just two months older than him, but they are almost the same size. They had fun running around together, taking baths, going for a wagon ride with Grandpa, and picking apples in the orchard. I'm looking forward to them seeing each other again right after Christmas.

This is the first meeting of the cousins--at my brother's house in South Dakota.

You can't beat bath time! (Note: Sam fell off the bed right before we left on this trip, so he spent the whole time with a huge scab under his nose. Which he kept picking on. Fun, fun.)

Clues that this wasn't taken in Florida: Sam is wearing a jacket and a warm hat, Emily (my sister-in-law) is wearing a fleece vest, and I am wearing a hoodie under my jean jacket. You can't beat the Midwest for an apple orchard/pumpkin patch outing! It's just not the same in shorts and flip flops.

They LOVED being pulled around by Grandpa in the wagon. (And he loved it too!)

The best part of my trip? As soon as we landed in Gainesville and Sam saw Ben, his eyes lit up and he wanted Daddy to pick him up. After six days of being gone, Ben and I were worried that he might not remember him, or it might take awhile for him to warm up again. Our hearts were thrilled that this was not the case at all. Thank you, Jesus!

We have a big family trip to California in a couple weeks for Ben's cousin's wedding. So I hope to post pics more quickly. We'll see how that goes!

We're home!

I apologize that we haven't been able to update our blog this week. We were able to get online in the hospital, but weren't able to access sites like our blog or facebook. So thanks to those of you that were faithfully praying and hearing no news from us.

As you can tell by the title of this post, we are indeed back home from the hospital. Sam's surgery took place on Monday morning and lasted about four hours. The surgeon said all went as expected, and it looked good. All day and night on Monday, Sam was pretty out of it. He just laid in his crib and slept. He was in obvious pain, so that was hard to watch as a parent. But the doctors and nurses took great care of him.

Yesterday he was finally able to drink and eat, which was nice. He didn't have much of an appetite, but was happy to be able to drink apple juice again. And by yesterday afternoon, he was sitting up in bed, laughing, smiling, and playing with us. We both got a much better night's sleep in the hospital last night.

His catheter was removed this morning, and once he kept his breakfast down and had two wet diapers, we were able to check out! We got home at lunch, and Sam was able to take his afternoon nap in his own crib. (Ben and I napped on the couches at the same time!)

We still haven't scheduled the follow-up surgery to have his stent removed, but that should happen in early October. Right now Sam is having a little trouble bending over to pick things up from the ground. I'm sure that's a combination of the stent and the incision hurting. But he seems pretty back to normal in every other way. Praise God for His faithfulness in caring for our son during this major surgery!

Brief pre-surgery update

I am writing this from our hotel room in Jacksonville. We are praising God that Sam has been feeling better, and it looks like surgery will happen tomorrow. On Thursday, we finally discovered that his fevers and illness were not from his vaccinations, but from a bad UTI he had! So, we got him started on antibiotics, and that has made a world of difference.

The surgeon said that as long as his fevers went down and stayed down through the weekend the surgery should be able to proceed as planned. Praise God for making that happen! There is still a chance that once they open him up tomorrow they will see too much irritation and inflammation and have to close him up and postpone the surgery anyway. But we are praying that that won't happen, of course.

Tomorrow morning, we'll check in at the hospital at 6:15, and his surgery is scheduled to start at 7:30. It should last for four hours, and he'll have two amazing surgeons working on him. If we can get internet at the hospital, we will do our best to update the blog when we get updates from the nurses. If not, Ben hopes to update tomorrow night when he gets back to the home where he's staying in Jacksonville. We look forward to sharing the good news with you.

For those who read this on Sunday, we'd appreciate your prayers for all three of us to sleep well tonight. It's always harder to sleep in a strange place, and I know my mind will be racing and imagining what may or may not happen tomorrow. Ben and I said at dinner tonight that we are glad Sam doesn't know what's happening tomorrow, so he'll still get a good night's sleep!

We are continuing to trust in God's perfect timing for this surgery, and for Him to heal our precious Sam. We know that even as he is in the surgeons' hands tomorrow, he is ultimately in his Heavenly Father's hands, and that is the best possible place for him to be. We know the Great Physician, and He is worthy of our trust and praise. Thank you all for upholding us in prayer during the days ahead.

If I keep waiting for pictures, I'll never post...

***Update*** It's now Wednesday the 10th. Just wanted to give you all another brief update. At the pediatrician's visit I mentioned below, Sam got two immunization shots. He didn't get any in Russia, so he is behind, and we are working to catch up. Well, it appears that he is having a reaction to them. On Tuesday morning during music class, all of a sudden he got really still and quiet (after having fun and playing just moments before). I started comforting him, and noticed he had goosebumps. And then he started totally shaking. Scary. So I got up and left class (Shannon and Asher came with me). We went straight to the doctor. He had a 103 fever and threw up in the office. Wow. Since then, he's continued to have a high fever, which we're trying to control with medicine. In between the spikes he seems to feel pretty good and is smiling and laughing. But when the fever returns, he just wants to rest on my shoulder. Thankfully he hasn't thrown up again today (after 4 times yesterday), but his fever was 104 at noon today. If it's still high tomorrow, we'll go back to the doctor. Our biggest concern (other than Sam getting well!) is surgery. It's possible we'll have to postpone it if the fever doesn't get better very quickly. We'd appreciate your prayers for God to heal Sam from this fever now, and that we'd still be able to proceed with surgery as planned on Monday.

**Original post*** OK, so the last time I posted was over a month ago. And I promised to try to post more often in that post. Hmmm. Guess that didn't really happen. I realized that the main problem is that I always want to include pictures. But they are on the camera. And the idea of downloading pictures, organizing them in the correct files on the computer, and then adding them to a post just seems overwhelming most days. So I don't post at all. Tonight I finally realized that an update with no pictures would be better than nothing at all!

Sam has been asleep for a couple hours now, and Ben and I have been working frantically to catch up on the things we can't do when he's awake--anything related to paperwork, email, or the computer in general. He wants to be a part of whatever we're doing, so I just have to leave the office door closed all day. I guess our nights of relaxing and watching a movie are going to have to wait a few more years. But it's worth it for sure.

Sam turned 15 months old on Saturday. It's hard to believe. We just went to the pediatrician today and she is really encouraged about his growth and his progress in general. He is eating pretty well and is growing and staying consistent with his growth chart, so that's great news. He doesn't really like to eat any veggies, but that's not stopping his growth so far, so I'm glad about that.

I'm trying to remember what else has happened in the last month...it's kind of a blur! Classes have started again at UF, so we are still getting used to our new schedule as a family. Ben is doing a fantastic job at scheduling a block of time each day to be home with Sam. I know it's hard when he takes the bus back and forth to campus, but I'm sure it's worth it when he sees his little boy run to the door with a huge smile on his face to welcome him home.

I only spend one morning on campus each week, which is a big change for me. I take Sam to a music class on Tuesday mornings, and he really loves it. "Music" was one of the first signs he learned, and he asks for music to be playing in the house most of the day. The class is a little longer than his attention span, but he does enjoy the dancing, rhythm sticks, and other things we do. I'm sure the older he gets, the more he'll get into it. We go to class with my friend Shannon and her son Asher, so that's a fun part of class time as well.

Sam is continuing to add more signs to his vocabulary. He just added "please" this week, so now we are finally able to work on his manners! He also "barks" like a dog whenever he sees a dog in a book, in person, or hears one outside. It's pretty comical, actually. Lately, when I'm in the store with him, he'll start barking and I have to look all around to find the small picture of a dog that he spotted from across the store. It makes me smile, and I always wonder what the other shoppers are thinking!

Mostly, we are just head-over-heels in love with our son and grateful to God for bringing him into our family. Next Monday is his big surgery in Jacksonville. We'll be there for a few days as he recovers. I'm hoping to have Ben post on the blog (he's staying with some friends in Jax) to let you all know how it goes. Thanks for your prayers.

Here's hoping my next post (with or without pictures--but hopefully with) will be in less than a month!

Officially ours for two months today

Two months ago today, we were standing in a courtroom halfway around the world when a judge made a decision that would change our lives forever. She declared us to be the parents of our son! It's amazing to think that two months have already flown by since then. As my faithful readers (I'm grateful for you all!) are painfully aware, I have not updated this blog in almost a month. It's hard for me to believe. Then again, I rarely have a moment to myself! Now that I am on this side of mommyhood, I am amazed that any of you moms are able to update blogs with regularity. This is a very impressive feat, and not one that I am sure I will be able to live up to. But I am hoping to get better!

In general, things are going REALLY well with our family. We are thankful and blessed beyond words. We feel like attachment is definitely happening. Even when we're in groups of people, Sam never reaches for anyone else to pick him up but the two of us. And when he wanders around exploring, he is constantly looking back to make sure we're still there. Often when I'm holding him and he meets someone new, he'll give them a big smile, and then turn his head away from them and bury it into my shoulder. I am told that these are all great signs of attachment, and it does seem that way to us. We're going to continue to be cautious for the next several months, and then we'll reevaluate our plans later this fall. The line of people waiting to hold this boy is very long! :-)

Sam is a joy to parent. He is so much fun and loves life. He is always smiling and laughing. Today he spent a couple hours just exploring and playing in the kitchen. He is able to play a little more independently once in a while, and it's a nice time for me to be able to get a few things done too.

Since I last posted, Sam has met all of his grandparents, one set of great-grandparents, and an aunt and uncle. We are looking forward to introducing him to the rest his extended family, though of course he won't remember any of it. But we will have pictures to document it all!

In looking back at my older posts, I realized I never updated Sam's medical plans. He has surgery scheduled for September 15 in Jacksonville. It will be an open abdomen surgery, and will take 3-4 hours. That is a long time for my baby to be under anesthesia! He'll be in the hospital for 3 days (they think) and I'll be able to stay in the room with him the whole time. Ben will stay with the parents of one our students in Jax, and will be with us every day in the hospital. As part of his surgery, he'll get a stent put in one of his ureters to help it heal properly. Then, we'll go back to the hospital three weeks later to have it removed. It will be a rough several weeks in our family. We'd appreciate your prayers, and I promise to keep you all more updated.

A few other tidbits about life with Sam: He is using 15 signs consistently now, which is so fun. He loves to communicate and tell us when he sees lights and fans. He is getting three molars in (at the same time!), so sleep has been a little rough. But otherwise, he had been sleeping about 12 1/2 hours through the night. We are loving that when it happens. He has progressed from walking to running, and doesn't slow down for a moment. Today he figured out how to climb up onto the kitchen chairs, and tried to get up on the table. We have a little monkey on our hands for sure!

This post is getting long, which is my fault for waiting a month! But I want to share a few pictures before I go. You'll notice the creative shots with the grandparents, since they can't hold him yet!

With Grandpa and Grandma Anderson at our house (Sam is sitting on our car)

With Dandie and Papa Nugent in Atlanta (can you see Ben's hands holding him in the chair?!)

With Nana Nugent at Uncle Packy's wedding in Jamaica

Family picture in Jamaica

He LOVES to play with my Swiffer. Now if I can just figure out how to get him to actually clean with it...

Superman time with Daddy

Climbing under the chair, right before he figured out how to climb on top of it!

13 Months Old!

In honor of Sam turning 13 months old today, I thought I'd finally post a few more pictures. It's amazing how hard it is for me to find a few minutes during the day to sit down and do this! :-)

He's not always this happy at mealtime...I just had to show off his "battle scars" from his fall out by the pool. (Don't worry Grandmas, he's all better already!)

At a Fourth of July parade--in honor of our new little American citizen!

After overcoming his intense fear of the water, we now have a little fish on our hands! Here is Sam swimming with his buddy Asher.

I couldn't resist this bathtime shot. This is one of those pics he'll kill me for when he's a teenager. :-)
Another one of our bathtime fun.
In the pool with Daddy. He's enjoying himself more than his face is showing.
Getting ready for bed in my favorite monkey jammies. We actually call him our little monkey because he loves to climb all over the place!
Another shot with Asher, and his daddy Derick.
13 months old today! I'm a sucker for that smile!

I appreciate all of you who take the time to stop by and catch up on what's happening with our family. I hope each of you gets to meet Sam sometime soon!

I love...

*rocking with my son while he's drinking his bottle and looking deep into his dark brown eyes.

*the way his little legs are crossed at his ankles when we're rocking. It's adorable!

*listening to him crack himself up over something and start giggling with his contagious laugh.

*that he loves to be held by Ben and me. All the time. I try to remember this is a *good* thing for attachment, and have learned to do dishes, vacuum, cook, and eat one-handed. It's amazing how quickly you can adapt when you need to!

*watching him learn new things every day. He waves hi and bye-bye, and is signing "all done" and "more." It's so fun to communicate with him!

*that he has grown from an intense fear of the water to loving bath time and swimming with Daddy.

*that when he's not feeling good, I'm the one who gets to console him, rather than a nurse halfway around the world.

*how his little face lights up and he screams with glee whenever Daddy gets home.

*watching my husband transform into an amazing Daddy before my eyes.

*being a mom!

Friday update

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for Sam. He is doing so much better! His fever finally broke on Wednesday night, and he is back to his happy, cheerful self. We are happy to have our healthy little guy back to normal for now.

A few medical updates for those of you who have been wondering:

*We saw the cardiologist today. He listened to Sam's heart and did an EKG. He said his heart is completely normal and he doesn't see anything to be concerned about! Thank you Jesus for taking care of this part of our son's medical journey. We learned today that murmur just means "noise" so a heart murmur is just a noise the heart makes when the blood flows through it. It's not a bad thing (at least in Sam's case). We're going to do a follow-up appointment when he's two and might do an echo cardiogram at that time just to be thorough, but the doc said there was no reason to do it now. I'm sure Sam's glad about that!

*We have an appointment scheduled with our doc in Jax for next Wednesday. We'll bring the test results from Tuesday with us, and hopefully he'll be able to clearly explain to us what's wrong and the next steps ahead. It will be so helpful to have the complete picture.

*In my last post, I was wrong about one of the tests Sam is getting next week. He is getting an ultrasound and a DMSA (not an RNC). This is basically a renal scan. The bummer is that he'll need to be still for 40 minutes to an hours. A one year old? Are they kidding? I'm going to call and see if they have any sedation options or anything. It seems highly unlikely that he could do that on his own.

I promise to post more pics in my next post. Sam and Daddy were going to go swimming today, but it just started raining. Hopefully tomorrow. Woo-hoo!

Update on Sam's medical condition

I have so much that I want to update you all on since we got home with Sam--including posting many more pictures. But by the time he's asleep for the night, I barely have enough energy to get to bed myself! Hopefully I'll be able to get more pics up during his nap one of these days.

I know many of you have been praying for Sam's medical condition, and so I wanted to give you an update so you could join us in prayer for his little body. We saw a pediatrician here in Gainesville the Monday after we got home (last week). She was wonderful and so encouraging and helpful as we were trying to figure things out. She agreed that we needed to see a urologist, as well as a kidney doc and a cardiologist (He has a small heart murmur--no big deal at all, but we just want to be sure it's OK. We see that doc this Friday.).

So, I called the pediatric urologist at the clinic in Jacksonville (there are none in Gainesville) and was told their first available appointment was July 29. What?! I explained that this poor child has been catheterized for almost a year and desperately needs surgery. We could not wait that long. She was, unfortunately, not helpful. I called our pediatrician back, and she agreed to call the clinic. Friday night, I got a phone call from the triage nurse in Jax (That's short for Jacksonville for you non-Floridians :-)). She was so understanding and empathetic and said she had personally asked the doc for a favor and he was going to squeeze us between appointments on Monday! Praise God for such a quick answer to prayer.

So, we drove to Jax yesterday and found the doctor to be so kind, understanding, and helpful. He's the head of the pediatric urology department, which was wonderful. We gave him the translations of the medical info from Russia, as well as the x-rays they'd given us. He said based on this info, he agreed with their diagnosis. The short explanation is that he has a reflux of urine going back up from his bladder into his kidneys. He has something called VUR, which you can read more about here if you'd like to. He is still able to urinate, but some of the urine goes back up into the kidneys, then eventually comes back down into the bladder, and so on. I can understand how he had so many kidney and bladder infections now.

He said the info from Russia was helpful, but he'd like more recent test results. Because Sam was already catheterized, he thought he could pull a favor and get him in that same afternoon for one of the tests, called a VCUG. So amazing! I was with Sam during the test, and it was so hard. He was crying and screaming the WHOLE time. :-( They injected dye into his bladder through the catheter and then took x-rays of it as it got full. Then they removed the catheter and took pictures once he started to urinate. That was a great sight for this mommy! There are five grades of VUR, and the test showed that he appears to be grade four and/or five on both sides. So, this will require surgery to fix. (We were expecting that, but I think he was worried about how we'd react to the news.)

The doctor told us that they never catheterize infants for this condition at their clinic. They use other methods to control the symptoms, and then eventually do surgery if needed (which we know we will). So, he warned us that since the catheter had been removed, there was a good chance some bacteria would be "stirred up" and he'd get a fever. He wasn't kidding. It was up to 103 last night, and was just at 104 before I put him to bed tonight. Please pray that God will heal him and break this fever tonight. Otherwise, we're heading to the pediatrician tomorrow. He is sleeping fine and still happy, but obviously a little more chill and quiet than usual. He's a trooper. The doc said this is probably why they kept the catheter in in Russia--to avoid these continual infections. Makes sense to me--I'd love to be avoiding this one right now!

There are two more tests he needs that can be done here in Gainesville. One is similar to the VCUG he already had, but a different fluid is used. It's called an RNC. The other one is a renal (kidney) ultrasound. We were expecting to have to drive to Jax for all of the tests, so this is a huge blessing. Once we have those results (hopefully within a week), we'll bring them with us to Jax and meet with the doc there to discuss them and talk about surgery. We're hopeful that will be relatively soon.

So, that's the update. A summary of prayer requests: for this current fever to break, for the other two tests to be scheduled quickly, for clear steps to take next when discussing with the urologist, and for a quick surgery date. Thank you for walking beside us on behalf of our precious son!

Finally....pictures!

I decided to add a few pictures today, since I know you've been waiting to see them. I also posted below about our travels yesterday. Enjoy!

Visiting him again in the hospital the day before court. He had grown so much!

He loved playing with the stacking blocks we brought him.

Right after our successful court hearing: Ben with Julia (facilitator), Dmitri (translator), and the social worker from the hospital

Happy first birthday, Sam!

Gotcha Day! June 9, 2008. This is just after leaving the hospital.

At the hotel in Nizhny--he LOVES mirrors!

Chilling with Daddy in the hotel.

Family pictures at St. Basil's. Little did we know that Red Square would be closed on their Independence Day--we had to walk all the way around the back way to get this picture!

Sam's a U.S. citizen! I'm holding his Russian passport with his American visa stamped. This is the equivalent of a green card until we get his U.S. passport issued.

Eating breakfast with Daddy this morning.

Can't wait for Sam to meet you all!

Home Sweet Home!

We are home! It felt amazing to sleep in our own bed last night, and it was an unexplainable joy to put Sam to sleep in his own room! Since Monday, he's slept in a train, two different hotels, and an airplane bassinet. I'd say it's time for some stability.

Sam did great on the plane ride home. He only slept for about 3 hours of the almost-11-hour flight from Moscow, but he was a good passenger. He and I walked the aisles in the Ergo carrier (future adoptive parents take note: I could NOT have made it without that thing!). I'd love to know how many miles I walked in that plane. As long as I was moving, he was content to watch people and eventually fell asleep twice that way. I was able to transfer him to the bassinet in the bulkhead, and it worked great. We had the three middle seats, and it was easy to keep him playing on the floor or seat between us.

As soon as we touched down in Atlanta, Sam became an American citizen. Wahoo! Going through the immigration process was a breeze, and he did well, even though it was 12:30am Moscow time when we landed. By the time we got on the plane to Gainesville two hours later, he was starting to melt down. He survived the 45-minute flight, but was very antsy and super tired. He pretty much went right to bed when we got home.

We were greeted by wonderful "It's a boy" and "Welcome Home" banners and balloons when we got home. There was food for both us and Sam, and great cards from friends and family. What a blessing to not need to run to the store after such a long travel day.

Today has been good. Sam woke up several times during the night, but it's not surprising. While we are relieved to be home, it's just another new place to him. We're hoping it will feel comfortable to him very soon, and are working to get him on a schedule to help as well. He's down for his third nap of the day as I type.

Ben is doing well with the time change, but I'm exhausted. I'm hoping to sleep early tonight when Sam goes to bed, while Ben watches golf! Thanks for praying us home.

Gotcha Day and beyond

This afternoon I finally have a little time and the emotional capacity to type a brief update. Whew! We just got back from the American Embassy, where Sam's visa to enter the US was granted. It's printed and in his Russian passport, waiting to be stamped when we land in Atlanta. That's the last piece of paperwork we were waiting for--it's over! Now we'll see some Russian friends here tonight and tomorrow, and then get on the plane Friday morning.

On Monday morning (was that only two days ago?) we went to the hospital at 10am to pick Sam up. Of course, I barely slept at all the night before because I couldn't stop thinking and imagining. The previous Friday, I had asked to take a picture of Sam's room, and the head of the hospital said it wasn't a good idea. After we left, she felt bad, so they took some pictures of Sam with his doctors and nurses, and gave us the CD. I can't wait to see them and show them to him someday.

We had to sign a paper at the hospital saying that we understood his medical conditions, and that we were taking him home. And then, his doctor brought out a huge bag of things (one of those big Ikea bags, if you can picture it). In it was some clothing, a huge bag of diapers, diaper cream, baby food jars, a bottle, two boxes of cereal, a can of formula, and some medical supplies. Julia, our facilitator was shocked. She told us that in five years, she's never picked up a baby that got any supplies. They are always brought out naked and the parents are expected to dress the child in new clothes. Instead, we got to keep his Russian clothes and got all of these extra supplies. What a blessing. We think the doctors may have purchased some of it with their own money. You could tell they were super sad to see him go. We got the hospital email address, and promised to send some pictures and news of the surgery. So, that will be a good way to keep in touch.

And before we knew it, we were saying goodbye and walking out the door! Ben captured it on video, so we'll be able to show you leaving the hospital and entering the world as a family of three. After we got back to the hotel room, we fed him lunch and then went on a walk. We bundled him in our baby carrier (thanks Jenn!) and walked around to take pictures. Of course, he fell asleep, so he's sleeping in the pictures! The afternoon and evening got pretty long--just playing in the small hotel room. He finally fell asleep on the bed a little after 9. Then, at 10, we checked out of the hotel and left for the train station.

The train left at 10:45, but it was very noisy. The people in the car next to us were drinking, singing loudly, and smoking. Thankfully, once we turned out the lights and got him ready for bed, Sam pretty much went back to sleep quicky. But Ben and I didn't get much. :-( We arrived in Moscow a little after 6 am and checked into the hotel.

Our room wasn't ready, but they put us in a larger room for a few hours because of Sam. So he was able to sleep for about 3 hours. We wanted to nap, but couldn't use the bed, so we watched Heroes on their DVD player while he slept. We finally got into our room in the afternoon and played together. I was wiped out physically and emotionally by bedtime, so Ben put him to bed. He fell asleep at 8:30, and we were sleeping by 9! He woke up at 4:30, took some formula, and then slept until 10am! And that was after we turned on the lights and tried to get him up. He was so, so tired. It was a great night of sleep for all three of us.

Today the weather is a lot warmer, and it's been nice to be outside. We're hoping tomorrow will be too. He's been so good riding in cars, and waiting on our laps quietly, so we're hoping that is a good sign for the 11 hour plane ride coming up! I'll update again before we leave. Can't wait to get home soon!

Coming home Friday!

Over the weekend, our travel plans changed...we now get to come home on Friday! Julia called us on Saturday night to let us know that the agency had decided we could register Sam at the Russian consulate in the US, instead of doing it in Moscow. That means that we just have to get his visa in Moscow, which will be done on Wednesday. We're meeting some friends from Tver in Moscow on Thursday, and then we'll fly out Friday. I think this happened because Sam's doctors were worried about him being out of a doctor's care for so long. And because Thursday and Friday are holidays here, we'd have to wait over a long weekend just to go to the consulate on Monday. We'll save a ton of money on the hotel room and meals, and we are so excited to get home quickly and start adjusting to life together there.

We leave for the hosptial in just 30 minutes, and we're more excited and anxious than you can imagine! Thanks for your prayers for us. One specific request: We leave for our overnight train ride to Moscow tonight at 10:45pm (2:45pm Eastern). We have no idea what he'll think of it, or if he'll sleep at all. Please pray for a restful night for us and those in the cars next to us. Pray that he'll sleep well, and that we'll be able to help him calm down if needed. Can't wait to tell you all about Gotcha Day!

Happy birthday Sam!

It was fun to get to celebrate Sam's birthday with him at the hospital today! We had prayed from the time of our first visit with him that we'd get to be with him on his birthday, and God answered that prayer today. The head doctor at the hospital said they had a big party with the staff in his honor this morning, but they didn't let him have any cake. They aren't big on sweets for kids. :-)

We brought him a gift--a soft book and four soft Baby Einstein blocks. He enjoyed them, but it was even a little too much. He didn't really know how to play with them all. So I think we'll be brining out just one toy at a time from now on. And of course, he loved the gift bag and tissue paper just as much as the gifts!

I got to talk to his doctor and ask lots of questions about his routine, care, and other details. It was good to get this information. We found out that they are pretty worried about his long stay in Moscow with no doctor, and so we have the cell number of his doctor's daughter who lives in Moscow and speaks English. If we have any problems, we can call her and she can get in touch with her mom. That will be a comfort. Also found out today that I'm going to have to give him an antibiotic injection in his bottom each day while Ben holds him down. No fun, but the only other option was to pay a nurse to come to our hotel each day, and that didn't sound good either. So, when we pick him up on Monday, they'll show us what to do.

After our celebration, Julia took us to the store to get diapers, formula, cereal, and baby food. We also went to several drug stores, looking for all the medicines they want him to have. The only store that has our antibiotic is across town, so they are actually going to deliver it to our hotel later today. I'm impressed!

So, now we wait for two days until we can return to bring him home for good. We will enjoy the rest and some time to ourselves. Our DVD player is broken, so no movies for us. :-( But we may venture out and watch Indiana Jones on the big screen. Ben saw it in Colorado, so he can translate for me!

More updates once we get to Moscow--thanks for your prayers and congratulations!

It's official...he's our son forever!

We just returned from our court hearing, where the judge gave us a favorable pronouncement and also waived the 10-day waiting period. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! The morning started with some stress, however...

We arrived at the courthouse about an hour early to practice our speeches with our translator and get prepared for court. We went into the courtroom about 15 minutes early. A few minutes later, the judge came in from her office with her binder of our paperwork and called Julia (our faciliator) and Dimitry (our translator) over. She was pointing to several pages she had bookmarked, and it was clear she was upset. Julia looked worried, and she and Dimitry tried to explain something. But they didn't get much time to say anything before the judge left. They talked to each other for a moment, and then came over and told us there was a problem with our paperwork. On some of our forms, it said "America World Adoption Agency" and some of them said "Association" instead of Agency at the end. The judge said she couldn't be sure this was the same business. Julia said she had noticed this problem, but had been told it was just a formality and wouldn't be a big deal. Of course, we were super nervous. Both of us started praying like crazy, and I actually asked God to wake some of you up to pray. So, if anyone woke up in the middle of the night and prayed for us, you can blame me! :-) It was seriously the longest 15 minutes of my life, wondering if the judge would return and what she would say.

But, at 10:00, she came back in as if nothing had happened. And all went fine. The hearing lasted a little over an hour. Ben and I both had to introduce ourselves and tell our stories. This consisted of short answers to questions Julia had given us ahead of time. It really wasn't hard, and we were able to look down at our notes. After each of us spoke, the judge asked some follow-up questions. Sometimes they were the same as things we had already said. But, we answered every one. I got asked if my parents would love our son the same as their biological grandson, which I thought was interesting. I told them in their hearts they already had two grandsons and they loved them equally. Good job, Mom and Dad!

The social worker from the hospital also presented testimony about Samuel, and her observations of our time together during our first visit. She said very nice things about us as parents. Before we knew it, the judge left to make her decision, and then came in and changed our lives forever. She declared us the parents of Samuel, and waived the waiting period. We are officially parents forever!

Tomorrow we'll visit him for his birthday, and then we'll pick him up for good on Monday. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement. God is clearly answering them. We only made it through today by knowing that your prayers were giving us strength. I'll let you know how the birthday party goes tomorrow. :-)

We made it!

Thank you to all of you who are so faithfully following our journey and praying with us. I am happy to finally have time to update you on our trip! Our flight to Moscow was fine and we had no major troubles. There was a brief scare at the airport, where they couldn't get my tickets figured out, and told me we had to buy a roundtrip ticket for Sam (what?!), but it all got sorted out before we had to board the plane. On the long leg to Moscow, there was another adopting couple sitting behind us, as well as another family from our agency just a few rows back. So it was great to share stories and pictures with them.

We arrived in Moscow 12 hours before our train left for Nizhny. Our Moscow coordinator said the only hotel rooms that were available were $600 a night, so he arranged for us to stay with a host family. It worked out great! They had a room just for us, and we were able to take a good nap to make it until the train. The husband fixed us a delicious lunch and dinner, and we enjoyed talking with him. It was a great arrangement.

The train ride to Nizhny was great, and we were able to sleep most of the way. Before we knew it, we were back in our son's birthtown! We had time to shower, rest up and eat breakfast before meeting Julia for our trip to the hospital to see Sam. Once he came into the room, it felt like we had never left--except that he's grown and has more hair! We got to take him on a car ride with one of his nurses to go get his picture taken for his passport and visa. He did great in the car (sitting on my lap--no car seats here), and was mesmerized by everything around him. No car sickness, which was a nice surprise. :-) All in all, we got to spend over two hours playing and interacting with him. It was incredible. He warmed up after about 20 minutes, and he was making a lot of sounds this time. They told us he is saying "Baba" (grandma) "ma" and "pa" but we didn't hear any of those. He still has his bear, and plays our voices all the time. And he still has the photo album too. We are grateful!

We found out that his doctors want him to stay in the hospital as long as possible before we bring him home. So, Gotcha Day will be on Monday. We'll get to go see him on Friday for his birthday and celebrate with him there. But no visits all weekend. You can pray for our hearts, as we're sad about that. We took some video today, so that will have to get us through when we can't see him.

Our court hearing is Thursday at 10am (2am Eastern time). We'd appreciate your prayers before you go to bed on Wednesday night. Please pray for favor with the judge, and that she would waive the 10-day wait. Please also pray for us, as we prepare our speeches tonight--that we would remember everything we need to say, and that we answer questions well. We aren't nervous yet, but we know this is a very important hearing, and we want to be as prepared as possible.

I'll post when we get home from court and tell you how it went. And we look forward to posting some video when we get back to the States. Thanks for all of your prayers and for posting your comments--you are getting us through! We love you all.

Last night at home as a family of two

It's been a crazy weekend. Yesterday we ran a bunch of errands, and today has been mostly packing and trying to rest at home. But of course, we ended up with a few errands today as well. Tonight we've been watching some TV and trying to enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet. We feel prepared for the trip tomorrow, and can't think of anything else we need to do. It's a great feeling.

I recently got an email from a friend that said it's a strange feeling to leave your house, knowing that the next time you come home your family will be different. That really struck me as true. I can't imagine how I will feel when we leave the house tomorrow morning, but I am really trying to remember how I'm feeling. The next time we walk into our house, we'll be a family of three.

This month, Ben and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage. We are so thankful for God's blessings in our lives, and for all of the amazing memories we have together. Now we are ready to add another member to our family, and to begin making new memories together. We know it will be a huge adjustment, and there will be plenty of hard times, but this is something we have asked God for for years. So we are ready for the change (as ready as we can be)!

We would greatly appreciate your prayers during the next couple weeks: for safe travels by plane, train, and taxi, for great visits with Sam this week, for a smooth and easy court date, for a quick turnaround on his paperwork and Gotcha Day on Friday, and for a fun week in Moscow together. We'll try to update the blog as we are able. Thank you all for standing with us here in the States. We love you!

It's official...we leave on Monday!

Last night, we traveled home from Colorado. Because of a major miscommunication from Delta, we didn't get on our flight out of Denver, and had to stay in the airport an extra 7 hours to catch the next flight. We arrived in Florida at 5am, and got back to Gainesville at 7am. We slept for a few short hours and then started our day.

We had a lot to do to catch up on being gone, but everything suddenly changed when I saw the FedEx truck pull up in our driveway! He delivered our passports, complete with Russian adoption visas. Praise God!

I immediately scanned them and emailed them to our agency. We got the word that they looked good and we could book our tickets. I already had them on hold, so it was easy to finish processing them. We fly out of Gainesville on Monday at noon. Incredible! I've been holding my breath for quite awhile, waiting for the details to come together. And God answered each prayer with days to spare. Thank you Lord!

Here are some recent clear answers to prayer:
*We received the adoption visas we needed, including the letter of invitation from the Ministry of Education in Niznhy
*We had enough frequent flier miles for our tickets
*We were able to book tickets in and out of Gainesville, which will be an amazing blessing on our trip home with Sam
*Friends have continued to give generously toward our adoption expenses in the last several weeks

Thank you all for your specific prayers for our family. God is so good!

Almost there...

We have been in Colorado for the last week and a half, so I apologize for my lack of updates. While I have a moment, I wanted to quickly let you know what's been happening.

Last week, we finally got the go-ahead to mail in our passports and apply for our visas. We received the letter of invitation that we needed from the Ministry of Education, and that was a big answer to prayer! So we filled out our visa applications and mailed everything in from the road.

The agency helping us with our visas forwarded everything on to the consulate in California. We are still waiting to hear if they will grant our request for adoption visas. (Of course, it's a holiday weekend!) Until we know for sure, we have been advised to hold off on buying our plane tickets. But it seems like everyone involved believes we will get the visas.

Hopefully we'll hear something new tomorrow. Of course, we'll be spending much of the day in airports and on planes. Our hope is to hear definite news tomorrow and then book our plane tickets on Wednesday. I have confidence that God will not be late in answering our prayers, but He might choose to be very last-minute! 

It's amazing to think that a week from today we will be in the air on the way to see our son again and bring him home forever!

Visa update--still in progress

We just received an email from our family coordinator with the latest news on our visa situation. Things are moving ahead and we are very encouraged by this news! We were able to obtain the letter we needed from the Ministry of Education in Nizhny, which allows us to apply for an adoption visa. We weren't sure if they would be willing to write this letter on our behalf, but they did. Praise God for moving this mountain for us!

The letter is now at the travel agency that processes visas for our adoption agency. They were very professional and helpful for the visas on our first trip. They are in contact with the Russian consulate, and we are waiting for the consulate's response as to whether or not we can obtain the adoption visas. I don't know how long they expect this to take, but of course we are hoping it will be early next week! Please pray that God will move this last mountain for us--to His glory.

And here's a cool God story to finish off the post. Yesterday, we flew from Florida to Colorado. We ate lunch in Atlanta on our layover. An older couple next to us started some small talk with us and a guy on the other side of them. Ben and I went back to eating, but Ben heard the couple say they were on their way to Russia for a cruise. The guy at the other table said he and his wife were on their way to Russia too. I had been tuning them out until I heard him say, "Niznhy Novgorod...it's the third largest city in Russia." I heard those words as if he had screamed them! I leaned over and said, "Excuse me, did you just say Nizhny Novgorod?" He said yes, his wife was from there and he was going over to meet her extended family. I couldn't believe it! We talked a bit, and then met his wife when she returned to the table. I told Ben it was a hug from God to my heart. It just confirmed that He is making a way for us, and I am confident that this visa situation will be resolved very soon. Thanks for your prayers!

*I also posted shower pictures earlier today, so check out the post below if you haven't looked yet. :-)

Showers of blessings

I've been meaning to write about our baby showers for awhile now, and I finally have the time to sit down and do it. Thanks for your patience--I know some of you have been asking for these!

My first shower was on April 12 in Gainesville. It was planned by my good friend Melissa Teten, along with the help of many of our Nav students and friends from our family group at church. After years of attending baby showers, it was a little hard to believe that this was actually for me and our son! I got to spend some time sharing our adoption journey story and a few pictures from our first trip to Russia. Then several women spent time praying for our family (pictured below). It was a treasured memory.
They used a clothesline to hang up the adorable clothes Sam received at the shower. Some of them are pictured behind me. He is a blessed kid already!


The next weekend, I flew to Fort Collins for two more showers. Ben's dad had an extra plane ticket for me to use, which made the trip possible. On Saturday morning, there was a shower hosted by my amazing girlfriends from our small group at church. They are all moms of two or three, and I have much to learn from their wisdom about godly parenting. I am so thankful for their friendship. They are pictured below. Back row: Jenn, Nicole, Shelley. Front row: Becca, Kelly, me. Love you girls!


These are the amazing table decorations, from the creative mind of my friend Jenn. (Don't you think she should start a party planning business?!) She used the colors from the Russian flag, but did a great job of making it feel like a little boy shower, and not like the Fourth of July. :-) The favor bags had cute S's (for Sam!) on them, and were filled with candy bars that had prayer requests regarding our adoption on them. We could never have made it through this journey without so many prayers surrounding us. The food was delicious, and Sam got many more wonderful gifts.
The next afternoon, I had a shower with women who were (or still are) connected with the CSU Navs while we were there. It was so fun to celebrate with our former students and staff friends! One of them commented that this group of women never really gets together anymore, so I was glad we had an excuse to come together and catch up. There were moms and expectant moms in the room, and it's fun to be sharing this journey to motherhood with them. We also did a clothesline of Sam's outfits at this shower, which is pictured below. This kid is going to be so well dressed!

I'm grateful to each friend that took the time to come celebrate Sam's arrival into our family with me, and for all of the women that spent time planning, preparing, and pulling together these amazing events. Ben and I are blessed by your love, encouragement, generosity, and faithful prayers for our family. Thank you for already loving our son so much!

I Got to Stand

I've been wanting to post since Mother's Day, but my mom was visiting. It was a wonderful blessing to have her here to celebrate Mother's Day, and she was so great in helping me run errands and prepare for our upcoming travel to Russia. Thanks Mom!

We went to church on Mother's Day this year for the first time in a few years. It had gotten too hard during the years of infertility. The hardest part was the time during the service when moms were asked to stand and be recognized. While I was always excited to recognize the moms in our circle of family and friends, it was hard to be one of the women in church who had to remain seated.

This year, we went to church with my mom. When they asked the moms and moms-to-be (I'm a little of both!) to stand and receive a carnation, I proudly stood next to my mom. It was a blessing to be able to think about my son in Russia while I waited for a child to bring me a flower, and to realize he'll be home and in my arms in just a little over a month.

But as I stood there, I also looked around and noticed the women who were still seated. I don't know their stories. I have no idea which women were single, which women aren't even trying to start a family yet, and whose hearts were broken by not being able to stand. But I said a quick prayer for them, and also asked God to keep my heart soft toward the women around me.

I am grateful for the churches around the country like my dad's church, who chose to give a flower to every woman as she exited the service--mom or not. I love the concept of celebrating all women on such an important day. On behalf of the hurting women in your congregations, I thank you.

Sam, I can't wait to celebrate Mother's Day with you next year! Thanks for making me a mom!

*Still no update on our wait for a visa invitation letter. Hoping to hear something soon!

Visa update/prayer request

We just got an email from our family coordinator. We have updated prayer requests regarding our visa situation, and would definitely appreciate your prayers.

As you may remember, we were hoping to travel on a business visa for this second trip. We actually purchased double-entry visas the last time, which would've allowed us to use them for both trips. However, our region is no longer allowing adoption travel on business visas. So, the visas we have won't work.

Our facilitator in Russia is working with the Ministry of Education in our region, asking them to write a letter which would allow us to obtain an adoption visa. Apparently they haven't been willing to write this letter in the past, but we think they might be willing now that there is no other way for families to travel. Would you please pray for favor in the eyes of the person who needs to write this letter for us?

We will then need to find a consulate that will accept this letter in order to issue our adoption visas. I'm not sure how many consulates there are, honestly. But would you please pray that once we have the letter (I'm trusting there will be one!) that we can find a consulate willing to issue us the visas we'll need?

Of course, all of this stalls our travel plans, as we can't purchase our airplane tickets unless we are sure we will be able to get visas. For those of you who don't get our email ministry prayer updates (just ask if you'd like to be added), we sent out a request last night asking for people with Delta miles who would be willing to donate them to our account. We have enough for one ticket, but needed 100,000 more for the second one. In less than an hour, we had more miles offered to us than we even need! Praise the Lord for His amazing provision.

I am confident that if God is able to get us a court date in time to see Sam on his birthday, and if He can provide more airline miles than we need, He can certainly work out this visa situation with no problem! The problem is me--wanting to book our tickets, and wanting a sense of certainty. But God is faithful and able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. (Eph. 3:20) Would you please ask and imagine on our behalf?

We have a court date!

The phone call we'd been waiting for finally came yesterday morning! After so much waiting, we were both starting to feel like we might never hear anything from Russia. Our paperwork arrived in NN on April 7, and we knew that it had to be translated and submitted to the court by the end of April because our judge is on vacation for the month of May. As the end of April approached, we both started to prepare for the possibility that we might not hear anything until after the judge's vacation.

We were in Tampa this week for some regional staff meetings (which, on a side note, were very refreshing for our souls). On Tuesday afternoon, I was walking near the water with a staff friend when my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, and it was from Virginia (where America World is located). My heart skipped a beat, and I told my friend it was our agency. We both got super excited, but it ended up being a call from the financial department. It was definitely an encouraging call about our fundraising, but not the call I'd been hoping for.

On Wednesday night, Ben and I realized that the end of April had arrived with no word from Russia. We talked it over, and realized that even though it would be hard to perhaps wait another month to hear anything, we were confident that God's timing would be perfect for our family.

The next morning (yesterday), as we were getting ready to head to the beach, my cell phone rang. I checked the caller ID. Virginia again. Could it be? I answered, and heard the voice of our family coordinator. I almost screamed, because I knew this was the call! She told me we had a court date, which I quickly told Ben. I'm sure our faces were priceless--how great is our God!

We will leave the US on June 2. Our court date is June 5, and after taking care of various legal paperwork and documents, we'll return to Gainesville as a family of three on June 17. Praise the Lord! We'll be able to be in Russia with Sam on his birthday, which was one of our specific requests. It's amazing to think that we're leaving one month from today. We appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this trip of a lifetime.

Second Post in One Day!

If you haven't read the post below this one, you definitely should. I wrote it this morning, and then realized I needed to post another update. So, it's two-for-one day, I guess. :-)

Because it's the prerogative of women (and mommies) to change their minds, I have completely re-done our nursery theme. I know I was really excited about it when I posted pictures before, but the longer it sat in the closet, the less I liked it. Maybe I just got caught up in the Ikea excitement while I was there, but it looked much cuter in the store than in my house. And then a couple of weeks ago, I found some stuff at Target that I totally fell in love with. For a few weeks, I went back and forth. I'd look at the new stuff online and in the store, and then look at my Ikea stuff. This week, I finally admitted to myself that I just needed to return the old bedding. (Ben, in his wisdom, said he knew this would happen from the moment I found the new bedding!)

So, now our nursery will be decorated in light blue, tan, and white instead of bright colors. (Much like the rest of my house. Guess I should stick with what I like.) I still like the zoo animals, and my friend has some great painting ideas. I know I'll like this better in the long run, and it will be easier to transition him into a "big boy" room someday if the walls are blue, as opposed to lime green. :-) So, sorry if I messed up any potential gifts out there. But I thought I'd post a picture of the new and improved nursery bedding:
It's called DwellStudio Zoo if you want to check out more pictures on the Target website. Thanks for putting up with my ever-changing mind as I wait for our son to come home!

Three updates

First, a praise: our documents arrived in Nizhny on Tuesday! Now they are in the process of being translated and eventually submitted to the court. Please pray that this process is efficient and smooth. We are specifically praying that everything will be submitted by the end of April, so that we can schedule a court date for sometime in June.

Second, a minor update: While in Russia, we decided to change the spelling of Sam's Russian middle name to better represent how it's pronounced. So now it's Yevgeniy with a "y" on the front of it. Just thought those of you interested in details would appreciate knowing that!

The third update is more serious and a big call for prayer. Beginning on May 1, Nizhny Novgord will no longer be allowing adoptive families to travel on business visas (I posted earlier today that it was all of Russia--I was mistaken!). You may remember that earlier this winter, the office processing adoption visas closed, which halted travel plans for families until an alternative was found. That alternative was business visas, which will also no longer work in a few weeks. Some regions are accepting tourist visas, so we are praying that the decision-makers in Nizhny would see this as an acceptable way for adoptive families to travel.

While this seems like a huge hurdle to me, it is a comfort to know that God is not at all surprised or worried. I am sure that an alternative will be found at some point in the future; it's just unclear how long it could take for a decision to be made. This will affect many families waiting to get their children in Nizhny. Of course, it's clearly within their rights to do this, and I'm sure there are reasons behind their actions that we are unaware of. I know they have these kids' best interests in mind. Please join us in praying that our contact in Russia will be successful in speaking to the right people to help solve this problem in a quick and easy way. And please pray that it will not delay our travel plans to bring Sam home!

The waiting is still not over

Even though we have been so blessed to meet our son, the waiting portion of our journey to become a family of three is still not over. Hopefully, it will only last for a couple more months!

Right now, we are waiting for our final documents to arrive in Russia. Last Monday, we were able to schedule an appointment with our doctor. He is excited about our adoption, and was willing to take care of our paperwork very quickly. He walked across the street with us to get everything notarized by his secretary, and she said she'd be willing to help with any other paperwork we might need. It was a huge blessing! Our state police clearances arrived in the mail last Wednesday. We were so glad to see that envelope arrive.

On Thursday morning, I decided to make one final trek to Tallahassee for more apostilles. We had six documents that needed to be certified. Because we are under a time crunch to get everything turned in to the judge before her vacation, we knew that every day might be precious. So I got it all processed and on the way to Russia by Thursday afternoon. We're hoping our facilitator there will receive it by the middle of this week and be able to get started translating and preparing to turn it in to the judge. Then we should be able to get scheduled for a court date. Can't wait to receive that news!

Yesterday some dear sisters threw me a beautiful baby shower. After years of not knowing if I would ever get to have one of these, I was so honored to be celebrated in this way. I should have pictures back soon, and will post more about the day when I have them. I am thankful for so many friends that already love Sam before they've even met him!

Home again

We're now back in Florida, and trying to catch up on emails, bills, laundry, phone messages, etc. Things get piled up even when you're only gone for a week!

Thank you to those of you who so faithfully checked our blog while we were gone. It was a joy to be able to share some of our stories with you. Many people have asked how we've been feeling. It's hard to say. Of course we enjoyed our time with Samuel so much, and it was difficult to leave. But we knew from the beginning that we'd have to come home without him, and so our hearts were prepared for that (as much as they can be). I did shed some tears on the flight from Moscow to London, knowing that we were leaving our son's country. But we are confident that these next few months will fly by, and that we'll be reunited with him before we know it.

I do want to share a few pictures with you. Sorry that you can't see his face yet, but at least you can see a piece of our bonding time with him. It truly was a time that we'll treasure for the rest of our lives.
Yes, this is our son with a pink bonnet. I also gave him water from a pink bottle. I think they're not fussy as long as the stuff works!

Sam and Daddy, reading a book (actually Sam chewing on the book is more accurate).

I guess chewing is the theme here...now it's my necklace!

OK, this looks a little more like Dad and Sam reading.

This is the only picture of the three of us I can show you for now...more to come in a few months!