Sam is going to be a big brother!

A little over a year ago, we felt God's leading to pursue adding another child to our family. This time around, we decided to try to adopt through the local foster care system. Last fall, we completed 30 hours of required classes, filled out tons of paperwork, and were interviewed for our home study.

We completed everything in March, and began waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Our desire was to adopt a child who had been in foster care, whose parents' rights were terminated, and who was available for adoption.

A few weeks ago, we started discussing the idea of getting licensed as foster parents. We felt God might be leading us in a new direction, and the wait was getting harder.

Four days later, we got a call saying there was a 10-month-old girl available for adoptive placement! We couldn't believe it!

On Monday, our family was officially chosen as her family. And today, we finally got to hold her in our arms for the first time. In some ways, it reminded me of the first time we met Sam. It feels a little like a first date. You don't really know each other, but you know you want to know more. And so you do a little dance to try to figure each other out. But, unlike a first date, we are already committed to this precious little blessing forever!

We took Sam to Build-A-Bear this week, and he made a bear for "Sister" (choosing a new name is something we hope to do SOON!). He is so excited to meet her tomorrow, and bring her the new bear.

I do hope to post more about our journey and her story soon. But I do want to share a few pictures for now. Thanks for joining us on this crazy adventure of trusting God with our family and future!

Our Precious Blessing

With Daddy



With Mommy

A picture sharing site...for now

This is a picture of our family on the one-year anniversary of our Gotcha Day in Russia! (June 9)

I don't know if anyone even checks this blog anymore, but I am missing it lately. I'd really like to devote more time to chronicling our family's journey--as that was the point of starting to write here from the beginning. I am hoping a bit more margin in my schedule this fall will allow me time to work on scrapbooks and journaling our family history.

In the meantime, I have started a new website strictly for sharing pictures. I want our friends and family who live far away to get to see pictures of Sam more often--and I am terrible at remembering to email or print them. With the other site, I'm hoping I won't feel the pressure to write stories--I can just share the pictures.

I am hoping to return here again in the near future to share fun stories as well. But, if you'd like to get the address for our blog, just send me an email or a facebook message, and I'll give you the address. Thanks for walking with our family!

One year ago (last Thursday)

Last Thursday, March 19, was the anniversary of the first day we met Sam. It is so hard for me to believe that a year has gone by since that day. I have so many clear memories of walking into that Russian hospital, and the surprise we felt to see Sam when we walked into the room (we were told they would be bringing him in later). My heart fell in love with him immediately, and it was so difficult to get back on an airplane, and leave our son in a hospital halfway around the world! Now, he's been home over nine months and we have found our "new normal."

Here are pictures from March 19, 2008 and 2009. The thing I love is the big smile on Sam's face now!



I've been thinking recently about how different things are now than they were on that day a year ago. Here are a few of my thoughts:

Then: After a half-hour of playing, Sam's face lit up when he saw his nurse return to get him. He reached for her immediately. I couldn't wait until Sam felt that way about me. Now: Mama is his favorite person in the world! If he sees me across the room, he calls my name and runs to me. It's a wonderful change!

Then: We really had no idea what to do with him. We read a book and played with some toys, but didn't know what he preferred to do. Now: We have discovered many new fun things to do as a family. We know that he loves music, stars, fire trucks, dogs, the park, Elmo, and too many other things to name. The key here is that we actually know what he loves!

Then: We got to sleep all night through, and sleep in on the weekends. Now: What is sleeping in again? This is one of the changes of parenthood that isn't my favorite, but is still well worth it!

Then: We prayed together every day for God to protect our son and keep him safe until we could return to bring him home forever. Now: We get to pray with Sam every night, and tell him in person how much we love him and how glad we are that he is a part of our forever family.

Of course, there are countless other ways that our lives have changed. I'm so thankful for this amazing child that God brought to our family--hand-picked just for us!

Baby Dedication (and more)

After almost two months of silence on the blogging front, I am shocking the world with pictures that were taken just a few hours ago! This morning at church was Sam's baby dedication. He was the oldest one up there by over a year. :-) It was a blessing to be in front of our church family (and many of our Nav students and staff) to publicly affirm our desire to raise Sam as a man who loves Jesus. We know that this dedication has absolutely nothing to do with his eternal salvation. It is our prayer that one day in the future he will make his own decision to trust and follow Jesus. But for now (and always), we will do our best to tell Sam about how much Jesus loves him and to spend time reading the Bible and praying with him. What a high calling to get to spend time each day with this little man who we pray will one day be a warrior for Christ! Here are a few pics from this morning:


While I have my blogging inspiration going (and while Sam is napping), I'll share a few other recent pics as well:
This is us in Atlanta celebrating Thanksgiving. We are so thankful to be a family of three this year! Ben was growing a beard for No-Shave November with The Navigators (which is another story on its own), but is back to his normal beard-less self now. I did get pretty used to the beard by the end of the month, and told him I wouldn't mind if he grew one again. I don't think he wants to.

What do you get when you cross a little boy tripping over a toy with a metal queen bed frame? A five-hour ER visit and nine stitches! Three of them are underneath holding together the lower layer of skin, and six are on the top. It was a rough afternoon for all of us--the day before we left for a ten-day trip to Wisconsin and Chicago. Sam is healing really well though. It just looks like a scratch now, and we are told that if we use sunscreen every time he goes outside for the next year or so, it should heal so we can hardly see it. Like a friend of ours at church told us, "If a scar's not on your face, it doesn't count!"

The Andersons came to Florida to celebrate a late Christmas over New Year's weekend. Of course, the highlight was watching Sam and his cousin Isaac play together. They did great sharing and having fun together. And they kept each other entertained so the adults could talk without interruption once in awhile. Of couse, we wish they could see each other more, but we made the most of our time together! (Notice how great Sam's scar is already looking!)

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. :-)