Home Sweet Home!

Aunt Jill & I successfully crossed the world with Baby Jill in tow. We were greeted at the St. Louis airport by many family members & dear friends. Words cannot adequately describe the emotions of having your children meet for the first time. JC ran up to me, almost knocking me down, and bent over his new baby sister sweetly whispering "I'm JC and I love you Baby Jill". Jacob was a bit more shy. He came over, gave me a big hug and gave Baby Jill a sweet little grin too. It was quite a night.

A little about our week in Russia... We picked up Jill from Orphanage #10 on Tuesday, August 12th. She immediately "bonded" with me and would not let any others (including Aunt Jill) hold her or even touch her without a huge cry. I've become expert at the art of going everywhere with a baby on my hip!

Vlad took great care of us including taking us to the U.S. Embassy Friday where we secured Jill's visa stamp inside her Russian passport. We stayed at the Marriott Grand and found several places to eat and buy M&Ms and Coke Light... very important new mom foods! Aunt Jill, Jill and I spent a lot of time walking Moscow throughout the week. We took in all the sites and just enjoyed the beautiful city and weather. We also enjoyed getting to know Jules and her new daughter Clare.

Jill's rash was much better than previous visits and continued to improve throughout the week. We did notice it itching her and looking more red as we stood in line to check in for our flight. To ensure her total comfort and begin spoiling her right off the bat, I made the not-so-frugal decision to upgrade our tickets from coach to business class and we all crossed the globe in fine style. Aunt Jill & I enjoyed a champagne toast as we boarded, warm nuts as we reached flying altitude and even the most delightful chocolate ice cream as a mid-flight snack. The best part was the flight attendant call button, rung a few times for Diet Coke... not the Coke Light served in Moscow.... for Diet Coke fans, Coke Light just isn't the same! Baby Jill was excellent! She never made a peep on the flight and slept about 4 hours. It was a very enjoyable 10 + hours. Landing in Chicago, we breezed through immigration with an American flag in hand. Our little girl was an official U. S. citizen! She cried for about 2 minutes as our Chicago to St. Louis flight taxied to the runway and slept the remainder of the trip home. Now, if only someone other than me could hold her, she'd be the perfect baby!!!!!

The boys seem to be adjusting OK to having a sister. Time will tell. I'm giving it a week or so before the honeymoon period wears off and they realize she is here to stay. It's been hard to juggle everyone and I've yet to find a good routine. For those of you that know me well, you'll understand when I say the hardest part of having three kids is my obsession with keeping the house clean and clutter free. I went to bed Sunday night without vacuuming.... the mess is driving me nuts but the desire for sleep is overwhelming!

Jill's been sleeping well each night and we're very, very slowing transitioning her off the Gerber Oatmeal and bananas she's been eating since we picked her up. I'm also giving her soy formula in a sippy cup (she rejected the bottle). We see our awesome pediatrician Thursday and I'll seek his advice on her rash and transitioning her to whole milk and regular food. I'm taking my sister's advice and not using the puree' baby foods given Jill has 8 teeth and our past experience with Jacob, his texture issues, and our months in food therapy.

I'm sticking close to home this week. Today, the kids played outside and Jill enjoyed the water table.

A huge THANKS to Aunt Jill for tagging along with me to Moscow. Having my sister with me made our Journey for Jill that more special!

That's it for now! Many thanks to everyone for your prayers, calls, cards, flowers, thoughts, advice and friendship!

Update from Mom...

Sherri reports that all is still going well. Baby Jill continues to cling to Sherri to the exclusion of anyone else including Aunt Jill. But they are getting along just fine and spending long hours walking around Moscow. Apparently baby Jill is enjoying the ride in the stroller. The doctor visited today and everything looks good. He did recommend that Jill get a little sunshine to help with her skin condition. The baby home was not too big on letting the little ones out into the sun without at least 2 layers of clothes and a warm hat, unless it is winter, then they dress them up in 5 more layers.

Sherri also says that just with a few days of good skin care and her rash is many times better already.

The boys are doing just fine but still looking forward to mom coming home. Almost done with my assigned projects to prepare for baby Jill. Almost there now....

Baby Jill has a Mommy

Mom picked up baby Jill today. She said the caregivers all wanted to come out and say goodbye to Anara. Sherri said she was pleasantly surprised by the farewell by the caregivers and they really seemed as if they were happy to see her find a good family but also sad to see her go.

Jill seems to be about the same as on our last trip but seems to already be attached to Mom. I remember when I picked up Jacob, even when he could still see me, if I left the room at all he would have a fit. Jill is doing the same thing but I imagine this is a pretty big and scary adventure for her. But she is in good hands now and will get lots of love and attention. Tomorrow they start the process of getting visas and passports and such to come home.

Moscow in a day

Still on the plan, today was a sightseeing day along with a short visit with baby Jill. Sherri reports that they saw the Kremlin and the related tours, a long walk to baby Jill's orphanage and finally to see the Bolshoi ballet. The visit to Baby Jill was fine and she is about the same as our last visit. The important part is that this is baby Jill's last night in the baby home.

Sherri is supposed to pick up the "goods" on Tuesday at around 4:00 pm for good. Then they start the process of getting the final paperwork to bring her home on Saturday.

The boys are doing fine but they both miss their mommy a lot. Dad is keeping up just fine and no one is starving or bleeding, but there is no replacing mom.

Made it to Moscow...

Sherri called today to say they made it to Moscow. Not much to report since they just had enough time to make it to the hotel, grab some dinner and then go back to bed to try and hold to a regular local schedule on Monday. Hopefully they will get to see Baby Jill on Monday.....

Trip 3 is underway

Saturday August 9 - Sherri and Sister Jill are on their way to Moscow to pick up Baby Jill. The plan is for them to arrive on Sunday, sightseeing and rest on Monday and then pick up baby Jill on Tuesday. Sherri called from Chicago as they were getting on the plane to Moscow tonight and so far so good. Once they get done with all the paperwork waiting and other necessary transactions, they will be home on Saturday evening.

It should be easy to remember when we picked up both JC and Jill. I can recall when we were in Saratov Russia picking up JC where we passed our time that trip watching the winter olympics. Two years later, we will do the same with the summer olympics. It is easy to think that most of the activity at the olympics is all about your own country until you watch them from another location.

So far JC and Jacob are doing OK without Mom as long as we stay busy. Jacobs vocabulary has narrowed back down to "Mommy?" and it is apparent that they miss her lots but the week will go by fast.

Sherri did not take a computer this trip, although it looked like that might have been the only thing she did not take, so I will be updating the blog via phone reports. I will do my best. Thanks as always for following along.

Tim

Home safe and sound....

We made it home safe and sound, and even a little early. An early arrival from Moscow allowed us to get an early flight from Chicago in time to have real american food for dinner at home. mmm..Qdoba...

On our way to the airport this morning or was it yesterday morning? we were able to stop by and see baby Jill for about 20 minutes. You can be assured that this is a completely unbiased observation, but she really seemed to recognize us and was even glad to see us. Clearly she is advanced!!!

Anyway, not much to report other than a long flight but one that went along as planned. It will seem like only a blink (9 days) and Sherri and Aunt Jill will be on their way back one last time to pick up the goods. We will keep you posted and thanks for following along...

And Jill makes three...

We arrived in Moscow Wednesday after a pretty easy 8 hour flight. You gotta’ love a direct flight from Chicago! After collecting our 50 pound suitcase full of gifts, we went straight to the orphanage and Baby Jill. She looks great! Her rash is much better and she’s standing up on her own and she just acts like a different child. She is much happier and involved in the play which is quite a relief. After playing with Jill and handing over our gifts, we checked in to the Marriott Courtyard, grabbed a quick bite and went straight to sleep. We were exhausted! Despite having bulk head seats, neither of us slept much on the plane so by the time we hit the bed, we’d been up more than 24 hours.

Today, Thursday, was our day in court. Vlad picked us up along with Jules and David, another adopting family from our agency. Jules and David are adopting a cutie little girl, Clare, and live just outside of St. Louis. We were here on together on trip 1 and the moms (and Aunt Jill) will travel together on trip 3. We are having fun sharing this journey with them! Anyway, back to court… The courthouse was exceptionally nice - so different from Saratov or Arkalyk! It could have been a courthouse in any large U.S. city. The judge, a female, was easy on us. The 20-minute hearing felt good and exciting versus intimidating. In the end, the judge declared us parents of Anara Jill Giddens and wished us well. So, now we are officially a family of five: a one year old, two year old and three year old! And, I have a little girl!!!!!

Vlad directed Tim and I to a great pizza joint for lunch and from there we took the Metro (subway) to visit Jill again. During this visit, we took her out of the orphanage to a photo shop for her U.S. passport pictures. She was really curious about all the cars and people, not scared, just curious. Her eyes took it all in and her head was moving around not missing a thing. She may be the quite/observant type. Afterwards, we spent over two hours hanging out with Jill. We tried to entice her with Gerber Puffs. Not interested! Oh no… not another picky eater!

For our Florida buddies: We now join Pete in eating crackers in bed! Picked up cheese, crackers & grapes, along with a few beers, and ate in bed while watching the Hallmark Channel. Yes. We are hard up for entertainment tonight! It’s raining here and walking out to eat just didn’t appeal to us tonight.

We’ll see Jill again in the morning before catching our flights back to St. Louis. It’s been a quick but successful trip!

Paka, paka from Russia!

Happy 1 Year GOTCHA Day, Jacob

Today is Jacob's 1 year Gotcha Day... the day he arrived home and forever became part of our family. My favorite memory of that day was JC greeting his new little brother for the first time at the airport saying "Jacob, you remember me? I'm your big brother!". We celebrated last night and enjoyed yet another cake. Happy Gotcha Day, Jacob!

Tim & I leave tomorrow for Russia. We'll be away for approximately 80 hours (Tuesday - Friday) and 30 of those hours will be travel. Good times :)!

Court is Thursday!

Ready to Go!

Purchased gifts last night, made plane tickets & hotel reservations for both trips yesterday, finalized arrangements for the boys in our absense, picked up crisp new $100s from the bank (which turned out not so easy & I'm grateful for my banking "connections"), and hugged the FedEx man when he arrived today with our passports/visas! We're ready to go!

Confirmation - Court July 31st

It's a-go! Tim & I will leave for Moscow one week from today, July 29th. We'll arrive on July 30th, attend court on the 31st and will be home August 1st.

Aunt Jill and I are booked to fly to Moscow on August 9th and return home August 16th with Baby Jill!

It's getting really close now!

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby Jill!

We're with you in spirit! Happy 1st Birthday Anara Jill Giddens! We cannot wait to bring you home.

We celebrated Cousin Brian's 23rd birthday today after church. After blowing out all 23 candles, we lit two for Baby Jill. JC & Jacob joyously sang Happy Birthday and couldn't wait to blow out her candles. The DQ cake was a big hit resulting in both kids literally licking their plate... who is teaching these kids manners? I see charm school in their future!

We heard from Lorien on Friday. Our court is now tentative for July 31st. We should have confirmation on Tuesday.

Possible Court Date!

Only two weeks after meeting Baby Jill, we think we have a court date. It's not definite yet, but we're tentative for July 30th or July 31st. Can you believe it? Talk about F-A-S-T! What a dream situation! Especially, since we're worried about Baby Jill's skin in our absence!

The Russian courts impose a 10 day appeal period and we've selected to return home after court to be with JC & Jacob. This means we make a total of three separate trips to Moscow but it drastically reduces the amount of time spent away from the dudes. This court trip (trip 2) is only 3 nights and our third "pick up" trip will be 7 nights.

Speaking of "pick up trips". More good news! Aunt Jill will travel with me to bring Baby Jill home. Assuming one of these court dates confirm, Jill & I will travel to Moscow on August 9th and return home with Baby Jill on August 16th. Talk about exceeding expectations... August 16th is exactly 4 months and 1 day after signing our contract to adopt with Lighthouse. I absolutely, positively cannot believe how quick Lorien & her team have made this happen! And, it's been very pleasant too!

My sister (Aunt Jill) has always wanted to go to Moscow and I am so excited we'll experience this adventure together. It seems appropriate Aunt Jill be an integral part of bringing her namesake, Anara Jill, home. Of course, that leave four munchkins without mommies for a week but my parents have enthusiastically agreed to help with kid-care so between GG & Grandpa, my favorite babysitters, Lizzie & Amanda, and Tim by night, the kids will have a blast! (Note: Uncle E will be in California during this time otherwise he'd be on night duty as well. Thanks, E for agreeing to let Jill travel with me!) Cannot wait to bring Baby Jill home!

I've put airline reservations "on hold" and we hope to have news of court confirmation before Monday. More to come!

Data Bank Picture

Hi Everyone!


I found Jill's picture on the Russian Orphan Data Bank, a photolisting used to promote adoption throughout Russia. This will likely be the only "baby" picture we have for her.



On an interesting note. In Russia, families are provided apartments in which to live. These apartments are registered to the family. What that means is, if your grown children want to, they (and their family) have the legal right to live in your home.... forever! Now, don't get me wrong. I'm looking forward to having my children here, but let's hope they're on their own after college! Vlad, our facilitator in Russia, confirmed it's cost him a small fortune to purchase two apartments for two of his grown three daughters. Plus, he had to purchase an apartment for his ex-wife. But, the end result is they live on their own, not with him in his 1,000 sq ft apartment (large for Moscow!). The third daughter doesn't want to move out and may not since the apartment is much more spacious than anything Vlad can buy for her. I believe he's hoping for a good marriage with a large in-law apartment! Another note, purchased homes are considered personal property and are excluded from the homesteading law.



I mention this because Russia is internally promoting adoption and the number of children available for adoption outside of Russia has declined over the past year. A new law, helping Russian families choose adoption, states adopted children will be given an apartment by the government at age 18 rather than the child being entitled to their adopted parent's home. That being said, more Russians are adopting with less worry of having their kids home forever.



I never mentioned (shame on me!) the lovely couple we met during our first trip. Jules and David, Lighthouse clients, met their sweet baby girl, Claire, while we were meeting Baby Jill. Claire is in a different baby home from Jill so we didn't roam Moscow together but did stay in the same hotel and met up for dinner twice. What's so random is they live in city only about 1 1/2 hours from us! I'm very much looking forward to getting together with their family after the adoptions are complete! Plus, I'm hoping we travel together again for trips 2 & 3!



Lorien, from Lighthouse, has asked us to update our medicals in preparation for court. Rumor is, our judge may be on vacation in early August so our agency is working towards an end-of-July court date. That's pretty optimistic but who'd have thought we'd have met our daughter only 2 1/2 months after we applied! More to come but for now, I need to call for doctor appointments!

Home from Trip 1

We're home! Trip was E-A-S-Y! We even caught an earlier flight from Chicago to St. Louis.

On our third & last visit with Baby Jill, the doctor we'd hired (for $650!) confirmed for us her stats look good and her rash, while miserable, can be controlled with the medicines we purchased and left behind for her. I'm only hoping the orphanage staff will actually use them. The thought of her scratchy and itchy for the next 8 - 10 weeks makes me so sad. Of other importance on the health front, we heard from Dr. Olga who runs the Moscow side of our agency's program. She'd personally seen Jill in mid-May and talked us through some of the issues we'd been concerned with from a developmental front. To sum it up, we believe she has the "normal" orphanage delays compounded by feeling just terrible due to the itching. We'd already signed the petition to adopt her not knowing this but had wanted to know more from Dr. Olga and the outside doctor so we could start preparing for what she'll need when she come home. Vlad, our facilitator in Moscow, calls the doctor we used "the big potato". Apparently, this guy has a good resume!

We did elicit some cute smiles and coos from Jill on our last visit and even had her fall asleep on my shoulder before her caregivers came to take her for nap time. When she fell asleep, the thumb came out of the mouth but the grip on me never loosened. My guess is this was one of the only times she'd been held like that and she was not ready to let go. It was really hard to say goodbye but we know the drill and we also know we'll be back just as soon as possible to bring her home.

We're off to the lake now to reunite with the boys and celebrate the 4th of July. Thanks for continuing to follow along on our Journey for Jill!

Here she is! Anara Jill Giddens

Jill will turn 1 year old on July 20th. She's a 20+ pound, chubby cheek sweetie.

We were only able to visit her once today and we've been allowed a 3rd visit on our way to the airport tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll be joined by a doctor who specializes in U.S. pediatric medicine. Poor Baby Jill has a horrible rash that literally covers her entire body. It must be incredibly uncomfortable and you can see where she's scratching up her skin. When I dug my Aveeno lotion out of my backpack today and started applying it to the back of her neck, it was amazing to see her whole demenour change. It was as if she were saying "oh my... that's the best thing EVER". Apparently the rash appeared about two months ago and has progressed. It could be some kind of contact dermatitis, eczama, scabies, food allergy or something else we've not thought of. But, our pediatrician believes it is something we can handle with good care in the U.S. We're also asking the doctor to help us determine if her lack of responsiveness to us is due to your typical orphanage delays or something more. We sense she's not been given a lot of love and stimulation. It's sad, however, you can glimsp a little charmer inside the cheeks.

She likes to snuggle and she loves to grab my hair and just hang on. It's as if she's telling us "I'm ready to come home". We have several more weeks before we'll be invited back for court and a couple of weeks thereafter, but we're ready to bring her home ASAP.

Speaking of home. We're heading that way tomorrow and will be at the lake in time to celebrate the 4th of July holiday.

More soon! Thanks for following along!

We've met her!

No pictures yet. We're waiting to hear back from our pediatrician on a few things. But, we have met her and she's pretty darn cute. She'll be 1 year old on July 20th. She has chunky cheeks that rival Jacob's when we first met him and she's a heavy little thing! She also likes bubbles and the balls Aunt Jill sent along with us.

More ASAP! Thank you for following along!

Sherri & Tim

Monday – June 30, 2008 (Jacob’s Birthday and sightseeing)

Sherri and I are not really sightseeing type people but with an open day and so many spectacular sites to see, it would not be right to pass up on the opportunity. Last time we were in Red Square, it was so cold and windy the only thing we could think about was leaving. This time we could take a good look around. The Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Lenin’s tomb, the Armoury – National museum and Christ the Savior Cathedral are just a few of the sites we visited within walking distance of our hotel today. And even if you are not a museum type, these sites are so historically significant and so beautiful that words can not really describe them adequately. The Armoury is filled with historical artifacts such as coronation clothing from centuries back, silver and gold artwork that were gifts from one head of state to another as far back as the 1600’s and the highlight of the tour – 10 different Faberge eggs. There are reportedly approximately 55 total eggs worldwide and this is one of the largest collections. Each Faberge egg comes with a surprise inside and each is a testament to the ingenuity and skill of this unique St. Petersburg organization. The Christ the Savior Church is not only breathtakingly beautiful inside but also a busy place. With a line to get in even on a Monday morning each visitor can purchase a small candle to light and place in a holder to bring wishes and prayers to loved ones past or future. We lit three and said a prayer for our big man JC, our little big man Jacob on his birthday and of course one for baby Jill who we hope to meet tomorrow.

Traffic in Moscow gets rolling around 11:00 am in the morning and is relentless all day long. Main city streets can be 10 lanes wide and every one might be packed solid. The city is also designed to make walking a desirable and relatively safe option. Most of the busy streets have underground walkways so pedestrians do not have to compete with the cars when crossing. This is helpful as pedestrians do not have the right of way on the streets so walking so caution is the key and the best bet is to move across with the packs of locals that are out in force.

Walking also has its benefits as you never know when you will stumble across something interesting. On the walking bridge that crosses the Moscow river near the Christ Church, there is an ornate iron railing on both sides. Apparently this has become a place for newlyweds to show the security of their love by placing a lock on the rail. As you can see in the picture, this is a popular activity.



Tomorrow we will be picked up by Max at around 3:15 for a drive to the department of Education where we will find out some information on the child who may become Baby Jill. After this short introduction, they will grant us permission to go see her at the orphanage. If all goes according to plan, we will then have to go back to the Department of Education to make it official. So tomorrow is a big day and we will report back in our evening on how things went.

Until then, thanks for following along.

Tim and Sherri

Sunday – June 29, 2008 – To Moscow

We arrived in Moscow around lunchtime on Sunday to a cool day with a little rain. Our facilitator Vlad picked us up at the airport just as planned and we took an easy ride into Moscow to check into our hotel the Marriott Courtyard. The trip went according to plan and could not have been easier due to the direct flight from Chicago. Even though the flight was smooth and easy, we did not sleep much on the plane. So after being awake for almost 24 hours, when we hit the hotel it was time for a short 6 hour nap.

The hotel is within walking distance of the city center where the Kremlin, St. Basil’s cathedral and other major sites are located. In fact we can see the red stars on top of the Kremlin from our hotel room. The sun sets around 10pm local time so after our short nap we still had time to find dinner and a few snacks before retiring comfortably back to our room.

CONFIRMED!!!

That's right! We're confirmed to meet Baby Jill on July 1st! We'll head to Moscow this Saturday! Whooo Hoooo!

Her identity is now a mystery. One of the many challenges of international adoption are bumps (sometimes boulders!) in the road. Apparently, the sweet little face we've carried around in our hearts for the last few days will not be available as her paperwork isn't quite in order. So, we'll travel blind, as we'd expected, and look forward to meeting our little girl next week.

This blog goes private ASAP (meaning as soon as I can get my two little ones down for quiet time today). That allows us to continue to share with our friends & family the upcoming Journey for Jill!

Absolutely cannot believe this is happening so fast! More from Moscow!