Jacob's 2nd Birthday...His First Birthday Party!

On Tuesday, February 15th, our little boy Jacob turned two years old. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday though so that everyone could come and help share in our little boy's special day. It was a day of firsts for all of us!


First of all, it was Jacob's first real birthday party. The previous year, he was in the hospital and was getting ready to go into the orphanage. The poor little guy didn't have any celebration. He was just being taken from what was familiar to him and put into a big house full of other kids. It must have been a very scary time for him. I know that he was very young at the time...just turning one year old. I only hope that he doesn't remember any of that traumatic time and only knows happy days from here on out.

Second of all, it was our first birthday party together as a family. Lisa and I had spent many years going to other birthday parties for kids...but we had never had the chance to have a birthday party for our own child. All of that changed on Saturday though.

Ever since Jacob has been in the United States, he has been fascinated with Sesame Street. He loves to read Sesame Street books, he loves to play with Sesame Street toys, and he loves to watch Sesame Street on television. His favorite video is Learning About Letters....starring Big Bird and all the other Sesame Street gang. We sometimes watch it about 5 times a day! I only hope that some of that knowledge is sinking in! Ha!

Needless to say, the theme for the day was Sesame Street. We had all the Sesame Street decorations....balloons, paper plates, napkins, party hats, and horns. We even had a Sesame Street cake! Jacob was in hog-heaven! He loved everything so much and was so excited. He seemed to know that this day was a special day...just for him.

All of the people in Jacob's life came to celebrate the day with him. He had his mommy and daddy, Gramaw and Papaw Fugate, Mamaw Wagoner, Great Uncle Junior, Great Aunt Minerva and cousin Katie, and his "Aunt" Corrinna, "Uncle" Rod, and "cousin" Hailey. As you know, Lisa and I are both only children. Therefore, Jacob has an honorary aunt, uncle, and cousin.

We had such a great day. The menu was wonderful thanks to my wife. We had baked ham, homemade potato salad, green beans, grilled chicken, hash brown casserole, and rolls. Of course, we had birthday cake and ice cream also. We had been practicing singing the "Happy Birthday" song to Jacob so that he wouldn't be scared. Everything went very well. He even blew out his big number 2 candle!

After eating, it was time for presents. The child already had so many toys that his toy box wouldn't close. I don't know what he will do now! He got cars, trucks, a jack in the box, a toy laptop computer, crayons, coloring books, books to read, and tons of other toys. He got so many Little People! His Aunt Corrinna and Uncle Rod and cousin Hailey got him a Little People's Noah's Ark! He loves it! He now has just about everything Little People that I can think of...but I am sure that we will find something else for him. LOL! So maybe we are spoiling him just a little....but he deserves to be spoiled. And after all of these years of waiting for a child of our own....I guess that Lisa and I can go a little overboard if we want to!

Finally, this was a birthday of firsts because Jacob got to have his first sleep-over. His Aunt Corrinna, Uncle Rod, and cousin Hailey spent the night. Jacob and Hailey hit it off big time! They loved playing with all of Jacob's new toys. They also loved chasing each other through the house! It was so good to hear them giggling and screaming with joy. After so many years with a big, quiet house, it is nice to have it filled with the sounds of kids having fun.

In all, I think that Jacob's first birthday party went very well. Now, all of the decorations are down and all of the food is eaten. But we still have those special memories. Oh...and we still have that what is left of that big number 2 birthday candle. We are going to keep it forever...because even though it was his second birthday, it was also his first.

Water Park Fun!

We took Jacob to Pirates Cove in Sheperdsville….just outside of Lousiville. He loved it! The water park was inside a hotel and was very nice. It wasn’t too big and had lots of “kiddie” stuff for him. We will definitely go to this one again. We can’t wait to get him to Beech Bend Park this summer!

First Day of School!

Jacob started preschool on February 7th. So far he loves it! We just call it school. It is hard to believe that our baby is in school already! Here are some pics of his first day of school!

Pics from LBJ Baby Shower

A Sweet Little Boy

As of today, we have had Jacob with us for almost a month.  That means that he has been with people who love him and care for him.....people who play with him and read books with him......people who make sure he is well-fed and dressed.....and people who will always be there for him.  It is amazing how much he has changed in this short amount of time!  His face even looks different!

We received our referral in November and knew right away that he was meant for us. We traveled to Russia to meet him personally and to find out about his history. We got to play with him and spend time with him in the orphanage. It was a great time for us. Lisa will agree with me....we fell in love with him instantly!


Leaving Russia that first time was very hard to do. But we knew that we would be back as soon as we could in order to complete the adoption. In fact, we were back in Russia about 4 weeks later. We traveled around the region with our translator Olga and our driver, Dimitri. Working with Children's Hope International was a great experience for us because someone was with us the entire time. Olga took such good care of us. She made sure that we signed all the right documents, translated for us, got us great hotel rooms, and even ordered food for us in the restaurants. She was a true friend!

On the second trip to Russia, we completed our court appearance. We had heard that court could take a long time and that the judge would ask tons of questions. However, things worked out very well for us and everyone seemed to be in agreement that we were ready to be parents and that Jacob would have a great life with us. We were so happy when the judge read the decree that we were now officially his parents.

Of course, we had to wait 10 days in order to pick him up from the orphanage. This is mandatory for all Russian legal activities...not just adoptions. So, reluctantly we flew back home and waited to go back to Russia and pick up our boy. A week later, we were back on a Delta flight to Moscow!

This third trip to Russia was a whirlwind of activity. There were papers to sign and people to meet. There were official documents to prepare. We had to get Jacob's passport and travel visa ready so that he could come to the United States. We even had to go to the American Embassy in Moscow. Finally, we had everything in order and was ready to return home.

We have been home with him for over 3 weeks now. It has been such a joyful, happy time. We have just been spending our days playing and bonding with our son. I have been thankful to be able to take time off to be with him through Family Medical Leave. My wife is taking a few more weeks off than I. We have also been fortunate with snow days.

On Thursday, November 20th, the school where I work, LBJ Elementary, held a “shower of gifts and love” for us. When we walked into the school everyone was so warm and welcoming. They just loved little Jacob. And Jacob loved being the center of attention.

After making a few introductions to Mr. Combs, Mr. Wooton, Mrs. Bush, Mrs. Vicki, and Ms. Spencer, we traveled on down the hall to the library where the shower would be held.

There were piles of presents and a mountain of cards to open…but first, everyone had some food. And talk about food! There were tons of it!

We all enjoyed the pizza, chips, dip, bread, finger sandwiches, cookies, sweets, meatballs, and fruit. There was even a beautiful cake. The cake had a teddy bear made of icing on it. The teddy bear even had Jacob’s name on it. It was so wonderful!

After eating, we started opening presents. My coworkers and friends at LBJ were so generous. We received clothes, clothes, and more clothes. Jacob also got a ton of toys including puzzles, shape sorters, electronic books, a basketball game, stuffed animals, a wire and bead puzzle, and even a huge wagon…with a cover on it! Jacob also received other gifts and a pile of gift cards.

Lisa and I want to thank everyone at LBJ Elementary who showed their love and support. This adoption has been a long road, but the destination was worth the journey!

A family is like a puzzle. When Lisa and I met 19 years ago, we knew that we were meant to be together. We fit together perfectly. We had the same interests and we loved being with each other. That love has held true and strong all of these years.

However, as we began putting the pieces of our life puzzle together, we found that there was a piece missing. Instead of worrying about that piece too much at first, we just built our puzzle around the missing piece. However, we finally came to realize that our picture would never be complete….our family would not be truly complete…without a child.

Now, we have Jacob in our lives….and guess what? He is the perfect fit in our life puzzle. He was truly made for us…and we were made for him. It was a perfect match! We love Jacob more than anything in this world and are truly blessed to have him in our lives.

Our puzzle is finally complete.

Pics from Gotcha Day through Christmas....all 3 of them! LOL!

Our Gotcha Day was December 29th....that is when we picked him up from the orphanage.  There are also pics from all 3 Christmas celebrations we had when we returned....LOL!