Flashback....5 years ago: A message to my son.

At about 4:55 pm today Angarsk time (3:55 AM EST) the judge uttered the words we longed to hear. "The court grants the petition". Vadim Scobstov is now Michael Francis Holmes. JR. The judge even said his new name and congratulated his new parents. Tradition was that we take the people responsible for assisting in our successful court hearing out to dinner and (finally) we arrived back at the apartment to greet the newest member of the family. Skip (aka Michael Francis Holmes, Jr.) is eager to meet all of you. We're posting his latest picture in a few minutes and then, after hours of meetings, practice and court were all gonna take a long sleep. Momma gets breakfast in bed tomorrow morning.... she earned it!!!

Dear Skip:

Above is the blog entry that Poppa wrote on 23 August 2004 - the day a Russian judge legally made us your parents. I say legally, because in our hearts you had been ours since the day God placed you there nearly a year earlier. With those words that the judge uttered, you, Vadim,

became Michael Holmes, Jr:

and we began our new life as a family:

Yet, it doesn't seem possible that FIVE years have passed. Just not possible that the

beautiful little boy we arrived home with several weeks later:

has morphed into the handsome little boy you are today:

While I've been here every step of the way since then, it sometimes seems surreal.

You grow before my eyes:

You grow physically, socially, emotionally, and most importantly, closer to God. We love you SO very much, and look forward to the next 5 years! Well sorta. Could you slow down, just a little and not grow so quickly?

Love you forever,

Mommy & Poppa

My "baby" and his six-year check up!

Because we were in Russia when Skip turned six, we had to postpone his annual check up with Dr. Simmons. Today was our visit and it went very well. He is 47 lbs and almost 46.5 inches putting him in the 60th percentile for both. Not bad for a child who was BELOW the charts for both when we came home! He most relieved to learn he did not need any shots and felt like a bigshot answereing all the Doctors questions by himself. She always aksks the kids if they wear seat belts while in a car, helmets when riding a bike, and questions about their likes & dislikes. She asked him what school he went to - to which he replied "I am homeschooled" and when she asked him what he liked to do to (not so surprisingly) he told her "I like to go to Six Flags!". She said all in all he's a healthy boy and with any luck we won't need to return until his 7-year check up.