Our lives have been made richer by the addition of little Anatoly Tobias into our family.  He is everything we could have ever dreamed of; he is absolutely beautiful!

We just got our little son home last week.  Everything is still so new and fresh (not to mention, confusing) for this little doe-eyed child with the long lashes and headful of dark, wavy, thick hair that nearly reaches his shoulders.  Yet we are determined to help him get used to his new family and home here in America; we just have to be patient, as we all know it will take some time.

We started the adoption process long before we got word that Anatoly was to be our child: we started the process over a year and a half ago.  In that span of time, we underwent an extensive background check, had several home studies, several sessions with our adoption caseworker (and the adoption agency itself), and filled out mounds and mounds of paperwork.  At times we didn't even think we were going to get Anatoly, but God has a way of orchestrating things; it was only by His grace and mercy that the adoption went through.

Anatoly is very cute.  We love listening to him jabber at us in Russian (which we know maybe six words in the language) and we love how he interacts with his new brothers and sister.  He is shy, but around us, he acts fairly normal.  He has already claimed us as his family just as we have already claimed him.  He has a big belly laugh that shakes his entire body, not to mention a huge roar of disapproval whenever he is angered or upset in any way.  For such a little fellow he has a voice that could peel wallpaper, it is so loud.

Anatoly is very healthy other than some delays in his motor skills; we plan on making an appointment with our pediatrician, to make sure all is well with him.  He is rather clumsy: he falls often but gets back up; nothing, not even falls, seems to stop him from what he wants to do.

In addition to Anatoly, we have three other sons (Matthaiah, Torquil, and Hunter) and a daughter (Jessika).  All are older than Anatoly; all but Hunter are in high school.  Hunter is in sixth grade.  He's the baby of the family ... or was before Anatoly entered the picture.

We plan on keeping Anatoly's name the way it is.  His full name is Anatoly Ivan Tobias.  If people have trouble saying his Russian name, we will probably have them call our son A.T. for short, just to make things easier for them.

We don't know what the future will hold for Anatoly (or for us), but we plan on making his new life here memorable and fun.  Life is exciting for us, especially now.  We are so glad our little gift from Kyrgyzstan has finally arrived!