Isaiah 43:5

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west." Praise God who consistently gives us the desires of our hearts in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Jack Kolya McGill is officially ours forever. We finally got to the courtroom about 12:30 PM Moscow time. Vonda said that once again her expectations were completely wrong. The courtroom was a small room with some tables in it. The Judge sat at the head table. We could see her blue jeans under her robe. (not that I was looking, it was obvious). Our interpreter sat between us. We stood whenever we addressed the judge. She basically went over our paperwork and asked a few questions. Evidently I almost blew it when she asked about our independent medical exam. I said that our Dr. Said he was a healthy, bright eyed, happy boy. Our translator chose not to translate that (I don't know what she said I said). If she had translated that, the judge would not have waived our 10 day waiting period. They need a medical reason to waive that. The judge has a son named Kolya. Well anyway, the entire court process took about 20 minutes, and we received a positive ruling and the 10 days waived. We did hear that after the hearing, the judge asked the regional inspector why such a beautiful baby was being placed for international adoption. After court, we had to wait about 1 1/2 hours for the adoption decree. Our translator left us at an Uzbekh restaurant where we had kebobs and dessert. No one there spoke English, so we did a lot of pointing and speaking English louder (that always helps folks understand). After we got the court decree, we had to go to the Moscow Vital statistics to get an Adoption certificate. They of course close for lunch from 2-3 so we had to wait on that. After getting the certificate, we had to go the the Lyubertsy Vital statistics to get an amended birth certificate. We finally got that and got to the orphanage about 5:00. We deposited our gifts with the charge nurse, and Jack's caregiver brought him to us. She did not know that he was going to leave today. She started to cry and kissed him goodbye. It was so touching and so unexpected. She basically ran out of the room because she was so upset. I'm so glad someone was there to love him during his months at the orphanage. The drive back from the orphanage was the worst one we've had. The normal 1 hour drive took over 2 hours. Jack was great, just looking around, playing with Allie. There's nothing like driving with your two kids in a huge city with insane drivers with them not even being seatbelted much less in car seats. Back at the hotel we let Jack loose in the room. It's like he's always known us. He played with Allie and some bubbles and just enjoyed seeing all the new things he's experiencing. Vonda has been trying to force feed him one of everything we have bought and he's having none of it. He gags when you put something in his mouth like Michael Pitts did with cottage cheese. I told her that her need to feed him is stronger than his need to eat right now and to lay off. We're hoping we'll find something he'll eat in the morning when he wakes up. Right now, it's 10:55. Allies coloring on the floor and Jack has just gone down for the night. We being the horrible parents we are have no experience with putting a child in the bed and them just going to sleep. He's going to be a role model for Allie. I know this is long, but it has been an unbelievable day. We are blessed beyond comprehension. Nan, I had to cry when I read your comment to Vonda. How great is God's love for his children that he pursues us so strongly. Love you all and will see whoever wants to come on Saturday at 11:00pm. Steve, Vonda, Allie and Jack