I Hear We need an Update

Well, I've heard from several folks that we need to update everyone on how things have gone since we got home, so here goes: Here are a few more pictures from Red Sqare. Vonda just loves the pictures of Allie. They look like she is just on a routine school field trip TO RUSSIA! Arrival: We had a great crowd of friends and family to meet us at the Nashville airport even though our flights got rearranged. We were so excited to get to see everyone and for everyone to see our Jack, we could hardly stand it. But we still had to stop in the concourse for Vonda to change Jack into his welcome to America outfit. As you may recall, he had gone through almost all of his outfits on the way to the US. Vonda had held this one out special. There were tears of joy all around when we made it out of the secured area. We look back now at those pictures and realize how skinny and scared Jack looked. He's come a long way. The first few days home were pretty hard with jetlag and mixed up sleeping schedules, but we enjoyed all the visits and the food from friends. First Church Visit: Since we got home on a Sunday, we didn't go to church the first day. On Wednesday of that week, we took Jack to Smith Springs. He was a celebrity. Introduced from the pulpit and the grandmothers fought over who got to show him off the most. On Sunday of that week, we went to Otter Creek. Jack was welcomed by Tim during the announcements, and I held him up like Simba for all to see. Everyone applauded. It was so sweet. He was quite the celebrity there as well as everyone just made over him like you wouldn't believe. During all of these celebrity moments, I have to say that our Allie was the sweetest, most mature little girl you've ever seen. We've seen no jealousy from her which is unbelievable. (I think I've been more jealous than she has). Halloween: For his first Halloween, Jack was a "Jack" O' Lantern. Allie went as a 50's girl. He enjoyed his first vist to the pumpkin farm and settled right in to his new surroundings. Birthday Blowout: Well we knew we wanted to have a welcome home party for Jack, and since his birthday is November 14, we decided to combine the two. Vonda went all out and planned an All American Cowboy Cookout. We asked Beecher and Becky to bring their pony over for the smaller kids to ride. Well they thought it would be better if they brought all five of their horses! The kids absolutely loved riding. I'm not too sure what Jack thought, but he seemed to enjoy them as well. We had straw bales set up, a campfire with marshmallows, chili and hot dogs. It was a blast. Did I mention that we invited about 100 people and that they all showed up? They just kept coming. It was so crowded, Gramps had to stick his head through the window to see Jack blow out his candle. I know everyone thought we were crazy to throw this big of a party that Jack won't even remember, but we just had to show him off. I can't tell you how blessed we feel to have gotten to experience this process and for God to have worked so actively in our lives. We just feel like we need to shout from the rooftops so we did a little shouting... What's going on now?: Well, we're settling into a routine. Allie's had her sixth birthday. Jack and Allie have been to see Santa at Otter Creek. They've both had their pictures made at Tim Jones (and they're beautiful by the way). Jack took two steps yesterday. He's gotten pretty good at standing for a few seconds. When he falls down, we're supposed to clap for him. If we don't, he gives us a look. He's still taking a bottle and has gained 4 pounds in two months. He says Mama, my parents claim he says dog and when I try to get him to say DaDa, he still says Mama. He wakes up happy, a little too early happy for us, but we're adjusting to that too. We would never have dreamed how much God had in store for us for 2004. We have been so blessed by friends and family. Jack has been showered with gifts and love by so many. We've often said if we'd had another child naturally, it sure wouldn't have been as big a deal. We will never forget this time in our lives when God extended our family. Maybe we'll blog again someday, only time will tell..... Merry Christmas, Steve, Vonda, Allie and Jack

Ever wanted to go to Iceland?

We got to the airport about 11:40 today. Anastasia took control and parted the crowds for us to just walk up to the front of the first screening line. She was amazing. She said she was staying to "control the situation". Well she did. We got our seat assignments that we wanted and made it through passport control. Then we waited for security screening to open up at our gate. We finally got through that screening. They took out everything from our carryons. They seemed intrigued with my hair gel and a multitude of Vonda's beauty products. We could tell that this was going to be an extremely thorough screening, which meant it was going to take a long time to load everyone on the plane. We were actually in our seats by 2:30. We were supposed to depart at 2:40. We finally pushed back from the gaite at 5:00. Almost 2.5 hours, but I wasn't worried, because I knew we'd made some up in the air, and we had 5 hours between flights at Dulles. The bassinet seat for Jack worked out pretty well, but he was pretty fussy for the first couple of hours of the flight. It seemed that as soon as he was asleep, they would make a loud announcement or do something else to wake him up. About 3 hours into the flight, they announced that a doctor was needed. Several medical personnel attended to a passenger in the rear of the plane. About 15 minutes later, they announced that we would be making a landing in Iceland for the passenger to deplane. We landed in Rekiavich (spelling Clarissa?), Iceland's capital. The countryside was pretty desolate. We spent about 1.5 hours on the ground there after they removed the passenger. The rumor was that he had a stroke. At this point it looked pretty doubtful that we'd be making it to Nashville Saturday night. We finally got clearance to leave after the pilot, an engineer, and someone from Iceland looked curiously at the right wing. Never did know what they were looking at because the Russians tell you nothing. Jack slept pretty much the six hours from Iceland on to Dulles. Allie was extremely good and slept some of that time. Jack managed to go through all of his outfits with some McGill bowels of his own. We borrowed a cellphone from a man in business class in Iceland to phone home and let folks know it looked pretty doubtful. When we landed in Dulles at 9:15, we knew making a 10:00 flight was impossible and let everyone know for sure. We made it though passport control, the INS interview and Jack is now an American Citizen. We decided to enjoy the moment and not worry about missing our flight. I'm glad we did because we would have missed it either way, but this way we didn't get too stressed out about it. We're now at the hotel in Virginia. Jack is asleep in his crib, Allie is watching "That's So Raven" and we're about ready for bed. United's flights were all sold out so we're coming home on my airline (Southwest). We land at 10:30 and hope we don't disrupt too many church services. Love you all, Steve, Vonda, Allie, and Jack

TGIF

Today was our last full day in Moscow. We started this morning by leaving the hotel at 8:00. I made us a little late because I had to stop to use the restroom after breakfast. Curse those bowels. We ended up at the Passport office on the outskirts of the city. Took us 1 ½ hours to get there, which was behind schedule. I was blaming my bowels. At the passport office, they said we weren’t supposed to pick up the passport until 10:00. They finally let us have it about 9:45. We were supposed to then have all our paperwork including the passport to the American Embassy by 11:00. Remember that it took us 1 ½ hours from downtown to the Passport office. Well on our way to the Embassy, we asked Anastasia what would happen if we were late with out packet. She said they would most likely reschedule our appointment for Monday meaning we would have to stay the weekend. Well let me tell you that Moses and the Red Sea have nothing on the McGill’s and Moscow traffic. Traffic parted for us. Our driver Vlad was weaving and speeding like a madman. At one point, Vonda finally figured out the seatbelt in the minivan and strapped Allie in. We crossed ourselves and saw our lives flash before our eyes, all the while Jack was sleeping peacefully in the back seat. But we made it to the Embassy in 45 minutes,50% reduction in time. At the Embassy, Anastasia told us “God must really love you. I didn’t believe until the last moment that we would make it in time” After we dropped off our paperwork, we went to Red Square to get some pictures and then did some shopping at Arbat Street waiting for our 2:30 appointment with the Embassy. We enjoyed lunch at McDonald’s then headed for the Embassy. The appointment was very short and uneventful. There were about 30 adoptive families there. It was so nice to hear American accented language and to have official looking people actually smile at you. After a trip to the office to sign more paperwork, we finally got back to the hotel about 4:30. Jack’s had a bath, Allie’s had her Mac and Cheese and we’re ready to start packing. We got seats confirmed on our flight for the bulkhead row which means we should have a bassinet for Jack to sleep in. He was as good as gold in the car for the last two days so we’re hoping we haven’t pressed out luck too much. We’ll leave the hotel tomorrow at 11:00 for our 2:40 departure. We’ll have about a 5 hour layover in Dulles and then should be home in Nashville by 11:00. We can’t wait, and we know you’re excited too. We’ll forgive you for not being that excited to see us. Love, Steve, Vonda, Allie and Jack

Thursdays with Allie

We are leaving on Saturday, and we are bringing Jack home. And you will see him at school, and I will see you too. I have seen the Kremlin where the President works. And I saw the church with the ice cream cones. Love, Allie

Living with Jack

http://home.comcast.net/~themcgills/Office.wmv Well we've got 24 hours of parenting two children under our belts, and we've survived. It's been great. Jack slept all night until about 7:00 this morning. Vonda had to feel his back to make sure he was still breathing when she got up to use the bathroom. He ate a good breakfast of cereal and some fruits. He's definitely got his likes and dislikes, but he is eating. We also got him to drink a formula bottle driving around today so all is right in the world. So far we've managed to get him to go back to a bottle and to take a pacifier. The only thing left is to destroy his sleeping habits and we started that this morning. I laid down with him while he took his morning nap. Today we went to the Children's hospital to get a medical report for the American Embassy. They actually saw us with no waiting, and everything was fine. Then we went to the CHI office to fill out the paperwork for the Embassy. The video you see linked above was shot there. Jack's really thinking his sister is something. After paperwork at the office, we drove to the notary's office to sign the paperwork for the Ministry of Education that we had completed the adoption. I've never seen so much paperwork. I think Russia could import half of our lawyers. While waiting for the notary, we got to visit Children's World, the large toy store again. Allie really enjoyed that. Jack was unimpressed. Tonite, we're going to TGI Friday's. It should be fun. We've tried to get a Kremlin tour for tomorrow, but it's not going to happen. Our day is pretty booked with Passport office, dropping off items for the Embassy, and our Embassy interview. I can't believe I've been to Moscow twice and haven't seen the Kremlin, but this is life. We got the souvenir we came for already. Just two more days and we'll be back home. We literally cannot wait for you guys to meet Jack. He just fits. He's so sweet and loving. I keep asking Vonda, how is this possible? We're just so thankful for everyone's love and support. Looking forward to Saturday night even if we're not looking forward to the plane ride. Love, Steve, Vonda, Allie and Jack

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

One More Day

Video Links: http://home.comcast.net/~themcgills/Buzzy.wmv http://home.comcast.net/~themcgills/JackAllie.wmv We had another great day with Jack. Tomorrow he's ours. Sophia, one of the representatives at CHI went over the court proceedings with us today. She started our discussions with "Unfortunately". Thankfully, the only unfortunate thing was that she wouldn't be translating for us because of a prior commitment. Note to CHI, Do not start conversations with Adoptive parents in Russia with "Unfortunately". We recovered and were able to listen. She says that we have gotten a good judge (whatever that means). There is a 10 day waiting period that we will request to have waived to make the adoption effective immediately. Sophia says that it is waived 99.9% of the time. We'll be doing out best to stay out of that .01%. After court, we'll go to get the adoption decree, Jack's new birth certificate and then finally Jack. We should have him around 5-6pm Moscow time or 8-9am Nashville time. We may be later blogging and won't be able to contact anyone until we get back to the hotel. If you haven't heard from us, assume good news, it means we're at the orphanage picking Jack up... After our visit today, Anastasia took us to the market to pick up some food for Jack. He's not on any formula anymore and is not really liking taking a bottle for juice. So we bought him a sippy cup, but Vonda will still be trying the bottle. As for the food we purchased, I'm seriously doubting that we'll be giving him any of it. One item is Kefur (sour milk yogurt that you have to mix sugar in), and another is curds??. We'll see, but if we can't stand to smell it open, I doubt we'll be putting it in his mouth Allie is still having a big time. (bigger than we're used to, and we're ready for it to settle down). By the way, we just got a call that our court time has been moved to 12:00 so we'll be able to get Jack a little earlier. Tonight, we dined on velveeta shells and cheese and really enjoyed it. It's been raining and about 50 degrees for the last couple of days so we didn't want to walk anywhere. So far we've eaten at Patio Pizza on Sunday, Rostick's (Russian KFC) last night, and dined in tonite. Gotta say the velveeta shells and cheese was as good as the Rostick's. Well I'll close the BLOG for now so I can finish my budgets for work. I've got a conference call scheduled with them for tomorrow night, so I should probably be finished with them beforehand... Love you all and we'll try to let you know as soon as possible that we've got him... I'll be putting a couple of links to video up later, that should help the blog to load faster. Steve, Vonda, and Allie PS We still haven't heard from Michael - Where's all the accents?

Words from Allie

We saw Jack today, and we love him. He held my hand in the car, and I got to hold him. I did my elevens today, did you do yours? I'm going to bed now. Talk to you tommorrow. PS We got to go to Baskin Robbins tonight. Love, Allie

Turn your head to the LEFT

Sorry for the awkward angle. We didn't realize the camera would do this. Better luck tomorrow....

Heeeeeerzzzz JACK!!

Well everything went great today. Vonda and I woke up about 2:00 AM. I was able to go back to sleep, she stayed up. Allie woke up about 4:00 AM and has not had a nap. It's now 8:25PM Moscow time. She's wired like the Energizer bunny. We've never seen her like this and hope to not see it again as she is currently doing handstands in the lobby. By the way, for Ms. Kuhns and her class, Allie did her homework, cut and pasted leaves while Vonda and I took an afternoon nap. They've really tightened up security at the orphanage so we weren't able to go to Jack's room to get him. We had to wait for someone to bring him out to us. I don't think he remembered us, but he did warm up very quickly. He looks great. Doesn't seem to have gotten much bigger, but he looks very healthy. Vonda and Allie went with the interpreter to get his passport pictures made. They came out great, but very serious as he often is. Before they left, we took the two bags of orphanage donations to the chief doctor's office. They said they would go through and return our suitcases later. Allie and Jack had a great time together. He watched her every move, and was fascinated by her. She seemed to really take a liking to him too. He's now crawling anywhere he wants to go and is sitting up really well. He can pull up on something to stand, but is not standing on his own yet. He's made great progress while we were gone. Did I mention how cute he is? We spent about 2 hours with him and then it was time for him to go take his nap. He didn't want to leave with his caregiver. He held on to Vonda and looked so sad. Just two more days and he's ours. I'll get some other pictures posted soon and hopefully some video. Thanks for all your support. Can't wait to get this finished and get him home to y'all. Love, Steve, Vonda and Allie

Back in the USSR ok the Russian Federation

Well, we've made it. Everything was pretty uneventful. Allie did great, slept some on the flight and is doing fine. Security at the Dulles airport was very tight. They searched every passenger and hand searched every carry on bag. It was a little unsettling at first, but it was actually reassuring. Anastasia met us at the airport with a MINIVAN, hallelujah, hallelujah. Her first words were "You've got a lot of luggage". About the luggage..... We ended up with 4 large bags to check. Each bag could only weigh 70 pounds. Well one of the bags was over, so they let Vonda rearrange some things. After she rearranged, the offending bag was under weight and the bag she moved it to was now over 10 pounds. At this point we said they're for an orphanage. The ticket agent immediately said well why didn't you say that earlier?, we'll just let it slide. Guess we should have turned that on earlier. We will see Jack tomorrow at 10:00. We'll see him on Tuesday and then have court on Wednesday. We should be able to pick him up after court on Wednesday if they can get all the paperwork done. Please pray for that. Anastasia says everything looks good for us getting to come home next Saturday. We'll talk to you all soon. Love Steve, Vonda and Allie

Court Date

Well they called and left a message yesterday. We have a court date!!!! It's Wednesday at 1:00 (4:00 AM Nashville time). The early risers among you can be praying for us at that time, but we already know that God is in control of this courtroom. We will have a medical exam, appointment with the American embassy, and be waiting for Russian passports and birth certificates before we can leave on Saturday, Oct 2. There will be alot to accomplish in the two days after court, but on Wednesday, Jack Kolya will be officially ours. Talk to you all soon.

Squeaky Wheels and Postal Workers

Well, we've got a date. Well we think we have a date. Well, we're going to Russia on September 25 whether we have a date or not. For the last week and a half, we have spoken to our agency on a daily basis. Each day they have said that we will know our court date the next day. Each day we have not known our court date. On Monday afternoon, I cut off my contact with them because I feared I could not remain civil with them. I put Vonda in charge of all communication. By Thursday, I could no longer remain on the sidelines. I spoke with our case manager as well as her supervisor. After they said we should know something on Friday for sure, I asked them to please not tell us that unless they really knew something. (I'm pretty sure they don't really like me anymore.) Well today, I called our contact and of course they had not heard anything. She said she would call me back after talking to the Moscow director. I had heard that line before and assumed I'd have to call her back later to hear that we still knew nothing. Well, for a change, she actually called me back. And she had Ludmilla, the Moscow director conferenced in. Ludmilla speaks very little English, so they also had a translator on line. I finally got an answer as to when Jack's paperwork was actually filed with the court. As I had feared, it wasn't filed until September 6 because the entire country of Russia takes a 1 month vacation during the month of August. But..., Ludmilla stated that she wanted us to go on and buy our tickets and come on Saturday, Sept 25. We do not technically have a court date, but she is 99.9% sure that we will get a court date during the week. We are going to trust that she had the connections to pull this off. I told her even if we didn't get to court until the next week, we would still love to come because we have got to see Jack again. (I think it was at this point that I almost cried). The moral of the story is that the squeaky wheel does indeed get the grease. I also think they could tell that they were closer and closer to pushing me over the postal edge and decided to actually do something about it. This next week we'll be busy packing (OK, Vonda will be busy, I'll traveling with work). Allie is very excited and looking forward to blogging from Russia for her class and friends at Ezell-Harding. We cannot wait to see him again. This had been the hardest 8 weeks in our lives. We've finally been able to watch Jack's video tonite. We haven't been able to watch for the last few weeks because we've missed him so much. Right now, our plans are to leave on Saturday the 25th and return on Saturday, October 2nd at 11:00 PM. We cannot wait for everyone to meet him. He's got so many family and friends that are loving and praying for him. You're going to love him.....

Almost Home....

We're sitting in the Cincinnati airport waiting for our last connection flight. We are so ready to get home. We're going crazy and close to taking off Delta agents' heads. It's so wild to think of coming home and still leaving a part of us in Russia. I can't wait til we're all truly home.... Love you all, Steve and Vonda

On Our Way Home

It's 11:00 in Moscow, and we're getting ready to check out of the hotel. Vonda's perked up because BBC has their home improvement shows on now. She's currently watching Changing Rooms, their version of Trading Spaces. We'll head to the airport in about an hour. If anyone's reading this today, we'll be somewhere over the Atlantic as you're reading. We hate that we have to overnite in New York. We're going to try to schedule better on the next trip so that doesn't happen. We may try to go through Washington which has more flights back to Nashville. Maybe Beecher could be our chauffeur on that leg of the trip?? We want to thank everyone again for all their support. This trip would have been so much harder if we couldn't have kept in touch with home and felt your good wishes through this website. It feels like we've been gone forever and yet not long at all. If only Allie were with us. We miss her so much, especially her mommy since she doesn't travel as much as Daddy does. Everyone have a great weekend and we'll see you soon. We have a lot of video and pictures what we can bore everyone with. I don't know how our child ended up halfway around the world, but I praise God that we've found each other. Continue to keep Jack in your prayers. Love, Steve and Vonda Allie, just one more day till we're together again. We are counting the hours. We love you very very very much. Mommy and Daddy

PS I don't know if anyone has used the spell checker on the BLOG. It's quite good. It tries to turn Vonda into vomit and Vonda's into Bondage. I think there may be some logic with the Vonda's = Bondage correction. :)

Tomorrow we fly...+ Vonda's last comments

Vonda's last comments on Moscow: Here's what Moscow needs: 1) Super Walmart, 2) A little HGTV, 3) A Touch of Talbot's, 4) A MARTA Station along with some environmental wackos. They should consider letting Martha serve her time over here. She could do a very good thing. Vonda Today, we had our last visit with Jack for this trip. We had a very good three hours with a very sweet boy. He played and played, and we think we've worn him out. He was so sleepy, but he stayed awake the whole time even after his bottle. He's changed so much in such a short time. He's getting so much stronger. His caregivers seem to favor him. We brought two big bags of diapers to the orphanage today which we left with the supervisor. We had some individual diapers left from what we'd bought for Jack earlier that we left with his caregivers. They said they would use them for him. They said he was special because he had a mama and papa. How very sad. As we left him, he was fine and happy in his crib. Vonda and I are ok. It was very rough and very emotional, but we're ok and trusting that God will keep him safe as he has so far. Just please remember him in your prayers and pray for the shortest return trip in Russian history. When we arrived at the baby house this morning, the workers were unloading a truck load of nestle juice for babies. We're not sure where it came from but were sure glad to see it. As we were leaving, Vonda hugged one of the caregivers and the caregiver tried to comfort Vonda. She said they would take good care of Kolya. After the visit, we took the city tour. We should have done this ealier, but it was actually good to have our mind on something else. It was about a 2.5 hour car ride with a few stops in between. We've got a couple of pictures of the most famous places in town. It's a very interesting city with a mix of wealth and poverty, nice buildings and Stalinist architecture. We went to Moscow University to get a view of the city, but it was so smoggy we could hardly make anything out. We're exhausted and read to get home. We'll be there soon and can't wait to see everyone. Steve and Vonda Allie, we'll call you in a few minutes. We ate at McDonald's today. They have happy meals here too. You'll have to see what toys you can get when you're here. We can't wait to see you on Sunday. We love you very much. Mommy and Daddy

Jack's Video

http://home.comcast.net/~themcgills/Jack320.wmv Thank you thank you Rob Cox for making this work and hosting until I can get back and get it moved to our site. I have somehow managed to get my yahoo email address cancelled. I think it was because of emailing the video to Rob. It looked like the virus protection didn't get to test it and maybe that's why they cancelled me, but whatever. You can email anything you don't want the world to see (uh personal words, not any special pictures) to themcgills@comcast.net. We can access that here too. Was everyone able to read Reita's (ReeRee) posts? Please let her know they worked so she can quit posting the same message. :) Vonda and I were so shocked by her post that my father would tell my mother she was crazy. That just doesn't seem like his character.... Well we've had breakfast and are waiting for our ride to the orphanage. We've got a city tour planned for this afternoon, our last day in Moscow. The translator told us yesterday we'd have to leave the baby home about 30 minutes early to do the tour. That's not going to happen. We'll let her know on the ride out there that we'll take our 30 minutes with Jack thank you very much. The city of Moscow can take care of itself. We'll see you all very soon, Steve and Vonda Allie, I hope you got to see the video of Jack. We miss you so much and can't wait to see you on Sunday. Just two more days, count them down. Are your seeds growing yet? Hope you and Kia are having fun at your slumber parties. We love you more than ever. Tell Abbey we're still thinking of her, and tell Michael that we did see a pony ride last night. Love, Mommy and Daddy

Thursday's Pictures

Here's the latest pictures. I have a call for help out to Rob Cox through Clarissa for some help on the video. (not as smart as I thought I was, you won't hear that very often.)

Papers Signed - Another step closer to bringing Jack Home!!

Today we went to a Russian notary's office to sign the official papers requesting permission to adopt Jack Kolya McGill.  We had to choose his name, and you just read it.  The office was of course smoky and very small.  We signed these papers after our morning visit with Jack.  Vonda was able to get a bottle (I thought she might take off the translator's head if she wouldn't stop somewhere, but I don't think the girl felt she was in fear for her life.  She was however). Jack loved his bottle.  He had already eaten lunch when we got there so we played for an hour and a half before he wore himself out.  He laid in Vonda's arms and took his juice bottle so well.   Of course, since he can drink out of a water bottle, he was able to hold the bottle himself.  We're going to have to work with him on our meeting his needs rather than him having to meet them himself.  He has changed so much in 3 short days.  It's almost miraculous.  This child who we were so worried about on Monday is laughing, can now almost sit by himself, and got up on his knees to crawl today.  He could do none of these things ealier.  It's going to be amazing to watch him catch up as soon as we get home.  About getting him home....  We have heard anywhere from 2 - 8 weeks before we'll be back for  a court date.  4 weeks seems to be a recurring theme, but we're asking you to pray that God intervenes and we're invited back in 2 weeks.  Please pray for that and that God will keep Jack safe and developing while we're away from him.  He really is such a sweet boy.  I also have to take back an ealier blog where I noted that he was not "perfect".  Actually upon further reflection he is.  We will see him tomorrow for the last time before we have to leave.  Please pray for us.  This is going to be unbelievably hard to do, and I can't even put into words how I know we're going to feel.  I don't want to feel that pain yet so I'm deferring those thoughts. More about our Moscow adventures follows: Today we decided to make some notes during the day for our blogging.  Swaffords, if you're reading along (and not at a ballgame), I think this is called journaling.  Maybe we should reconsider that book Scott Owings wanted us to do... First of all, there is one of every car built in the world in the city of Moscow.  We've seen Navigators, Nissan Armadas, Camaros, Firebirds, and everything Europe and Japan have to offer.  We've seen them really close up since lanes in Moscow are merely a suggestion.  The air is very polluted and of course, our Volga has no A/C so at the end of the day we're filthy.  On our way to the baby home, Vonda persuaded the team to stop at a pharmacy.  Looks like we pulled over to the side of the interstate to stop to me, but whatever.  She said this one was more like our beloved Wal-green's with ability to pick your own items.  We're amazed at how much our days revolve around the three hours we have with Jack.  We read the blog comments in the morning, go to see Jack, and come back and blog about him.  We don't eat lunch and think about supper whenever we get to it.    Some things we've noticed:  Jack has some fairly strong eyebrows.  We think uncle Marty might have to help him later with the maintenance of these since Daddy has no experience.  Some things the baby house needs:  Clothes for birth to 4 years, Money to buy diapers, and musical toys, and long sleeved onesies.  If you feel inclined to donate something, we'd love to bring some things back on our second trip.  We did make it to the Children's world store today (with our beloved interpreter, I do mean that), and found that toys and clothes are more expensive here than at home.  Diapers should be bought in Russia, but other things should come from US if we can pack them. Today, we gave the children in Jack's groupa (this is not a typo, it's a groupa in Russian) the bears the ladies at OtterCreek had made.  They seemed to enjoy them, and we took some pictures.  One of Jack's caregivers is actually adopting a little boy from this baby house.  She asked if she could have one of the bears for him and then asked Vonda to write his name on it in English.  She wanted him to have something from the lady from America.  These women are good ladies.  They do the best they can in a situation that is not what babies need.  I've watched them hold, comfort and soothe these children, but there are at most 2 women for 14 babies who need basic needs met.  The basic needs get met before the emotional needs.  We don't know what our future holds, but we know that God has placed on our hearts a desire to do something to help this situation.  We can't change all the orphanages in Russia, but maybe we can do something to change this one small place who has cared for Jack.  We know that this is our last Russian adoption.  We can't do this process again, but we are not done with Russian orphanages, Lord willing. Sorry this post has been so long, just have a lot to say.  There's not any pics along with this post yet.  Check back later today.  I'm going to work on getting a link to a video of Jack up here.  Pray for my sanity as I attempt that. We love you all - Especially you Allie.  We will call you in a few minutes since you should be up by now unless Sue's locked herself out of the house again.  Just a few more days and we'll be home.  We're going to work on moving our flight from New York earler since you'll be at home.  We'll let you know when we find out. - Mommy and Daddy Steve PS. Vonda can't wait to tell Mary Hearn about the big woman who "stirs the pot" at the baby house but she won't be doing in blog form because she takes too long and that makes me want to blow my head off...

Vonda's World

OK guys you know this is my least favorite task in the world. I don't like to read and I like writing even less, and now this is third time to start because we keep losing our connection. I am just going to share a few of my observations on fashion and then respond to some of your questions. The adoption agency told us to dress very conservatively over here so that we would not stand out. Well I stand out anyway because I am wearing clothes. The women here ( unless you are a "babushka", Russian grandmother) wear as little clothes as possible. I don't think they own underwear. They have got the tightest, lowest riding pant and jeans that I have ever seen and also the shortest skirts. And to top it all off they don't seem to ever leave the house without at least a three inch heel. These are not girls that are just out on the town, they are running up and down huge flights of subway stairs and across very busy streets. It makes me think of Lisa Owings' Czech Republic weather girl story. And, Marilyn you think I wear pointy shoes, you have never seen pointy like this. Both men and women wear the pointiest shoes. They have to be so long to accommodate their foot that they start curling up on the ends. Some I've seen I don't think they would let you get on an airplane with. I'm so glad everyone is getting to see our Jack. We had another good day with him today. Can you believe in a city this size it would be so hard to find a baby bottle. I can't stand for him to drink out of that coffee cup. We WILL get one tomorrow on our way. The sleepers I brought with me for Jack are 6-9 months. (Yes Kayla I put the green outfit on him as soon as we got him to ourselves) The clothes he had on were clean, but that's about all I can say. You can get a little bit of and idea from that bonnet he was wearing in the pictures from today. Allie was horrified that he was wearing flowers, then I told her when we got there he was wearing pink. She will have none of that when we get home. But everyone be prepared for smocking and knee socks. Anyway back to his size, the 6-9 months seem to fit him really well, but they were already a little short in the stride. He is a very long boy! I think he is in the 75% in length. Marilyn, the bracelet I am wearing in the now infamous bath tub shot (which by the way I can't believe you even saw it)is my Allie bracelet. I had to have her with me every moment. However Steve did buy me a beautiful amber bracelet today, along with a matching ring and earrings. He bought them today because of our anniversary, but we will be giving them to Jack to give to his wife someday. We wanted him to have something to give her that was from Russia. I am sure I will make some sort of bracelet to remember this trip, but I am having trouble finding any charms. I'm sure Melanie can help me find some when we get home, but it would be nice to have some from here. I have already bought trucks and cars and bulldozers for my Jack bracelet. Allie made a Jack bracelet for herself the day before we left, and wore it all day. Kristi, his eyes are a mystery. Even close up it's hard to tell. They are kind-of gray and light brown in the center. One more thing, could Clarissa or someone at OtterCreek forward the attached picture or Blog to Brandon? Ask him if he'd like me to pick up these shoes for him on our way out on Saturday... Thanks so much for your comments. It's kept us in touch with home this week. Love Vonda

Stupid Americans!!

We had one task tonite.  We were going to go to the large Children's World Store three subway stops down from where we are.  We need a bottle or a sippy cup so Jack can drink some juice or milk.  He drank the juice we brought him today out of the bottle we bought it in.  Obviously that shows superior intelligence which means he is becoming a McGill, but we thought it'd be easier for him with at least a sippy cup.  Seriously, the kid drank water from our water bottle.  He was so thirsty.  He kept grabbing for it while we were drinking so we had to let him have it.  So we ask at the front desk how to get there.  It seems so easy....  You just go down in the subway, take the green line down three stops and it's over a block.  We head to the Metro station right around the corner.  We know the brown and green lines cross there and that we have to take the green one.   There is no green line to be found.  Seems that once you get down there to the center of the earth, they lose the needs to use colors.  So we keep trying different stairs and escalators.  By the way, one thing the Soviets could do is build a nice escalator.  Well after trying one last escalator, we find ourselves back out on the street, a wasted 10 rubles.  I of course am freaking, because I would have taken a taxi to begin with.  Vonda figures our we can just walk down the street to the next stop which isn't supposed to have two lines crossing at it. Well, we seemed to have missed that Metro station.  We find ourselves further towards Red Square when we find another Metro stop.  This one is supposed to have a Green and Purple line running through it.  We go down to the center of the earth again and the signs are all in blue (implying to me at least that this is the blue metro line).  Not wanting to end up in Siberia, we take another escalator and find ourselves deposited on the other side of the street.  At this point, we're at the TGI Fridays.  If you're reading along Scott and Lisa Owings, we decided to stop and eat there in your honor. (It is also our 15th anniversary and tensions were a little high by now). Before we eat, we ask the waiter where we are.  It seems we don't have time to get to the store  by this point anyway, so we just have dinner.  Somewhat American meal, but not quite.  So we decide to walk back to the hotel.  Not too far, no big deal.  We go to the pharmacy next to the hotel, wait in line for about 40 minutes because these people have never seen a Wal-Greens in action, find that the clerk speaks no english, and that they don't carry any bottles.  At least I think that's what she said.  The 24 hour grocery around the corner doesn't seem to carry them either, and I'm not sure they like me anyway because I took my change out of her hand rather than letting her put it on a little tray.  That got me a look.  So anyway, we're tired and not trying to go out anymore.  We've vowed never to go on the Metro and we plan to keep this whole experience from our translator who told us not to go out by ourselves because she would be happy to take us anywhere we needed to go.  As the title says, Stupid Americans. We will get Jack a bottle before we go out tomorrow because Vonda's maternal instincts have kicked in so strong I thought I was gonna really get it for questioning the wisdom of traipsing across Moscow for a bottle.  There's a huge German Super walmart type store on the way to the orphanage and we're hopefully going to stop there. OK, that's my story for the night.  Everyone get ready because Vonda's going to do her first blogging here in a few minutes.  See you all soon, Steve One late addition:  Have I mentioned how happy I am that we came to Russia this week?  Again God was in control of things.  We have missed the entire Democratic Convention.  Sorry Beecher...

Something a little lighter....

Well I hope all you folks just waking up in Nashville are having a good day. We've certainly had one here, and are planning on going out to do some shopping on our own tonight. You know things are back to normal when Vonda's shopping (and we've already done some of that today). We got to spend a lot more time with Jack (who we're half the time calling Kolya, his Russian nickname). We took him to the children's hospital this morning for an EKG which Dr. Mallard had already told us was unnecessary, but it was already scheduled so we went ahead. We went to the wrong hospital so they had to charge us. It was 100 rubles. That works out to US $ 3. Now there's a healthcare system. Now I'm going to try to some more even though I keep losing my internet connection and having to start over. Very frustrating and it will probably make this rather incoherent. I hope you've all enjoyed Michael Pitt's posts. I know we have. About the bath, I'd say let your Maam's conscience be your guide. Abbey, we saw a little girl yesterday leaving the orphanage and thought of you. You'll know why we thought of you when you get your postcard. For all my ARC friends, thanks for your support. Don't start thinking that the kinder gentler Steve you've seen on this blog is coming back to work. The normal gruff Steve you know will be there on Monday. I don't know how much I'll be worth until the 2nd trip, but I'll try to work smarter not harder (as usual). Thanks for your support. Well, I've now moved down to the 4th floor lobby to complete this on the hotel computer. I can't keep a wireless connection, and now I'm so frustrated I can't remember what I wanted to say. I'll close for now and then update after our shopping trip tonight. Who wants to see more pictures of Jack? Here they are. You might notice more of Daddy and Jack, and that's because Daddy's the only parent who knows how to do this. Allie, The picture called Kolya_Book shows how he's liking his picture book. We had Anastasia write Sistra in Russian on your pictures so he can to know what you look like. Mommy will call you in a little while. You were asleep when she talked with Sue. We love you very much and will be home soon. Love, Mommy and Daddy

God is So Good!!!

We're sitting here in the 4th floor lobby of the beautiful Marriott Tyverskya in Moscow, Russia at 11:20 at night. God is so good. We've been reading your comments, and let me tell you we've been feeling your prayers. Yesterday was a very trying day for us. We had such an image in our minds of what meeting Jack would be like. We had envisioned the same experience when we saw Allie for the first time. It was different. We weren't sure what we were supposed to be feeling, and we were so afraid of making a mistake. We had such an idealized situation in our heads, and then we were so stressed out from the day, driven to a desolate orphanage with some unidentifiable odor coming from the kitchen, show a baby who looked so very sad and given a list of medical diagnoses that would scare the life out of you. After all of this, the officials then let you know that this baby is "perfect" and that there will be no other referrals as good as this one. That is the fear some of you were noticing on our blog yesterday. We asked for your prayers. You came through in spades, and God relieved our fears and calmed our hearts. For the last two days we've been spending our evenings with another couple from Georgia here in the lobby. As we came in last night, we were torn as to eat with them, but decided to go. We shared our fears and concerns and they shared that we had put into words what they were also feeling. We comforted each other and both left feeling refreshed. God sent these people into our lives. They were supposed to have gone home earlier, but were delayed. I believe they were delayed for us. Today, we met our son. It was everything we had hoped for and we knew it instantly. When he put his head on my shoulder, I told Vonda he's the one. He's not "perfect". No child can live for more than a day in this environment and be "perfect". But he's ours. He is so beautiful and has such a good personality that we got to see today. We've heard back from Vanderbilt with a fair report. We have also talked to Allie's pediatrician Dr. Mallard who we also thank God for. He was so kind and reassuring and asked us the question we already knew the answer to. He asked if any test results would change our mind about bringing Jack home. Of course they would not. God has chosen this child for us just as all of you have been praying for for so many months. We are so blessed with friends and family who love us so much. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts and leaving us notes of encouragement on this website. It means more than you will ever know. If you've made it to the end of this message, thanks for reading that far. I know this was a little bit deeper than what you normally expect from me, but this experience has been so Godful (is that a word?). So for those of you who've stuck with it and made it to the bottom of the blog there's a couple of treats. Here's a few more links (since I can't figure out how to post the pics to the site and sorry I can't figure out how to make them smaller either. When we let the picture load all the way, it shrinks in size). There's two more pictures of baby Jack and the long awaited picture of Vonda in the bathtub. For those who might be wondering, the green dots on his head are not our work. They're the work of Russian medicine treating a recent case of chicken pox. We love you, Steve and Vonda. PS. Allie - We know you're getting ready to go to Texas and hope you have the best time. This is a hard time for us to be away from your bright smiling face. We so wish you were here, but glad you're safe at home and can't wait to get home to you. You're going to love Jack, he can't wait to meet you. love Mommy and Daddy

Is this what y'all have been waiting for??

OK, we're having major problems posting pictures to the BLOG. Anyone who can help me chime in. The program that worked so great at home is not working now. I was able to post this link to a website where you can see Jack in one picture. I'll be working to get more pics up and to tell you all about today. Much better day than yesterday, and it needs telling. Thanks for your prayers, and I'll be blogging again soon.

What a Day!

Our day started with a fabulous breakfast buffet.  It's included in our adoption rate here at the hotel.  Sue, you might want to consider coming to Moscow for the bargain, it's that good. After breakfast we went to the agency office (un air-conditioned of course) in our Volga automobile (un air-conditioned of course) and spent two hours in a seminar.  Then we went to the Ministry of Education to receive our referral.  After waiting outside on the street (un air-conditioned of course) for about an hour, we finally got to go in to the building which was well you get the point on the A/C I think.  The ministry looked something like the Howard School building if it had been hit by a small powered bomb.  After waiting about 40 minutes inside, we got to go in to receive our referral.  They asked us some questions and then gave us the referral.  He's an 8 month old little boy living in an orphanage about an hour outside of town. The five of us (Michael the driver, Ludmilla the boss, Anastasia the translator and us) made the drive to the orphanage in the un air-conditioned Volga and arrived in time for the children's nap.  As they run a very strict schedule (unlike us), they would only let us see him for 5 minutes.  He wanted nothing to do with Steve and let Vonda hold him.  We will get to see him for about 3 hours tomorrow and get to feed him and take him outside.  The orphanage was a lot like we had imagined and it's not a place you want to visit. Over the next two days, we'll get more medical information and feedback from the Vanderbilt clinic and be prepared to make the decision to accept the referral.  We're going to wait until then to post a picture.  We hope you understand, but we need to be absolutely sure.  His name is Nikolai (how bout that Nicky White?). Please pray for us that things go smoothly and that God is able to give us peace.  This has been an even more emotional process than we had prepared for and we covet your prayers. God bless you, Steve and Vonda PS.  Allie if they're reading down this far for you, we love you more than you can ever imagine and cannot wait to see you.  Have fun in Texas and take a lot of picture for us.  Keep your phone handy and we'll talk to you soon. Love, Mommy and Daddy

On our way to Ministry of Education

We're at the CHI office getting ready to go to the Ministry.  It was in Russian, but I think they said we will get a referral under 1 year of age.  I think they wanted to make sure we weren't too old for a child that young. :) We're overwhelmed right now with information and expect to be overwhelmed with emotion shortly.  Expect there to be a lot of happy tears in Russia today from a McGill.  Who'd have thought that? We'll blog later.  Isn't this thing cool?  If you're reading, drop us a comment so we can stay connected with home. Love you, Steve and Vonda

We Made It!!!

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in Moscow, Russia.  The sun is shining and it's about 75 degrees.  Our flights were very uneventful even though we were forty-five minutes late getting into JFK (due to the fact that we flew our most hated carrier - Delta Airlines, that's just for you Todd Creech).  We made quite a few observations standing in our many lines for tickets and passport control in Moscow: 1)  Russians are very quiet.  There were 300 people waiting to go through passport control and you could hear a pin drop. 2)  Americans are very loud.  As we waited for our Moscow flight, we met two other families adopting from Russia.  We were the loudest folks in the flight lounge. 3)  Some Russians can consume vast amounts of alcohol and you see no effect in their behavior.  Good thing since they were sitting across from us.  They still remained very quiet. 4)  For all you Europeans out there, the tennis shoe with dark socks look has not caught on and will never catch on.  Time to move on. 5)  Seems like an inordinate amount of American men wear plaid.  (Thank you Vonda for picking me out a nice plaid shirt to stick out as an American in these terror ridden times.) We called Allie from JFK and she was doing well.  Having fun working for Papa.   It's 6:30 AM at home right now, so we're going to call her in about an hour if we can figure out the phones and the phone card I got at Wal-mart.  Anastasia picked us up at the airport.  She works for CHI and is very nice.  She said she likes her Tennessee families the best because they're always so nice.  We hope everything goes our way so we don't ruin her image of us.   :)  Our driver is Michael, and I think he was impressed that I knew some of the Russian built car's names.  He'll pick us up at 9:00 tomorrow morning.  We'll meet at CHI for a seminar and then go to the Ministry of Education at 11:00.  After receiving the referral from them, we'll go to the orphanage in the afternoon. Our hotel is much nicer than we expected.  I just hope we bought enough febreeze for our clothes since it seems that everyone in Russia smokes and smokes everywhere regardless of any posted no smoking signs.  I have a lovely picture of Vonda in our large Russian bath tub, but I can't post it right now.  Keep your eyes open for that one. Allie,  we hope you're reading the blog each day.  Mommy and Daddy miss and love you very much and can't wait to get home to you.  We'll tell Jack you said hello tomorrow. Love, Steve and Vonda

Getting Ready to go...

Well,  it's almost here.  Can you believe we're actually sitting around watching a soap opera instead of running around like chickens with our heads cut off?  Vonda's just about done with everything.  I on the other hand still have a few things that have to get done.  Our kitchen table is loaded up like Best Buy with camcorders, camera, DVD player, laptop, movies, etc.  I've got to get it all packed away and still be accessible.  I can't believe the process we started in December is really happening now.  Pray for us that everything continues to go as smoothly as it has so far.  We also want to take the time to thank our families and friends for their support through this process.  I've spent way too much time online reading Russian adoption boards, and you would be amazed how many people tell the same story of receiving resistance and opposition from their families and friends as they consider international adoption.  Every interaction we have had has been positive, and we are so grateful for that. We leave tomorrow at midday.  We'll look for our first opportunity to update the Blog as soon as we can. Thank you all for your support.

New Picture

Had to replace the  other picture. Vonda wasn't happy with it. Everyone tell her how nice she looks in this one. See ya. 

We gotta Date!!!

Today we got the call. We'll be leaving for Moscow on Saturday, July 24 and be back in Nashville on Sunday, August 1. It's really happening. I was pretty freaked out over the airfare, but it's all worked out better than I ever expected. We'll be flying the Russian airliner Aeroflot for about 1/3 the price of a US Carrier. Hope we don't have to pedal for 10 hours to power the engines.

Latest Time Estimate

Had to share this time estimate because it was just so dad gum funny. I have no idea if anyone is reading this or not, but I know some will once we actually travel. Our contact at the agency left me a voice message yesterday. She is 99.9% sure we will travel in July. These are her words now: "We're not sure yet if you will travel in the beginning, the end, or the middle of the month" Doesn't that just about cover the whole month and tell me absolutely nothing? Gotta love this process. They did tell us at the beginning that it would be an exercise in giving up control. We're learning that the hard way. She hopes to have more information by tomorrow, so I'll call her even though I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to.... I'll update when I know more.

Hurry Up and Wait...

Well, I've promised the lady at our adoption agency that I'll quit calling her and asking when she thinks she'll know something about when we'll travel.... OK, actually she sent me an email saying to contact her about any questions I had except when she thought we would travel... We are still expecting to travel in July. They are working on scheduling 9 other families at the same time as us. Hopefully we'll be towards the end of the month so maybe we can buy plane tickets with at least 2 weeks notice. Believe it or not, this is high tourist season in Moscow right now and tickets are about 3-4 times what they would cost in winter months. But God continues to provide for us. We could have never afforded this adoption had He not provided the resources in what I consider to be miraculous ways. I'll update again as soon as we have travel dates.

First Post

It's Sunday night, and I've decided to give this "Blog" thing a whirl. Thought it would be a really good way to update friends and family on our travels to Russia. We heard last week that we will most likely be traveling the first week of July. We're very excited and a little nervous since it's really here. It's exciting to know that the Russian government has already picked a child for us. We know nothing about him except that he should be between 6-18 months. We're travling "Blind" which is a pretty descriptive term. I'll post as we get more news. I sure hope this works in Russia so we can keep folks updated.