Charlie's got a mother again :-)

Everyone, I'd like to introduce Charlize Izabelle Worke, my DAUGHTER.

I passed court! It took my agency an hour past what they originally told me because of the spotty internet in Ethiopia, but luckily my SW was smart enough to realize what was going on and asked that a call be placed. Court went smoothly.

(All photos are clickable to get a clearer and bigger view)

Referral picture, several weeks old.

Meeting her grandmother for the first time. Her grandmother will be called "Babcia" which is grandmother in Polish. Look at the bonding potential. This is the picture that sealed the deal for me (emotionally). I could see how well she would fit into my little family.

Just after receiving the yellow duckie, which would soon become her favorite toy.

Moments after duckie, look at the joy in her face. Sigh. Kids can be so full of joy. "Joy" (the emotion) is so fleeting as an adult, but kids have buckets of it, they overflow with it. Even in an orphanage. Amazing Charlie.

Some of the wonderful personality my mom reports Charlie has (smiley, easy-go-lucky, even-tempered) comes through loud and clear in this picture.

Aww, this is too cute, this picture. It makes me smile everytime I see it, which is several times a day. I have these pictures all blown up big and keep them taped up on the 4 walls of my office where I can stare at them inbetween each client. I basically live in a "Charlie box".

This is the Mother's Day photo my agency sent me, the most recent picture of Charlie. Notice she still has the duckie, weeks later.

Well, I am completely over the moon happy. I hate that expression, but that's what I am. More thoughts coming... I need to digest and enjoy this moment right now.

What do you think guys? Am I the luckiest mom in the world, or what?

Fluttery Heart Syndrome

I have a correction to the post below this one.

This morning when I was writing it, I was feeling calm and zen-mama-like. However, throughout the day I have been experiencing the weirdest symptoms of a fluttery heart, a compulsion to email my agency social worker (which I avoided up until 5 minutes ago), and a need to remind all the colleagues I crossed paths with that this time tomorrow I "may or may not be a mother" and asking them how to deal with that. "Umm..." was their usual response! Well, that is a tough question, especially when you may not have been thinking about it for the last 5 months.

So I take it all back. I am just like the other PAPs: anxious, worried, and tired of waiting.

Sorry for the misleading portrait I painted earlier!

Some judge has my heart in his hands. Be gentle, your Honor.

I also found out in perusing some blogs that at least 7 other PAPs have their cases being heard tomorrow. How many children get adopted each day??? I wonder how long each case is. How many judges they have? Hmm. Anyone know?


Oh, and don't forget, American Idol finale tonight! Here's a picture of Glambert as a blond. I think he looks MUCH better as a blond, what do you think?

ONE. MORE. DAY.

Please take a moment to visit here and look around a bit.

Today an email arrived from my agency "sternly yet sympathetically" reminding us that passing court is not a given, that there are many things that can happen to delay, that a case might pass one day and a very similar case may not pass the next. Great timing! Basically, there is no way ahead of time to figure out if you will be passing or not. Recently court dates for a whole class of orphan have been indefinitely frozen. Any child found "abandoned" in Addis are not being adopted as of a week ago. There are concerns about corruption. Too many children being found "abandoned" by the same police officer or in the same location. I'm glad they are aware and looking into this, internatonal adoption needs to be 100% above board. But boy do I feel for the adoptive moms who thought their court date was tomorrow, and now have no idea when they will be picking up their children or IF they will be at all. And meanwhile the child remains at the care center, without parents, as they continue to age.

The email also warned us not to tell the whole world when our court date was "as that will make it so much harder if you don't pass and have to repeat ad infinitum why you didn't pass to everyone you know."

Wellllllll.....*backs away from computer surreptitiously* it's a bit late for that warning for me, innit? What with the countdown contest and all! If I don't pass, I'll have to blog and also verbally tell a hundred people and it will be awful. But hopefully whatever caused the failure will be resolved quickly. Who am I kidding, it will be devastating, but we get through things we have no control over. We have no choice. I'm powerless really. At this point, it's totally out of my control.

Up until now I have been pretty calm throughout this process. I've asked myself if this was a form of denial. But then I'm getting the nursery ready, I'm buying Charlie's clothes, setting up a registry, talking about the adoption to everyone who crosses my path, whipping out her pictures everywhere... So I'm not behaving like I"m in denial. I don't know where the relative calmness comes from, but I'm grateful as I read other PAPs blogs and some sound so worried, anxious, and at the end of their tether with the waiting. If I don't pass though, I do believe at that point I will feel anxious and impatient and sad.

A few days ago, while I was driving to work, I was daydreaming about the moment I get the call from my agency that I passed court. Initial thoughts of the way the message would travel to me: the judge tells my attorney who calls the agency who calls me. A message traveling through the airwaves, cell towers connecting, satellites perhaps, Internet. Good news or bad, it will travel thousands of miles over land and sea (and moutains on both ends) to get to me. How long will it take? Does the POA leave the court room and make calls after each family's case is heard? Or does he wait until the lunch break? And when the moment the news arrives, if it's good news, what would my reaction be?

Having been to film school for undergrad, I often daydream in "scenes", "cuts", "fade to blacks". So here's the scene:

Office, noon time: Phone rings or "You've Got Mail" voice pops up. Listen/read the news, run out into the hallway at work, yell out "I'm a mom!" and doors fly open with colleagues rushing out to congratulate me! There's tears and hugs and then everyone starts dancing and singing:
We go together like
rama lama lama
ke ding a de dinga a dong...
Wait, the movie kind of morphed into the ending of "Grease" there! Ok, so it probably won't be quite so.... musical. I'll call my family first, then tell those around me, send off emails, then take a lunch break at the library so I can tell all you readers. I have it all figured out!

So after all that if I don't pass, it will be highly disappointing. But I'm a big girl and I will handle it.

Meet me back here tomorrow afternoon. If I pass, I will post pictures of Charlie!

Final contest question: 10 points, winner announced tomorrow after court. Who sang the line: ""Tonight thank God it's them instead of you" , in which song, and what was the meaning?

Careful, it's a 3 part question :-)

I'm thinking about having another contest where I would tranfer the points of people in the middle now, and let them keep what they've earned so far. What do you think? Interested in playing again?

"Just the two of us, we can make it if we try..."

Two days left until court!

Who sang the title song, for 5 points?

Yesterday I spent my morning in a "Safe Babies" class. We went over all kinds of ways your child can kill itself. Yikes. I'm much more aware of the millions of things that can go wrong now.

Of course we went over the things that everyone knows, like how babies like to lick outlets and stick hard round pellets as far up their noses as possible. We also went over some things I would not have thought of and I'm going to share some of those with you today.

* Bath time: Obviously don't leave your child alone, but here are 2 interesting safety items that were not obvious to me. One, turn the "cold" tap off last so the faucet is not hot. Two, when you are checking the water temperature, move your hand back and forth through the water to check for hot spots.

* 911: You can use a land line to call 911 even if you don't have a land line active. I only have a cell, as many of us nowadays. 911 doesn't get an automatic address with cell phones. But if you have an old phone, you can plug it in to the socket and call 911. It's also good for when you have a babysitter, to have that added line to 911 just in case. This is handy and I might bring out my old phone just for emergencies. Oh wait, I just free cycled 4 old phones. Oops.

* Make sure electrical cords are out of baby's reach. They make lousy chew toys.

* Cook on back burners (you know, the clean burners?) and if you have to cook on front burners, turn handles to the back. Get knob protectors for stove knobs. (I already had these because my dog Boo turned on the gas one day when she was checking out the items on the stove.)

* Make sure kitchen cords, like to the toaster and Mr. Coffee, are not within reach. Those loops hanging off the counters are tempting and could result in a clonk on the head or a severe burn.

* Windows: Screens are made to keep bugs out, not to keep babies in. Only open windows 4 inches unless you want baby falling or climbing out. Roll up blind cords and hang them on hooks up high.

* Toys: The "3 and under" restriction on toys is not because your child is not smart enough to play with that toy. It's because somewhere on that toy there is a part that might be a choking hazard.

* If it can fit through a toilet paper roll, it's too small to play with. Choking hazard.

* Latex balloons, even fully inflated, are a choking hazard. Who knew?

* Toy chests should not have lids that seal shut. Kids like to hide in there, or make their younger siblings hide in there and sit on the lid. If you have a toy chest with a lid that seals shut, drill holes in the sides so at least the kid can breathe while his brother is sitting on top of him. The instructor suggested the best toy chests are laundry baskets. Portable, light, and full of holes already.

* Garbage cans: Try to get one that is tall and difficult to open (I already have $120.00 space age contraption that is completely impenetrable, due to my dog, Boo, who can open almost anything that smells like rotten food.)

There's a veterinarian in town who does a "Dogs and Babies" class that I'm thinking about taking. I'll post tips from there too.

Ok, contest for today: (5 points) What is the number one killer of children age 0- 14 in the U.S.?

(5 points) Out of the following plants, which is poisonous for infants to ingest? Christmas Cactus, Geranium, Forsythia or Daffodil?


Answers and points distributed at 8 pm to give everyone a chance to answer. good luck! We are getting close and may have a winner by the end of the day!

Three is the magic number

Here I am at three days until court. Time continues to pass, and actually pass surprisingly quickly. It seems like it was just Monday, and here it is the weekend already. I suppose that's good, as long as time slows down once I get Charlie into my arms!

My social worker said I should hear the court news around noon on May 20th! Since Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of us, they will be in court while I'm asleep and getting ready for work. That is, IF I can sleep that night. If I pass, I will post immediately and load up some pictures of Charlie as well so you all can see what a sweetheart she looks like.

On to the contest. We need a winner by Wednesday!

Name this painting (3 points)

Name this place (3 points)

Name this band (3 points)

Name this animal (3 points)

Name this fairy tale (3 points)

Name this nursery rhyme (3 points)

This is De La Soul. Name their song that includes the number 3 (6 points)

Good luck! I'll print comments and add up points at 8 PM EST.

Eight days until court!

I'm starting to psych myself out a bit. In 8 days I could be a mom. It's a weird process... there's no physical daily reminder to break through the denial....no huge stomach, no peeing every few minutes, etc., to tell you: "Yup, this is really happening."

This countdown is helping the reality of the situation hit.

This morning as I was making my coffee and feeding the dogs, I was pondering how on earth I'm going to fit in changing diappys and feeding Charlie as well. My world is about to get tossed UP.SIDE. DOWN.

It should be interesting.

Ok, question for today was submitted by reader Danicuz, (so she knows the answer, but I still need the answer!) so BEST answer (most detailed) gets 5 points: How do you get tofu crispy on the outside and scrambled-egg-like consistency on the inside?

And for the non-cooks: Submit a trivia question that I use and I'll give you 5 points too.

Also, your answers are put in based on the time you submit them (they have a time tamp in the comments section, there is no cheating on this). I can't check them from work, so just trust they are in order of submission and you will see your points once I get home this evening.

COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!

I got my court date!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAY 20th!!!!!!!!!!!

Start praying everybody, I'd like a first time pass!!!!!!!!!!!