This morning I made myself a cup of coffee and toasted a bagel (which I rarely eat nowadays) and the smell of the everything bagel started me on a long reverie about Virginia's coffee shop in Logan Square in Chicago. My sister and I worked there and Virginia always bought the best bagels. One regular to the coffee shop was a house painter and rottweiller owner named Luke. A beautiful guy who drove a toyota land cruiser and became a close friend for a while until he moved to Alaska and I lost touch with him. He left me a gorgeous antique wing chair and the cool retro mug I was using for my coffee. My reverie was interrupted by the unmistakeable sound of a cat about to vomit. That moaning, unearthly sound. Quickly I scooped Sissy-the-pisser up, hoping to get her to mess into the sink. On the way to the sink my coffee mug, still in hand, hit the granite counter and shattered, coffee everywhere. We made it to the sink but there it was. My broken cup. My Luke reminder. and coffee everywhere.

There is a saying, "Let sleeping dogs lie".
I will add, "Let gagging cats puke".


Yesterday, I was on the phone trying to get vaccinated for yellow fever, which is required for travel in Ethiopia.

The Travel Doctor in Oakland has recently posted a note about yellow fever vaccinations:

"As of November 27,2007 , there is nationwide shortage of
yellow fever vaccine in single dose vials.
We only have the multidose vial available and we have to have 5 people who need yellow fever vaccine in the office at one time
If you need or think you need yellow fever vaccine please let us know before you make an appointment so that we can group people together. If we do not have 5 people there will be a surcharge per person based on the number of people who show up."

And they have yet to call me back about scheduling a "group shot session".
None of the other clinics that I called have called me back either.

Mr. D is in Banglore, India on business. It is very quiet here. Especially after our family in Ohio just left. No screaming girl, no torturing boy, No bellowing father, no wheedling mother. How I Miss Them So!

So I finished the photo album we are supposed to send to Sanbate. She is a little young to be understanding the pictures but... Maybe it helps the caregivers to transition the children.

The letter to the birth family will be more difficult as Sanbate's birth mom is still alive. I wonder if we will get to meet her. I hope we will. And perhaps she will allow me to take her picture. It will be so important later.


Bye Spartikus.
You held my attention
with your focused antics
and your regal cat acts.
You left us.
Now miss sister has no orange hunk
abiding therein.

Yeah I know I was ranting about stuff yesterday but I HAVE to talk about stuff today because I went out to buy some for Sanbate for her trip home. Now I know she is underweight but she is not under height so she is going to need clothing her size 12-18 months. Jayshree gave me some of Sujaya's clothing and I am so thankful as it is perfect and also mostly the right size. But don't get on my case for going into Berkeley and buying an outfit for Sanbate.

There is also more stuff we need to bring; bottles, diapers, blankees etc. which will be so exciting to pack.

When we "get the call" that says she is ready to come home we need to do several things:

Buy flights
Apply for Ethiopian Visas
Make appointment at pediatrician for 24 hours after we arrive home
Notarize any necessary documents
Finish Dear Birth Family letter
Buy donation items
Make reservations at hotel if needed
Finish travel document package
Buy last minute medication and diapers etc. for Sanbate
Traveler's checks

It isn't so much is it?

I went back to The Story of Stuff today and read more information about how the corporations are selling us this bag of *#@. I have decided to add Annie Leonard's blog onto my link site.

I am sick of this stuff.

Here is an interesting article published in Harper's by Mark Schapiro about the toxic chemicals in our stuff.

I recently got back in touch with a friend and employer who adopted a baby from
Brazil (who is now a full grown woman!!!)and she has recommended some important resources:

The Primal Wound by Nancy Verrier (also visit her website)
Coming Home to Self by Nancy Verrier
Real parents, Real Children by Holly Von Gulden
Are These Kids Your's? which is about raising a child of a different race
Marcy Axness (adopting.org)

These are the books I have read so far:
The N word ( A great book for its expansive look at racism)
Transracial Adoptees Tell their stories (Very personal and very diverse)
Inside Transracial Adoption (I haven't finished it yet)
Black Baby White Hands ( A wonderful biography with perfect anecdotes of how a loving and educated family can make some BIG mistakes)

All the CUTES have been delivered and presented to their new friends;
Black and White Kitties, Terry, Twin Bunnies, Flower Fairy, Bear and shy Lizard, Bad Guy and his buddy "Sideways".


There were also a wild assortment of aprons I made for my lovely sisters, beautiful moms, neices and gracious sister-in-laws.

This is Mother Nature, not a war zone.

We have officially accepted the referral for Sanbate.
It will now be 1 1/2 to 3 months before the adoption is cleared.
When this happens we book a flight and fly out to meet our child.
All told we will be bringing home a 1 year old as her birthday is in the middle of March between Mr.D's dad's b-day and my dad's.

We can't post any beauty shots because she is protected by the orphanage until we gain custody, but believe me people are going to know she didn't spring from my angular white flesh. What a peach she is, despite the concern in her big brown eyes.

Double wammy on the gingerbread houses.
Nights of Bollywood movies including Om Shanti Om.
Home made dosas are unforgettable to taste and later
in their next reincarnation to smell.
So many drawings so little wall space.
Sibling squabbles and fart wars.

What you get when your niece comes to visit:

"Ah, Bull" International woman

We received the call in the afternoon of Wednesday, December 26th for a 9 month old girl named Sanbate. We have sent her referral off the University of Minnesota for a report and await a "good" assessment. In other words, if the doctors feel that she is "reasonably" healthy or has medical issues that are treatable we will accept. She is a stunningly beautiful baby and we hope that she will be our child.

Steady hearts.

This year I made most of my Christmas presents.
I asked my husband for one thing (boots) and one thing from my mom (clothes steamer so we could do our dry cleaning at home).

Well, after seeing this really cute short film I feel a little guilty for asking for any
STUFF.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Today we performed the Shepherd's Play. I was Mary. It was lovely.
We are next on the waiting list for referral.

The Hatches strike again!
Gingerbread house making with Hatches really puts me in the mood for Christmas despite the fact that our cats peed on the box of ornaments this morning.

" President Bush declared an emergency in Oklahoma on Tuesday, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts."

"This is a big one. We've got a massive situation here and it's probably going to be a week to 10 days before we get power on to everybody," said Ed Bettinger, a spokesman for Public Service Company of Oklahoma. "It looks like a war zone."

Excuse me?
A war zone?
I am sorry have you seen a war zone lately?

This is because the midwest was hit with a whopping ice storm and many states, especially Oklahoma have lost power.
Can I remind you that many people in the world live without electricity? That a war zone is not a place where winter is happening but when human beings are being maimed and killed and tortured.

Please folks! A little perspective!

Today is the last day of our long kriya meeting in Berkeley until after the Holidays and I just don't feel like going. I like staying home on Mondays. I don't like driving at night. Mr. D is gone into the city to meet a friend and attend a workshop. I am still making Christmas presents.

All excuses. Sometimes I buy the excuses and sometimes I don't. I wonder what I will do tonite.

The darkness closes in.

Every couple of months or so we hear a knock on the door and there are young people collecting money. The child at risk "programs" they are collecting for don't sound fabricated but there is never any literature or a phone number that verifies the organization's existence. In fact, usually what they do have, doesn't add up.

For example a young man of say age 19 came today as the trainer of young woman who shook my hand. I understood they were collecting money for children in Richmond who are at risk and also for those children's Christmas presents. They young man said he was once a youth who benefited from this program and he handed me his identification. His id was old and water stained and looked very low tech and uh...sketchy.

When I questioned his lack of literature and poorly maintained id he said he had collected 400 dollars just the other day. I confided to him that I generally didn't give money at the door but often sent money to organizations I had researched and further that his id looked like it had been swimming on numerous occasions and that didn't give me confidence in him.

As he walked down the stairs he mumbled the website of the organization but I didn't catch it.

Is one obliged to give money to avoid the ire of those at risk young people?

What does it mean when the families who obtained their immigration (I-600A) approval one month ahead of you, are at the top of the referral list?

Perhaps it means you will receive your approval in two, three or four months.
Perhaps it means that the list is real and people really do finally reach the top.
Perhaps it means we may be given the chance to adopt after all.

Or am I just playing mind games?
This wait time has become a game of Maya (illusion).

We had a little run in with the law at the beginning of this week.
No, we weren't pulled over by the cops. In California, the surveillance cameras installed at many intersections will take your picture if you are crossing an intersection at a yellow light and it turns red before you have finished crossing. This week it happened to me on Sunday after getting Dosas in San Francisco and to Mr. D while going to Satsang in Berkeley. Just another reminder that the long arm of the law has just gotten longer.

For more information on this new fascist trend in traffic regulation check out Highway Robbery, which includes this great quote,

"Traffic rules account for most of the contact by average citizens with law enforcement and the courts. Enforcement of laws which are widely perceived as unreasonable and unfair generates disrespect and even contempt toward those who make and enforce those laws."
The Appellate Department, in People vs. Goulet


The National Motorists Association agrees that Red Light Tickets do not improve road safety.

Mr.Traffic feels the same way I do.

Tonite
while driving from rehearsal
the setting sun and lights from the city
were especially vivid
I don't know
it made me feel its beauty
but sad
because you and Jonathan weren't here
to see
that on the western side
of our huge and troubled country
things are beautiful too
and shouldn't we be together?