Today we received our travel dates:
We leave for Ethiopia late on March 6 and arrive Saturday morning March 8! It is a 23 hour journey and Addis is 11 hours ahead of us so...

My trembling hands and racing mind can't stop to believe we are moving closer and closer to Sanbate.

We will have one week to start our relationship in Addis Ababa before we take her away from her country, her understanding of life. I am so sad for her and so excited for us.
Is this feeling even possible?

Here is my first Youtube video.
I made it after I got home from dropping Mr. D off at the airport. We were supposed to be flying to Ethiopia today to visit Sanbate but instead he is gone to India for 3 weeks. It is a gorgeous day here, warm and sunny, which makes it worse for missing Mr. D and Sanbate.

Hatchje's new bag.
My design.
Wide eyes in class 3.
"You made that!"
"I did."

Hilary Clinton better back off the "superdelegate" count.

Pledged delegates are those won in primaries and caucuses. Superdelegates are party big-shots. Superdelegates are designed to protect front-runners and make sure dark horses don’t run away with things.

Superdelegates grow in number as the party gets more successful: They include all Democratic members of Congress, members of the Democratic National Committee, Democratic governors.

They also are the party warhorses and include “all former Democratic presidents, all former Democratic vice presidents, all former Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate, all former Democratic speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic minority leaders, as applicable, and all former chairs of the Democratic National Committee.”

Being a superdelegate is usually just a way of getting to go to the convention, cast a meaningless vote and have a good time.

But that could change this year.

And that’s because superdelegates make up one-fifth of all the delegates at the convention, and this year they could determine the nominee.

Full article here.

The system of superdelegates was invented not just to reward party fatcats, but to make sure “fairness” did not get out of hand.

HA HA HA the Gods are having a hootenanny with us!
We just received word that Sanbate's adoption will be finalized within the next day or two. Which means we WON'T be travelling to Ethiopia this weekend and we WON'T be getting the IR3 visa.

This doesn't necessarily mean that we will be travelling within the next month to bring Sanbate home because California's CIS cable did not go through on the first sending.

MERCY!

Poor Mr.D had purchased his plane tickets through work and they are non-refundable.

There is a mumps epidemic at the orphanage and we are feeling a little paranoid now that they have called off our trip. Did they push the case through just so we wouldn't come out? Were they worried about the legal implications if we came down with the mumps and became very sick?


HA HA HA!

I went to vote this morning and the ballot box got jammed.

And no one is calling us back from the adoption agency.

WE are getting the distinct feeling that many people don't really understand that adoption is "having a baby". That the process of adoption is as fraught with pain and difficulties as childbirth. That sometimes you will be unavailable or need to change your schedule at a moments notice.

But if my husband told his new colleagues and boss at work that I was pregnant and due next month they would understand completely and give him all the room and allowances possible.

Instead, they just conveniently "forgot" that we are in this adoption process and became upset today because Mr. D is flying into a "Not safe for business travel" zone.

One who adopts must be in a constant state of vigilence, educating people whether they care or not. Like those that have different physical needs-

Today I had tea with a friend who is deaf, and has a severe physical ailment that is not always active. When she lived out east she had a collie that was a certified assist dog.She was very well known in the community and didn't have to explain herself when she went into shops or needed to take time off. She misses this and is planning on training her sheltie puppy to get certified.

People who are adopting need this sort of thing- a button or something that says, "I am going far away very soon to bring home our child from ***". That way if people want to discuss it they can, if not they will notice the pin and keep it in mind.

I believe in Obama. I am trusting that, yes we can make sacrifices too as Obama clearly suggests. And that those that are on fire with his words will continue to carry the flame when we are slogging through the work of repairing the damages brought on by the current administration.

Here we come Addis Ababa!
There you are
waiting for us.
Children of this earth
Soon we will carry one of your own.

And never before have we seen this homeland.
And never before have taken such risks of the heart.
For surely we will be touched and moved by the pulse of yours.
Ethiopia.

****************************************
We have booked flights to Ethiopia for Saturday the 9th, flying from San Francisco to Washington, DC to to Rome and then to Addis Ababa arriving Sunday night. We plan to visit with Sanbate on the following Monday-Thursday.

I am going to bring some crafts as well for the older children; clay, beeswax, kite-paper for making stars, weaving boards. We won't be bringing the fine child home with us this trip but soon (next month?) we will. yes, say it is so.

I will return home on the 15th and Mr.D will travel on to Bangalore returning home at month's end.

>

My friend Melanie is a marvel.




She started the Abundance Committee at the school just by inspiring others with her positivity. The kindergarten has been expressing their need for funds for doll and puppet making and voila! Melanie gathered together a group of women to make table puppets. If you know me, I am ALL OVER the puppets. In my first class we spent three quarters of a year making marionettes for our Ramayana puppet play. So, of course I was glad to help make puppets at the school.
30+ puppets made and counting!


Here are the lady puppets I am working on. I am keeping the one dressed elegantly in red.

This entire blog post is lifted with permission from the blogger
No Sleep Til Mysore

FAIR IS FOUL
AND FOUL IS FAIR







The Washington Post recently ran a piece called, "In India's huge marketplace, fair skin sells."

It discusses how Eastern European models with dark hair and light skin are being featured in Indian adverts.


"Indians have a longing for that pure, beautiful white skin. It is too deep-rooted in our psyche," said Enakshi Chakraborty, who heads Eskimo India, a modeling agency that brings East European models here. "Advertisers for international as well as Indian brands call me and say, 'We are looking for a gori [Hindi for white] model with dark hair.' Some ask, 'Do you have white girls who are Indian-looking?' They want white girls who suit the Indian palate."

Indians' color fixation is also evident in classified newspaper ads and on Web sites that help arrange marriages. The descriptive terms used for skin color run the gamut: "very fair," "fair," "wheat-ish," "wheat-ish-medium," "wheat-ish-dark," "dark" and "very dark."

Family elders here commonly comment on a newborn baby's color, after checking out the gender. One of the best-selling skin creams in India is called Fair & Lovely. A men's version, Fair and Handsome, was launched last year.

"The Indian mind-set prefers light skin. My pictures are routinely Photoshopped to make me look a bit lighter -- a lot lighter, actually," Riya Ray, 23, a dark-skinned Indian model, said with a laugh. "But when I work in Britain and France, my color is praised as exotic. It is a two-way trend: Indian models are going abroad, and foreign models are coming here."


I can't help but think of Raj, from my first trip in India back in 2002.

He made frequent trips between Mysore and Bangalore on his silver Honda Hero Super Special motorcycle, and was seriously thinking about getting a helmet.

To protect your head? I asked.

"No, Cadda. To protect face from sun."

Huh?

"So I do not become too dark."

Even Desi TJ - who's lived here for eight years - was concerned last month that his skin looked darker after two months in the Subcontinental sun.

Silly man. Doesn't he know that gori girls dig that sh-t?

Apparently not.

It looks like we will travel out to Addis during the second weekend in February.If Sanbate's adoption is finalized before that, we will save the flight for when we travel her home in March.

Seeing her
sitting there
will be such a feast.
Leaving her there will be an impossible puzzle
but every moment can't be defined.
Let time make us hers.

If she uses it,
it ain't landfill.

Did you notice the cloth diaper and plastic "drop in" bottle liners?
A little contradictory ay?
My excuse is that we will be doing a lot of traveling and uh... how to disinfect the bottle?
You ask, "How to clean the diaper?"
I confess I will be buying "landfill" diapers for travel.

Causticum:

Manifests its action mainly in chronic rheumatic, arthritic and paralytic affections, indicated by the tearing, drawing pains in the muscular and fibrous tissues, seems to choose preferable dark-complexioned and rigid-fibered persons. Restlessness at night, with tearing pains in joints and bones, and faint-like sinking of strength. Burning, rawness, and soreness are characteristic.

Intensely sympathetic
mind; insecure, uncertain, scared; fear; evening;
mind; hysteria;
mind; hurry; while eating;
eye; pain; burning, smarting, gnawing, biting; as if sand in eye;
mouth; teeth; looseness;
abdomen; bladder; urging to urinate;
cough; sensation as though unable to cough deep enough to start mucus;
back; pain; pulling; coccyx (bottom tip of spine); ;
back; pain; in women; during period;
extremities, limbs; skin; itching; like insects crawling on skin;
extremities, limbs; cramps; foot; sole; toes;
Restless legs at night;
sciatica, with numbness;
extremities, limbs; movements and positions; constant movement during sleep;
chorea (convulsive twitching, involuntary movements of limbs);
skin; pain; excoriated (as if grazed, chaffed);
skin; blisters;
skin; varicose;spider veins;
generalities; pulse; frequent, accelerated, rapid; evening;
generalities; twitching;involuntary movements
generalities; flabby feeling;

This is my homeopathic remedy and it is "wicked cool" to see it covers just about ALL of my aches and tendencies. These are "tendencies" or extremes of a type not the full picture of me just the inbalances I occasionally suffer. Laid open for your witness.

Now I know why I have always liked the brown over the pink! And a new word CHOREA! And although I don't have arthritis or paralysis it is amazing to know that many of my complaints are shared with others with similar constitution- I am not dying, I am just caustic.um.

No wonder our adoption agency has a difficult time with me.

Holy Day Doshi.
Ethiopia rebelled against the catholic church, (when requested to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday) and moved to a 49 hour Sabbath to include the eve of Friday to Sunday night. Sanbate was named for the sabbath or holy days of the weekend.

Her name will mean when translated,

Daughter of the sun/born during the Holy Days/ Defies the tyrant.
Elianshu Sanbate Doshi

BAD PARENTS!

When the director of the Ethiopia program from our placement agency found out we were moving to India for three years she told us,

"One thing also to consider is that it's very hard to have major transitions while you are in the adoption process. I know you moved from MA to CA in the process - Moving to India would be another stressful challenge for your family. That may not be an optimal way to begin parenting.

I hope this is helpful."

Actually, it's not.

We have decided, despite assurances that we can obtain a passport for Sanbate within 6 months, to travel to Ethiopia in February to secure the IR3 visa. Whether or not we actually go depends on the ok from Dr. Tsegaye the director of the orphanage. He will be able to check and see if we will make it in time to travel BEFORE the baby's court date. But from the estimates (6-12 weeks from referral) we should have plenty of time.





We have been
"down sizing"
since we moved from New Hampshire to Massacusetts to California. But this is the big daddy in the story of our stuff. We just hope we can continue to keep it simple once we move.

To IR-3 or not to IR-3?
That is the question.
Whether it is nobler to
suffer the slings and arrows
Of Immigration slogging or the
two flights to Ethiopia.

We are in a state. It may behoove us to fly to Ethiopia soon before Sanbate's court date and secure an IR-3 visa so that she will be granted citizenship upon arrival.To do this you need to create proof that both parents have met the child before they petition to adopt the child.

"In simplistic terms, children entering the U.S. on an IR-3 visa are automatically granted U.S. citizenship upon immigration. Those entering on an IR-4 visa are NOT automatically granted U.S. citizenship without finalization of the foreign adoption under U.S. state law."

AS things stand she will be returning home on an IR-4 visa which means we need to finalize the adoption which can take up to 1 year! But flying out now means coming back and flying out again. The flight takes about 20 something hours. Not counting lay overs.

Moving to India will be a problem if little girl does not have a US Passport.

So we are trying to work out the logistics with Mr.D just new on the job. Chances are we thinks he will be required to fly out to India soon anyway and what is a little hop over to Ethiopia? Addis to Mumbai is only 4 hours.And unlike US airlines, it is relatively easy to buy a flight in India at the airport for an Indian destination.

We finally made it to Stinson beach, a sleepy little beach town on the coast of Muir Woods.

I know I have said this before but in time this whole adoption process will be a good deal easier, cheaper and more efficient.

According to my research and info. our agency has shared with us we will have to "re-adopt" our child when she comes home. When she arrives in the US she will be a legal resident but not a citizen. That is, unless the Ethiopian gov. issues her a IR-3 Visa which grants automatic citizenship to her 4 weeks after she arrives. Unfortunately, I believe she will be getting a IR-4 Visa which means we need to do an official re-adopt, apply for state issued birth certificate, apply for naturalization and citizenship and only then will she be a US citizen.













BREAKING NEWS

Mr. D has accepted a job from a large multi-national corporation and will be relocating our family to Bangalore, India.Here is the supposed best of Bangalore but we haven't arrived yet so the best is yet to come.
We move in July. That is, if all of the above is finalized between March and July. In the meantime, Mr.D will be working here and there, flying to and fro and in general "Taking Care of Business".
WE have a safety net. The Hatches. Who live here and have offered their home to me and Sanbate if we get held up by the powers that be. So.

This adventure continues.

Martin Luther King


We baked a cake,
We blew it out
Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, we shout
"I had a dream." he said,
People hand in hand,
Working and singing throughout the land.

My mentor and boss from the day care days in Chicago just sent this to me. It was the song her daughter and I wrote when she was 4. The tune is the same from the old spiritual that goes like this:

"Went to the river.
Couldn't get across.
Got in trouble with my boss.
Hy-yo, Hy-yo, Hy-yo-o-Hy-o.

Gimme a nickle,
gimme a dime,
see my honey baby all the time.
Hy-yo, Hy-yo, Hy-yo-o-Hy-o."

Here is what is happening in Oakland for Martin Luther King Jr. day:
click on Oakland Celebrates.

From the Boston Globe:

"Mayor Thomas M. Menino, with Martin Luther King III at his side, announced this morning that the city will build a statue commemorating King's parents, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King."