So I didn't get a chance to write a nice pre Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) posting because I was busy with our new arrival!

The state called on Thursday with an almost five month old boy who will hopefully be becoming available for adoption and did we want him? Of course we said yes, although I didn't honestly believe that he was coming until the caseworker called hours later to say that they were on their way. We aren't getting our hopes up about adopting him until I get more details on his case, but it looks like it should be going in that direction.

The baby is cute, generally good and likes to be held - as in please do not put me down, thank you very much. It was slightly... more

So when I last left off our saga here, I had just gotten word from the baby powers that be (state foster care system) that we'd probably be getting a new addition here at casa Naomi. And then I heard nothing. I called back our facilitator about three times on Monday morning until I finally got a hold of her - she said she'd call the child's case worker and see what's doing. Then nothing. I politely waited a few hours and then called her back to see what's going on. She hasn't heard back from the case worker but will call if she hears from him. Then nothing.

I wasn't disapointed at all, as I never got my hopes up to... more

Well, we might be getting another kid soon. We might not. She might be available for adoption. She might not. At the beginning we were told she was a boy, so I'm also not entirely convinced she's a girl. Theoretically, she may have already been placed in another home, as this is an out of district case that our facilitator is dealing with, and the child's caseworker isn't returning the facilitator's phone calls.

Welcome to dealing with the foster care system. All things considered, Anna's adoption through "the system" went pretty well, but it seems that things in the department just get more and more complicated and less and less organized.

So what do I tell people? Should... more

Today, Anna was behaving perfectly. I mean an amazing angel. Really. You don't believe me do you? I don't believe it much either, but it's true. Usually she is pretty well behaved, but sprinkled with your typical three year old moments - screaming, tantrums and whining. But today she was on her best behavior. And as a reward, I asked her what she wanted special for dinner as a treat. She thought for a minute or two and said that she wanted green eggs and ham. Please. I quickly said that we could come up with green eggs, but ham isn't kosher and I couldn't think of a decent substitute that I had in the house. But Anna was quite happy with the... more

Yay! My husband graciously lent me his computer keyboard and now I can type again! I feel like typing CAPITALS AT LAST for some reason like I've been liberated. (For the measley two percent of you who caught that reference, congratulations. For the other 98% of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, march over to your library and take out The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel, by Don Marquis. Selections are also available for your reading pleasure online...but I digress)

As I'm in a much... more

So a little bit ago, I wrote about filling out the 'Getting to know your child' form that Anna's new school sent home. And although I did have fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils there on the bench there was something missing. With Anna's old school, there was a small section that was on adoption. It said "Is your child adopted? At what age was s/he adopted? Does your child know that s/he is adopted?" That was it, but it was enough to satisfy me that the adopted sector of the population gets recognized, and that in a classroom... more

It's now more than any other time that I question my ability as a parent. We have no air conditioning, so I'm hot and whiny. My husband - who is normally quite wonderful and shares in parenting and household stuff as much as possible - is still wonderful but generally absent, as he's working literally more than 70 hours a week on a project. Our house is upside down under construction - it will be quite amazing when finished but until then, quite a mess! And Anna's done with camp and not yet started school and I'm gearing up for work and school myself but not quite there.

And so we are here. Trying to occupy keep up with Anna. I get exhausted just watching her even if I'm... more

Anna wants shoes with lights. You know - the really annoying kind that thankfully no one ever thought of while we were kids? Well, it seems this peer pressure stuff starts early, because Anna came home and started to talk about all the other kids who have these shoes and then proceeded to describe in detail and three part harmony exactly how she wants her new sneakers to look like.

I think what I'll do is make some sort of behavior chart with stars, and if she goes through an entire day without getting into "time out" then she'll get a star for the box. Enough stars and I'll give in and get her those ridiculous shoes with blinking lights. I'm just hoping that she'll understand the... more

Yesterday, Anna and my husband played basketball at the local gym as per their usual Sunday morning routine. Then in the afternoon we headed out for a road trip to visit Anna's former foster family who have since moved to another state. We have no contact with Anna's birth mom, so I think that maintaining a good relationship with her only "first family" is important to dispelling the mystery of her past.

Anna's foster family had her from about one month until she was 14 1/2 months old. They are a wonderful, loving family. And also heavily involved in their evangelical church movement. Of all the people Anna could have been adopted by, she went to an orthodox Jewish family. It has... more

Promptly at three thirty this morning, I woke up to hear a quick scream from Anna followed by her running to our room.

"There's something in my bed!" She cried. I asked her what was in her bed.

"There's a bird in my bed and it popped!"

Of course I let her climb into bed with me and she calmed down a great deal as I told her that I would protect her from the bird in her bed. I had my husband get up to check her bed for birds but I doubt Anna believed him when he reported that there were none to be found. She lay quietly for a... more