A Day in the Life

Here is the day in the life of Emily...I got this idea from Mary over at Owlhaven . I chose March 1st because one year ago today was the day we got our referral for our Ethiopian Adoption. We had fed exed out Dossier the day before and Tracy at CWA had the referral just waiting for us...that was back in the day when you did not even wait for a referral. We had asked for a toddler boy and an older child of either gender who would be less than 7. We got Maren and Yabsera. A baby and a three year old going on 30. One year later we have the toddler boy and the older child who is less than 7 (just slightly). So, here I am...its March 1,2007 and I am not up in time for work...at this point Mark has already left with Cal and Madeline...I am getting ready for work. I have to figure out (every morning) how to make the bed with the beagle sleeping in the middle of it.




This is a verse that my close friend Shelley made me- she sent me several little verses and I have hung them all over my house- this one is in my bathroom so I can start each day contemplating it. I met Shelley through CWA. Her boys and my boys were in the orphanage together, they are like brothers and we are like sisters.

Then when I am all ready to go, I come out and Yabsera is always standing there ready for hugs and kisses...sometimes he is banging on the shower door. He is usually pretty stinky at this point and needs a bath!


Phoebe then comes running for her morning kisses- of which she steals many from me.

I look up and Maren has his hand in a jar of Chocolate covered raisins. Left over from our Oscar party. He knows this is wrong and yet he does this right in front of our nanny, Genet's, nose!

Here is Genet. She is trying to encourage some other choices for breakfast. I take the raisinettes and put them up very high.

Genet loves Yabsera...she says that he speaks Amharic. She swears on it. All he can do in English is sing "Happy birthday to you!" It's quite cute actually. We have started to see if we can only sing to him to get him to speak English.

We have had some beautiful weather in Denver. We have more sunny days than San Diego or Miami believe it or not- but not this winter. Here is me driving to work...

Here is where I work...I work in the HIV clinic.

We used to be in the main hospital. But HIV does not bring in as much money as cardiology so we got moved across the street.
Now we are here.
I left my badge in my office..but I am lucky that Patty comes in early so she could let me in. This is me stuck outside.
This is Patty. She is one of the nurses I work with. Our clinic would never be the same without her. The families LOVE her and so do we!
This is Neferttiti. She is a huge help to me and I could not do what i do without her!
This is my office. I spend a lot of time here. These are some of my pictures...if you saw Survivor Australia then you will recognize the man I am with in the photo at the top of my bulletin board. It is Jeff from survivor Australia (my favorite season and my favorite guy on that season) He took a million dollar bite of peanut butter. Back in the day I just couldn't believe a guy would give up a million dollars for a bite of peanut butter. I get it now.
This is the other side of my desk...more pictures of my kids and my family and some of my patients. the white binders are all studies I work on for kids, youth and pregnant woman with HIV. Most of those are local studies but some are international. It's what brought me to South Africa and ultimately to Ethiopia. HIV and AIDS.
This is where I sit and work. My computer. We are getting ready for a big site monitoring visit. This takes a lot of time. We have to check our work in minute detail and its very time consuming and also one of the parts of my job I don't like. But since I am good at that part of my job they just give me more and more and more of it.
This is Kathleen. She is a research assistant. We work closely. I was bugging her so much this week. Every time she sat down to eat I would yell through the wall, "Where is that HIV RNA PCR on that 1059 study patient?!?" and she would curse me under her breath. She works very hard. I goof off and want to talk about LOST a lot.
I gave my camera to my patient. This patient wins the prize for being so darling. I wish i could have taken a picture of her freckles. But since I work with kids with HIV I have to be very careful about confidentiality and really if you saw her freckles then you would know her immediately.

These are her feet, her mom's feet, and my striped feet. Th other set of feet are Patty's. She thought we were taking pictures of people's feet with one shoe on and one shoe off...she is a bit crazy if you ask me!
It is fitting that on this day, March 1, 2007 when I am celebrating one year from my referral, one year since I saw photos of my two youngest children, that I would see one of our Ethiopian Families in clinic. I actually met relatives of this family while in Addis! This little person- who is also very sweet and adorable- has HIV. I had this little friend take pictures of our hands. wish I could show you. Because you would see that you cannot see HIV when looking at this face. Not even slightly.
We just finished our blood draw.....this amazing little human being is so brave- I wish I could have shown you the whole thing!
At Children's Hospital we have this very cool ball machine. Its just the coolest and most mesmerizing thing. Its in front of the lab. Behind the ball machine are two of my patients. Again, trying to be discreet!

I say goodbye to my freind. The mom and Dad are wonderful, loving and kind and want to cook for me- I am happy about this because I love Ethiopian food and so do my baby boys!
This is my car when I come back out to leave. I leave early enough to pick up my kids from school. Today was supposed to be a great day. It was hard in some ways because of some things that CWA did to me that day. CWA is the agency I used for my Ethiopian Adoption. I was surprised and hurt by some of the things they have done...but today was one of the worst. I got in my car and headed to the school.
I was late getting Maren. He was the only kid left- but his wonderful teacher (who reminds me of Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus) said I could take their picture!
Notice his fly is down, he is not wearing his winter coat, no mittens, and the lovely pink boots...but he is most concerned about his Chinese Lantern that he made for Chinese New Year. He does not want it to get wet. Monday will be "Ethiopia" day in their trip around the world!


Ahhhh....Home at last...time to take the valentine flag down and put up the St. Patricks Day Flag!
Genet- ready to go...as soon as I come home she is in the car. Yabsera is sad to see her go...
but happy to see his mama...
Maren has his snack and cuddles up with his bear...and one of his cars...


Soon I am back in the car to pick up Phoebe from school...she had an art class!
It's not long before I find Maren asleep on the couch- and dinner is not even here yet.
Mark is working late and has ordered up Pizza! Which the dog is trying to steal from the baby.
And the baby thinks it's funny...
Maren goes to bed without any supper and no jammies- he was REALLY tired! He is still in his coat!

Phoebe sleeps among her animals...
And I get ready to watch LOST! (I like this part of my day a lot!)
But before I can enjoy the show I check on Cal and Maddie who are being loud upstairs....
My husband is home now and ready to watch LOST! with me- he will, however, fall asleep at about 5 minutes into the show...like clockwork!
Before bed, I check my email. I read my emails from my close friends who have helped me get through this hard day- by sharing verses, warm words, encouraging thoughts and gratitude. I love them. Also, one of my best friends is in Ethiopia right now meeting her three new children! She will bring her boys home and have to go back to bring her daughter home in a few months. So, I am praying for her and checking for updates on their trip to Sodo where my boys are from.
Finally, in bed, with the dog and TIVO

Good night!