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Adoption Reaction: Or, How to Get Cuter, Funnier Kids

Today has been a momentous day. And the stress just keeps rolling off... A good, good day.

1) I got my book to enough of a polished rough draft that I'm willing to show it to initial readers. This blog and this fictional book have both been outlets for my worst fears and most constant anxieties. They got me through a lot of anxiety-induced insomnia. It felt amazing to watch my "manuscript" (hardly seems I have the right to use the word, but maybe I do) get bound at the printers and then shipped off. A tiny step toward a long held dream of mine.

2) While I standing there at the printers Theo called and told me that the state agency that approves adoptions had signed off on the girls' adoption. That's it! We're done! The next step is a quick signature by a judge on all the legal paperwork but that's really a rubber stamp. They're essentially adopted. What a relief! No more foster care social worker harassment!! That's like ten pounds of worry off my shoulders.

I got home from the printers and the kids all come running to me, shouting, "Mama!" with total joy. They run to me and hug me and pile up one after another so it's a big huddle all around me. I mean, they do this every single time I come back from anywhere. Every. Single. Time. But, it's adorable and sweet and I cherish it now knowing it sure won't be happening when they're teens.

Then, as I'm getting groceries put away they're playing at my feet and, I swear, both girls were instantly funnier than before I left. I mean like cracking me up, laughing out loud, super hilariously adorably cute. In the way that every parent thinks his/her kid is the best. There it was. The moment I've been waiting for for months and months. They're my kids. They're better than all other kids in the whole world. I love them the mostest.

A good, good day.

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