Madonna has added one more to the family, winning the right to legally adopt Malawian child Chifundo “Mercy” James.

“I am extremely grateful for the Supreme Court’s ruling on my application to adopt Mercy James. I am ecstatic … My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her,” Madonna said in a statement through her spokesperson.

She is already preparing to bring the three-year-old from Africa to America by private jet. That should be some experience for the little girl!

It is likely to take three to five days before the paperwork is ready and Mercy is able to leave and join her siblings 12-year-old Lourdes, eight-year-old Rocco, and David, also three.

In the short term, it’s believe that Mercy may move into the Kumbali lodge where Madonna stays when she is Malawi. That’s got to be a step up from the orphanage!

The ruling – by Malawi’s highest court – was made after a lower court had turned down Madonna’s first bid to adopt Mercy in April. That court had said the singer had not spent enough time in Malawi.

Image source: ZUMA Press

It looks like Madonna’s bid to adopt Malawian child Chifundo “Mercy” James may have a happy ending after all.

The Sun reports that two appeal judges have said they would allow the adoption, while a third is set to agree.

Madonna met Mercy at the Kondanani Children’s Village in the town of Bvumbwe during her first visit to Malawi in October 2006. During that same visit she adopted her son David, now three. Mercy has a father, but her teenage mother is deceased.

The singer is reportedly “ecstatic — over the moon” at the prospect of a Malawian sister for David. Her reps say there has been “no decision yet” on the case. The official result is likely to be announced early next week.

Image source: ZUMA Press

Edie Falco hit the big time for her role on The Sopranos, but this achievement pales in comparison to becoming a mom. Edie welcomed four-year-old Anderson and 16-month-old Macy via adoption, an experience she found a little overwhelming!

“You can’t believe you’re being left alone with this infant. ‘Don’t they know I don’t know what I’m doing?’ Losing sleep. Up to that point it had been all about me, ‘Oh, I’ll get another massage.’ And all of a sudden there’s this screaming thing in your house and that’s what your whole life is. That was huge,” she explained, adding that motherhood “made me realize that I can show up for the responsibility.”

“In the beginning I thought, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’ve done. And there’s no way I can follow through on this.’ Meanwhile I got up every morning and I changed his diaper and I fed him his bottle, took him to his doctor’s appointments. I did all the stuff day-by-day gritting my teeth, I guess thinking this is what you do until it turns into a life that grows roots in the ground and becomes this whole living thing.”

A year into raising Anderson, Edie said she “realized he needs a sibling and I want another kid. I started the process again. And you start with the diapers and formula and you’re back at it again,” she laughed.

While it may be trying at times, Edie says she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The first time realizing I’m actually a mother is just huge. Even when I say it now all these years later it still comes over me like a wave. Huge!”

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Nia Vardalos has opened up about her battles with infertility, and her driving desire to become a mom in a new interview with The Boston Herald.

The actress said she struggled with her own infertility, and even unsuccessfully tried a surrogate arrangement.

“It didn’t work for me,” she told the newspaper. “Can you believe it? Nothing worked. I tried everything.”

That includes traditional adoption. Nia said that for four long years she was “on every list, for every country. I was trying to adopt an infant in the States and it fell through. Over and over again.”

But finally Nia’s prayers were answered in the form of adoptuskids.org, an organization which helps arrange foster adoptions. “These two women, social workers, came into our lives,” she recalled. “They just said, ‘This is going to happen. There are 129,000 kids who are legally free for adoption.’ That’s when I went, ‘I’m going to be a parent. This is going to happen.’”

Eighteen months ago Nia opened her heart to her almost four-year-old daughter, and the family of three never looked back. Nia won’t share the name of her precious child with the press, explaining that she and husband Ian Gomez are “trying to give her a shot at anonymity. It was just the most amazing process. All of a sudden our daughter walked in our house, and she looked up at me like, ‘What’s for lunch?’“

It’s those little things that you don’t take for granted when you’ve battled for so long to become a mother I suppose!

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Nicole Kidman has denied claims she is looking to adopt a child from Vietnam. The story made the front cover of Australian tabloid magazine New Idea, but Nic’s local publicist Wendy Day says there’s no truth to the tale at all.

The magazine said Nicole and her husband Keith Urban planned to adopt a Vietnamese boy, and had even contacted the Vietnamese government, via the US embassy, to discuss their wish.

“Nicole has come back and said that it’s a complete fabrication, it’s completely untrue,” Ms Day said. “It’s rubbish. They have never spoken to anybody in that regard - in regard of any form of adoption in Vietnam.”

However, Ms Day wouldn’t confirm or deny those recent pregnancy rumors, or state whether Nicole has commenced adoption proceedings elsewhere in the world. So perhaps there is another Kidman-Urban baby on the way after all!

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As father to two adoptive children, Hugh Jackman knows a thing or two about adoption. So it’s not surprising to see he’s one of the people in Madonna’s corner as she battles to adopt a second Malawian child.

“I challenge anyone who thinks you adopt a kid for a publicity stunt. Any parent knows that would have to be the most intensive publicity stunt in the world,” he told The Sun.

Hugh and wife Deborra-Lee Furness decided to adopt their son Oscar and daughter Ava after multiple miscarriages. But the couple insists adoption was always in the plan.

“We always planned on adopting anyway, even if we had our own biological children,” he explained. They’ve considered adding another to the mix, but don’t want to press their luck!

“Our first child was not the easiest of babies, which is why we left it five years before the second,” Hugh admits. “Our second was a dream baby.”

And there’s no denying that more children mean more work!

“Every time we get on a plane with our two kids and are all crammed in together, we think maybe we will leave it at what we have.”

Hugh is a harsh critic of the adoption laws in his native Australia, which he calls “too restrictive.” He says he understands why “checks need to be made,” but added that adoption officials “had a very negative approach.” This led them to looking abroad.

“It was like they were trying to discourage you,” he noted. “There are 130 million orphans in the world — who is looking after them?”

“If you are a citizen of the world, on some level they are all our responsibility. And if you have got parents who want to adopt and there are children who need a home, it seems like a no-brainer.”

I couldn’t agree more!

Image source: splashnewsonline.com

It was a gutsy move to a newly divorced and single Michelle Pfeiffer to adopt a baby girl Claudia, now 15, at the age of 35. But the actress says the decision helped her find a quality man, in the form of her husband David E. Kelley!

“I was nervous about telling him, but I thought, this will separate the boys from the men,” she told The Telegraph.

It sure did! David took the news in his stride and settled into domesticity. Then one year later the couple welcomed a son, John Henry, now 14. She says now things couldn’t have turned out any better, adding that David’s reaction made her fall even deeper in love!

Life as a mother of two teens has certainly taught Michelle a thing or two.

“I think children teach you [to not be controlling],” she admitted. “Because you can’t control them - the more you try, the more you make matters worse.”

One aspect of her life Michelle was determined to control however was the media exposure. After a few run-ins with the paparazzi, the family left Los Angeles for a ranch in Northern California.

It’s a move that seems to have paid off for Michelle who loves living the quiet life of a “normal” mom.

“Being a mother has helped me get out in the world and make friends I would never have made; it’s enriched my life in so many ways, other than just having these two wonderful creatures at home to entertain me. It’s opened my world, in a way.”

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Madonna’s bid to adopt Malawian four-year-old Mercy Chifundo James have faced another setback, with a man believed to be the girl’s biological father saying he wants to raise the girl.

“I want to take care of her, and I’m capable of taking care of my baby,” James Kambewa told CBS’s The Early Show in an interview to air today, the same day the court will hear Madonna’s appeal.

“Mercy, she is a Malawian, so [I] need her to grow as a Malawian … with our culture,” he said.

The man admitted that he has never met his daughter, and has only seen her “in newspapers and TV, not face to face.”

Madonna’s spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said she doesn’t know if Mr. Kambewa is the girl’s father. She added that Mercy has been in an orphanage all her life, according to the Associated Press.

Madonna is not required to attend today’s hearing.

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Madonna’s not about to give up her bid to adopt Malawian girl Mercy James without a fight. The pop star has launched a PR campaign designed to sway Malawian authorities.

She’s released photos through her record label taken during her recent stay in Malawi. They show Madonna in maternal mode with the three-year-old child clutched to her side.

To coincide with the photos, Madonna also released an e-motional e-mail sent to Malawi’s Nation newspaper.

“I want to provide Mercy with a home, a loving family environment and the best education and healthcare possible. It’s my hope she, like David, will one day return to Malawi and help the people of their country,” she wrote.

A judge recently rejected Madonna’s adoption bid as she did not meet the 18 to 24-month residency requirement. Only time will tell whether this latest charm offensive will change their mind!

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Just like Madonna, Philadelphia Phillies ace Cole Hamels has learned how hard it is to adopt a child from Malawi. Cole and his wife, Survivor’s Heidi Strobel, had hoped to adopt from the African nation but found the residency requirement too difficult.

“There is no way we could live over there for two years,” Cole told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“It shouldn’t be so hard to try to give someone a better life. The government in that country, it’s shady.”

But Cole and Heidi haven’t given up on their dreams of adoption. They’ve now turned their attention to Ethiopia.

“We’re working through a stack of paperwork this thick,” Cole said, indicating a width of several inches. But he’s sure all the hard work will be worth it when they’re holding their child.

“This is something we’ve always wanted to do, to help someone less fortunate.”

Heidi and Cole were married in 2006. I wish them the best of luck in their adoption journey!