Another busy week. I don't know where the time goes. My grandma use to say, "The older you get, the faster it goes." Boy, was she was right. She passed away at the age of 93; and I will tell you, she must have been on roller coaster ride the last 45 years of her life, and hanging on for dear life! I feel like I live on one now. I take a deep breath in the morning; and off I go, up, up, up... then down we gooooo... and around... hang onnnn!!

The other morning Tim and I were at the altar; and I prayed that I would ask God to show me how to make my to do list each day. Not doing it the way 'I' think it should be done, but 'His' way. I mean, I know there are the things I have to do, like go to work, go to gym, do Bible study... I'm one who likes to write everything down just so I can mark it off. I even write things down after I do them just to mark them off! (I know. I am a sick person!) It's a mind game I play that makes me feel like I got more done. But I want to learn to do the things that God wants me to do. How many times have I possibly not been where I needed to be because I put my SELF in the way? I want to have GOD in the way. I might have missed the Office Depot moment, a few weeks ago, if I had not listened to the little voice inside of me saying, "Go to Office Depot, now." I want, so badly, to hear, AND FOLLOW, God's voice every time he talks to me. Whether it's in a still, small whisper, or even a loud, yelling voice. LOL!!

Last Saturday we received our appointment notice to go to the FBI, on Sept. 4, for our "biometrics to be captured" (in other words our fingerprints to be done!). For some reason, that seems scary to me. I guess it's because of the words FBI, or Homeland Security. It's not like I am a criminal. By the way, I can't believe how many times we have to be fingerprinted! Anyway, then Monday Mrs. Betti called and we scheduled our last home study interview with her and that one was at our house. I think it all went well. I guess we will know when we get to read her report. We had to go a couple of times this week to get papers notarized so we could get them FedEx'd out on Friday. Along with them we needed Apostilles. So, that meant a trip to downtown Jackson. Not a big deal, but the first set were wrong, so off we go again! Thankfully we got them right the second time. Lots of other paperwork for Ukraine dossier is starting to get done. I am still shocked at the amount of all of it.

Friday was Tim's birthday. He is now 47; and, yes, he is glad he is going to be a daddy to 2 girls! I think when you get older you can enjoy things more. We were very young when we had our boys. I was 19 with Justin and 25 with Christopher. I am glad I was a young mom to give birth, but I think I will be a wise mom now. I will have learned from many of my mistakes. Yes, I do know girls are different than boys, but love is the same, no matter what. It will not always be easy, but it will definitely be worth it!

I went to the mall to look for a gift for Tim for his birthday. I looked around, but could not really find anything he "needed", or wanted. Maybe it was me not wanting to spend the money! So, I went home and took a cat nap before heading out to take some photographs of the boys. Tim had asked for some new shots of them for his office. I got dressed, so that I would be ready to go out for dinner afterward. I had to swing by FedEx to ship some papers. Well, let me just tell you, I hope my envelope gets a great meal on the plane going over for what it cost to ship SIX pieces of paper!! I thought the poor young man behind the counter was going to faint when he told me the price. I thought Tim might have to bury me. $128.10 to mail them!!!! Then young man did go on to say they would be arrive on Sept. 2nd. Great! I would hope so. And in a limousine for that price!! He did say I could lower that price by $10.00, but doing so would add 15 days to the arrival date. He let out a huge laugh; and the lady behind the wall came to see what was going on. She re-checked the price; and she was speechless, too. That must be why Tim didn't need a present! The money went to pay for Fed Ex. So, in his card, I gave him the receipt!!

I received an email from a friend this week. In it she talked about a little boy who came to the orphanage at a young age. He waited for a family to come for him; and he waited; and he waited; and he waited some more, but no one ever came. She visited him when she could; and she always saw sadness in his eyes. I guess he knew somewhere in his heart he might never get a family. As the kids grow older the less likely it is for them to be picked by a family. At the age of 14, in the 9th grade, he aged out of the system. No one ever did come for he or his younger brother. (Note: Even more sadly, the way the Ukrainian system is set-up, once an older sibling ages out, younger siblings are no longer eligible for adoption, either.) Now at the age of 19, he still struggles everyday with the thought that they will never have a forever family. I know we have so many kids here in the USA who need homes, but one thing that is significantly different is we do not put our kids out on the street at the age of 14 years old, to fend for themselves. They get to stay in a home until the age of 18; and if most of the kids would act nice to their foster parents they would probably even get to stay longer. So many of our youth today feel we owe them "the world", though; and we don't. I know not all foster parents are nice, but much really has to do with the kids. There is always 3 sides to everything yours, mine and God's. And God's is the only one that counts. Again, I cannot tell you why Ukraine? Or even why us? But when God calls it is always better to answer in the affirmative. Sorry, enough of that soap box...

I think I have run myself silly this week! I had to go to the Appraiser's office to get the certified square footage for our house. Before I could send off to get our certified marriage certificate we had to browse to the Orange County, CA, website, download their form, have it notarized, get a money order, then finally mail it. Well, I was running late today; and thank God I was! Late this morning Tim learned we needed FOUR copies, not just two. If we hadn't found that out when we did we would have had to redo all of it and have spent even more money on shipping. Also this week, I have spent time on the phone calling to get Tim in to a doctor for a complete exam. As he never gets sick, he never goes to the doctor. Normally that would be good, but when you specifically need quick access to a family doctor, it definitely is not. Also, this week, I have went to the Highway Patrol office to get paperwork for Mississippi state background checks. On Tuesday, I had to go to the foot doctor because I have hurt my feet. Praise the Lord, I have lost 100 pounds, but in doing so I have walked my feet to death, or at least my feet think so! The doctor restricted me from exercise walking for 30 days. Only water class, exercise bike, and elliptical trainer. At least he didn't put me on bed rest, but then again, that might be nice! That would create its own set of problems, though. How would all of this get done? Back on the doctor topic... I found an old doctor of mine who was willing to squeeze in both Tim and I on Wednesday for medical exams. Yeah! One more item to mark off the list. Friday... FBI.

Lynn