June in Review

Well, today is the last day of June. Its had some high notes and low notes. We went to Washington to visit our family up there. It was cool and the air was fresh. I only wish I had more time to spend with my family. The older I get, the more I realize how important family is and to really appreciate each moment I spend with each person.

While I was there, we took Deanna, my niece, over to get her drivers permit. I can hardly believe that she is old enough to drive. I remember the night she was born and seeing her lay in the bassinet at the hospital and wondering what she would be like when she grew up. What she would look like. Hoping she would choose the right paths and make good choices in life. I am so pleased by what a good person she is. And now she has her driving permit. Well, those who know me, know I stress about anything so we will add that one to the list of things to worry about. I only hope she doesn't do some of the crazy things that I did.

Also in Washington we where able to visit with my Grandma. She has shown a pretty quick decline with her Alzheimer's. The last time I saw her in February, she was able to have a conversation with me, sit and read a book, etc. Now we can sit and talk to her but she does not make much sense. We have to watch her real close, especially while we had visitors, to make sure she didn't do anything real crazy. You can either cry over how she is, or just accept it and make the best of what time she has left. She is 90 years old.

Its always a treat to see Mom and Dad, Dave and Diane Joyce and kids, my brother Duane, my cousins, Steve and Laurie Cooke and kids, Jims SIL Liz and their kids (David was out of town), and Char Smith. Its also good to see those we went to meeting with when we lived up there. To see them continuing through the ups and downs of life is an encouragement. Its so fun to spend time with my nephews and nieces. They are all special kids.

So we where only there about 4.5 days. Not enough to see everybody we wish we could see. We where kept running as it was anyway.

So that was definitely the high note for June. The low notes where that on June 1 I decided to go ahead and have the dogs teeth cleaned. (we have two miniature pinscher) They where rotting and falling out so I thought we should probably do something. So I took them to the canine dentist, Dr. Roy, and she pulled 15 teeth from Flynn and 10 from Princess. Both dogs where drugged up pretty good when they went home and they did pretty good. But, I worried about them. We don't have kids and they are my babies. I'm rather neurotic about them. They are ok. They had to go to the kennel while we where in Washington and that is hard. They did fine. I took them back for a check up on their teeth and the teeth look good. Flynn has lost one lb in the last month and has a weird lump on her back. So, add it to the list to worry about. I feed her way more than a little dog should be fed and we'll see if I can get her to gain a lb. She weighs 9.14 lbs right now. She is 14 years old so hopefully we can keep her around for a while longer. Princess is just Princess. The most loving beautiful dog there is. She is my dog. Loves me so much.

I work for an internatixnal adxption agency. Great job but lots of stress. I've been doing it for almost 8 years now and that is why my hair is turning gray (at least that is what I blame it on). This week has been kind of nutty at work. I've been working with one family in adxpting from Guatamxla. Well, lots has happened in their adoption and this week the latest was that Guatemxla lost their dossier. Yeah, LOST IT! So I had to call the family on Monday and tell them they had to re-do all their paperwork. Anybody that knows about adxption will realize that is a HUGE job and very costly and time consuming. It means getting re-fingarprinted with the FBI, getting new medicals done, new letters from their employers, new birth certificates issued, new marriage certificates, etc, etc. etc. So I called the husband and told him and he completely blew up at me. I told him it that I knew it was frustrating and he said "NO, SPILLING YOUR COFFEE IS FRUSTRATING, THIS IS INIQUITOUS!" Well, all I can do is listen and be comforting. He says "You don't know what it is like! Have you ever done it? Have you every put together a dosssier?". I didn't say a word. Anyway, if he knew how many nights I dream about the families I work with. I dream about the children in the orphenages. How many dossiers I have put together and how many families I've said "I'm sorry, this is incorrect, you'll have to re-do this document". This Guatemaala family's dossier is about 2 inches thick. I have a family leaving for Russiia this weekend whose dossier is about 10 inches think. They have re-done everything several times and never raised their voice at me once. They are ready to be parents.
Well, I got to call the Guatemalla family back on Thursday and tell them that the dosssier was found.


So, I realize this post is getting kind of long. So, I can't end it without mentioning my dear husband. He is very good to me. We live in a dry hot desert and he has created a beautiful back yard for me to relax in, he keeps everything so beautiful. He works a stressful job also. He is quality assurance at an aerospace company. So to simply state what he does is that he checks over the planes when they come in to see what all needs to be fixed on them, the mechanics fix it and then he checks to make sure what they did is correct and then puts the plane back into service. He works very long days, 3-4 days a week. Then he usually works at least 1-2 days overtime a week. So, we really don't have as much time together as I would like, but it makes the time we do spend together very special, and that's important.


I'll leave you with more pictures from our trip to Washington!

Dustin, Darren and Jim playing with squirt guns.


















Deanna caught in the cross-fire!






















Jim and Deanna checking the view out from Mt. Erie.