Greetings from Hageman Healthcare and Feline Pharmacy. Life does tend to get in the way whenever I try to sit down and type an update for y'all.

A month or so ago on one of my many stops to our local pharmacy I made this comment to our pharmacist, "I need just ONE more pill, liquid, or cream to administer every day and then I will officially be getting nothing done." I will NEVER make that statement again. SEVERAL pills, liquids, and creams later I have a daily calendar I have to look at to see who gets what and when! LOL Again, nothing is truly serious and soon a couple members of Hageman Healthcare will be rotating out of several of their meds. We are all just trying to smile and keep positive attitudes while we work through the junk! Thanks to everyone who has prayed and asked about our Horatio. For those of you who don't know about our mystery miracle kitty, he has a seizure disorder of unknown cause. He has WONDERFUL doctors who have him on great drugs that keep things settled down or most times, dare I whisper...normal! He's been having some problems with dosages and when we play with dosages the seizures return. He's been seizure free for several days and things seem to be returning to blessed normal.

How's about an update on Hope's passport? After waiting the full six weeks and a few days longer, Garry called the terrific ladies at our local title bureau and asked them for some help. Apparently we've been *the* topic of conversation for those full six weeks and a few days. The woman who answered the phone transferred him to the lady who had helped us fill out the papers. She first told him not to worry and then told him that she had thought about calling us and asking us if we had received Hope's passport but didn't want to intrude. Do you know where passport applications are sent to? New Orleans. Do you know when Hope's was sent? The week of Hurricane Katrina. Garry was given a toll free number to call to check on the status of her passport. ALL of her important papers made it safely OUT of New Orleans and were sent to Charleston, where at the time of the phone call her passport was being worked on. The woman he spoke to assured him that they were in possession of all of her documents and that they would all be returned with the new passport. She was correct. We have everything back in our hot little hands and I've thanked God repeatedly. This whole thing has served to put things into some form of perspective for me too. You know, there are people in New Orleans who have lost EVERYTHING and I'm worried about some silly papers that we have copies of and yes, it would be a huge hassle to file for new ones, but we would eventually get them. Life's too short...no more worrying over paperwork.

Still no official LID to report. We've asked the only two people we know of to ask. One didn't know and the other ignored the question! LOL Garry did speak to Chris at the agency last week and she said things are tracking normally and that we should expect our first pictures of Claire in February! YAY!

Enjoy your week and hugs to y'all!

First of all many, MANY thanks to all of those who took the time to share their answers to the "less than sensitive" questions or comments from my last post. All of them are greatly appreciated! At one point there was a website that offered responses to those comments...I had a link to it at Prayer, Praise & Peace...way back when! I'm going to have to look it up and share it with you!

We have yet to be notified of our LID. We were told it would probably be up to two months before the Chinese notified us. It will be two months on October 9th. Stay tuned...

We have yet to receive Hope's passport and all of her important documents that had to be sent away in order to get her passport. The check was not in the last bunch of cancelled checks that came back yesterday. We were told it would take "a full six weeks". Looking at the calendar I guess they still have one more day left.

We received the list of the other families we will be traveling with and have heard from all of them. It is going to be another large group. There will be 14 parents/prospective parents and everyone with children is bringing all or most of them. At last count I believe there are 8 children with 6 of them under the age of 4. Our last group also had some grandparents along as well so we shall see.

I haven't been posting anything because, well, there's been nothing to post! ") We're dealing with several issues right now...those of you who know us well know that when "issues" come up we tend to close ourselves off from the outside world until things are resolved. NONE of these issues are deadly or of imminent importance to anyone other than our little family. I do want to thank everyone who understands that we are not angry, upset, or anything else. We just don't have anything left for anyone else right now. We also appreciate all prayers that are offered! I will share that one, two actually of the issues is health related...again, nothing deadly...just a giant nuisance. Three members of our little troupe of five are now affected and we're all being treated. I finally called and made an appointment for something else that has been bothering me for a month or two. Hopefully it will be just another nuisance as well. Again, all prayers and good thoughts are appreciated! ")

There is one "issue" that is simply making me crazy. Some days I don't think about it at all and other days it is a constant battle to think of anything BUT it. I have discussed it with my friend Linda ad nauseum and WON'T discuss it any further...with anyone! ") I am not giving it any more energy. Linda and I have actually gotten a few giggles out of it simply by the fact that I say I've given it to God but then I end up taking it back. I found this poem today that I had pulled out of a book called "A Woman's Journey Toward Holiness" several years ago. There is no author credited on the page so if anyone knows who wrote it I would love to know. Enjoy the poem...and enjoy your weekend!

Take Them Back

I give my problems to the Lord, and then I take them back.

It's not that I don't trust Him or faith that I lack.

It's just I give them to the Lord, and then I take them back.

I'm so sure that I've given all my problems unto Him;

Then all at once I realize I'm burdened down again.

I don't understand the reason I've taken them all back.

So, Lord, I bring them unto You again; please take them back.

You wanna talk uneasy?

On the 20th of this month we bundled up all of Hope's important documents and went downtown to the title bureau to fill out the forms for her U.S. passport. First of all, let me say that ALL of the ladies we have dealt with in that place have the patience of SAINTS! Invariably we forget something important we need for whatever we are doing, and it seems so does everyone else who comes in there along with us. Those women just smile and tell them/us what's missing and wait patiently for them/us to return. I couldn't do it...I'd have to hurt somebody.

So! The form that Garry had filled out was "the old one". Luckily, they had "the new one" right there. He filled it out, asked several questions and then the bomb was dropped. We had to send THE ORIGINALS of all of her papers along with the form. I'm shuddering just thinking about it. The lady assured us that she's had many other adoptive couples do this and everything comes back just fine. Everything includes her document of U.S. citizenship, her U.S. birth certificate, her Chinese passport, and her Medina County adoption decree. She told us to expect to wait six weeks. Well, obviously she's never dealt with our mail carrier. Again, I have a lot of respect for those who are employed by the post office. I know that there are just as many incompetent people in other jobs and professions. But our dear mail carrier is a study in caricature. He won't speak to you even if you speak to him first. I've stood on my front porch and watched him fill out a form telling me I had to go to the post office to pick up the package he's holding in his lap...I guess he didn't feel like taking the 25-30 steps up my driveway that day. When he does bring a package to the door he doesn't knock or ring the doorbell. He just leaves it outside the door. He used to put the rest of the mail with it...now he doesn't even do that. Packages are outside the door, mail is in the box. And lately he doesn't even put the flag down after taking whatever we've left in the box. Just in case you think this behavior is policy, it isn't. Whenever we have a sub on the route it's like the sun is shining on Hidden Valley. They bring things to the door, ring the doorbell, ask you how you are and wish you a nice day...amazing. So I'm just trying to keep busy and hoping that there is a sub on our route when Hope's passport and papers are due to be delivered.

We took Hope to the zoo for the first time yesterday. We were all very impressed with the changes at The Akron Zoo. WOW! It used to be, well, not very good. I think the last time we went you just pulled into the parking lot handed someone your money, or in our case they were having some promotion where you got in free if you brought a can of food for the food bank, and looked at the 1/2 a dozen or so animals. Not any more! It doesn't even look like the same place. Everything is new and clean and professional. The landscaping is incredibly beautiful and they are working on yet another whole new area that opens in October. We all enjoyed ourselves. Hope will tell you she stood inside a penguin. They have little hollow, faceless penguin bodies in front of the penguin exhibit that kids can stand in, put their face through the opening and have their pictures taken. Yes, she looked adorable. She will also tell you that she bumped her head on the prairie dog. There is a small opening for kids to crawl into the exhibit area and stand in a Plexiglas bubble to view the prairie dogs close-up. She didn't quite make it and bumped her head. But she'll still tell you that that was her favorite animal of the day!

Enjoy your week...more later!