IT'S JULY!!!!!!!!!!

Many of us who are hoping for referrals from our agency have been waiting impatiently for July to finally be here. Did anyone else notice that June lasted entirely way to long this year?! So July is here and several people have received their referrals. It's exciting for all of us because it means it's really happening! We heard about seven referrals being given out over the last several days. We have been able to look at a few pictures and they are all adorable. I think one family has a referral for a baby who is only about six weeks old. Wow!
I have started asking the woman who has done my nails for the last couple of years for help for my traveling. She and several other women who work there have told me a lot. Just little bits and peices of information that probably will all make more sense to me once I am close to traveling. She told me two airlines that were very good. I remembered them until I was halfway home. I was so busy trying to remember which ones were good and which ones weren't that I got them confused. I guess I need to bring a notebook to write things down. She did make a good point. One of the things adoptive families do is bring small gift for the people at the orphanage and people that help along the way (like the van driver and people who set up your appointments while you are there). Several people have said that chocolate is a good gift because they like our chocolate better. Well, she said it will never make the travel with the heat. Hmmm, good point. She said it would be better if we put $10 or $20 in envelopes to give. That money is what a lot of the people really need and could help them. I'll have to ask my agency. It would certainly be easier to pack.
Ray and I went golfing today, which was fun. It's really the only time we can have a normal conversation since we are always with our little ones. Well, I don't know if our conversations are exactly normal. This is an example of one as we are driving in the cart to the next hole.

Ray, "What did you get on that hole again?" As he is writing his own score down.
Stacey, "I got a four." (Hey, this is my story, I could very well have gotten a four on that hole!)
"Hey, flip the scorecard over. I was writing different baby names down on it to see how they look."
Ray, Flips the scorecard over and then quickly flips it back without looking at it. "Yeah." Pause. "I can't believe my last drive. I pulled it! What kind of crap was that!" At this point Ray is careening our cart around a turn so fast I have to quickly hold on to stay in the cart.
Stacey, "I like both names. I guess we'll have to figure out if we like her first and middle names and like their meanings to figure out which one we'll use. I think we should wait until we see her to really make our final decision."
Ray, "Hey, come watch me while I hit this. I think you're going to be impressed." Ray gets out of the cart, takes his driver out of his bag and walks over to the tee.
Stacey, Looks up as Ray leans over to place his tee and ball in the ground, then reaches over and flips the scorecard over to look at the names again. Ray gets in the cart.
Ray, "Okay, now that's how to hit the ball." Flips the scorecard back over and looks at the distance to the green again.
Stacey, "Of course, we didn't do that with the other two. We didn't wait until we saw them to figure out their names. Maybe we should decide before we go. But then we would have to make a decision." Gets out of the cart and grabs her club. Looks back at Ray as she walks away, "What do you think?"
Ray, Looks up. "What?"

So may be we aren't really communicating WITH eachother yet, but we are passing information back and forth and it's a start. We did have fun playing again today. We usually go to nice courses that are just beautiful. Today we went to a course that was literally under construction. It was a rough course. Seriously rough. There was hiking, there was camping and there was even a little repelling during our time out. Not my kind of golfing. Still fun though.