Kindness

Today was a fairly productive day! It was my day off so I started out the morning with rowing class and strength training. Attempted to donate blood, but unfortunately my counts aren't up where they should be. That's really discouraging. I used to be able to give a triple donation of platelets. But, my hemoglobin and hematocrit haven't been good enough for me to donate in a long time. I was hoping that since I am almost 3 months post-surgery, things would improve. Oh, well.

Headed to the store and stocked up on a few things. Seriously, it has been a couple months since I have actually done a decent grocery shop. My cart was full and my bank account was a lot lighter. But, at least I got that accomplished.

Came home and started working on forms for our dossier. I've been feeling a little disorganized so I wanted to take the time to figure out exactly what we need. Started making notes, copying documents, printing the forms that need to be notarized. Went to the courthouse to get certified copies of our marriage certificate and proof of property ownership. This is where the "kindness" comes in. But first... talk about bad memory. I thought we had applied for our marriage license in this county. Nope... we applied for it in the county I used to live in. So, I will have to get our marriage certificate copies another day. Anyway... I went to the county assessor's office to get a certified copy of the deed to our house, as well as a specific form completed on the assessor's letterhead with specific information about the type of house that we have, lot size, etc. It also had to be notarized. The notary was on his way out the door headed for vacation just as I walked up to the desk. He was kind enough to stay late and notarize the documents that I needed. Of course, there is a charge for these items. For example, if I wanted just a regular copy (not certified), it would be $1. But, certified items are $15. As I asked for the documents, I explained that we were adopting and that there were very specific requirements from the Ukraine government for what we needed. And I had to ask for one of the forms to be completed a second time because the rubber stamp used to certify it didn't come through clearly. All of this was done cheerfully. When I had everything I needed, I asked how much I owed them. The gentleman said, "Don't worry about it. When you get your little one home, bring him/her into see us. That will be payment enough." How sweet is that??  So, thank you to the staff at our county courthouse who touched my heart today with their kindness and generosity!!