The ninth seven days.

I definitely can't say that the last week has been happy. I can say that I have been making a thorough effort to find things to be happy about each day. I even bought a pretty notebook in which to record these things. In tribute to my love for Martha Stewart, I have called my book "It's a good thing." : )

July 13: We got a new sponsor child today, and there aren't many more exciting things than that. Kajal is 7 years old, and she lives in India. I have been wanting a little girl in India for a long time- we would love to adopt from there someday, too! Kajal had been waiting pretty much all year for a sponsor. She is really cute, and I love her sweet little dress. I can't wait to shower her with letters and presents and lots of love!

July 14: I had to do a little grocery shopping today, and I found a really pretty notebook. It's covered in purple glitter! I love it! I'm using it to keep track of my "happy moments" from now on.

July 15: My mom got me dinner tonight, and we were able to spend some time together this evening. I miss spending so much time with her- for a while we were able to get together just about every Thursday and eat lunch and watch TV and stuff.

July 16: Today was a day of good food! I had ice cream for breakfast, and Hot Browns for lunch! If you don't know what a Hot Brown is, here's an explanation: it's this kind of amazing sandwich thingie that was created by the head chef of a fancy hotel in my city, which was mentioned in "The Great Gatsby" and used to have visitors like Al Capone and other famous folks in the first quarter of the 20th century. It's a thick piece of French bread topped with turkey, smothered in cheese sauce (basically just Parmesan, butter, and heavy cream) and bacon. Some people put tomatoes on it, too. It's just a baking dish full of cheesy heaven. And my mom makes the BEST hot browns. My family had them for dinner last night, and I got the leftovers.

July 17: My friends said nice things after I didn't get the job at work. And that's basically it. I worked really hard, finished the day on a bad note, came home and cried. For hours. So I'm counting the nice comments from my friends on facebook as my "happy thing" for today.

July 18: My mom and dad came by late tonight and brought over some leftovers and a card and CD from my friend Helen. They made the trip over to our house at 10:30 at night just to bring me these things, and then turned around and went home. I'm glad that they took the time to do that.

July 19: Today I got a letter from Said, and our new sponsor child Kajal's info packet arrived! I already sent her an intro letter online, and am putting together a folder of goodies to send with my next package of letters for the kids. I found out this week that Kajal was registered in Compassion's program in November, and found a sponsor right away- who promptly dropped her. And then she found another sponsor right away- who also dropped her. She's been waiting ever since. Never received a letter. Well, she's definitely going to get lots of letters from me! Kajal definitely won't have any doubts as to whether her new sponsor loves her! :)