Denise
Congratulations! You've (re-)discovered one of the reasons folks here in
the newsgroups hold the "lookup field" data type in table definitions in
general low regard.
What is actually being stored in your table is what you are finding, the
primary key of the record in the lookup table. ... even though looking in
the table makes it look like the table's storing the "looked up" value!
Most folks here strongly recommend changing the lookup field in the table
back to a number field (depends on the PK type in your lookup table), then
using a combobox based on the lookup table in a form.
Good luck!
Regards
Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP
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