Creating Item in the air...

In my game, the player can jump up and pop bubbles, and an Item is created that then falls to the ground.

All well and good, but the item rendered position does not change until it hits the ground. It renders at the position of creation (way up in the air) until the time it takes to fall has passed, then suddenly it whips to the ground.

After it is on the ground, I can apply an upward impulse to it, and it rises and falls as expected.

It seems to be falling at the proper rate, because I can change the gravityMod in the ItemData block,
and that effects how long it takes before the Item pops to the ground.

Does anybody have any idea what is going on here, and how I can get it to render at its true position before it has had ground contact?

Thanks!!