One eye squinted.

My, how the fall chill has already started to set in! Summer was just weeks ago but now seems further behind us. I'm sitting in the dining room cozied up in my favorite sweatsuit--ahhhh :)

So, you know that deadline of August 31 I shared in my last post? Well, it quickly came and went! We did make some decent headway during my break from teaching (while there were no students around)--submitting a slew of documents for approval and receiving the thumbs-up on a lot of them. Unfortunately (well, in the long term, I suppose it could be seen as fortunately), there were several (our police clearances and our financial form) that did not make the cut. (We updated the financial form because we'd already done it wrong once, and now we were told to use the original figures because they have to match the ones in our home study--GRRRR!!) (The police clearances we didn't get notarized the 1st time because there was no notary onsite. I tried to use a notarization from our home study agency as an attachment, but that was not accepted. We'll have to hire a traveling notary to go to the office with us, and we'll have to take care of this on a Friday when we're both around and I don't teach.) And for a while there, we were waiting on a couple documents to be mailed to us to even be able to photocopy and fax to the adoption agency (a recently-issued birth certificate for Paul and a copy of his life insurance policy). We also were refused certification from the Chicago City Clerk's office on 2 of our documents, and had to figure out an alternative way to get that done in the future. Oh, and my passport is still missing...

All that to say, we missed our deadline :) But it wasn't for lack of trying!

I won't lie. I was super bummed when I first found out that our police clearances didn't cut the mustard. They were a pain in the butt to get done the first time. Coordinating times when both Paul and I can do paperchasing together is a challenge since we are both so busy (Paul more than I!).

But, these past weeks haven't been without definite signs of God's favor. In fundraising news, we have received a total of $2,531!!! It's amazing and totally overwhelming and loving (that's over 10% of our goal!). It's pretty wild to open your e-mail account and find messages of support and encouragement containing $20, $50, $75, $100, $200, $400, and $500 gifts! Friends and family have been so generous. This is what happens internally when I see these thoughtful contributions:

1. I get super excited that we are nearing our goal and I do a happy dance :)
2. I marvel at God's way of raising this ransom for his child, at the beauty of weaving our loved ones together through the journey.
3. I feel hugged, humbled, and nourished that others would choose to share with us and silently wonder who am I to be witnessing God move in this way?
4. I am encouraged :)

When we do finish and send in our dossier to our adoption agency (O hasten the day!), we will have to send in our next payment--the 2nd international installment fee--which will be $3,750. Just another reason why I'm pleased that the fundraising is going so well :)

Poco a poco (little by little) we go. As Flannery O'Connor writes, "I can, with one eye squinted, take it all as a blessing." :)