Once again a scheduled closing date on our escrow has come and gone.  This time, however, the bank gave assurances that they will have a final answer for us "no later than Monday".  (The wheels of bureaucracy are grinding with excruciating slowness).  If that does in fact happen, we could still conceivably close by the end of next week.  Strangely enough I'm not really feeling frustrated by the delay - maybe there have just been so many of them that I don't really notice anymore?  I guess that's progress.  At any rate it beats the stress, panic, and chronic insomnia that characterized the first couple of ill-fated escrows.  Serenity and acceptance is so much better .  (I do still have the insomnia from time to time, but it's diminishing in both frequency and severity).  Not sure what Doug and I will do if and when this deal finally closes - maybe pinch ourselves in disbelief? When we first listed the house (one year ago next week!), we never dreamed that things would happen the way that they have.  But what can I say?  God is good; He has been good in and through every step of the way; and He will continue to be good even if this deal falls apart and we end up a foreclosure statistic.

This weekend I'll be attending our church's Women's Retreat (yahoo!).  It's being held locally, which means I'll be able to come home Friday night and sleep in my own bed (definitely something to be said for that!). 

Ben cracked us all up the other day.  The girls were practicing their "Geography Songs" (this one was "The Southern Border of the United States.")  So there they were happily singing, "California, Arizona, New Mexico; Texas and Louisiana..." when Ben belted out the next phrase, "Mih Si Si Pee!"  We laughed so hard over that one...  (and the girls set to work teaching him more phrases to chime in with)  It was a definite bright spot in an otherwise trying day.

In closing, I just had to share this picture of Ben that I took yesterday morning: