Thanks to everyone who participated in anyway to the garage sale fundraiser! We raised so much more than I expected: about $600!! It was on Saturday July 21, just about all day! Lots of friends and family donated items to be sold as well as spent time pricing and selling. God has been faithful and I'm at about 80% of my goal! All I need now is that my passport comes in! I applied for it in May, and was told I'd get it in 8-10 weeks. Well then I got updates until they finally reached up to 18weeks. YIKES! So I called one of our Illinois State Reps who was very nice but not entirely helpful. So I'm making more phone calls and praying that it comes in on time.

I'm still really excited to go, and I can't wait. I finally have all my vaccines, and am currently reading the book, No Future Without Forgiveness by Tutu. It's about the apartheid in

South Africa in 1994 and is a pretty good read. The other book I'm reading is Zara's Tales by Peter Beard who writes of his daughter's (Zara's) adventures while they lived in
Africa. It's pretty good so far. Also, I'm almost done with my journal! Which is mostly exciting because then I get to start a new one.

J