the long and long overdue life update

Dear blog fans,

I apologize for the long near-silence. I shall now commence with the long overdue life-update:

1) work -- Last week I finished writing the second chapter of my dissertation. It looks promising in context of the whole; apparently, I actually have something coherent to say about our boy, Bonaventure. If I have time, I'll write a second post later today on the subject of my dissertation. I suspect it would be useful to write out a picture of the whole before I fully move on to the third chapter.

In other academic news, my first article should be out by the end of this calendar year. It's on William of Ockham's understanding of what a concept is and will appear in one of the [very few] main journals of Medieval philosophy. I may also have an opportunity to write an article on Bonaventure and am thinking of revising a paper I wrote on Bonaventure's Life of St. Francis and submitting it to Franciscan Studies (a journal I love, despite the fact that they can't seem to copy-edit to save their lives).

This brings us to 2) ---- -- Some time ago I did some research to see whether or not it was possible to bring ---- to Belgium for the 2009/2010 academic year (her senior year). It turns out this would be possible if I sponsored her under an official student exchange program. The paperwork would be long, bureaucratic and complicated (one wouldn't expect less from the Belgians), and I would have to pay a fee of 200-300EUR to the exchange program, in addition to any paperwork and travel fees. All of that would have been fine except for the following: 1) In order to send ---- to an English-language school, I would have to shell out at least 7,000EUR tuition for the academic year and 2) if ---- wanted to go to the states the following year, it would mean starting a whole new round of paperwork. Since they are two different countries, having done the paperwork to come to Belgium would be no help toward doing the paperwork to come to the States.

After much thought and prayer (mostly prayer) I decided I wasn't supposed to move forward with the student exchange plan. It seems to me if ---- wants to go to university in the States, it makes more sense to save the 7000+ EUR and put that towards her college education. Since I can't adopt her legally, she won't be eligible for any federal financial aid, including loans. So apart from any scholarships she may receive, all the money will need to come out of my pocket, along with any private loans I may have to take out. I'm prepared to do that, but I want to make sure I have the funds to finish what I started. That 7,000EUR is likely to come in handy (I currently, interestedly enough, have just a little less than that saved in the "---- fund")

I felt like I was supposed to wait for awhile, that some piece of the puzzle was missing and I needed to wait, so that's what I've been doing. But at some point I also came to the conclusion that I should get in touch with all my contacts who know and care about ---- as soon as I had completed my second chapter. And I completed my second chapter last week. So, today is the day I send out e-mails. I want to let everyone know what I have been thinking and praying about and to ask for their opinions and advice. I hope we can all be on the same page about this. I am trying to think only one step at a time and that seems to me like the next step. Eventually, my hope is that I'll be able to bring ---- to the states to study, and that I'll be her sponsor. Beyond that, it will be her choice how much I am involved in her life. If she just wants me to be a financial sponsor, fine. If she wants me to be a mentor and/or friend, even better, but this is not a precondition of me funding her education. If she wants me to be her family, even better, but it must be her decision. If she wants to live with me while she attends university, okay; if she wants to live elsewhere but visit during vacations, okay; if none of the above (provided she has somewhere else to go for vacations), also okay.

So, that is how things stand at the moment. If those of you who pray would pray for us, I'd very much appreciate it.

And for the moment, I'll leave it at that.
love and good will,
yhn