This is an old photo (don't know the date, but we don't have that many ordained here in Maryland anymore!).

This is, however, the Enlightenment Stupa. This is what we are striving for! The goal is to complete this Stupa as soon as we can (we're entertaining secret hopes of finishing by Tuesday for Chokor Duchen!--prayers on our behalf welcome!).

Naturally, we've encountered our usual obstacles. : ) Not unexpected anymore! We had a group gather to rally for this effort today. Namgyal came out to paint half the north wall, Norbu worked on the upper steps and finished the repairs, Michelle came out to paint as well. Gretchen has given us word she'll be out to finish the brocade this weekend! Unfortunately, as we had suspected, we ran out of paint! We didn't get as far as we hoped even.

So there you go. That seems to be the theme of this Stupa! : ) In any case, I was at work for all of it (thus, you get the stock photo rather than ones from today). I got home to many emails and several messages on my phone, and the team is rallying to the cry and researching alternatives. We've tracked down a precious few (potassium silicate paints are rare evidently), one of which is right around the corner in Delaware. We'll, okay, it's about 3 hours one way. However, I'd go for it in a heartbeat if they have what we need. The key will be determining compatibility with our current coating. Other options include Canada, and possibly Ohio. But we're on a tight schedule if we hope for Tuesday, so driving is our best bet.

It's late and I may have a long drive ahead tomorrow, so I'm going to leave you all in the same suspense I'm in. ; ) Prayers to remove obstacles are welcome! Worst case scenario, Cathedral Stone will have more in two weeks...but we're hoping for something much sooner! When we do finish, we'd like to invite all of you to a celebration and sang offering, where we join in offering this astounding source of benefit to the world!