Sendusout

On September 28 our family was to fly from Manila to the U.S. to spend 7 weeks with friends and family. About a week before that, we found out there was a problem with the two year visas we had been applying for, but were hopeful the issue would be resolved soon. Well, as any of you who have been through such a process will know, things never go as smoothly as you would hope for; but we prayed, did what we could and trusted God with it all.

Before we could leave, 3 key things had to happen. Our visas needed revalidated, our 9G visas needed to be implemented and we needed an appointment to go to Immigration to apply for our icards. The first step was completed sometime in November, our visas were implemented in December and on Wednesday we finally visited Immigration.

The issue with going to Immigration is that you are not allowed to go in by yourself. You must be escorted by an official Immigration person who will help you through the process. So we got up at 5:45 Wednesday morning, packed the diaper bag with snacks and juice boxes and headed to Daniel’s office to meet a friend who has also been helping us and take some last minute shots of our family to provide six 2″X2″ shots of each of us for the paperwork.

After about 2 hours of driving through Manila traffic, we finally reached our meeting point, the ever present Starbucks, across the street from Immigration. We ordered our cappuccino, iced almond mocha and ham & cheese croissant (we are deprived, aren’t we?) and waited for Fay to show up. She brought with her a stack of forms to fill out and then we trooped our whole family across the street, through a little door, up the stairs and down a dimly lit hallway to get our fingerprints taken. It was like being in a drama. There were just a few tables set up in the middle of the hallway with a friendly guy with a bob haircut wearing a red Ramones t-shirt. This guy immediately took charge like a pro and while talking “music” with Daniel and doing gymnastics with Ian as he ran circles around the tables and tackling Isaiah he got us all printed and pictured. Uhmmm, I mean Ian ran circles and tackled Isaiah in the middle of the floor, not the Ramones guy. Anyway, the kids were troopers and we were on our way out in 30 minutes.

Hooray!!!! Once we have received our icards in the next couple of weeks we are good to stay here in the Philippines for the next two years. We will also be able to travel in and out of the country freely. Even though our trip was postponed, we are looking forward to coming home to visit towards the end of May. Thank you to all of you have been praying for us during this time!