Hello Everybody!
Our Visa Applications have been turned in and stamped by the Spanish Consulate! I feel so relieved to be done with this intensive load of paperwork. Just getting the paperwork completed and ready to turn in was a major undertaking. Every waking moment for the last 3 months has been concerned with this process. When I finally completed the necessary copying and assembly, all that was left was to actually drive it into L.A. A simple task right?
For those of you from Southern California, you are aware of the heavy rain that came over the area on Friday. We received roughly 5 feet of water and we drove right into the heart of the storm, hitting it just before Downey. Now, I had put all of the paperwork in my computer case and put it behind Lela's seat, just in front of my infant daughter Elizabeth. I left the computer at home and filled the interior with the paperwork for each of our visas. We drove through the rain, going approximately 2 miles an hour and slowly made our way to the downtown area. It was at this point that I asked my wife to pull the directions from the computer case. She replied, "The very wet directions?" And I just about lost my heart. As it turns out, Elizabeth's window was cracked open and the outside of the computer case was wet from the deluge of rain that we had just driven through!!!! "AGH, the PAPERS!" I cried. Sure enough, some of the papers had gotten wet, but the file folders were wet and unusable. I was devastated! I could not believe I had guarded those papers with my life, and not made sure that Elizabeth's window was securely closed!
So there we are, at the Consulate, with a boatload of papers in our arms. At this point, I just wanted to give them to the lady at the window, turn around and go home!! But alas, I was directed to give the papers agonizingly slow, to the new lady of the office! She told me that she was new and not very experienced yet in the process of visa application reception. NOT VERY COMFORTING TO HEAR, even though she was exceptionally kind and complimentary!! Anyway, it took almost 40 minutes just to get my visa application in before she was relieved by the veteran of the office, who sped through the rest of applications like lightning! Her comment was that we were so organized and had everything together in a very impressive way. I thought, "You should have seen how impressive we were about 25 minutes ago!!"
Then to top it all off, she told us that this could take anywhere from "6 to 7 to 8 to..." and she kept climbing and climbing! "45...62..." to complete!! I wanted to point out that the paperwork specificly said "3 to 6 months" but I just gave it over to the Lord and let Him have that anxiety as well.
And while this is all a relief and we are celebrating the present achievement, we are mindful of the fact that this is only the beginning. There is more to come, so we are bracing ourselves, but at least we are finished with this part of the process. Please pray that our visas will be handled in a miraculously quick fashion. After all, the Lord is a veteran at handling these things!!
Blessings,
F.S.
Our Visa Applications have been turned in and stamped by the Spanish Consulate! I feel so relieved to be done with this intensive load of paperwork. Just getting the paperwork completed and ready to turn in was a major undertaking. Every waking moment for the last 3 months has been concerned with this process. When I finally completed the necessary copying and assembly, all that was left was to actually drive it into L.A. A simple task right?
For those of you from Southern California, you are aware of the heavy rain that came over the area on Friday. We received roughly 5 feet of water and we drove right into the heart of the storm, hitting it just before Downey. Now, I had put all of the paperwork in my computer case and put it behind Lela's seat, just in front of my infant daughter Elizabeth. I left the computer at home and filled the interior with the paperwork for each of our visas. We drove through the rain, going approximately 2 miles an hour and slowly made our way to the downtown area. It was at this point that I asked my wife to pull the directions from the computer case. She replied, "The very wet directions?" And I just about lost my heart. As it turns out, Elizabeth's window was cracked open and the outside of the computer case was wet from the deluge of rain that we had just driven through!!!! "AGH, the PAPERS!" I cried. Sure enough, some of the papers had gotten wet, but the file folders were wet and unusable. I was devastated! I could not believe I had guarded those papers with my life, and not made sure that Elizabeth's window was securely closed!
So there we are, at the Consulate, with a boatload of papers in our arms. At this point, I just wanted to give them to the lady at the window, turn around and go home!! But alas, I was directed to give the papers agonizingly slow, to the new lady of the office! She told me that she was new and not very experienced yet in the process of visa application reception. NOT VERY COMFORTING TO HEAR, even though she was exceptionally kind and complimentary!! Anyway, it took almost 40 minutes just to get my visa application in before she was relieved by the veteran of the office, who sped through the rest of applications like lightning! Her comment was that we were so organized and had everything together in a very impressive way. I thought, "You should have seen how impressive we were about 25 minutes ago!!"
Then to top it all off, she told us that this could take anywhere from "6 to 7 to 8 to..." and she kept climbing and climbing! "45...62..." to complete!! I wanted to point out that the paperwork specificly said "3 to 6 months" but I just gave it over to the Lord and let Him have that anxiety as well.
And while this is all a relief and we are celebrating the present achievement, we are mindful of the fact that this is only the beginning. There is more to come, so we are bracing ourselves, but at least we are finished with this part of the process. Please pray that our visas will be handled in a miraculously quick fashion. After all, the Lord is a veteran at handling these things!!
Blessings,
F.S.
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