An Unexpected Journey

Seven months ago we started on what has been a very common path for us throughout the years: renewing a couple of passports. This normally takes one to two months, then we are free to pursue other paperwork and travel. Little did we know that our October 6 applications for two of our boys’ passports would become a much longer saga.

At the end of November, the two passports came back in the normal time, but with pictures switched. We called the 1-800 number within minutes, and they said someone would call us back to tell us how to fix it. Three months later, after many phone calls and our congressman’s office getting involved, someone finally did reach out. Within three days, our passports were back at the agency in Houston to be corrected and re-processed. After another couple of months, a friend got us in touch with a former consular officer who called the people involved. They got our passports finished in one day, May 8, and we received them on May 9.

Now we are applying for our PNG visas (unknown timeframe), and the other big factor is Christy’s foot healing to the point she can walk normally on it. Walking is a much bigger part of life in PNG than here in the USA. We are hoping to get back to PNG this summer, but we ask that you pray for us that it will all work out in God’s perfect timing.