VISA and Partnership Update

Partnership Update - Our goal was to be at 60% of our support by today.  We are approximately $30/month away from that goal.  To be in Spain in September we need to increase our partnership by 10% every four weeks.  In the last two months we have increased nearly 30%.  We are giving God all the glory and thanking Him for the people who have chosen to join our team.  We know He has great things ahead and cannot wait to see how He uses this team of "senders and tellers" (see Romans 10:14-15).


If you would like more information about partnership, click on the "contact me" tab above and send me a note. 

VISA Update - We are doing my favorite thing - waiting.  NOT!  Below is a summary of the steps we have to go through and what the status is right now.  Pray for patience as well as expediency.  Do those two things go together?

• Supervisor in Spain request letters of invitation - once they are received we have 30 days to present our completed application to the Spanish consulate in Washington, DC - We are waiting on this letter 
• Be fingerprinted and complete a FBI criminal background check - These are submitted and we are waiting on their return - they will not issue a progress statement until 4 weeks after they are submitted - that is today - so hopefully when I call they will say they are on their way to us. 
• Gather the following paperwork: 
• New copies of birth certificates and marriage certificates for everyone - they must be hand signed and issued within the last 90 days - of course I was born in Florida, Scott in Cairo, and the kids were at least both here in Greensboro - Waiting on Scott's, but everyone else's is here and already has the letter of Apostille.  His is not required, but we have learned from those who have gone before us that more documentation is better than not enough. 
• New passports for the kids because they had less than 12 months left on their passports (thank goodness Scott and I were good) - Yeah!  Finally something to report that is finished.  
• Letters from the doctors that say we have no communicable diseases, addictions, and mental health issues - of course we all have different doctors with different processes for this.  I could write an entire blog post that would have you rolling in the floor laughing over this requirement, but let's just leave it at YES! we have these letters. 
• Letter from SEND saying we have international health insurance In my VISA folders waiting. 
• Send all the official documents off to the Secretary of State in the state they were issued to receive an Apostille Letter (stating they are official and legal documents) - FBI Checks and Scott's birth certificate are still waiting to be done, but everything else is done. 
• Take all the documents to a certified Spanish translator Waiting
• Finish all this within the 30 days of the letter of invitation being received and make an appointment with the Spanish Consulate in Washington DC and all four of us go apply in person Waiting
• Wait.....Pray... Wait... Pray - Perhaps I should have this sprinkled throughout the entire process - but we are doing a lot of this one 
• When the consulate's office calls and says the VISAs are ready we have 30 days to pick them up and 30 days to register an address in Spain - And obviously - not here yet