No News is...Aggravating.

We're still waiting for news on Susanna Jane's long-term visa. The same one we started applying for last January.

About a month ago, Christiana met with our visa agent to give him the latest round of documents, including new letters from our insurance company and a lease with Susanna Jane's name on it. However, when Christiana handed that particular document over to our agent, she was told it was merely an amendment to our original lease. She would have to return home with Susanna, locate the original lease, and bring it back to our agent the same day if we were to meet the deadline we'd been given.  Why? Because all of the previous copies of our original lease had "expired".

True story - documents have expiration dates. If we were to go a certain number of days past the date stamped by the notary, we have to start again. It's the same lease, the exact same information, with the same original date of occupancy. The only difference is it has a fresh new stamp on it. 

More documents = more trips to the notary = more MONEY to be paid! 

People have insinuated that our visa agent is to blame - he isn't. He's merely the messenger, so don't shoot him. (As a matter of fact, he doesn't get paid until our daughter gets the visa so he's every bit as anxious to see this completed! The extra fees go to the document center & the notary.) Unfortunately, we've gotten caught in a corrupt loop somewhere in the office of the foreign police. Someone is sitting on our daughter's case file, probably expecting a bribe. 

Our baby girl turns ONE next week - we'd love to give her a VISA for her birthday! Will you continue to pray with us to see that this matter is finally resolved?

Denied AGAIN

Phil met our agent yesterday afternoon, for another trip to the foreign police in the ongoing quest for Susanna Jane's VISA. It was a short trip - her paperwork was denied, AGAIN.

We've been giving several possible explanations as to why her application didn't go through this time, the biggest one being that her name isn't on our lease. Yes, you did read that correctly.

I hardly have the words to describe how I'm feeling at this point. We've spent nearly 7 months in this process, we've produced countless documents (at significant cost!) for new applications, and we're back at square one.

Prayers are appreciated.

Round 3 (or 4? or 7?) for Susanna Jane's Visa

We really do have the best intentions to blog on a more regular basis. There are at least 10 blog posts we've started over the last 6 months which have never been published. There's nothing like a good VISA crisis to get us writing again. If you're tired of reading about our VISA woes, imagine how tired we are of dealing with them!

Christiana received a call this morning from our VISA agent, informing her that the office has once again denied Susanna Jane a long-term residency permit. Considering that we submitted the exact same documents for Susanna Jane which we used for our applications, and given the fact that we now have our long-term permits in hand, there is absolutely no reason that our daughter shouldn't also be granted a permit, but here we go again.

We've been given a 30 day extension to provide them with proof of service with RCE (again), proof of comprehensive medical insurance (again) and a copy of Susanna Jane's insurance card (again).

If, at the end of this next round of documents, they still refuse to grant our daughter her residency permit, then we'll have to hire a lawyer and begin a lengthy & costly appeal process. We have already spent more than double what we had budgeted for this process, and we really cannot afford to have this drag out any longer.

WE NEED YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS, for many aspects of our service in Prague, and especially now as we continue to do battle at the VISA office. Thanks for standing with us.

Our Current "Campground"

We have a home - Rumunska 14!  Although it's lacking a few several comforts of home, we're very thankful to have found a place to live which is so close to the school, and so close to our budget. Now we're praying that our container will clear customs without any further delay, so that we'll finally be able to sleep in our own bed again. We've gotten several mixed messages concerning the delivery of our belongings, but we're hopeful that our things might arrive before the start of school next week.

Here are a few pictures of our new place. Please excuse the mess - we're still trying to determine where we'd like everything to go.

Our entry way - big enough to be a room!

This is our current "bedroom" - we're futon-sitting for some colleagues headed on furlough.

While our kitchen came with a stove, oven & even a dishwasher, it did not include a refrigerator. We're currently borrowing one from the school, but we will have to purchase one in the near future.

Our kitchen - refrigerator not included.

The frig & microwave graciously loaned to us by CISP

Here's Baby B's future room! We're very grateful that we've been loaned a crib and a changing table for this year.

Baby's room - some assembly required

Our bathroom has it's own boiler (no more summers without hot water!) but it did not include a washing machine.

Shower & washroom on the left; toilet & sink on the right.

We had not planned to have to buy two major appliances right at the start of our term, so we are praying for the Lord to provide not only affordable equipment, but also the additional funds we'll need to pay for delivery and installation.

We do not have internet at home. Christiana initiated the process of trying to get us connected, but it will be another week before they even send a "technik" to evaluate our flat to see what sort of a set-up we can have. The next big step is to put all of the utilities into our names, and to get an affidavit from our landlord stating that she has the legal right to rent us this place. Once we have those documents, we can apply to be legally registered in Prague 2, which will pave the way for us to eventually have our visas extended.

Please continue to pray for the safe delivery of the contents of our container, as well as for all of the tasks we still have to accomplish to be residents of Prague.

Time Well Spent?

It's been a rather long day for us. We left the place where we're staying about 8:25 this morning. Here's how we spent our time:

8:25-8:30 - Walk to the tram stop; just miss the 8:30 tram
8:40 - Catch next tram
8:40-9:10 - Ride the tram; view Prague from the windows
9:10-9:15 - Walk from tram stop to school
9:15-10:25 - Make more inquiries about possible apartment rentals; only 1 out of 4 phone calls yields an appointment
10:25-11:00 - Find our way from school to the designated meeting point with the person who will help us register our visas
11:00-11:22 - Take public transport to the foreign police office
11:22 - Receive our number for our place in "line" to see visa registration official
11:23-12:00 - Wait for our number to be called
12:00-12:30 - Wait for our number to be called
12:30-1:00 - Wait for our number to be called
1:00-1:13 - Wait for our number to be called (Hey, it could have been worse...)
1:14-1:35- Have number called; meet with visa registration official & receive appropriate stamps in passports
1:35-2:40 - Make our way BACK to school
2:45 - Leave school to go look at apartments
3:00-6:30 - View possible apartments with mixed results; the one with the best location had the least amount of space and virtually no kitchen; the one with the most incredible space was listed at one price, and the realtor asked for another. Hmmm.
(Not all of these appointments were back-to-back, so we're making ourselves acquainted with various coffee shops around Prague. We're VERY thankful for our colleague, Melodee, who not only helped us set up appointments, but also went with us to every.single.one.)
6:30-7:10 - Make the return trip to our current lodgings
7:15-present - Continue to pray that TOMORROW will find us finding the perfect place to live!

Will you join us in prayer for our apartment? We're looking for something that's not too far from the school (or from the hospital), something that has at least 3 rooms, and a building with an elevator (if we're higher than the first floor.) We'd also really like to find one that included all appliances, since buying things like refrigerators wasn't really in our budget. We know that God has the perfect place for us to live - we just need Him to help us find it!

Safe Landings

This was us, approximately 24 hours ago. At least, we think it was 24 hours -it's hard to tell. We've been awake for a very long time.

You'd think we were moving to another country or something...

We have landed safely in Prague, Czech Republic, and miraculously, so did ALL of this luggage! (If you know Phil's history with lost bags, you'll appreciate the significance of this.)

We are very, very tired, but we are so grateful to be here. The next few days will be spent registering our visas, getting Czech sim cards for our phones, buying transportation passes, and most importantly, signing a rental contract for a place to live. Please continue to pray for all of the details to fall into place for our housing & the arrival of our shipment.

Down to the Wire

We're about 36 hours from our anticipated departure time. There is still so much we need to accomplish, and we need your prayers.

One major issue looming over us is the fact that we do not have a rental "contract" for a place to live once we arrive (we have a housing agreement - apparently not good enough). While we're not too concerned about it for ourselves this is a big deal for getting our shipment delivered. We've been trying to get the necessary paperwork in order, but it's not happening as quickly as we would like. Please pray for all of these details to fall smoothly in to place. Pray that we'd be able to sign a "contract" even on the day we arrive!

As for getting ready to go, here's our "To Do" list for the day:

• Attempt to scan & send the additional paperwork to clear our shipment for delivery
• Send final financial documents to RCE
• Confirm our airline reservation & our tickets
• Double check to make sure our passports, visas & letters of service are in a safe place
• Make one last trip to Wal-Mart for the toothbrushes, pain relievers, vitamins and the other random things we forgot to buy
• Re-sort all of our belongings & baby gear - even with the extra bag allowance, we're not sure we can get it all into the suitcases.
• Call our bank & credit card companies and remind them that we'll now be accessing our accounts from outside the US
• Get last-minute haircuts
• Call various insurance agencies and make sure everything is in order
• Call family members "one more time"
• Try to get a full night's sleep before tomorrow's departure

We are so excited about all that God has in store for us in the Czech Republic - we just have to get there first! Please continue to agree with us for a smooth departure.

Yes, We Are Expecting

It's been a busy week. We sent out our latest newsletter by e-mail and the USPS. We mailed some more requests for support. We finally dispatched our visa applications. Somehow, we forgot to post about our most exciting development - we're expecting!

Since this has raised as many questions as it has congratulations, here are some of the FAQs & Answers:

When are you due?

Baby B's ETA is November 16, 2013. 

Do you know what you're having?

Not yet, but we'll find out sometime in June. Yes, we'll tell you the gender. We need to know how to pack!

What will you name him/her?

We have no idea at this point. We might not know until November. We both take names pretty seriously, so this is something we'll be mulling over for quite some time. We probably won't reveal the name until the birth. 

How are you feeling? 
Phil's great; Christiana's green. There is no such thing as "morning sickness" around here - nausea lasts all day, and frequently through the night. Some days are better than others; some foods help and others don't. We're hopeful this will pass as we end the first trimester, but if it doesn't, we'll roll with it.

What will this do to your plans to move to Prague?

Right now, not a thing. If all continues to go well, Baby B will be born there after we arrive.

As we've researched maternity & child care in Prague, we really like what we're learning. The Czech Republic has some of the best birth statistics in the world (even stronger than the US.) One of our future colleagues at CISP had her first child in Prague, and she's been incredibly helpful as we've been making plans. We've already made connections with a doctor there (who speaks English!) and we're prayerful that we'll be able to register in our maternity hospital of choice.

What will this do to your plans for ministry?
Phil will still teach English & Bible at CISP; Christiana will continue to serve RCE (though she obviously won't be traveling this fall) as staff care & recruitment coordinator. Naturally we will have to adjust our schedules/levels of involvement once we have a baby, but we'll take those as they come. 

Does this mean you'll have to increase your budget?
Our estimates were made with the hopes of starting a family. We didn't know if we'd be adding Brandes by birth or through adoption, but we knew we wanted our home to include children.

Are your parents/families excited?
OH.MY.WORD, that's the understatement of the year! It's hard to gauge who had the better reaction, Christiana's mom, or Phil's dad. Baby B will be the first grandchild/niece-or-nephew on both sides, so yes, everyone is very excited.

What do you need most?

PRAYER! Please pray for health & safety for Christiana & Baby B. Pray for us to have wisdom as we continue to make plans as a family. Pray that we'll be able to register in our maternity hospital of choice. Pray for us to have patience as we deal with (more!) document demands. 

We appreciate all of the encouraging notes, e-mails, phone calls & texts we've been receiving. Thank you for sharing in our joy!

One Step Forward, Three Steps Back...

Just when we think we're ready to submit our applications for long-term visas in the Czech Republic, we hit another speed bump.

First, we hit roadblock after roadblock in trying to obtain our background checks from Russia. When those finally arrived, we realized we had to get them translated. Additional delay of 7 days.

We needed four very important documents from the school in Prague, verifying our purpose of stay and our residency. When the envelope was delivered, we discovered we'd been sent another couple's papers. The other couple  had ours. We contacted each other & arranged a trade. Additional delay of 5 days.

Once we had the correct papers in our names, we were informed they had not been completed. The school had inadvertently omitted two key dates of some sort. The papers must be redone, and resent. Additional delays unknown.

Today we received an envelope from the Florida Secretary of State. We assumed it contained the much-awaited apostille on our marriage license. Nope. Even though we had called (TWICE) to verify the procedure, the office refused to apostille the papers because we were not married in the state of Florida. (Any WHY did it take them two full weeks to return our documents with this news???)
We must contact the Secretary of State of North Carolina. Additional delays of up to two weeks for the apostille, with a potential 7 additional days for translation.

We know we've been called to serve at CISP. We see God providing blessing after blessing, and we continue to receive confirmations that we are to arrive in Prague by August 15, the date the school requested us to be there. Please continue to pray with us as we press forward with our visa applications!

25%

That's where we are, as of Feb. 5 - just a little over 25% of the total monthly pledges for support needed.

One fourth.

A quarter.

Up from 20%.

God is providing. We are so thankful!