I have been trying to write this post for almost a week now. But things changed so much last week that I stopped until we knew for sure what was going on. As most of you know who receive our newsletters (and if you don't get them but want to, let me know!) we had two visits to the Spanish consulate in LA last week...
On Monday we took both kids and had our first visit. Within minutes it became clear that we were missing about half our documents. The lady didn't look at the documents, just helped us put together a list of what we were missing. We spent all day Monday, until 12:30 am, gathering all of those documents. I was highly skeptical that we would be able to get them all, but we did!
Our next appointment was Tuesday morning. Thankfully we didn't have to take the boys, since they had already seen them, so they spent the night at a friends house and we didn't have to drag them all over downtown for 2 days straight! We had pretty high hopes that we would have everything in order. They were...except for one small detail. Our FBI background checks had expired! It was a pretty devastating blow for us. To have our expectations not be met like we thought they would be. But the Lord graciously allowed us to continue trusting in Him and not be discouraged about this. By the end of Tuesday we had overnighted another set of FBI applications and fingerprints to FBI headquarters in Virginia.
So what's next? We wait. For another set of FBI background checks to return. Then we send them off to be authenticated. And then we can return to the consulate. Thankfully nothing else really major should expire before then. We've been told it can take between 6-20 weeks for them to return. We're praying for the Lord's perfect timing and our patience in the meantime. And while we wait, we will remain in Orange County, continuing to serve at the church and growing in our trust and patience.
I had my camera with me that first day we went to the consulate. It was a really long day because not only did we go to the consulate but we had to authenticate some of our documents at another building about 20 minutes away. Gus went in to do this and I drove around LA while the boys napped, snapping photos and enjoying my little mini tour of the city. Here are my photos of that day...
We woke up super super early to leave here by 6 am, hoping to miss traffic or at least have enough time to get to our 9:20 appointment. We did make great time but did see some of this when we got closer to the city...
Finally we got off the freeway and began our adventure looking for the consulate. Wilshire is one of the busiest streets in the world and Monday was no exception!
We saw many strange sights, including this business for Dr Tattoff-who removes your tattoos!
And felt a little more excited when we began to see more of these, official looking skyscrapers...
I also noticed so many old buildings, like this one below, which are still in use but have been modernized. I felt like we had stepped way back in time and it was pretty cool!
After a wrong destination end, thanks to google maps, we finally found our building, loaded up the stroller and in we went...
Here we are, outside the door. I did not, however, take any pictures inside-that would be a bit too touristy!!
Once we walked in, I felt like I was in Spain. There was Spanish tv, from Spain, playing on the wall. A Spanish flag in the corner. Everything in Spanish (of course) and a lot of people speaking Spanish with that lovely lilting Spanish accent. I loved it!! It was a very nice, clean, large room with chairs on the outside wall and a wood table in the middle. There was a counter with 3 windows-one which was for people like us-getting their visas. The other two windows were for Spanish citizens to receive various services their consulate offered them while living in our country. A very nice lady, who was American actually but spoke beautiful Spanish, helped us. I was thankful we could conduct business in English. Unfortunately the very first thing she said to us was that we had the wrong application. So we hurriedly filled out the right one and Gus dashed across the street to make copies, since they don't do copies inside the consulate. She went through what we had and then gave us a list of what was missing. So off we went to collect our missing documents.
Our first stop was to get our marriage license and the boys' birth certificates authenticated. Gus went in and I drove the boys around. Within a few minutes of driving, I looked back and this is what I saw...
So I took the opportunity to drive around downtown LA a little bit...First stop was the fashion district...
And I saw this cool poster...
And this interesting woman walked in front of me at a light...
And then I entered into official Downtown LA. Didn't know they had a sign for it!
Drove past the Staples center...
Saw the plaza and shopping center across the street...
Drove past the business district...
And past the Pantry cafe, which has been open since 1924!!
Saw this beautiful building, which I think hosts the LA philharmonic...
And then Gus called and we returned to pick him up! I loved driving around our beautiful city!!
Please continue to keep our family and the visa situation in your prayers. We are so thankful for this time of testing for our family. We hope that the Lord will be honored with our response as we fully depend upon Him for the strength to trust His perfect providence in this whole process!
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