Passport Crisis

Last night -- late -- Ray and I decided we'd get out our passports for the upcoming trip. How we missed this, I'm just not really sure. In getting out the passports, we saw that mine still had my maiden name on it. Ray woke up this morning around 4:40 and was just certain that we would not be able to make our trip with this error, so we called the Department of State, listening to automated options, from 5:30 until 6:00am.

Long story short, following the very early phone call this morning in pjs, they set us an appointment for 11:30 TODAY in Washington DC. I had five hours to: email lesson plans to work, call in a personal day, obtain passport photos, get mapquest directions, round up supporting documents and drive to DC.

The good news is that: I made it in time, had few tramatic driving problems, and the process was really simple once I was there (it was like the DMV).

The bad news is that: it cost a small fortune AND it looks like I have to go back on Wednesday at the same time, same place to actually pick up the new passport. (Another 8 hour day of driving).

It's been wild and I think Ray and I both are a bit harried from it all. Thankfully, I think God is looking out for us and getting us through it all. I almost got severely lost when I miraculously saw a I-66W sign. The fact that we can even GET a new passport at this point is incredible. And Mr. Hall, the principal, was exceedingly gracious in allowing me the day on Wednesday to go up to DC again, now that my personal days are used up. God is good. And our little boys are just days away from our arms. :)

[Just so you know -- we're going to try to post updates while we're in Guatemala, so keep checking the computer over the long weekend, Thursday - Sunday]