Karis now has a US passport!

I’m not sure we know what to do with ourselves!  Ha!  We’ve been working towards this for 16 months and WE’RE DONE!!!

So, to give you a run down of our trip.  To get an appointment at the passport center, you either have to have a letter from your employer that you need to travel within 2 weeks or a travel itinerary.  We really didn’t have either, although we had talked to a colleague at the Richmond office that we might need to have one faxed while we were at the office. 

We headed to Jerry’s parents after church on Sunday.  We dropped off Brennan & Reegan with them and drove down to Houston, getting in Sunday evening.  Our appointment was for 8:30 am Monday morning along with about 200 other people!!  But, they shuffled us through fairly quickly.

We were a little frustrated that after they took the needed documents it was over an hour before we heard anything as well as watching people that came after us go on through the line.  They don’t allow food & water in the waiting area and Karis was really needing a snack!  Luckily they had a snack area on the first floor of the building, so her & I headed down there.  Wouldn’t you know that while we were snacking, they called her name.  Jerry was able to handle it, but we had to get the letter from our employer that we needed to travel.

We contacted them & they faxed it fast!!  While Jerry & Karis waited to see if our letter was received, I headed to the hotel to check out.  I came back, picked them up & they told us to return at 2:30 to get her passport!!

We had a leisurely lunch at a nice local Mexican restaurant then had a cup of coffee & check email at a coffee shop.  We went back at the designated time & got the passport within minutes!

Then drove back to the grandparents, picked up Brennan & Reegan, got home late & went to bed, exhausted but happy!!

We thank you all so much for your prayers & words of encouragement!  You are a blessing to us!!

We now have a confirmed date of April 7th for departure.  Now on to packing & cleaning!