Jon and I applied for our visas back in August of 2014. I received my passport and visa back in a matter of weeks but the journey to Jon's visa was a very different story. After well over a month of no news we found out that the embassy required Jon to submit a religious undertaking letter. Once that was submitted we were told that his application had been sent off for further clearances. Months went by and we were told this was normal and that there was nothing to worry about. By the time December rolled around we started to get a bit nervous. Our case had passed court and all we were waiting on was our daughter's passport which could come at any time. Jon was able to get ahold of *Vickie (names have been changed to keep the privacy of those working in the visa office) in the escalations department who said that she would spend an entire day contacting the embassy in DC to try and get to the bottom of our case. She told Jon to call her back the following Tuesday at 10:00am. Jon called her back on Tuesday and no one answered. He left a message and never heard back. He continued to call over the following days and weeks but he couldn't get through to anyone. Eventually her voice mail was full and he had no other options.
January rolled around and we got the long awaited call that our daughter's passport was ready and our agency wanted us to get our travel plans in place. It was a moment with many mixed emotions. I always imagined that call would be thrilling but instead it was muted by the uncertainty of Jon's visa. He got on the phone that day and tried everything he could to get more answers. With no luck contacting Vickie Jon began calling the 1-800 number for the visa processing agency connecting him with a call center in India which of course got us no where.
These days and weeks leading up to travel were bathed in prayer and I began setting aside time daily to pray specifically for Jon's visa to come through but as the days dwindled by it appeared that God's will was for me to fly to India without Jon. We decided to book tickets for my dad to accompany me to India instead. On Tuesday of the week of travel Jon got a phone call from *Gina a random woman in a different department at the visa company. She finally told him that if he wanted the 10 year visa he applied for in August it would take another couple of months but if he was willing to settle for a three month single entry visa he could have it tomorrow!! What?!? Why did it take so long for someone to tell us this?!? Jon quickly said yes, I'll take the three month visa. She said she would check into it and call him back later that night. We never heard back.
The following day Jon called Gina and couldn't get in touch with her and so on a whim he called Vickie again and after almost an entire month of nothing he heard her voice on the other end of the phone. He explained all that had happened since they last talked and she quickly told him that what he was told the day before didn't sound right. Vickie said that Gina didn't normally work with visas and was unfamiliar with that process. Vickie basically told Jon that there was no way his visa would be back in time for him to travel. He was crushed. Vickie did say that she would contact the courier who picked up visas and passports from the embassy to see if he knew anything and would call us back at 5:00pm. Meanwhile we were in talks with Adoption Airfare as they were holding tickets for Jonathan just in case his paperwork came through. We had until 6:00pm that night to hold his tickets but if we canceled after that time we would be out the entire cost of the tickets. That is a lot of money! 5:00pm came and went...Vickie didn't call so Jon called her at 5:30 and we heard news that we never expected in a million years to hear...the courier had Jon's visa and passport in hand and was going to deliver it later that evening. In less than 24 hours Jon went from thinking he was getting his passport, to believing all was lost to being told again that yes he would indeed get his passport in time! We kept Jon's tickets and waited for confirmation but we never got a call back that evening...shocking. :-)
On Thursday morning (the day before travel) Jon called the visa company back again and was finally told that his passport and visa were indeed being overnighted that day. He would have it in hand on Friday, the same day we were scheduled to fly to India. They reassured us that if we used FedEx priority overnight it would get to us on Friday before noon. So...we paid the $70 and had that precious package overnighted.
Friday was a blur as we checked and re-checked our bags, checked and re-checked our paperwork and anxiously awaited FedEx to arrive. At 11:30am (thirty minutes before we had to be out the door to the airport) we saw a truck pull into our driveway and we all gathered at the door. The FedEx driver asked if we were expecting her...good grief she had no idea! Jon briefly told her our story and asked to take a picture with her. She obliged and said that the next time she was in our area she would try and stop by to meet our daughter.
Looking back at this journey there is no possible way this could have come about by sheer luck or happenstance. We saw the Lord's hand at work bringing about a huge answer to prayer. I mean we're talking a last minute ram in the thicket kind of a deal. During the waiting Jon went through a roller coaster of emotions. Maybe one day I'll have him write about all that the Lord taught him in those difficult weeks because it was a beautiful time of brokenness and surrender to God but that is a whole blog post in and of itself.
God was beyond faithful and saw fit to orchestrate Jon's travel to India so with that precious package in hand we headed out the door to the airport. Stay tuned for my next post about another unexpected delay, travel and our long awaited gotcha day!
