Not Much Has Changed

Written by Jadon:

Well, despite the fact that not much has changed since our last blog post, we thought you would all like to know what is happening.

We got up early yesterday to catch the train into Chicago so that we would have plenty of time to get to our appointment at the Czech consulate office.  We were a bit nervous that everything would finally work out to allow us to finally turn in our visa applications. We had checked the consulate’s website multiple times to make sure that we had everything they required—we had also brought along two envelopes marked with our mailing address so that they could mail our visas and passports back to us and we had extra stamps just in case.

We got there early—as we always do for things like this—and sat outside the building until about 20 minutes before our scheduled appointment.  We then headed inside, got our visitor’s passes (to let us into the building proper), and proceeded to ride the elevator up to the consulate office with optimistic determination and a tiny bit of bated breath excitement thrown in as well.

Well, turns out that among the other documents we had brought, the consulate also needed proof of our insurance, a signed affidavit in order to do a background check on us, our actual work permit—so far we only have the work permit receipt—and a $19.99 prepaid priority mail envelope from the Post Office (which is much more official than our white legal envelopes).

So now we are back to waiting for the mail so that we can try again, but we are still optimistic. There is a very real possibility we can have all the documents in hand by the end of next week, and, according to the lady at the consulate office, we could have our visas three days after applying. So there is still a very good chance to get our visas in time. Thank goodness!

We know many of you have been praying for us specifically about our visas and all the associated paper work, and we are very thankful! Please keep praying, and we’ll keep you updated!

Updates!

Written by Brittany:

Hello!
It has been over a month since we've updated on here, and in those weeks we did our Teach Beyond orientation in Wheaton (a wonderful experience), went home for two days, and then did an 18-day road trip seeing family & friends.

The Huddleston family - July 2014

We have also been waiting.

Yesterday we finally received documents from our school in Prague we had been waiting on since the beginning of July (PRAISE!!). Now that we have these documents, we can go up to the Czech consulate in Chicago and get our official visa process underway. Our appointment is for tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, so prayers that everything goes as it should would be greatly appreciated.

Once we have our visas, approximately two weeks from tomorrow, then we can finally book our plane tickets. And then, we hope, to be leaving on Thursday, August 21. Which means we'll be booking plane tickets one week before we plan to leave. Wow.

While we've been waiting, however, we've also managed to get some necessary tasks done. First, we got our storage unit! So all our belongings will be living here for the next year:

We're sorting through books, movies, games, & clothes. We're closing bank accounts and getting international credit cards. We're figuring out situations with cars. We're planning a goodbye party (August 19 - be there!). We're spending time relaxing, watching movies, playing video games, being with friends, & eating at our favorite restaurants.

Everything really is working out, and, clearly, God's timing is not ours. Even so, times of waiting are difficult, and some days it feels like all we've been doing since everything changed in February is waiting. Fill our a form, wait, send an email, wait, make that phone call, wait. And, I assume, until we really rest in God's grace & timing, this is a lesson we will continue to face. It is getting easier, though, and most days relinquishing control comes with less and less anxiety. But it really will be nice when all paper work is done, plane tickets are in hand, and we can finally relax (I plan on getting a massage) and get excited about this new adventure!