Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Freakishly Large Family Stranded in Seattle

Humph....I hadn't realized how freaky it sounds to have NINE children in this part of the country. ::snort::

Interview with King 5 (pathetic popcorn scene but it was LUNCH and the kids were getting cranky and there was one more interview to wade through).

Interview with Komo News - better shots of kids. The one where Jared makes his infamous, "There's togetherness and then there's way togetherness," remark.

Not sure where the radio interview was.

The outpouring of prayers, concern and offers for "help" have been heart warming. I only wanted the passports back, but I must say that it has been a tangible sighting of God's love to have people stop at the hotel with games, $, notes of encouragement... The manager of the hotel says that both their hotels are receiving calls. I have a ton of messages on the phone, evidently, but can't figure out how to retrieve them. ::snort:: The manager last night sent up pizzas for us. He suggested drinks too, but I told him we'd all be better sticking with water. They've also cleared the rooms on either side of ours and above and below us. ::snort::

No one is stirring yet this a.m. I have a bit of time to answer some questions.

1. I'm quite sure that if we had team Goodfellow here pushing for us things would happen faster and the kids and I would be on our way quickly.....or at least sooner....but....

2. I now have a name and face of a Tech Sgt who is handling our passport applications. I have his address and name on the applications for passports and birth certificates. He is trying to help us move things along. I'm not sure he knows all the ins and outs that COULD be found if he were willing to push back at the State Dept...but I'm at rest.

3. We've been told that we cannot receive the quick turnaround passports because ours are "no fee military passports". That they MUST go through certain steps - regardless. Maybe that is why so many of you have heard cases of passports within 24 - 48 hours while we are being told the quickest "guaranteed" turn around will be 4 weeks AFTER the passports are applied for...which will happen the HOUR the birth certificates arrive.

4. I don't know about hand carrying things to San Francisco. There IS a passport office and State Department office here in Seattle.... We've been told that they must go through the McChord office?

5. As for quick passports.....what we're catching is that they CAN be done quickly if you have the documentation....we don't. The van robbers do. ::snort::

6. I'm really not sure why I need to stay in Seattle.

Stay tuned....Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

6 comments:

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Wow.

I try to tell myself that maybe somebody will feel remorse and leave a tip... where your stuff is. But that's probably unrealistic.

You spoke well, on the news... looking for the door in your valley of trouble.

Still praying,

Julie

Debbie said...

I just want to cry over the whole thing, but that seems rather silly considering how well you all are holding up....soooo I'll keep praying and holding you all up in my heart and know that God is in control.

Darshia said...

I saw the King 5 video at www.King5.com under the More Top Stories: Air Force Family loses everything when van is stolen.

The Komonews.com didn't have a video anymore, but they did have an article under Local & Regional news.

Renee said...

The Army guy we knew that had his son's lost passport replaced in less than 48 hrs was PCSing to Korea with no-fee passports.... not sure how he did it..... and maybe (but still not fair) it's because passport rules have changed since 2003

Cynthia said...

praying it all miraculously happens quicker than expected!

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Passport rules HAVE changed. We've heard from authorities we trust now that this is simply the new process and there is nothing we can do but wait...and pray the other passports show up in the next few days.