Lessons learned and more waiting

We learned two valuable lessons recently:

1. Never wash passports
2. If you do happen to wash them, declare them damaged and get new ones immediately

When we were in Utah last summer, I accidently washed our passports.  We didn't really think too much of this, dried them out and other than being slightly wrinkled, they seemed to be in good shape.  When we crossed the border back into Canada, the customs official looked at the passports, asked what happened and laughed about it, never telling us that we needed to replace them.
Fast forward to February when we went down to the passport office to renew Julia's passport, and found out that because they were damaged we would not be able to travel on them.  We had to fill out a report describing how they ended up damaged and then pay to have the documents signed by a commissioner of oaths and then apply for brand new passports. 

During the time that we were waiting for our passports to arrive, we were also waiting on a letter from our church, which we need in order for us to obtain our visas once we are in Davao and thankfully we were able to get that late last week and our passports arrived in the mail at the same time.  We were hoping to have booked our flights by now, and we went to see a travel agent this past weekend, but because we are moving to the Philippines and not just going for a vacation, it's a little more complicated with booking the tickets then we first thought.    

Please continue to pray for all of the various details to be worked out before we move.

Kerri