The Miracle of Flight

It was sitting in the airport that I began to think about the absolute miracle of air travel. Barb, Shawn and I were about to get on two airplanes that would take us in 17 hours from Hartford, CT to Beijing, China, a place where it is 12 hours ahead of Connecticut on the clock. We would fly on one plane to Chicago, IL and after a brief layover there, and a switch of planes, we would fly 13 plus hours to Beijing, China! The trip would prove to be unbelievable to this traveller. From my notes I recorded the following as the computer screen detailed our flight.

From Chicago we headed almost due north traveling up into the Arctic Circle. Our flight to Beijing took us up over the top of the world. The plane flew at about 525 mph and an altitude of 35,000 ft. I don't like heights so I was glad when they suggested the window shades be closed. But I marvelled at those numbers. 525 mph at 35,000 feet for 13 hours!!! How amazing! And I was stunned when the computer told me the temperature outside the plane was 81 degrees below zero F. How can a jet engine function in that temperature? God sure allowed man to figure out some amazing things when it comes to air travel, and I have to wonder, what would Jesus have done had air travel been available in his day.

A Lenten Lesson

This Lenten season has been a different one for me. For the first time in many years, I have not been pastoring during the season leading up to the celebration of the Resurrection. What I have been doing is spending a lot of time trying to prepare to go to China to visit our son and his family. I have been to Montreal, Canada, to New York City twice, and on the phone and internet by the hour. Still, the prospect of our vacation trip to see our granddaughter and her family was looking like it was about to be gone like the UConn men from the NCAA Final Four.

Last Friday we had gotten a letter telling us that USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Service) had received Barb's application for a replacement Permanent Resident Card (green card). It informed us we should not use that letter to travel since it was not a statement of approval for her replacement green card. Since we were scheduled to leave on Wednesday of this week (just 5 days from the receipt of that letter) I decided to contact our Senator's office to see if they could help us speed things up. They asked me to write a statement and fax it along with all our supporting documentation, which I did by 4:30pm on Friday. Then we waited.

On Monday we received a letter from USCIS informing us Barb had the appointment to get her replacement green card - April 15, 2009 at 8:00 am! We were scheduled to go to China on April 8 and return on April 22. Barb couldn't keep an appointment on the 15th if she was in China and couldn't go if she didn't have a green card. We prayed but didn't know what else to do. At 2:30 pm I again called the Senator's office in Washington. After getting cut off once, I spoke a second time with a person who had no idea who I was or what I was talking about. He finally connected me with a staff member who handled immigration issues. She offered only the slightest glimmer of hope. She said we could apply for a document called, are you ready for this, "Advance Parole", which would cost $305.00 but would enable Barb to leave the country but she would still have to be back for her appointment for her new green card on April 15! She said Barb should not leave the country without a valid green card or the advance parole document or she would not be allowed to return. It didn't look good.

We called our son on Monday night and shared the news with him. We discussed our options. We could cancel our trip and all try to come later in the summer. Shawn and I could go without Barb but no one wanted that. We could pay the $305 and Barb could go as scheduled but she would need to return in order to keep her appointment on the 15th. Shawn and I could go alone and Barb could join us after she got her green card, flying over on the 16th and staying until we returned on the 22nd. This would save us $305 and Barb could get a short visit with our family in China. Everyone was discouraged but we decided to make an appointment at USCIS on Tuesday morning at 9:00am to determine if Barb would be given her green card on the day of her appointment, or would it be mailed to her at a later date. If it would be mailed later, we would cancel this trip and plan to go later in the summer. If she could get her green card on the 15th, we would plan to have her come on the 16th and Shawn and I would go on the 8th as planned. That is how it was as we went to bed on Monday night.

This is where my Lenten lesson comes in. Because I have been meditating on the Easter story, I have been thinking about the passion of Jesus as he prayed in the Garden on the night of his betrayal. I awoke in the night and realized that all my prayers had been for what I wanted in regards to this trip. But the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden was not only about what he wanted, but about a surrendering of his will to that of his Father. I woke Barb at 4:00 am and told her I felt we needed to surrender our plans to our Heavenly Father, no matter how hard it was, and commit to doing whatever He wanted of us. Barb agreed. We went back to sleep.

When we arrived at our appointment on Tuesday morning the agent helping us responded to Barb's request for information with the question, "So, you want me to stamp your passport?" Barb asked what he meant. He replied, he could stamp her passport with a stamp that worked like a green card and allowed her to travel and work for up to 6 months while she waited for her replacement green card to be processed! We said we love that stamp but we didn't have Barb's passport since we had come to get information. I asked if I went home and got her passport, could we still get that stamp? His response, "Absolutely." HOW LIKE OUR GOD!

I was back in 35 minutes and by 10:00am we left the Federal Courthouse in Hartford with Barb's passport stamped with the endorsement she needed to make the trip. We called our kids in China and shared with them the wonderful news, by the grace of God we would be on our way to see them in less than 24 hours!

Much still needed to be done, shopping, packing and taking our dog to be watched by Sarah's cousin Judah in Lee, Massachusetts. At 2 in the afternoon I loaded Rudy in the car, left our house in Windsor Locks, CT and headed to Lee where Rudy will stay with Judah and his family until we return from China. I wonder what stories we will have to tell each other.

WAITING

In just 4 days I hope to be on my way to China with my wife and son for a visit with our granddaughter and her parents. By God's grace we hope to spend 4 days in Beijing sightseeing and then travel to Kunming to spend time with David and Marianne and Sarah in their apartment. We are full of anticipation.

If you have been following our preparation you know that we have had our share of challenges in preparing for this trip. The details of our efforts to get Barb's new Canadian passport and our Chinese visas have been detailed in previous blog posts. As you can see from the pictures, we all have our current passports and visas.

We have begun our packing and are busy making final purchases of requested items we will take with us to China. I spent much of yesterday making certain all our medications were on hand in sufficient quantities to cover us until our return on April 22nd. We learned this week that our son Shawn's high school principal will be on the same flight to China as she travels with a delegation to visit the Windsor Locks High School's sister school in China. Shawn wasn't sure what to think about that development.

When I wasn't checking on perscriptions yesterday, I was continuing to work on the final challenge facing us for the trip. We are still awaiting some confirmation about Barb's attempt to renew her green card. The online application has been completed and the fees paid. We have received both email and snail mail confirmation that the application and fee have been received. What we have not received yet is someone's assurance that Barb can travel and be readmitted to the United States without being in possession of her new green card (Permanent Resident Card). Our greatest frustration has been our inability to speak with anyone in the US Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) Office about Barb's case. Every attempt to speak with someone, and their have been over 50, have been met with frustration as we navigate the endless options given on the other end of the phone. Despite assurances that customer service representatives are on duty daily from 8:00am until 6:00pm, we have not once been able to speak to a living person.

Finally, in desperation, yesterday afternoon I called Senator Joseph Liberman's office and pleaded our case with one of his aides. After faxing them the relevant documents, we are now awaiting word on what we should do next. If you read this we would welcome your prayers for a satisfactory resolution to our situation. Barb has lived in the United States legally since 1977 (longer than she lived in Canada) and her green card that she had for 10 years expired on March 9, 2009. We are praying that somehow she will be given permission to travel to China and be re-admitted to the United States while we are waiting to have her green card renewed.

So, we are waiting.....and wondering out loud!

Leaning Which Way?

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways ackowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5&6 (ESV)


Today I was awake at 4:00am as I thought about the new visa applications I had completed last night after conferring with our son and daughter-in-law about how to correct the problems noted in our applications of yesterday. I was up at 4:30 and boarded the Amtrak train in Windsor Locks at 6:02, bound for the Chinese Consulate in NYC. On the way down I was reviewing the events of yesterday and trying to plan a strategy that might produce a different result. I made sure not to bring my jackknife but I did have our newly completed visa applications, a letter of invitation from our son and an itinerary I had put togther myself. I also had a copy of our plane reservations, our passports, our pictures, my wife's green card (a resident alien identification card) and a printed copy of all the instructions for visiting the consulate. I was as ready as I could be.

But during the 3 and 1/2 hour train ride back to New York, the verses listed above kept coming back to me over and over again. The LORD was clearly "speaking" to me through this very familiar passage. As I was leaning on my own understanding about how to get our visas, I was denying the truth of God's Word that clearly tells me to trust in the LORD with all my heart. I was clearly being disobedient. During the train ride, somewhere between New Haven and Stamford, I bowed my head and asked God to take care of the visas. I asked Him to take away my worry and my desire to develop a "foolproof" plan. I wanted to know that when the visas came, they would be coming from the LORD and not from my efforts. Then I left it with Him.
When I arrived at the embassy at 9:50am some amazing things happened; no, not amazing but some God things happened. Yesterday the line had been out the door when I arrived, today there was no line. Yesterday, when I had set off the metal detector and was searched, the jackknife was discovered and confiscated. Today, when the metal detector went off, no one seemed to notice and I was waved through. [I still don't know what set it off.] Once inside, there was no one waiting in line. I thought maybe they weren't open yet, but I was waved up to an open window, and my three visa applications were reviewed and accepted and I was on my way in 10 minutes. This even though the consulate officer discovered my wife's green card was expired and she shouldn't have been allowed back into the USA on Monday when we went to Canada to renew her passport. I was told the passports would be ready with the visas affixed if I returned after lunch.

Since it was just a little after 10:00am, I decided to take the subway down to ground zero and see the site of the World Trade Center. The place where the twin towers once stood is now a major construction site. Below is an artist's rendering of what will one day occupy the spot. You can actually go to that website and see what's happening now. I found it interesting that a Chinese company is the first one to sign a lease for space in the new tower when it is built. Progress is being made and new buildings are slowly beginning to emerge from the ground. After my walk around the sight I took the subway back up to where I got on and walked back to the Chinese Consulate to pay for and pick up the visas. While many other people were also there picking up their visas, I was able to get them in about 45 minutes and then make my way back to Pennsylvania Station where I was able to buy my return Amtrak ticket. One interesting bit of information to all of you world travelers, the Chinese are sticking it to us Americans. The cost of a single entry, 90 day visa for anyone with an American passport - $13o. The cost of a single entry, 90 day visa for anyone holding any other passport in the world - $30. That's right, it cost my son and I $130 each and it cost my wife $30 for our visas. And is case you are wondering, it cost an extra $30 per person to pick up our visas on the same day.

So, in summary...

the cost of one slice of pizza across the street from the world trade center - $6

the cost of 2 Amtrak roundtrips from Windsor Locks to NYC - $200

the cost of three visas with same day delivery - $380

the cost of getting to see and hold Sarah Grace - priceless!

Can I Really Believe It?

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
James 1:2-4 (ESV)


Today was supposed to have been a day of finality for me and my wife and our youngest son. It was suppose to be the day we got our visas for China. That would mean we all had passports, visas and plane tickets to go see our son David and his family. That's what today was suppose to be. But that is not what today turned out to be.

I was up at 4:45am, at the train station in Windsor Locks, CT at 5:45am, on my way to NYC aboard an Amtrak train at 6:02am, and on my way walking to the Chinese consulate on 12th Avenue at 9:30am.

I arrived at the consulate 10:10am and found a line out the door. Here is the view looking down 42nd Street outside the Chinese consulate.


When I got inside I had to go through a screening not unlike an airport. That's when I found out the consuate didn't like me carrying a pocket knife (oops!). Following that little misunderstand-ing I got inside and found a long and winding line that led to the seats. They wouldn't let me take a picture to show you (they were really no fun in the consulate). I spent an hour waiting to see a consulate officer who would look over my three visa applications. When it was my turn she took one look at my visa application and told me I needed the names and numbers of the hotels I would be staying at. I tried to explain we didn't know those yet since we haven't made reservations yet (our son is taking care of that for us since he speaks Chinese and knows Beijing better than we do) but she didn't want to talk with me about it. The form asked for the information and no explanation would suffice. Never mind I had traveled 3 and 1/2 hours by train, walked for 40 minutes to get there, then stood and sat in line for another hour to speak with her. I was offically out the door and should return when I had the required information, then get back in the line all over again. I left and called my wife back in Windsor Locks. I asked her to call the kids in China and see if she could get the hotel information. After four attempts to reach them (it was about 11:30pm their time in China and we were calling on Skype on the computer) we decided I should return to Windsor Locks and try again tomorrow. While I was waiting I did walk over to the Hudson River, sight of the recent US Airways plane crash, and saw the USS Intrepid, shown below.

When I found out Barb couldn't reach the kids, I walked back to Penn Station, which is located under Madison Square Garden in NYC, and bought a return ticket to Windsor Locks. The earliest train I could catch was a 3:30pm departure arriving back in Windsor Locks at 6:22pm.
I then went out and got some lunch and made some calls to family and friends (Goose, Barb and Josh).

Once lunch was over I returned to Penn Station and did some people watching and reading until it was time to get back on the train for home.

Tomorrow I will make the $100 commute all over again with new visa applications. I spoke with the kids on Skype and got the required information to fill out new Visa applications. But I am left wondering exactly what James and the Lord had in mind for me to learn today. It wasn't a fun lesson, I can tell you that. I sure hope I can use what I learned when I return tomorrow? Check back and find out!

A Six Week Old Princess

Someone has said, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Enough said!

Traveling to Travel

Yesterday was a memorable one. It was filled with sadness, joy, anticipation, suspense and a great deal of fatigue. Do I have your interest yet? Oh yes, and a celebratory (is that even a word) conclusion. Now on to the details.

On Sunday we worshipped together in Windsor Locks and then ate lunch at home. I took Barb to work in the afternoon and she said goodbye to our recent house guest and unofficially adopted daughter Anne Shilpa Reddy Katangur. Anne is from India and has been staying with us the past week while looking for work. Since she hasn't found a job, she is off to the UK to visit family and continue her job search. We have known Anne for over a year now and have come to love her in the Lord. While Anne was with us, Barb gave her some Canadian/American cooking lessons, (in the picture below Barb is teaching her how to make pumpkin pie, one of Anne's favorites). Anne left from Hartford for London on Monday while we were on our adventure.

At 11:45 pm I picked up Barb at the hospital when she got off work and we were off to Montreal, Canada to renew Barb's passport. The passport was not yet expired but we found out China will not issue a visa on a passport with less than 6 months of validity left. Barb's expires in June. When we called, we learned that a mailed renewal takes 4 weeks and we have our tickets to fly to China on April 8th. So it was necessary for us to go in person to a passport office in Canada and the closest one was in Montreal.

I stopped a couple of times for short naps in upstate New York and we arrived at the passport office we had selected in Point Claire at 8:00 am. This office was located in the Fairview Mall just off the trans-Canada highway.

We were pleased that there were only a few people ahead of us and we were anxious to find out how quickly our request could be taken care of and we could be on our way home again. When we were called up Barb explained why we had come and how all of our documents were in order. She had her current passport, the renewal application and the 2 passport pictures. The woman behind the counter explained that this office did not do same day renewals and that Barb's passport photos were unacceptable (she was smiling and her teethe were showing and the photos were not stamped and dated by the photographer). If we wanted to try and get a same day renewal we could go to a busier office nearer central Montreal but we would definitely need proper passport photos which could be taken at a shop in the mall when they opened at 10:00 am. So, it was hurry up and wait for this shop to open at 10:00. Here's Barb sitting in the mall outside the photo shop.

Since Quebec is a french speaking province we were fascinated by all the signs that were in french, including the photo shop where Barb would get her replacement passport photos.
When the shop opened at 10:00 Barb was the first one to get her passport photos taken, others were also waiting, and in 10 minutes they were ready and we were off to the next passport office in Saint Laurent. [For all you ladies, you can imagine what Barb thought about having her picture taken after traveling all night and not getting to put on any make-up since we thought we already had the pictures she would need.] When we arrived there at about 10:30 am, we entered to find a much bigger and MUCH busier office that was full of people waiting to be served. We waited in line for about 15 minutes and were given a number that would determine when we were served. Assignments were given by letter (A-E) and number. Barb was D-848. They were currently serving D-830. We joined the crowd and waited about 45 minutes to be called to a window (for trivia buffs, window 8) and we met our passport officer at 11:30am. She examined Barb's material which was all in order, although Barb apologized profusely for the poor picture quality of her passport photos, and she told us the passport would be ready April 6th. Barb requested the expedited service (an additional $70 fee is added to the $87 passport renewal fee). She also told Barb an affidavit would need to be completed explaining why we needed the expedited service. That was done and our agent requested cell phone numbers for Barb's references since these people would need to be contacted before the passport could be issued. The calls were made and she said all was in order. She said we could come back at 2:00 pm and the passport would be ready. We had lunch at a nearby McDonald's and then napped in the car until 1:45 pm when we returned to the passport office and picked up Barb's new passport.
We left at 2:15 pm, thankful to God for His wonderful provision, and drove the 350 plus miles home, arriving back in Windsor Locks at 8:00 pm. On our way home we called Anne who was at the airport waiting to board her plane for Philadelphia and then London, and said goodbye to our dear friend from India. We were exhausted but oh so thankful to be closer to being able to travel to China to see our son, daughter-in-law and new granddaughter on April 8th. The Lord willing, I will be heading to NYC on Wednesday to get our visas for the trip to China, so don't stop praying yet! I can't wait to tell you about that adventure, I wonder what that will be like.