Visas, Tickets and 8%

Today I realized that we are just about three months away from returning to Costa Rica!  I knew that this summer would fly by, but oh dear!  Didn't we just get here?

I also realized that we needed to get started on the paperwork process.  This last year in Costa Rica, we didn't worry about getting a student visa, we just left the country every 90 days to renew our tourists' visas.  Remember this trip?

But now that we will be living in Costa Rica permanently, leaving ever 90 days would be a drain on our time, not to mention financial resources.  So, that means we need visas.  So, I started working on the process of trying to figure out what paper work we need from what government offices, and how many stickers and ribbons each one needs and where it needs to be sent.  Apparently, in Michigan, there is one office in Lansing that has the authority to issue the Great Seal.  And that Great Seal needs to be on just about everything.

And unlike here in the States, where you could use the same birth certificate your whole life, we need new ones for each member of the family, as well as a new marriage license.  And apparently we need a police statement saying we are good, upstanding citizens and some other letters of recommendation from our sending agency and Roblealto.  But really, a lot of this is just me guessing at this point.  You know, dealing with government agencies is never easy or straight forward, even if you speak the same language.

And then there are the plane tickets...what a racket!   I did discover this last year that one of the best ways to get cheap tickets is to break the flights up.  Instead of searching for a trip from Grand Rapids to San Jose, I look for tickets from Grand Rapids to Orlando or Miami, and then tickets from one of those cities to San Jose.  We were able to shave $100 per ticket off the price when we came back in April this way.  And right now ticket prices are looking good for the end of September!  I am praying they stay that way until we get the green light to buy them from LAM.

We are still in the support raising process, although if you've noticed on the sidebar, we are now up to 92%!  We are praying that God would bring in the rest of the support by the end of July, so that we can buy the tickets and move forward with the move.  Really, 8% more isn't much.  And it breaks down to be three partners at $50 a month and four at $100.  Would you pray with us about the need?  And if you have been thinking about partnering with us and Campamento Roblealto, now would be a great time to let us know!  Follow the link here, and jump on board.