Final days of waiting...?

After our appointment on September 22nd, we were hoping to hear from the French within the following two weeks, the response time the French embassy's website claims for American passports.  We then spent some time with my family in Richmond, waiting each afternoon for a phone call from my in-laws saying our passports arrived at their house.  Two weeks passed, then three weeks.  Three and a half weeks in, I boldly called the embassy and asked about our situation.  The lady who answered the phone for "other departments" (which I called because, as you may remember, the visa section doesn't answer phones) was surprised we hadn't gotten a response, and after mentioning a computer crash possibly being the culprit, told me to send an "urgent" email to the visa section and she would ask about us.  I was to call her extension back after 2:30pm that day to find out what she learned.  I was elated with the hope of getting some real information.

While I was on the phone upstairs in my parents' house, my mom, Nico, Moisés, and Yanni gathered downstairs in a circle, holding hands, to pray for my phone call.  My mom prayed, then Nico, then at Moisés' turn, he prayed, "God let someone answer the phone, not just someone, but someone."  And as he repeated the sentence again, I had finished the call upstairs and ran in the room, not knowing his prayer, and hollered, "A nice lady answered the phone!!"  I was met with the most joyful laughter and jumping from everyone, feeling that Moisés' prayer was answered!

I called back at 2:30pm, and the nice lady told me that she spoke with "the man in the visa section" (the angry man?!) and he said they would answer an email, but would not give information over the phone.  They finally emailed back two days later at 4:42pm on Friday.

Dear Madam, 

your file is still being processed; the passports will be mailed back to you in the envelope you provided as soon as possible. 

Sincerely 

Embassy of France
Visa Section

I was so sad with this response.  My "urgent" email briefly shared the realities of our situation and how long we had been waiting.  I longed (and still long!) for any information about where we are in the process and why it has now taken double the projected processing time.

In the meantime, we let our travel health insurance (which the visa and l'Arche both require us to have) begin on October 6th, because we thought we'd hear from the French any day and get on over the ocean.  When I got that email response from the French last Friday, I was particularly sad because we were losing money each day on health insurance we weren't able to use in the US, and didn't know how soon we would be able use it.  I emailed the health insurance company my sob story on Friday evening, telling the straight truth and not embellishing a single thing in this sobbiest of sob stories, and asked if they could reimburse me for the policy since we couldn't use it and we were on an endless wait.  I said we would certainly purchase their insurance as soon as we know we're going, so they wouldn't lose a customer.  They responded at 8:38am this morning that they could fully reimburse us!!!  What a gift!  Their quick and helpful customer service is a light to me in these dark times!  So I recommend to you, Seven Corners, if you ever need it.

As of yesterday, we are now at Nico's parent's house in Northern Virginia, waiting each day for our passports to arrive in the mail.  His parents are leaving town for a couple weeks, starting Thursday, October 26th, so we will be holding down the fort as we ceremoniously watch the mail arrive each day between 3pm and 6pm!  I will record our findings daily on this page so you can join in our seemingly endless wait.

Monday, October 23rd Nothing Tuesday, October 24th Nothing Wednesday, October 25th Nothing Thursday, October 26th Nothing Friday, October 27th Nothing Saturday, October 28th Nothing

Monday, October 30th Nothing Tuesday, October 31st OUR VISAS HAVE ARRIVED: ONE FULL YEAR IN FRANCE ACCEPTED!!!!!! Halloween 2017: For the Melas Blanton family culture, this day will be set aside to the Lord, for celebration!