The Stress
In 2013, Pope and I called off our engagement for a bit. During that time I was processing more what it would mean to marry cross-culturally, and one of my biggest hesitations was the fact that every visit to each other's country would involve the stress of government paperwork.
I dreaded every visit to Immigration, every trip to an Embassy in a neighboring country. For me, it would feel like my world would stop waiting for hours in a room for my number to be called, and then the waiting again after turning in my forms.
There is silence, questions, more silence, flipping through papers, all the while my mind racing with fears of what if I didn't bring all the right papers, what if I filled something out wrong, what if I didn't show adequate respect, does this person like foreigners or are they on a mission to get us out?
Trusting God ✝️
It was a true cost I wrestled with when making that decision to marry Pope. I remember deciding that I would just have to learn to lean & trust God more with those fears — if I was going to serve Jesus in another nation, this was a reality, and at least I'd have Pope to walk through it with. What I hadn't thought through was how much easier it would actually get.
Spouse visas in Thailand are a lot less stressful, cheaper, and — at least as a female foreigner marrying a Thai man — a recognition of a genuine love for the Thai people and their nation.
I also didn't think about the ease of dual citizenship for my kids. Never would I have imagined that visits to Thai Embassies in America would be some of the most enjoyable trips I'd make!
Thai Embassy, New York City 🗽
In April, our family traveled to New York City to the Thai Embassy in order to get Abigail, Selah, and Jasmine's birth certificates translated into Thai. It was the only Thai Embassy we could go to for this free service. For whatever reason, I was under the impression it would also mean securing the girls' Thai passports.
It wasn't until the day before we left for New York that I realized we may not have an appointment for their passport applications. Fortunately, the Lord led us to prepare as if we would get the passports, and then we prayed!
Making a very long story short, we got a call the minute we arrived in New York asking us to come a day early for our appointment, because the person who needed to sign our forms wouldn't be in the next day (for our original appointment).
We rushed to the Embassy from the train station with all our bags and not dressed in Embassy-suitable clothes. We were not coming in looking too favorable to request the added bonus of applying for Thai passports. Initially, being told it was not possible for us to apply for the passports, we sat for 5 hours praying for a change of heart while we waited for the translations to be completed.
I watched the clerk at the desk process as he looked at all of our children there, as he listened to different staff come through and chat with us, and in the last hour he told us that if we could come back at 10am the next day, he would process our passport applications!
To our surprise, the whole staff there was in complete support of the decision, recognizing that traveling with 4 kids is not easy, and they wanted our kids to have those passports!
God is so good!! That moment made the rest of our time in New York so much more fun.
Summary
Looking back, I can see in each step that God is growing us and teaching us to trust more and more in Him. Please keep us in your prayers and we continue to prepare for returning to Thailand.
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