change

Some of you may know our visa was denied and so we are in the northwest right now visiting family and friends.  We are reapplying for a visa and praying the process will go quickly so we can be back in Slovenia as soon as possible.

People want to know what happened and why we were denied. Well the short answer is... Timing.
Their are many official time sensitive documents that are needed and once they are all in and accepted then your application is processed and a decision is made by the Slovenian government.  In our case we turned in everything that was needed over a year ago except for one piece of paper we needed from a church in Slovenia.  As we were waiting for that last piece, our FBI criminal background check expired. So we applied for another one, but they take 3-4 months to get back.  After 3 months I, Matt, received mine but they said Sharon's fingerprints were illegible.  So we resubmitted hers which took another 3 months.  Once we had everything we needed, the Slovene government wouldn't accept the documents.  Shortly after that we got word that our case was being closed due to inactivity.  UGH..
So we had to come back home to shut down our old case so that we can reapply.

Getting a temporary residency visa isn't the easiest process in the world and it seems that it has been extra difficult for us.
Though its great introducing Maia to family and friends, please pray that we can get back to Slovenia very soon.





My girls did great flying the 11+ hours.

A glimpse into our lives

Our church here in Ljubljana is having a special focus on prayer this week.  Tonight Matt is leading the prayer time and has been asked to teach on forgiveness - a very tough topic here in Slovenia.

Normally on days of key ministry opportunities life can often be . . . more difficult.  After seeing this pattern over years of being in ministry we are no longer surprised by it and try to remember that the battle is not against flesh and blood.

So, with all that being said, here is a glimpse into our last hour.

Matt (coming out from the office where he had been studying): "Man, I'm surprised at how well today is going."

Sharon: "Yeah.  Me too."

. . . 15 minutes later . . .

Um . . .yeah.  Our kitchen sink broke . . .

Matt will be teaching at 6pm tonight which is 9am PST.  So, whenever you go to your kitchen sink today would you send up a quick prayer asking that the Lord would really speak to the hearts of all coming to the prayer meeting tonight and that they would have ears to hear?

Thanks!

Pig Tails

Gotta love 'em!

Visa, it's everywhere you want to be.

I'll tell where I want it to be... in my pocket.  


You have to understand that I am not talking about a credit card and that its been a really long process trying to obtain a temporary residence visa for Slovenia.  We started the paperwork about a year and a half ago and are still trying to get all the documents we need.  One of the biggest problems was that were told in February of 2010 that everything was good.  But 2 weeks before we left to Slovenia in July we were informed that we needed to resubmit our FBI background checks since they had expired.  No big deal we had already done it twice before, but it takes 3 months for the FBI to read prints and send the results back.  But then Sharon's prints weren't readable the first time so it took another 3 months.  Ugh.

Today was another step in the seemingly never ending saga of acquiring a piece of paper that says Sharon, the kids, and I can live in Slovenia.  Josh and I went to the office where people turn in paperwork for residency stuff and this time it was mildly successful, which by the way is very exciting to me.

Afterwards we went to the car, which was in a tight yet typical European parking space to begin with, it had been boxed in fairly tightly by another car.  We laughed and I tried climbing into the drivers door, which I wasn't even close to fitting in (and I didn't gain that much at Christmas).  So I gave the back seat a try hoping I wouldn't have to go through the hatchback.  Luckily I squeezed in and climbed to the drivers seat.  the funny thing is that the clearance on the passengers side was worse.

Decorating the tree

We got our tree a few weeks ago but waited to decorate it.  Sharon's sister Lynn arrived on Monday and we finally un-nudified our bare tree.  Eliana had a great time putting up ornaments.

 OOOhhh, Pretty Ornaments

 Daddy is letting me touch them too.

 Rationing out the goods.

 Reach for the stars kid

pretties

Most important thing to know about decorating is Location... Location... Location

Admiring her work

It just wouldn't be a good night with out a good cry when you don't get to do everything you want to do.