Passports

Josh and I have been working on getting our passports so we can go on our cruise for over a week now.  It seems like one thing after another has come up to keep us from getting our pass ports.  We tried to go last Thursday to get our passports only to discover that my mind was not working and that I had forgotten one thing after another.  And then to wrap up that day I discovered that I had NO idea where my Birth ccertificate was.  I called the passport agency (ie the post office) and asked if the birth registration card  I had would work for getting my passport.  The lady I talked with said it would if it had a raised seal.  I told her it did have a seal, but that it was laminated.  She said that she thought it would still work.  So Josh and I made the plan to go on Monday to get our passports...

Monday after we dropped Catalina off at school we headed up to the passport agency (again, just the post office).   We got there and looked at the two different choices for applying for a passport.  You can apply to renew your passport, or you can apply for your first passport.  The problem we had deciding was this...  Josh and I both have a passport...  You probably think "well that is easy then, just renew your passport."  The real problem with this is that on the renew form it asks if your previous passport is damaged.  The answer to this question for both of us is yes.  For Josh, his pass port is REALLY damaged!  Mine wasn't THAT damaged, but it was expired and under my maiden name...  Josh and I figured that we would both need to apply for a new passport then. 

We got to the post office, and got our place in line.  When it was finally our turn we told the nice man that we needed passports, and passport pictures.  The nice man told us where to get the forms, and then started to process things.  I  quickly asked him if my birth registration card would work for a birth certificate.  He quickly said NO!  I even showed him the raised seal and told him that the person I talked to said it would.  He said we could try it, but they would just send it back, making the whole getting a passport time line LONGER!  Josh and I decided that we didn't want to risk it, and so we left the post office with the plan to come back today...

Now you might wonder why we didn't just go down to the health department on Monday and get my birth certificate that day...  The answer ~ The health department was closed because it was moving offices...  And it would not be open until Wednesday the 28th (yesterday).  So we left with the plan to come back this afternoon. 

I was too busy to make it to the health department yesterday.  I planned to go this morning, but because Myra decided to play all night long last night with daddy, Myra slept ALL morning!  I had to wake her to take Catalina to school.

Myra and I made the trek down to the NEW health department after we dropped Catalina off...  And the new place is HUGE!!!  Thank goodness I just asked where to go, instead of trying to figure it out.  We might have been there for a very LONG time other wise.  As it was I didn't have a stroller for Myra and had to carry her a very long way...  The Vital records department was actually very fast.  And I picked up a birth certificate for Myra while I was down their since we don't have one for her. 

Myra and I met Josh at the passport agency (post office) about a half an hour late (but at least Josh new we were going to be late).  And there was NO lines when we got inside!  We started with trying to get Josh's passport first.  And we were quickly told that Josh's birth certificate wouldn't work!!!  He was not born in El Paso county either, so we would have to send away for it, and then have it sent back...  Making it IMPOSSIBLE for us to get passports and then go on our cruise this year...  A big let down!  The guy said it wouldn't work because there was no raised seal.  I showed him my new birth certificate, because it clearly has a seal, but it is not raised at ALL.  He said mine would work, but still said Josh's wouldn't...  That is when I started looking and feeling around on Josh's birth certificate...  And I found a raised seal!  I quickly showed it to the guy.  He had missed it.  He showed it to his boss and they finally decided that it would actually work!  Yay! 

The guy then asked if we had pictures...  Which we didn't.  But we were told that THIS passport agency could do pictures (why we went to THAT one).  We asked the man and he said yes they could do pictures...  And then he took us to a "back" room to do the pictures.  Pictures taken, we went back out front to finish up.  At this point a line is forming of other people waiting for service.  Again we go back to working on filling out Josh's pass port form.  At this point it comes out that we have previouse passports (which I am pretty sure we mentioned to the first guy on Monday).  We handed over the "damaged" passports to the man helping us.  He looked at them, and then went to talk to his boss.  Josh's passport WAS TOO damaged and he need to fill out the form for a first time passport...  Mine, however, was NOT too damaged, and I could fill out the renew passport form.  Which ment that I had to fill out a WHOLE new form.  At this point the line of people waiting to have help was getting quite long!  And I was feeling a little bad.  Not too bad, because there were at least half a dozen post office emploies walking around doing nothing (that I could see anyways).   I quickly filled out the form and the man got everything ready to be mailed...  He just needed two checks to go with the passport applications (because the applications were going to two different places).  That is when I noticed that I hadn't given the man MY birth certificate...  THE whole reason we couldn't get this done the other two times, and why I visited the health department for a long walk!  Come to find out, you don't need a birth certificate if you are just renewing your pass port!  If only they would have told me that a week ago!  Long story short (I know WAY too late), 279 dollars later (and that with saving $25 because we could renew mine), we got our applications sent off today.  We should get them back in 4 - 6 weeks, and hopefully we can still go on our cruise this year!!!