How many Hondurans need to call the Consulate in one day??

This is Johan and Lale goofing off last week. It is rare to find a picture of Lale with a smile.

I looked at the list of things that I needed to do according to what I found online and at the embassy website. I am a little bit more informed in what I need to do, however I do have questions, so I decided to call the Consulate. Now having had to call before to get information and make an appointment for my husband to get his passport, I know that they are busy. However these past couple of days I have been calling (for my husbands nephew as well - he is leaving with my husband and needs his passport) and the phone never rings. It always is busy. If I didn't know any better I would bet my money that when they open up at 9:30AM, they take the phone off the hook, and only replace it for 2 minutes every 3 hours until 4:00PM when they replace it for the night as they walk out the door, LOL. I mean seriously, are there that many Hondurans in MD, DC, VA, West VA, and Delaware calling the Consulate all day long for multiple days? I find that very hard to believe. They have an email address listed on the website. However it is a non working email address. Of course - why would they need a working email address?

Today, not only did I try to call the Consulate, I also packed up most of the DVD's so that when Lale leaves (he is trying to get a car so that he can pack most stuff up to save money by not shipping it via Zuleta) he can take it with him. That gives me one less thing to worry about and one less thing I have to pack. And it makes me feel like I did something useful, and productive, LOL.

So this is my list of things that I need to do in regards to speaking with the Embassy.

• find out if I have to apply for a resident visa for my kids, who can claim double citizenship, or if the fact that they have a double citizenship means I don't have to apply for them at all, they can just go. (which will save me close to $4000 in fees)
• find out what it is that I need to bring with me to the consulate so that I can file the paperwork needed so that they can claim this double citizenship
• make an appointment to file the paperwork before my husband leaves
• find out what I can do about this new baby since my husband wont be here when he is born, so that this baby can have double citizenship as well.
• get birth certificates, police record, health certificate and certificate of income for me and Andre and Jordan (and for everyone else if it comes out that I need it)
• all of these things need to be notarized
• all of these things need to be authenticated by the Distric Office of MD
• all of these things need to be authenticated by the State Department of Maryland
• all of these things need to be authenticated by the State Department nearest to the Consulate of Honduras in DC (not sure why it has to be authenticated by two state departments, but whatever...why make things easy?)
• THEN... take all of these things to the Consualte of Honduras to be authenticated.
• and all of these things have their own fees attached to them. I am not sure what the fees are by the district office and the state departments, but for the Consulate, it is $50 per page.
• I then need to fill out the application for the resident visa and sign it in front of the Consul. ($150 for that)
• I have to swear that I am not nor ever have been a member of the Communist Party. (thats $50 to swear that I am not a Communist - couldn't it be cheaper to swear that?)
• and then I need to pay another $50 to swear that I will abide by the rules of Honduras.

I so want to get ahold of them so that I can have in writing what it is exactly that I need to do, and a timeline to do it all then. I also know that once in Honduras, I have to get a lawyer there to help finish filing the paperwork there. I am not even thinking about what it is that I have to do here at home to get ready - I don't think I can handle all of that right now, LOL.

I thought that I would share a couple of pictures of my family, so that you can get to know the characters in this play called life.

This is Andre, my oldest son, who will be 12 in December. He is such a smart child. I almost said boy, but he really isn't a boy. He is a young man. ..:::gasp:::.. he is a preteen. When did that happen?

This is Jordan, who will be 10 in December. She is my big helper with her brothers and sisters. And she does it because she wants to, she is so good.

This is Micaella, aka Mickey. She is 4.5 and thinks she is 18, LOL. She is a little miss know it all, but is also a big helper.

This is Victoria aka Isa, and she is the quiet pretty easy going one. She is sneaky though. She will start a fight, but in such a way that if you didn't know her, you would never have known that she was involved. She is my moms "perfect little princess who can do no wrong" LOL. She is 3, but will be 4 in December

This is Johan, my 2 yr old Evil Kinevil. He is such a sweet heart, and he is such a momma's boy. He loves to be by my side, doing whatever he is doing as long as he is near me. He will come by me, give me a big hug and kiss and say to me Mommy, I love you.

This is Jolani aka Lana. She is my 1 yr old miracle baby girl. She has two moods. Happy and smiling all the time, or throwing a temper tantrum because things aren't going her way. I much prefer the smiling Lana to the Temper Tantrum Lana. She likes to give kisses as well.

Soon to be added to our family, is the new baby boy, who as of now is due in about 8 weeks, but since Lale isn't going to be here, the baby should be making his appearance in about 7 weeks. His first name will be Arles, after his father - and we will call him Lalito. His middle name has yet to be decided, but we have narrowed it down to three names. Levi, Moises, or Gabriel.