It took months of ups and downs (mainly downs) and searching and phone calls and e-mails and more phone calls and waiting and even more phone calls and finally…. we have it. We had contacted everyone we possibly could that was involved with his adoption and called the passport agency on a daily basis for help, all to no avail.

So how did we finally get it? Well that’s the real kicker.

The passport agency had the missing document the entire time. I didn’t know whether I wanted to hug someone or punch someone. The letter we had received in the mail was a generic letter for those who hadn’t submitted an alien registration card and/or a final adoption decree. The alien registration card we had, but didn’t want to submit without the final adoption decree, which we didn’t think we had. The tricky thing about a final adoption decree is that it does not say “final adoption decree” ANYWHERE on it, so what you think may suffice may not (turns out it actually did) hence the wild goose chase for the mysterious, unlabeled document.

So yes, because we hadn’t submitted his alien card, we received the generic letter, which led us to believe that we were also missing the ambiguous adoption decree. The miscommunication does not stop here folks, oh no. All of this drama would have been avoidable, or at least short-lived, if we had established contact with Mr. Bunting’s assigned caseworker. But we didn’t. His caseworker had called and left a voicemail message at one point with a callback number that always went straight to some general voicemail. Mr. Bunting left numerous messages for this voicemail. He called the general passport hotline daily and left messages for his caseworker there, too. Each time he was told they would put a note in his file since they couldn’t access his caseworker’s contact information (seriously?). So we waited and called, waited and called, and began to wonder if this caseworker even existed.

Until one day, when FINALLY his caseworker called. Turns out to be a super friendly and helpful guy who never got any of our messages. This infuriates me. Someone dropped the ball over there. Multiple times. For weeks.

He apologized profusely, promised he’d personally speak to the head of the call center to see why they failed to forward any message, and then proceeded to explain to Mr. Bunting that he had the adoption decree already and if we would kindly send in his alien registration card he could be approved for a U.S. passport.

I still feel like hugging and punching at the same time. Where’s a mosh pit when you need one?

All in all, though, we were so relieved to have heard such great news and promptly put his alien card in the mail. Several days later, we were told that his passport was approved and printed. Add several more days, and there it was in the mail box. Which means we’re going on our international honeymoon, whoo-hoooooo!

Did you encounter any unexpected obstacles in your planning? Did it all work out in the end? Does anyone have a fireproof safe I can borrow to store this damned thing in?

I’m trying hard not to freak out. I’m trying really hard, but yesterday I went home early from work with a migraine and nausea.

There’s a small, very real, but small chance we will not be able to go on our international honeymoon.

There’s a small, ever scarier, and still very real chance that we will not be able to get legally married on our wedding day.

image via meme generator

I don’t mean to be a drama llama, but that freaks me out. A lot. Now I’m sure you’re wondering why and how, so let me explain.

Mr. Bunting was adopted. More importantly, Mr. Bunting was adopted from Japan. Even though he’s been living in the U.S. for pretty much his entire life, we’re having a hard time proving he’s a US Citizen to get his passport. After he talked to our local court and post office regarding requirements, we submitted all of the paperwork we had in hopes that whoever reviewed it would say (with a classy accent) “Oh, why yes, I can see from these things that he is indeed a citizen of the United States. Approved!”

That was not the case. We got a letter saying they needed additional documents. We had one of the two documents, but the other… well, we had no idea what it was or where to get it. And that was the most frustrating thing, because we didn’t even know where to begin. We’ve since tried calling the passport agency hotline, the Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C., and even tried called Japan herself. Okay, not the country as a whole, but Mr. Bunting had a phone number only to discover he can’t make international calls on his cellphone.

Now for the other kicker. Mr. Bunting does not have a birth certificate. At least none of us have one for him. And you know what you need a birth certificate for? A marriage license. Yep. So no getting legally married without one. It has to exist somewhere, right?

Worst case scenario: We push back our honeymoon until we have his passport. We bought cancel-for-any-reason insurance, so as much as it would suck to not go on our honeymoon two days after the wedding, it’s doable. As for the wedding itself, my mom assured me that we could still go through with everything and not tell anyone. Then, once we have a birth certificate, we can get legally married at the courthouse. This is doable, too, but I really want to get married in every way on our wedding day. I can just see myself smiling one moment and then, when we’re pronounced married, hysterically sobbing and crying out “It’s all LIES!” (<- That’s the Drama Llama talking again).

I know we’ll figure this out, one way or another. Fortunately we still have some time, though the window is getting smaller. But we will be married. It’s just getting there that’s so hard.

Has anyone else experienced major obstacles like this? And if you or your FH was adopted, especially from another country, please, please, please start organizing all those important documents now. Because if you don’t have them already, it may require some time to get them, and you don’t want to be in a situation like this. Because this sucks. Oh, there’s that Llama again.