Anyone who knows my mother knows that she is very supportive of missionaries and missions. Any time a missionary would come to their church in Malakoff, Mom and Dad would make a new commitment to support them. Then, in the 90's, there was a push for nurses to accompany missionaries on short-term trips. Mom went on a trip like this to Mexico with her pastor and his wife (Gaylord & Fredna Brown). So, naturally, when people from her church in Conroe started talking about going on a missions trip to Haiti in November of this year, she wanted to go and the group wanted her to go, too.
Back when Mom went to Mexico with the Browns, it was during a time when a person could present a birth certificate at the border crossing and be OK to pass. In a post-911 world, that is such a thing of the past. She talked to the people who were organizing the trip at her church and they told her to get a passport, get the recommended vaccinations and everything should be fine. Well, yeah, it should be fine. But, when you consider gathering records for an 84 year-old woman, it can be tricky. Only now am I finding out just how tricky it is.
So, Mom tells me that she needs to get a passport. I tell her, "no problem. Do you have a birth certificate?"
"Yes," she says. "I used it when I went to Mexico."
"Perfect." I printed the application off the web, took her to the local Walgreen's to get her photo and went to the courthouse to submit the application. "Do you have your birth certificate?"
"Yes."
"Good." So off we go.
We get to the passport window at the courthouse, present the application, present the method of payment. It's going so well...until I see the birth certificate. It's a photocopy of a really worn looking original dated in 1945.
"Mom, is that the only copy you have of your birth certificate?"
"Yes."
"Oh boy."
The lady at the window gets everything together and explains that we can go ahead and submit the application with the birth certificate we have. The State Department will return the copy with a letter that says the birth certificate is unacceptable and we need to submit an acceptable document in its place. The lady says "it's as simple as that." She gives us the contact info for the courthouse in the county where Mom was born (Red River) and tells me to give them a call.
The next day I called Red River County. They had no record of my mom's birth certificate. "You might try Bowie County" the lady suggests. She was very nice and helpful.
I contact Bowie County, but they have no record, either. The lady I spoke to suggested contacting the Office of Vital Statistics in Austin and gave me the phone number.
I contacted Vital Statistics. The lady there suggests filling out an "Expedited Application." It costs a little more, but I should know something and hear back within 15 days. Their site did point out that birth records up to 70 years old were a bit more uniform and are more readily available than those that are older. It seemed like a safe proposition, even though Mom is 84. She's lived in Texas her entire life. At least , that was what I thought up until today...
We received a package from Vital Statistics. There was a letter from the lady I spoke to a little over a week ago. She said that they could not find a birth certificate for my mom and would need to compile more data to create her a new one. Along with the letter were more forms to fill out.
One of the forms calls for an older relative to fill it out and verify the vital statistics around the person's birth. Unfortunately for Mom, she is the oldest living relative in her family. The rest of the forms pretty much restate everything that was on the original birth certificate application. Great! I'll need to call and talk to the lady again.
If that wasn't enough, I checked Mom's email account and saw that the Department of State had responded to the passport application. As expected, they could not accept her birth certificate and we have up to 90 days to submit one that complies with their standards. We actually have to
It doesn't matter what we do, every little thing with Mom is an adventure. If we can get everything together for this trip, it will be a miracle. But, in her case, maybe a miracle isn't too much to ask.
