The Story Behind the Graef's Furlough

The Mess!
About 3 and a half years ago, we landed in San José, Costa Rica with our three kids and as much luggage as the airlines would allow. We immediately began the process of seeking legal residency, and had already prepared several copies of every necessary document to do so. Our team had hired a lawyer to handle this legal process, but time would show that he was not an honest, nor capable man for the job. Before turning our papers in to Immigration, he misplaced an important document. Fortunately, we had extra copies. A few weeks later, he misplaced another document. Again, we supplied him with another. The actual day that he delivered our documents to Immigration, he lost yet another document. We supplied it yet again, and he assured us that he had ALL documents in order. He didn't. The problem was then compounded by his lack of honesty. Immigration notified him that a document was missing, and that he had 6 months to remedy the situation. Unfortunately, he did nothing. He did not even tell us the document was missing. (We had extra copies.) Even further, from time to time he gave our team reports on our legal status. He would say that everything was going great and that we were a few steps closer to getting our residency. He was lying.

After the 6 months passed, Dave's residency request was rejected for lack of the important document. Since the residency of the rest of the family was dependent upon Dave's, they were rejected as well.

The Good News
The character of our team lawyer eventually came to light and was fired by the team. We have since hired a new lawyer who is a trusted friend. He is a Christian who works for Word of Life and attends the Piedras Vivas courses taught by Dave. Since then, the team has received a large portion of the money back for services not rendered by the first lawyer. Our new lawyer will be filing our documents again as soon as we can get them in order. This process is complicated, but we are moving on the right track now, and with an honest lawyer.

The New Law
The immigration laws have changed for the second time in 3 years. Under the new system, we should have an answer to our residency request around 6 months after we re-submit our documents. If we can get our documents in order by January, we could reasonably get our residency around June of 2010. As many of you know, we had planned on starting our furlough around that time. Under the new law, we must spend the first year of our residency inside Costa Rica or we lose it. (There is a 90-day limit outside of the country.) So, if we continued with plan A, we would lose our residency as soon as we got it. As such, we have had to change our furlough plans.

The Plan
Our new plan is to continue the process of re-submitting our documents in January and petitioning legal residency once again. We will take a shorter furlough while our paperwork is in process at Immigration (around 6 months.) We will then return to Costa Rica around the time that we should receive our legal residence. We will spend a full year in Costa Rica following the new rules for immigration. After that year, we will return to the States and finish our furlough.

Obviously, this is not what we expected to happen, but all things considered, we cannot complain too much. In the last 3 and a half years, we have seen God do some pretty amazing things. We have seen Him start a church from nothing (Roca Viva), and have seen constant growth in the Leadership training program (Piedras Vivas). I am certain that the timing of our furlough, though it wasn't part of our original plan, it is a part of God's perfect plan. God's timing is always perfect! With this in mind, our spirits are high, knowing that God is in control. Our hearts are saddened to some degree because we will dearly miss our Tico brothers and sisters, but we are looking forward to reuniting with our American brothers and sisters as well. We thank you for your constant prayers! We know God has been answering!

Where in the World are the Graefs?

Just a quick note to let you know where I've been since our last post. In July, Dave took a trip to the United States to speak at 2 supporting churches. By coincidence, his 20 year high school reunion was the same weekend, so he was also able to catch up with some friends from long ago! While he was away, we found a house 5 minutes from our church plant and newer (to help with allergies) that was cheaper than what we were currently paying in San Jose. The day after he returned, we saw the house, signed the contract, and a week later we were moved in!

Unfortunately, we had quite a challenge getting internet for the last couple months and only now have dial-up (at the cost of damaging our phone line!) The speed for now will not let me upload much but I just wanted to give you a quick update since it had been so long. As for where we find ourselves... I am a homeschool Mom now, Dave continues with the church plant and leadership training ministries, we're discipling a couple and I meet weekly with a wonderful lady from the church. I am also working on teaching the ladies to take over the children's ministry and we are in the process of determining our furlough dates. We'll keep you posted and hopefully find a way to upload a few pics!