time

A lot can happen in a few days. Monday, I sent out the I-290B using the earliest delivery FedEx offers. It was cheaper than buying the gas to deliver it personally.

After all the buzz, Tuesday was quiet. The only adoption email was from the National Visa Center. They received our request for an expedited re-send of the Visas 37 cable to Guangzhou, and they had some questions. I resisted the impulse to reply, "Get with the story, people!" Instead, I let them know about our I-290B. Then they vanished. The best thing about Tuesday was getting a text from my nephew Brandon which read, "I'm so excited about Yo-yo coming home!" Through tears, all I could get back to him was, "Me, too!" I was carried that day by the hope of a ten-year old.

Wednesday popped. The I-290B WAS COMPLETED!! I got an email saying it was sent to the Visa Center and a copy was headed our way. YAAAAAAHHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Sine then, it's been a blur: writing letters for the Embassy promising we won't carry "Jesus" or "Dalai Lama" banners in the streets*, frantically searching for flights we can afford**, turning in grades and making slides of student art and getting ready for the next school musical, scheduling (at long last this thing that I never thought we'd be able to have) baby showers!, updating registries online, emailing BlueSky to make arrangements, forwarding our I-171 news to all relevant parties...

Oh, did I mention? This means that we will still be traveling MAY 1!!!*** In less than three weeks, we'll turn the page.

*Instead of "banners," we promised the Chinese that we would not disseminate "religious propaganda." I hope we don't do that here, either ;) "True religion is this..."
**"flights we can afford" = weighing out funny questions like, "How likely is it that we could haul Yo-yo through Chicago's Mass Transit from O'Hare Airport to Midway? Southwest has tickets from Chicago to Nashville for $59!
***"May 1" means we've totally lost 10 days from our "What Must Happen Before Yo-Yo Comes" list, which includes ripping out a whole wall (literally) of our kitchen where a recent leak went badly behind cabinets and has made that wall SOGGY. Yikes! Isn't this going to be fun! We waited 14 years for this!! Yahooooo!