We Have Kien's Visa!!!!

We had our appointment at the US Embassy this afternoon. Steve, Kien, and I went alone together, along with the 3 other families who adopted from the same province. And another family was there with a different agency.

I was nervous and anxious all morning. I had heard from all families who had traveled recently that this had become a very easy process once you were there. But I was nervous just the same. We were going to the location where people from our own government have been torturing us for months. So I had reason to be afraid, in my opinion.

There was no evidence on the outside of the building that this was the US Embassy. No sign and no flag. Inside, Steve noticed a sign that said "US Embassy Annex." So this wasn't the main building, but it's still interesting that there was no sign outside.

When we entered, we had to enter the building one family at a time, while the others waited outside. And we had to go through an x-ray machine and have our passports checked in an office. We had to do this in Russia as well (but I'm quite sure the Embassy was identified on the exterior in Russia). I also recalled from last time that no cameras are allowed, so I left mine behind at the hotel.

We were taken to a room where we had to go to a cashier's window one at a time to pay our lovely $400 visa fee (on top of the nice fee we already paid long ago for pre-approval, which was an even larger sum than this). Then we waited. For 45 minutes!!! There were 5 families waiting, and they didn't take any of us for 45 minutes! sigh. Kien was ready to get down and move, so I let him. The others were surprised to see his mobility!! He's the oldest of the bunch. And he walked REALLY far around that room!!!! He's made major strides since his couple steps of a week ago!!!!

He's the tiniest of the bunch though, at 15.5 lbs. In fact, now that he is walking so much, I've realized that his size 9 month pants actually do not fit him. When he was just being held, they seemed fine. But for walking, they're too long. And he has some size 9 month shorts that are too big in the waist too. But for onesies, size 9 months seems to be fine. And he does seem to walk just fine in his size 6-12 months Robeez shoes. So I guess they're not too big (and he still has plenty of room in them!).

Anyway, someone finally came to a window to start seeing us one family at a time. We were second. They called us up, and it was soooo simple!!!!! :) :) The man was very friendly. Since Steve was the petitioner on our visa applications, only he needed to answer questions and do anything. The man asked him to confirm that all statements on the forms are true. Then he asked Steve to confirm that we will take Kien to get immunizations back in the States. Then he had Steve sign something. And that was IT!!!!!! :) :) He gave us a card with a stamp and said that our visa should be ready at the end of the afternoon!!!!! :) :)

After we had the yellow card in hand, we questioned him about our second case. We didn't ask him about details of the case itself, as that is still in the hands of our agency at the moment (in the game of back and forth). We just tried to confirm with him what would be required of us when Steve returns for her adoption without me. We said that we had already met her and had pictures to prove it. So he said to bring the pictures and since I've already met her, nothing extra should be required. We will probably go ahead and get things like a power of attorney, to be certain. Hopefully what he said is accurate! And in truth, they didn't really seem to "need" me there today (although I was technically required to be there). I didn't even have to sign anything, and the only time I had to show my passport was at security.

After we were done (the 5 families took 12 minutes total to complete -- after waiting 45 minutes to be seen), we went outside to take a group photo. We stood with our backs to the street, with trees behind us. You couldn't see the Embassy in the pictures at all. But someone came out of the Embassy and told us we weren't allowed to take pictures there!! So we had to walk off the property onto the sidewalk to get our group photo. As I said, I didn't have my camera. So hopefully someone will email me a copy. :)

About an hour or so later, our agency rep came to the hotel with Kien's passport and visa!!!!! :) :) :) He can officially fly home now and become a US citizen!!!!!!! THIS is what we've been waiting on since we filed our visa applications almost exactly 6 months ago!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! We got all his original adoption paperwork also. And we got "the packet." It's a sealed manila envelope that we are to present to immigration in the LA airport when we land -- and we are NOT allowed to open it ourselves. We had to do this when bringing Kevin home as well. So we have to guard his passport and this envelope in order to get home!!!

So we are now DONE!!!!!! :) :) Unfortunately, our flight doesn't leave until 48 hours from now. I tried to contact our travel agent over the weekend to move it up by 24 hours, but I never heard back from him. Oh well. It's not the end of the world, and there may not have been availability or decent seats on all 4 flights anyway. So we are leaving here Wednesday evening! I can't wait to get home!!!!! :) :)

We have now told Kevin that Daddy will be coming back alone to get Aria. (We have yet to even tell him that we met Aria last week. There just hasn't seemed to be a reason to bring it up yet.) Kevin commented that he and Kien will stay home with me and have fun, so he seems to be ok with it. But a couple times, he has mentioned something about not wanting Daddy to get lost. And he even prayed about it tonight. I told him that Daddy will be ok and won't get lost, but he said he's worried about it. :(