I called US Immigration on Tuesday to see if they were processing our packet yet and our very nice officer told me that our packet was in the building but not on her desk yet & that she expected it by Monday. She said once she gets it, she processes it in a day and if everything is right she issues a preliminary approval that is sent to the NVC (National Visa Center). I was excited to hear this info but then in typical Dawn form, I started searching the internet for how long NVC takes. I saw several posts by people to request that your approval is sent Priority Mail or UPS from Immigration because regular mail can take up to 2 weeks. I was going to call back Monday morning but I couldn't wait so I called our officer Friday and left a message that we can give her our Fed-Ex number to overnight the approval....let's hope she calls and let's hope they use Fed-Ex. Thus far our Fed-Ex tally is 18 along with 2 UPS and 3 USPS packages. what the.......
We talked on Friday for the first time with our Colombia representative who will take us everywhere and help with the process while in Bogota. She was very helpful and very nice and we are excited to meet Martha. We were trying to find a place to stay which is pretty important when you are going to be somewhere for 4-5 weeks. We are debating between an apartment or an adoption specific hotel, both of which are about the same cost. The apartment comes with a maid 6 days a week who cleans, grocery shops and cooks which will be really important after I leave because Evan isn't much of a cooker or a grocery shopper and he will need to cook for the girls as well. I emailed the guy who owns the apartment and I am crossing my fingers he writes back and says it is still available.
So much of this planning involves plan B's or even plan C's. I am trying to find either a summer school that teaches English to their age group....or....a tutor. Then there is summer care of a nanny....or....a summer camp. I don't want a nanny who is going to throw them in front of the TV all day but the summer camp doesn't know yet if they have any Spanish speaking kids or counselors. And then there is school which we already didn't make it into school A so we are on to school B which has their lottery coming up 3/26. School plan C is Burbank which you can utilize if you work in Burbank and if there is room in their school however, they won't tell you if there is room until they test the girls and see their school records. I feel like this might need a plan D.
Right now I am texting with Lucinda about the types of cell phones kids have now as her daughter is 12 and goes to a public middle school in Burbank. It is so different than when I was in 6th grade (and in private school). The clothes, shoes, accessories, cell phones, etc....all new to me! I am going to use Lucinda and her daughter Kaylee a lot in the reference department in the next 5 months before school starts.The girls will have enough of a hard time so I am trying to factor out not being cool and having the right "look". ;)
So, yeah, there's just a little bit to figure out!
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