Boo.

Well, that just sucks. Despite 2015 starting off in a weird way, I had high hopes that things would get better. But that's proving to be a challenge.

Unfortunately, my father has been having some issues with his right leg and his back lately. Even more unfortunately, the problem has persisted and now has rendered him unable to travel. So the big trip he and Mom were planning to make to Qingdao to see us and then to Singapore to see my brother and my pregnant sister-in-law had to be canceled. To say we're all very disappointed is the understatement of the year.

I'd found out this sucky news when I came back from a day of being spoiled, courtesy of Qingdao Family Guide, the magazine I write for out here (you can check out my latest work by viewing the magazine here) and the salon Raphael Perrier. I was chosen for our hot mom makeover and spent the day getting my hair and make-up done. I haven't had a new look in years and was so excited that I'd be getting one just in time for my parents' visit. But then, I checked my email and suddenly I didn't feel happy about being pretty anymore.

Maybe I'll still post about my new look later. I know I should but I'm completely bummed out. I couldn't sleep, even when Seoul was asleep. All I could think about was Daddy and how lousy he must be feeling to have canceled this trip. My father is a very strong and active person. I know canceling this trip depresses him as much as it does me.

Raelynn is sad but taking it much better than me. I could learn a thing or two from her. She wants to kiss her Papa so he'll feel better but for now, she says she can't wait to see Papa and Mimi at their house this summer. Me neither.

Anyway, if you're the praying kind or just a well-wisher, I'll hope you'll send good vibes our way, particularly to my dad. We hope that through physical therapy, he'll be able to avoid having surgery and that he will feel back to his usual self soon.

Jeremy and I are both really disappointed that we won't get to share Chinese New Year with my parents. The Small Chinese New Year celebration is tonight but I don't feel much like celebrating now.

Getting There Is Half The Fun

Bright and early, we blearily rose from bed somewhere around 5am on January 18th. Jeremy had spared himself the agony and finished his sleep in Raelynn's room that night. As for me, I endured a fussy baby who kept unwrapping herself from her blanket every hour on the hour. Now of course, she was sound asleep and I used it as an opportunity to ready myself.

As I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I heard our front door open and close. It was MIL. Oh God. WHY is she here? Can't she just let us alone? She had come the night before and I thought that was the end of enduring her for a few days, but no. She HAD TO come now. I try not to scowl openly but it's obvious I'm pissed. I am too tired for this shit. Never mind her, I think. I've got to get ready. So I begin covering my tired face with make-up in hopes that I won't resemble the zombie creature that I actually feel like.

And then the doorbell rings. I hate our doorbell. It is so loud and tinny and unnecessary. It's not like we live in some spacial palace. It's a small 2 bedroom apartment. You know who it is, right? FIL! Of course! But thankfully, MIL shoos him away. She shouts at him for ringing the doorbell which I find counter-productive. If we're all trying to be quiet so as not to disturb the baby while we get ready, then how is shouting at your doltish husband going to help us?

Miraculously, Seoul stays asleep through all this nonsense and doesn't wake until I am completely done shoving my make-up and the rest of our toiletries into the suitcase. Now MIL comes over, arms outstretched to hold the baby so I can eat. Again, I try not to scowl. She just wants to help, right? Sigh.

As we eat, Jeremy's busy on the phone. It seems the taxi he's reserved to take us to the airport is unable to pick us up. No problem...there's plenty of time to call for another. We get another reserved and then that guy has to cancel because his taxi won't start. Third time was the charm...another taxi was able to take us. We all went downstairs where FIL was waiting. They nag me about what I'm wearing. Why no hat? Gah. We're going to Guangzhou, not Harbin. It's MUCH warmer in Guangzhou and I have 2 kids to handle. I've worn my lighter coat on top of a thick sweatshirt. I don't want the annoyance of dragging around a massive winter coat along with our luggage as we travel.

When the taxi arrives, the woman driving it frowns. It's because of my in-laws. She thinks they are coming too and starts yipping about how we can't all fit in the taxi. Oh no, honey. Just us. Please take us away from here. And then we're off.

I think this is one of the first times we've traveled that our flight was completely on time. We flew with China Southern on the way there. As we sat in our seats, we noticed something quite odd. Something was missing. My window! I have never before seen anything like this!

You can see that the seat behind mine has a window but mine clearly does not. On the other end of the row, they had a window but the guy in the row behind that did not. Very weird!
The children were mostly good on the plane though Seoul had a fit because she was hot and tired. I tried to calm her by walking up and down the aisle but eventually had to stop because we were preparing for landing. We were sitting next to some other foreigners and I was really surprised by how kind everyone was. They kept smiling at Seoul, despite the howling cries she was emitting.

Once we arrived, we decided to take the subway to our hotel. Thankfully, no one mistook me for a chair. Jeremy had reserved us an apartment-hotel with a small kitchen so we could cook some of our meals. He said we could easily get there by taking the subway to the end of the line and then taking a taxi the short distance that remained. I was expecting much worse. It was a small room but it had 2 beds, a TV with way more cable channels than our Chinese cable company provides us (and normally, I care not about Chinese channels since we have a satellite as well but Chinese was all we were getting on this trip...and one English channel), a refrigerator, a washing machine on the balcony with drying racks for the laundry (this was incredibly useful after Seoul spit up milk on her blanket and Raelynn made a mess of some of her clothing), a microwave, a single burner cooktop and cookware. Be it ever so humble! The building itself wasn't bad either. The only problem was that each tower only had one elevator. And each tower had 32 floors. The wait time for the elevator was rather annoying.

By this point, the afternoon was wearing on and we were all very hungry. We decided to eat something first and then hit up a market for items to cook for dinner later. A small restaurant across from where we were staying was where we wound up. The food was rather plain but it hit the spot much more than the snack on the plane did.

Later, Jeremy would run out and buy us a bunch of items from a nearby market. We'd tried to go to a large supermarket that was underground in the subway entrance right by the embassy. But everything there was so expensive, we couldn't even believe it. As I passed the embassy, I teared up when I saw our flag waving in the wind. God, how I want to go home and take my husband and children with me.

Jeremy did all the cooking for the meals we ate in our room. That was because I had to handle Seoul. And Raelynn. Somehow each night, I managed to get Seoul to sleep. But because the room was small and Raelynn is noisy, I had to put her to sleep multiple times. Seoul's new favorite thing seems to be to fall into a deep sleep until I tiptoe away for a shower. As soon as I put shampoo in my hair, she's wailing.

The next morning, bright and early, Jeremy was off for his medical exam. He was 5th in line until he realized he needed to bring the email the embassy had sent to me. I had it printed out but thought he only needed it for his visa interview. So he grumpily came back for it and promptly ran back down the street to where the medical exams were administered. Around 11am, he finally returned with some amusing stories about his exam. He was surprised when they checked way up in his nose. And ears. And what caught him completely off guard was how they checked his manly junk by shaking it around. I had to laugh as he gestured wildly in the air, making noises to accompany this visual. Poor Jeremy.

He wasn't supposed to eat before the exam and we were also hungry. We decided to find a restaurant with Guangzhou-style cuisine. We walked around until we found one that we wanted to try. We got to see a bit of the tea culture of Guangzhou in this place. Up here in Qingdao and the northern parts, when people want to build guanxi (relationships, more or less) they will invite you to lunch or dinner. It's always a meal. If you want something from someone, better take them out for something to eat. But in Guangzhou, the people there are big on meeting for a nice pot of tea and perhaps a small snack. Many tables were filled with people just enjoying tea together as the morning turned into noon.

Our table had a teapot waiting for us as well. Here, they kept a flame burning under the teapot to always keep our water hot. It was really a nice touch, I thought. We had some very delicious things to eat during this lunch. Check it out!

 Raelynn is clearly ready for food!

 Here's the tea pot. The black one is filled with water and is kept over a flame while the smaller more decorative pot contains the tea leaves. This makes each cup of tea you have taste as fresh as the first cup. Lovely!

 Raelynn likes tea.

 Ah, some delicious xiaolong bao. That's a soup dumpling and yes, it shares the first name of my husband. The best way to eat them is to put them into your spoon so that when you bite into it, the soup portion doesn't spill all over the place. Also, you'd be wise to wait a few minutes before trying them. The insides tend to be scalding hot!

 This is a Guangzhou-style soup. I'm usually not a fan of this kind of soup, which is a sort of rice porridge, but this one was really nice.

 Jeremy ordered this chicken dish. I like to call it "Nice Try, Honey" because clearly, you can see that it's chicken feet. I just can't get into those. I have tried. I gag. I can't do it. He tried to give me a piece and got the "hell no" face from me. To be nice, I did eat some of the peanuts that were cooked with the dish but blech. No chicken feet for me, please!

Some of the most fabulous egg tarts I've ever had. These were just oh so good.

These buns had a honey glaze on the outside and a savory beef stuffing inside. We were really surprised by them.

We also had a noodle dish and some pork with vegetables but I somehow forgot to photograph them. Oh well. Not like you guys come read my blog for the amazing photos. If you do,you must be even worse a photographer than me!

The next day we spent walking around Beijing Road, a famous shopping area. Raelynn was in a bratty mood but we at least got her to try on a qipao. She finally started behaving and we treated her to ice cream. She was an angel after that too, thankfully.

On Wednesday the 21st, we went to the Chimelong Safari Park, which I wrote about separately. You can read that here.

Thursday the 22nd was the day of Jeremy's visa interview. Another insanely early morning, we somehow dressed ourselves and 2 kids and headed off to the embassy. We were about 30 minutes early but there were already gobs of people there. When we got up to the front though, the guard turned me and the children away. We had a plan for that in case they wouldn't allow us entry with Jeremy. There was a nearby Starbucks so I took Raelynn and Seoul with me to wait there. I would have gone back to the hotel but our door was equipped with a digital keypad that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. We figured the Starbucks would keep us all entertained while we waited for Jeremy and sure beat me having to try to get the door to unlock with one whiny toddler and a crying baby.

Of all the times I've ever felt lonely in my life, and there have been many, I never at once felt so alone sitting in that Starbucks in the bustling upscale downtown area of Guangzhou. Even with my 2 children. I stared out the window and checked my phone every few minutes. Time stood still for me while I waited anxiously for him to come meet us. I started thinking about how I met my husband and how we built this life together. I started thinking about how I never wanted to be without him. I felt tears stinging my eyes despite Raelynn's cutest attempts at keeping me distracted.

So many times, I saw someone across the street dressed in similar attire only to realize it wasn't my man. And then suddenly, there he was! He strode into the Starbucks and I felt like I couldn't breathe at all. Did we get our visa???

Before I answer that, I'd like to tell you all how much I appreciate your kind thoughts, prayers and support during this time. I thank you all for thinking of us. That is why I hope you will continue to think of us and understand that at this time, I will only tell you that we are almost finished with this process, having been preliminarily approved. However, we must submit some additional papers before we can finally close this visa process chapter and move forward. So until this is all done and behind us, I'll be holding off on saying anything more.

As we walked back to the hotel, we discussed what to do next. Our flight back to Qingdao would leave very early the next morning. If we stayed at our current location, we'd need to get up at 3am to get to the airport on time. The subway system would not be open as early as we'd need it so that left taking a taxi as our only option. And that's a huge cab fare right there. Jeremy suggested we move to a hotel that was closer to the airport. We found one that was just 3 minutes away. They had free pick-up and drop-off too which was nice. But I instantly regretted this decision the minute we rolled up to the place. It looked even worse than our neighborhood. It seriously looked like a ghost town. The few people around stared openly at us. The one store we saw was rundown and ramshackle. Our room didn't even have a toilet in the bathroom - it had a squatter! Ugh! I felt like we were camping. Even more so when I discovered some mosquitoes in our room. But the room was tidy at least. And it was just for one night.

We went to get some lunch and now I felt totally depressed. We were in the boonies. We should be celebrating that we are almost done with this trying process, yet here we were, walking to the only nearby restaurant. The woman who ran it was incredibly nice though. She had Budweiser for beer, which was totally random, and she quickly had her mom begin cooking. My husband said that they grew their own food and it was natural and chemical-free. I regret not taking photos of the food. It looked like slop on a plate, the way MIL serves most things. Only MIL's cooking was much better. Raelynn liked the chicken we ordered but they'd hacked it up into such tiny pieces with bits of bone in them that I couldn't find a piece that had meat on it. I gave up. We also had fish, but the fish had so many bones that I felt like I was spitting everything out. The only thing I could eat was some sauteed watercress, which was fairly tasty. We were enjoying it until we found a long hair in it. Then our appetites ceased.

Seoul's happy wherever but I was a bit bummed to be in a place that was more country than my in-laws' mountain apartment.

 It's just us in this quiet place. There are so many tables and chairs but I can't picture the place is ever filled to capacity.

Another case where beer makes things better. It was nice to have a taste of home, even if Budweiser was never high on my list back in the US. It tasted better to me now but maybe that's because I've been over here so long.

The restaurant owner had a small boy and there was some other relative there with a little girl. Raelynn was playing nicely with them for a little while as we finished our beers. Then back to the hotel we went, stopping at the dumpy store first. The store was missing 2 walls and inside, a game of cards was being played by chain-smoking old men. They were friendly though, yelling, "Hello!" at us. The store owner put down his hand and came behind the smoke-stained counter to assist us. We bought some very stale bags of chips, a bag of spicy peanuts that were rather good actually and some instant noodles for our journey back to Qingdao. Airports in China tend to overcharge for things in the most excessive of ways. For example, last time we went to leave Guangzhou, our flight was delayed for hours. We needed to eat and our only option was a noodle place that charged 60 rmb for a bowl of noodles. Yes, really. We split a bowl between the 3 of us. For 60 rmb, we should be able to get several dishes of food, not one bowl of noodles. But to their credit, it was a very tasty bowl of noodles.

I had hoped our hotel would have better food than the country restaurant, but when we went to get something to eat, we were told they had to order something for us and they would pick it up. Or they could take us to the airport and we could eat there. They handed us a menu of items all in Chinese. I found it amusing that a sign pointed to a room past the counter touting a Western restaurant when no such thing existed. Jeremy told me what our options were on the menu. We chose a few dishes and then went to our room to wait for them. At least it was tastier than the country cooking we had endured for lunch.

Jeremy held my hands and kissed me. He said we would celebrate our preliminary approval at our favorite restaurant at the Shangri-La once we returned. He truly felt awful that our last bit of time in Guangzhou would be spent in this boring hotel surrounded by dusty buildings and people.

But it was a smart move in the end. The lines at the airport were very long. We checked in and then waited in massive security check lines. When we went through security, the woman behind the counter asked Jeremy to step back a bit. We explained we were a family of 4 and she said that she would check us in 2 at a time. Some man behind Jeremy thought he was just pushing his way up so he began to push my husband. We told him we were together and to chill out. Then a bunch of people behind this man tried to push and I could not even believe how many security people burst out of nowhere. They pushed all those people back. They were shouting that they were late for their planes but if they'd simply arrived early as we did, they wouldn't be having this problem. I found it hard to have sympathy for them after the way they behaved. Airlines worldwide have been telling their passengers to arrive at least 2 hours prior to departure.

It was a long walk to our gate. We each took a turn using the bathroom and as I came out, our flight announced it was boarding. This time, we had the first row of our class so we had more legroom. And this time, I got a window.

 And you know something else? China is just beautiful from above...

That must be what heaven looks like...or maybe it's this place - Shangri-La!

6-Day MIL-Free Vacation!

I'm so excited! Because in just 6 more days, we will be on our way to Guangzhou for 6 MIL-free days of bliss as we visit the US embassy there for my husband's visa interview.

You'll recall we were notified in October that we could schedule the visa interview. So why did we wait until now? Well, there were several factors that made us decide to wait. One of them was that we were busy assembling all the supporting documents we need to present to the interviewer at the consulate. We wanted to make sure we had everything ready and organized. My parents were a huge help during this time and we seriously don't know what we'd have done without them. Thanks Mom & Dad! Another reason to wait was quite simple: I have 2 months of paid vacation in January and February. With us being ready so close to the end of the school year, we figured it would be easier to just go during my time off.

We'll be leaving for Guangzhou on Sunday the 16th. On the 17th, Jeremy will have to go for his medical exam. For people in China applying for an immigrant visa, they must get a medical exam done before having their visa interview. You can only go after you set your interview appointment. And there are only 4 hospitals in all of China in which you can go for this service. They will not accept it if you go elsewhere. One of them is in Beijing; one is in Shanghai; one is in Fujian; and of course, one is in Guangzhou. We decided it would be easiest to just go to Guangzhou early to get this done. He'll pick up his results the day before his interview. Then on Thursday the 22nd, it's interview day. Even though we're prepared with all of our supporting documents, we're still nervous. But we're thinking positively. We've been married over 4 years now and have 2 children together. This kind of process is designed to weed out fake marriages and it's quite obvious ours is the real deal.

Jeremy has booked us a hotel room that's about 200 meters from the embassy, and very close to that hospital where he'll get the medical exam done. This way, if they don't allow the children and me in for the interview, we can walk back to the hotel and wait for him. The hotel isn't anything luxurious. In fact, I worry how I'll endure it for the 5 nights we'll stay there, but it has a refrigerator, microwave and WiFi so at least we'll hopefully feel like we're at home. The idea is to save a little money so we don't have to eat out for every meal. We hope to see some of the sights while we're in Guangzhou to keep from just waiting around the hotel. We'll return to Qingdao on the 23rd.

This whole thing has the added bonus of giving me a vacation from MIL! Yay! 6 days of not having to put up with her. Wonderful! That's almost as exciting as a spa getaway! Almost.

See, last week, we were all sick and her help was very appreciated. Until the end of the week when we were all better and she was just hanging around here, sleeping on Raelynn's bed in the afternoon. GO HOME. Yeesh. It made me wish school was back in session so I didn't have to be home. It's exhausting having 2 kids and being at home. How any of my friends do it is a mystery to me. My hat is off to you! Working gets me out of the house, though I do miss the baby. A lot. But now that I'm home with her, I'm always beat. I'm trying to cook for Raelynn and attend to the baby's needs. So between feeling inadequate and sick, I also felt depressed. And lonely. I miss my husband. He has to go to work each day so I'm left alone with the kids. I could take them somewhere but before our big trip, I think it's best to keep them sick again, so here we are at home.

And MIL has come by today, but just in the afternoon. Which is fine because I needed time to write. And bake a cake for Jeremy. It's his birthday but I hope in just 10 more days, he'll have the best gift of all - his visa to the US!

So all week, stuck in the house until the weekend. But this weekend, we will head out to Guangzhou and be free of the troll. Of course traveling with small children really isn't much of a vacation, but I hope we'll at least have some fun family moments in there. Then when we get back, there's just 3 1/2 weeks until my parents come visit us for Chinese New Year. It will all go by so fast, I know but I'm praying that we will have lots of wonderful things to celebrate very soon!

Happy Wacky 2015!

A very belated Happy New Year to you all! How did you spend it? Falling asleep before midnight, like we've been doing the past few years since having children? Maybe one day I will make it past midnight. At least this year, I had an excuse besides the children.

Before the end of the year, I'd gotten a cough. It wasn't much more than that. Just a hacking, annoying cough that I likely picked up from one of my germy students. Or Raelynn. She was coughing too. But then she got a fever right before the kindergarten performance. We took her to the doctor after and consulted him about my cough as well. We each got some medicine and figured that would be the end of it.

A day or two later, Seoul had a fever and a very slight cough. Ugh. Here we go again. Another trip to the doctor. Medicine for her. Which worked...on the fever. The cough kept persisting.

Even through the new year. Onto New Year's Day, which is FIL's birthday. Since marrying my husband, I've always felt the new year started out in a crappy way each year because we'd have to celebrate FIL's birthday instead of relaxing without my in-laws. But now I think I've changed my mind.

There's worse things than a lunch full of food and booze.

Like taking your kids to the hospital.

I've said it before - in China and Korea, a trip to the hospital doesn't necessarily mean an emergency. It's just where you go for treatments and such. Whatever Raelynn had was much worse than we thought. She had to get an IV treatment for a total of 5 days. The good news was that she didn't have to stay in the hospital - she only had to come once a day for about an hour or two. On the third day of her treatments, I was feeling worse than ever. And Seoul's cough was getting worse. So I told Jeremy I wanted us to be checked out as well. Seoul, thankfully, just had a viral cold, the doctor told us. She prescribed some medicine and said the cough was not in her chest and she would be fine. It was a huge reassurance since I'd made myself insane looking online at the symptoms of RSV and Whooping Cough.

After we had her checked out, it was my turn. The doctor sent me down to radiology for a chest x-ray and then to have my blood tested. My father is a radiologist so this is a familiar area for me. How I wished he was there then! A ripple of terror ran through me as I stood there, positioned for my x-ray. What if it was cancer?

A man that the doctor was speaking to before us had a serious lung disease. I know this because Jeremy told me what they were saying. Here, it is very common for others to be in the room while you're being diagnosed or examined. Jeremy had shooed Seoul and me away from him but I figured the old guy had probably smoked all his life. And then it hit me. God. I was sooooooooooooooooo stupid for soooooooooooooooooooo many years. I smoked. God. Please don't let it be cancer.

A couple years ago, my brother sent me an email that he had written our dad, along with his response. My brother had asked him what had happened when Mom died. Phillip was 17 then and I was just 9, but his memory is blurry too. He couldn't remember how long she'd been sick with lung cancer and how we'd found out. My father said that one morning, Mom woke him up because she couldn't breathe. He took her to the hospital. They did an x-ray and when my father saw it, he fainted it. She had an extremely rare form of lung cancer. There was nothing Daddy or anyone could do. She was going to die. It was August 1985 when they found out about the cancer. She died on October 20, 1985. Yes, just months later. She was only 42. I'm 38. I'm getting close to that number.

I don't want to die young! I want to see my precious children grow up and have families of their own. I want to grow old with my husband.

And then, the x-ray was over. And the x-ray tech told me not to worry - it was not cancer. No sign of cancer! Thank God!

But guess what it was - bronchitis! Man, I have not had that since I was a heavy smoker years ago. The doctor prescribed some medicine that was safe to take while breastfeeding and told me to get bed rest.

That left me with a problem - how to rest AND take care of the children?
MIL.

I have to admit, she's been so helpful. She's the only one of us who can give the baby her medicine without her spitting it back up. Plus, I've been too weak to cook, much less make sure Raelynn eats properly. Either she's making good food or I've just been that sick that it doesn't taste so bad. Or I'm delirious.

Yes, it's a wacky new year, alright. I could look at it in 2 ways though - I could sit here and say this sucks and this is the shittiest new year ever, or I could think positively, learn from this and have a great year despite this bumpy start. I chose the latter.

I've learned that it's OK to ask for help when you need it. I've learned that I should be nicer to MIL because she does care about all of us and just wants to be helpful and useful. Yes, she's annoying sometimes and she will likely try to annoy me once I'm completely well and don't need her here from the time Jeremy goes off to work and then returns home again. I've learned to be grateful for what I've got and that I should think positively for 2015.

So that's what I'm going to do. Oh hey now. Don't worry. I'm still the same bitchy me. I'll find plenty to snark about, even MIL, as the year goes on. I'm just remembering a little humility, and that never hurt a person now did it?

Much excitement coming in the next few weeks but more rest is needed now. And with that, I'll leave you with some bad hospital Engrish. Wishing you all a prosperous and healthy 2015!

Resuscitation Roomg. I'd cut them a break if there were signs to Resuscitation Rooms A - F, but there were none anywhere else, leading me to conclude that they think that "roomg" is a word.

This one is a bit tougher to see. Let's see if you can spot the error.
Did you find it yet?
How about now?
Give up?
It says "Emergency Surgery Clinc Area." It's so subtle, I know but the "Clinc" made me giggle a bit.

Step 3: In Progress

Family and friends got treated to this wonderful news yesterday but I was too tired and busy to slap together a post publicly. We were notified that we may now schedule Jeremy's visa interview!

We're very excited because, as you may recall, we initially filed our I-130 petition for an immigrant visa down in Guangzhou on September 2nd. That's pretty speedy. We completed the 2nd step before the Chinese National Holiday last week. Now the 3rd step beckons.

Before we schedule our appointment though, we must make sure we have all our documents and forms in order. Because it would suck severely if we got all the way down there only to realize we'd missed something which would slow down our process.

If you look at the photo above, in the 3rd item, it tells us to download the Immigrant Visa Instruction Packet and follow the instructions. So we do as it says.

This is just page 1 of a 9 page document, which sounds horrible but actually only the first 4 pages are in English and the remaining pages are the same document translated into Chinese so my husband can read this in both his 3rd language and his native language. I had printed it out so we could use it as a checklist, checking off what we've got and gathering anything we need.

Jeremy only needs to get his police report, which takes just a few days, and have it translated into English. He needed a few other passport photos as well. You can see on the photo above of this document that they require 2 more passport photos. They wanted 2 passport photos when I was submitting the I-130 at the embassy. For the 2nd step, Jeremy had to send in 2 more passport photos. This step requires 2 more photos and when he goes for his medical exam, he must bring 5 passport photos with him. Holy wow. That's a lot of photos!

I also need to prepare the I-864 support form and am eternally grateful to my wonderful Daddy for all his help in comprehending that document and filling it out properly. Thanks Daddy!

So we're waiting a few weeks before we go to schedule the appointment, but last night, I got a major headache in the form of 2 hours of research when I should have been sleeping. Small baby + back to work + this visa stuff = 4 hours of sleep for me. But I want to pay it forward to anyone who is currently going through the US visa process with their spouse (or about to do so) and save them the pain and exhaustion I went through to check this.

As I mentioned, Jeremy needs a police report. On the form, it's noted as a "police certificate."

If you are in this visa process too, THIS IS MY WARNING TO YOU! Please make sure you read that paragraph carefully. Hell, read EVERYTHING on this document round-up carefully. Don't skim over it. DON'T. As tedious as it is, make sure you look at every single requirement listed under every single item or you will miss it. We almost did.

See, Jeremy can get his police certificate for China fairly easily. But there's a 3rd item listed in the police certificates category that states that if the applicant has lived in another country for 12 months or longer, they must get a police certificate from that country. IF that country has them available. Some countries don't. My husband, as it turns out, lived in South Korea for 4 years. So according to this requirement, he needed to obtain a police certificate from South Korea, if it was available, in order to have ALL his police certificates.

Now there's a pit in my stomach. We're so close and now this sets us back. But wait, let me look it up online and find out what to do for this, I tell him. So I spend 2 hours digging through forums and reading the US government's official websites and I finally found what I needed to know. Save yourself 2 hours, people and do this:
Look up at the last photo and follow my finger. Under the police certificates section of that form, you'll see a link to a website. Click it, or just click here if that's easier for you. 

After you do that, you'll see a search bar with a "GO" button next to it (see the above photo). Type in the name of the country you're trying to find out about regarding police certificates. In our case, it was South Korea. Then you scroll on down until you find "Police Records." Read there to find out if that country requires a police certificate or not.

I was elated to see this:

At the very bottom: Applicants outside of Korea: Unavailable.

After that scare, we have checked, checked and rechecked the required documents and all the requirements for those documents and we will probably check, recheck and check check checkity check some more, before we make the visa interview appointment. And then while we're packing for that trip. And then again before leaving for the airport. And then again in the hotel. And then again in the waiting room.

I hope that information helps at least one other confused person undergoing the US immigrant visa process. For now, this gal is going to check check check out the back of her eyelids and get what I hope will be more than 4 hours of snoozes. Please keep sending your good vibes our way as we continue through this process!

Step 2: Complete!

That didn't take long! Less than a week after receiving the approval letter, we were sent an email for how to complete the 2nd step for Jeremy's visa process.

For this step, we had to fill out an online form and then submit the confirmation page, along with a cover letter, 2 passport-size photos of Jeremy and a photocopy of his passport to a nearby bank that the US Embassy requested us to use.

It's a seemingly easy step. But we found it was much more complicated than that. The form is not hard to fill out but requiresSO much information. It's all in English, which is Jeremy's 3rd language. Still, he filled it out like a champ. I sat nearby in case he had any questions about what he was being asked. By far, the most tedious part was the previous address portion. Jeremy had to list every single address he has ever lived at since he was 16. Yes, really. As he filled this out, I hoped that no one would ask me all the places I've lived since 16. There were SO many dorm addresses and apartments during my college years that I'm sure I'd miss something.

It took him a very long time to complete the form. By the end, we were laughing though. They ask some interesting questions, like if you plan on partaking in polygamy and stuff like that. Once he finished the form, we were relieved. Now he's sending the documents through the bank the embassy requested us to use and when he gets back, we can celebrate Step 2 being behind us.

What's next? Step 3, which will involve us rounding up a lot of documents and scheduling Jeremy's visa interview. Please keep sending good vibes our way and stay tuned for our visa progress.

It's Beginning...

I can't contain my excitement so I simply must post about this. Today, when we came home from church, there was a letter addressed to Jeremy on the door. His name and address were all written in Chinese but the envelope had some English printed on it at the bottom that said U.S. Consulate General along with the Guangzhou address.

We just went to Guangzhou a few weeks ago and filed for Seoul's US Citizenship along with Jeremy's immigrant visa. They had emailed us late last week to tell us Seoul's passport was now ready for pickup, and Jeremy's booked a flight out on Tuesday night so he can go pick it up on Wednesday. It's just easier for him to go solo as one of us parents must pick up her passport. We could have a third party do it but we don't know anyone in Guangzhou and we fear if we hire someone, they could be shifty and steal it or lose it. Or charge even more than the flight there and back costs. A train ride takes 30 hours one way and costs only a little less, so my husband decided flying was the easiest. Will he enjoy the peace and quiet of being away from his 2 noisy children? I'll let you know. In the meantime, send some good vibes for his safe trip there and back home to us, won't you?

Ok, I'll quit stalling. I know you're wondering what was inside the envelope, aren't you? It was a letter. More specifically, THIS letter...

Did you see that? We've been approved! APPROVED! They approved us just the day after we filed! We are so happy right now. We cried because we were so happy. Of course, this doesn't mean we get to pack up all our shit and move out of this place right now. No, no, no. This just means we're approved to begin the immigrant visa process for Jeremy. Thankfully, I have a good friend at work who is also currently processing his wife's immigrant visa and he's just a step ahead of me so having someone I can talk to about what's happening and what forms and documents are needed is a huge help. It makes it seem less of a daunting task.

But this will all be worth it soon enough if we can make it through the whole process and get approved. Every day I'm praying for it. I just want to take my girls and my husband home to the most beautiful land I know...America!