The last few steps...

After awaiting an email response from the National Visa Center, I finally mustered up the courage to call them. YAY! Rai's I600 approval was logged out on Monday, March 9th, which is also the day they sent the paperwork to the US Embassy in Korea. It should arrive in 1-2 weeks, and then the Embassy will send paperwork (called Packet 3 or P3) to the Korean agency stating that everything is ready on the US side. So this is what we have left:
- NVC Logged Out to P3: 1-2 weeks from March 9th (P3=Immigration paperwork is received by US Embassy in Korea and P3 is sent to Holt in Korea)
- P3 to VI: 4 days to a few weeks (VI=Visa Appointment)
- VI to TC: Same day to 3 days later depending on how long it takes to issue the visa

So IF P3 is sent on Monday, March 16th and IF it takes only a few days to schedule the Visa Appointment, we could theoretically get a travel call late next week which just so happens to be Spring Break. Oh that would be wonderful, but I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. :-) There are several adoptive parents that have had hiccups along the way, so we will just be thankful whenever we do get our call.

And for those that have asked, yes, we will leave on the next plane out after our call. :-) So needless to say, our bags will be packed sometime next week. Yes, we know the airfare is not cheap, but it doesn't matter. Yes, there are travel agents (one in particular) that specialize in adoption travel, so we'll be in good hands. Thank you to everyone who is checking up on us and reading this blog. I'll do my best to keep the pictures updated as often as possible, and if all works well, we may even have videos up and ready when we get there.

What will we do until we get our call? Well, Aaron's mom will be in town tonight for a quilting show, and we leave Saturday morning for a wedding. Sunday, we have a soccer game, and next week, I plan to enjoy as much "free time" as I can over Spring Break. I will finally get caught up on laundry, edit the plentiful stack of videos, prep my classes in advance, and find time to work on my fieldwork from Japan. Aaron is now back to work and feeling better, and his honey-do list is finally complete with the installation of the cabinet locks in the kitchen last night. So although the wait seems endless, we certainly have plenty to keep us preoccupied!