I-800 Approval

My patience had gotten the best of me and so I broke down and called the NBC today (National Benefits Center) to find out where they were with our I-800 application.  The officer that answered the phone started laughing when she pulled up our file and said “Well, it was approved… ummm.. minutes ago.”  I began laughing because the same exact thing happened when I called to get the status on my I-800A application.  Maybe I’m partially USCIS-psychic?!?

So, now what?  Now, we get our approval in the mail and the NVC (National Visa Center) gets a copy as well.  They issue another something or another (that’s the technical term) and then we officially send everything back to China and wait for our Article 5 which ultimately leads to our Consulate Appointment and Travel Approval! (or something like that)  Wooohooo!  We’re on the downward stretch (and, unfortunately, the most expensive part of this whole thing).  Something tells me that Santa is going to be paying for Visa’s, final paperwork fees, etc… this year instead of gifts for Keith and I.  Our greatest gift of all will come a bit late, in February-ish!

I’m still hopeful that we will travel in February.  I’ve been obsessing over flights, what to do, what not to do, etc… We were originally going to fly to Beijing and tour the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square the first two days but we may need to cut that expense out and instead add a day on the back end to tour Hong Kong.  I hate the thought of not going to Beijing because when will we ever go back to China.?  We will see.  Our agency doesn’t break costs down too well, so I feel like I’m deciphering their paragraphs of information and trying to read between the lines.  Once this is over, I’m going to definitely recommend that they build a matrix of costs to make life a lot easier.

In Andrew news, he is doing well in school, is very excited for Christmas and has been all around super snuggly.  He did bring home an “N” from school last week (his first not satisfactory of the year) because he lied to the lunch lady and said he did not get ham when he came through the lunch line even though he did.  My child can eat like a fiend and apparently was still hungry.  :-)  I think he’s getting ready for a pretty big growth spurt!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Becky