Documents, Tickets & Segways- Oh My!

I'm re-writing the famous line "Lions, Tigers, and Bears- oh my!" -- to my new modern day version- "Documents, tickets, and Segways- oh my!" Let me explain. Today started with a  bright and early trip to head to the U.S. State Department to take our final immigration document through the authentication process. This was our last step before we could send our dossier off to our agency.

So, I was convinced that I could accomplish a ton today as long as I started very early. My goal was to arrive at the U.S State Department a little after 7am so that I could be ready to be one of the first people in line before they opened their doors. One thing you have to know about this office is that it is absolutely "out of control" and can be a VERY long wait, even for just one document if you aren't in line early and get in before the crowd gets there.  I've learned this and so knew what needed to happen to avoid this big rush. Now unfortunately, the irony is that even though I thought I was still getting there in plenty of time to be one of the "first people" unfortunately this did not occur and there were still about 10 people ahead of me when I arrived. One of the biggest challenges with the timing at this office is that all of the parking in this area is by meter, so you really have to watch closely how much time is left on your meter or your documents will end up costing a lot more than what you want to pay for them, if you know what I mean.

Fast forward about 3 hours and I'm at the point where I know my number is getting ready to be called after the long wait, and the staff at the State Department are getting mad at people who were taking ticket numbers, but then leaving the premises and coming back to pick up their paperwork (some whose numbers had already been called earlier). This is the point where the lady up front comes out and yells at everyone, reminding us that if anyone leaves and misses their number and then comes back and tries to jump "back in line"- they'll have to start again and get a new number.

Ok- so not good for me because this is the point where I realize I have about 10 minutes left on my meter and if they don't call my number soon, there is a strong chance my meter will expire and I may find a little "surprise" on my windshield when I leave.  I probably checked my phone about 50 times in 10 minutes waiting for my number to be called and to see when my meter was going to expire. I was trapped and didn't know what to do, other than I knew if I missed my number, I did not have time to wait for a new one and still make it to the Chinese Embassy for my next step before they closed and the goal, let's remember, is to get the dossier to Fedex and mailed to our agency- TODAY. (yes, I had calculated every process today down to the hour and knew exactly what had to happen and how much time was needed to make it happen)

 Finally-- about 10 minutes later my number is called, I pay and pick up my document and literally decide to lay down my pride and be "one of those people" sprinting through DC as if I'm about to miss the metro. As I rounded the block and am coming toward my car, guess who is rolling up on a Segway in his uniform to write me a ticket-- yep, you guessed it, the DC parking meter man. I kid you not, I was only 2 minutes past the expiration of my meter and I go into a mad dash hoping that if I show up beside my car at the same time he's pulling out his ticket book, he'll have pity on me and I can explain just why I don't deserve a ticket. Do you think he liked my story or that it made any difference that I wouldn't make it to the Embassy if I would have left to put money in the meter?--- apparently not. 

So, at this point I'm not happy with him; yet, at the same time I wanted nothing more than to just take a photo of him (because if you've never seen an officer on a Segway, it's really quite funny and I was "trying" to find humor in this moment- at least a little. If anything was funny to me at the moment, it was what the ticket said at the bottom:

"Assaults on Parking Enforcement Personnel Are Fully Prosecuted"

"Hmmm...I wonder why that is on the ticket- LOL"  I can also understand that statement because after the the Segway ticket man finished writing mine, he said to me, "Do you want me to still put it on your windshield or just hand it to you?" --- REALLY, did he just ask me that? Seriously. Part of me wanted to laugh and the other wanted to scream. Apparently I'm not as persuasive as I thought I was as I really thought I would get out of this one. Attempt Failed.

 I jumped in my car and headed to the Embassy and barely made it before it closed, but snapped a quick photo of my great parallel parking job that I wanted to show my husband, because he always makes fun of me when I parallel park, and since I did such a good job with such a tight space, I wanted to prove I did have "skills". (he was proud)

Aside from the crooked wheel, I think it was a pretty good job!

I arrived with enough time for my number to be called, to hand off my document, and be able to pick it up in a few hours. This is where I decide to reward myself for having gotten up early, dealt with crazy people, parallel parked effortlessly, and having refrained from assaulting the parking meter ticket man with my documents. (just kidding on the last part of course)

Passion Tea Lemonade- with the view of Georgetown outside of the window

I have to admit, it was one of the first beautiful spring days of the year, so it was nice to just sit there and enjoy the spring flowers, and take in a few quiet moments in Georgetown in front of the Embassy.

After picking up our final document and finishing a few things for the dossier, I headed to Fedex to mail our precious "paper baby" to our agency. It was somewhat strange emptying our folder after having protected those documents for several months. (not complaining of course, because I was very glad to get them off to our agency)

We can officially say the following:

 --- now we just wait for the paperwork to be sent from our agency to China. I'm not sure which I am more excited about right now- getting our dossier in the mail to our agency today or sleeping in my bed tonight after a very long and busy day. 

Hmm.....I just might dream about this date and this beautiful site of completed dossier documents:

Stalking the Mailbox

So I have to admit, I know patience is a virtue, but I've learned enough about myself that sometimes I think God still has to work on this area of my life over and over. You would think I would have it figured out by now that things will happen on His time table and even when I find it easy to tell others this same piece of advice, I often struggle in this area myself. (uh-huh- you know you struggle with it too if you are honest!)

So today I was starting to get a little antsy regarding our dossier timeline getting infringed upon (at least the timeline I had made up in my mind) of when I thought we would be mailing our dossier, when it might go to China, etc. I think I had set a big goal for this in my head and when I set a goal, I like to accomplish it and accomplish it well.  So at this point, I'm thinking "Do I contact USCIS to check on Nate's fingerprints- did they actually go through ok?"  My mind had a number of scenarios running through it at the time. I decided I couldn't wait any longer and decided to give USCIS a call to see who our officer was and if both of our prints had gone through ok and check the status of our immigration approval form. 

Now, I've called this number numerous times for work, but it was quite strange calling it for "our process" and when the officer answered it was somewhat surreal. I asked if they could check to see who our officer was and the status of our USCIS approval. Within a few seconds, she responded with, "Your application was approved on March 8th and has been mailed to you".  Did she say what I just think she said? At this point I'm going quick math to see if it was possible that it could arrive any day now, to which I came to the conclusion it certainly could. 

Keep in mind that my mailbox stalking that has been occurring the last several days is about to go to an all time high. Now that I know it is on the way, the mailman-mailbox stalking just went up a few levels and I'm ready to spring into action with our last form the moment I realize it arrives.

Ironically, during my lunch break I decided to leave and go and see if the mailman had brought us a present today, as I generally know when he delivers our mail. It was at this point that Nate shows up as well ironically, to share that the mailman had delivered a surprise today. 

This was the time when I found out the news and I was so excited to see this little piece of paper that you would have thought we had just won the Publisher's Clearinghouse sweepstakes or the lottery. (not that we play the lottery, but just go with it for the moment...) I don't think Nate understood the significance of the moment until I explained it, to which of course he wanted to put it on "Twitter" and had me check to make sure he was saying the right thing.  (too cute)

Needless to say, I was doing a happy dance today and then making plans to head to the Secretary of State the following day to authenticate this last document. Only two days until we send our dossier to our agency!