Moving Update

Well, I've got some news for you all.

Horyon's visa interview was Monday. We went to Seoul Sunday night and had a great time with my mother-in-law's family. They are not adverse to having drinks with their dinner, and they prepared a wonderful dinner Sunday night.

The interview was Monday at 8:30 a.m. We got to the embassy around 8:00, and managed to be 11th in line. Step one is submitting your papers. When we were called for step one, we found that there was a problem. We had one document wrong. It was not a big enough mistake to call off the interview, so we waited for step two: fingerprints. No problem there. Step four was paying for the process, around $300. Step four was the interview itself.

It went well, actually. We had brought Maxine with us, and my game plan was to hold her up to the window and say, "Look at this cute baby! Now give Horyon a visa!"

It didn't work. The missing paperwork turned out to be vital. However, based on our other documents, she was approved for a visa. They will mail it to us as soon as they receive the correct form.

Unfortunately, it was not a matter of going to an internet cafe, downloading a form and filling it out. They needed the form that my mother had filled out. So I mailed her the correct form, as well as the paper saying that all we need is that form, and now we are waiting for this beautiful little circle to complete itself.

Fortunately, my parents' cruise ended on Sunday, and they planned to be back home by late Wednesday night, because that was about as soon as I could expect to get the paperwork to them.

As soon as we have Horyon's visa, we will buy plane tickets to go home.

Yes, we had plane tickets before. They have been cancelled. This might all work out before our original departure date (March 29th), but then again it might not. In addition, the original plane tickets carried some inconveniences that we were happy to be rid of.

I know there are lessons to be learned from this. The U.S. Gov't web site said clearly not to make travel plans before you get your visa. I, however, was in a hurry to get home, and encouraged Horyon to ignore that advice. She also found evidence that lots of people buy plane tickets before they get their visas, so it must be all right. We succumbed to arrogance.

I've been telling people for weeks that we will leave on March 29th, and now we are not. For me, it drives home the point of the scriptures that tell us, "Do not say, 'tomorrow we will do this,' or, 'next year we will do that.' God holds all the cards, and you hold nothing, sissy-boy." (That's my own paraphrasing there.)

The application is the hard part; letting go. My natural tendency is to just let things happen, but with Maxine in my life I want to be more in control. So I'm relearning this lesson.

In other, less philosophical matters, our stuff has arrived in America. Actually it arrived some time ago and has been waiting for me to arrive. Obviously, that is not going to happen soon, and so we decided that instead of sending it to me, we would send it to my Dad, at our Lawrence address. Problem solved. Dad should be meeting them some time next week to make sure that none of our boxes have been dipped in vomit or dropped off a cliff.

Last, I'm sorry for the recent lack of posting. Monday sort of hit me like a ton of bricks, and it has hit Horyon even harder. Though the embassy made it very clear that Horyon will get her visa, she doesn't have it now, and everyone she talks to asks why she failed. She has enough trouble dealing with that (incorrect) question from herself, much less everyone around her. So hopefully this will all be resolved soon, and those of you reading this from Kansas will be hearing more in person.

Peace,

Rob