Trip to Washington, DC

We now have our travel visas and can travel. The question remains, when will we travel? It could be as early as Feb. 27th or the following week on March 6th. We should obtain confirmation of travel dates tomorrow or Wednesday! In the meantime, I took a trip to Washington to get our visas. I stayed with my sister who lives about an hour away. I found the embassy ok, but was so taken aback by how plain and unassuming it was that I convinced myself it wasn't really the right address. After confirming the address with my sister, sure enough, it was the embassy. It didn't look much different from the DMV except there was a security guard and metal detector. I pictured grand halls, expensive rugs and lots of officials walking around. I watch way too many movies!!
I dropped off our applications around 10:30 and killed time until 1:45 pm when I could go retrieve our passports/visas. At Starbucks I introduced myself to a woman who was also applying for a visa and asked why she was traveling to China. She is a nurse/flight attendant who volunteers to fly to China to escort medically needy children back to the States for treatment. She was returning to China with a 3 year old who was brought to Shriners for treatment for burns on her face. Wow.
I had a pleasant lunch at Shanghai Tea Room and tried to eat my lunch with chop sticks. You know how the sticks come attached at the top? Well, I thought 'hmm, maybe if I leave them attached they will be easier to use.' My server came by and took them from my hands and said 'here, take apart' and snapped them apart. Ok, that didn't work. So, then I tried to eat my lunch with the sticks when the host saw me struggle, he just came by with silver ware and smiled. I tried!
By 2:00 pm, I had our visas in hand and headed back to my sister's house. I got a crash course in child care and the flu when I got back! Long story short, I ended up staying 3 more days to help with one nephew in the hospital and one at home (who also caught the bug before I left). It was a wonderful blessing that I was there to help and for me to get good hands on practice, plus spend lots of time with the boys. Its not all pink booties and smiles, is it????
Thankfully, both boys are home and on the mend and none of the adults appear to have caught the bug...lets hope...
Ray and I had our travel call early last week too. That was very informative and we are now so excited to go!! At times it will be hectic, at times it will be intimidating but for the most part it will be a magical time in our daughter's home country and precious time spent bonding with her. Stayed tuned for travel details posted later this week!