We all went to the embassy this morning to get her passport with the visa and we finally told her the good news- that she's coming to America with me and that she's going to see her grandparents and aunts/uncles/other family. She's so happy but so disappointed that we aren't going today
Then I spent a total of 5 freakin' hours on the internet and on the phone with various airline reps trying to figure out tickets. Living in a country with tons of travel warnings and an unstable political situation can make things complicated. Basically Delta had the wrong information that Air France had cancelled all of their flights for a month or something. Anyway 5 hours and thousands of dollars later, we have tickets!! It's going to be a long-ass travel day, but I'm just so happy to be going and WITH Rokia (which is something I really wasn't optimistic would happen)! 25 hour trip going there (broken up over 3 flights). Only about 16 hours on the way back (2 flights). Doing this with a 4 year old (who has only taken one 2-hour flight) and while pregnant? Totally worth it!
So now we have 4.5 days to get ready and pack! My only worry now is immigration/border control. See: Rokia's biological mom hasn't been in her life for 3.5 years now. For the visa appointment, we ended up getting her bio mom to sign an authorization letter. She did. But....her signature is so basic, it looks fake. For my SO's authorization letter, we had it notarized at the embassy, so it's all official looking. There is a chance that the border agents could ask to see these letters. Are they going to accept the mom's letter? Or think it's a fake? There is no rule that these things need to be notarized, it's just advised.
My SO is going to try to work his magic in these next few days to try to get her custody paperwork done (he has full custody, we've just been waiting on the official papers for months now). If I have those, then I don't need to worry about the mom's letter.
I asked the American lady at the embassy what her thoughts were. She said it'd be best to have the custody papers, but that her unofficial opinion was that we'll be fine with what we have.
Oy vey! From one worry to the next. Sometimes I feel like I can never fully enjoy accomplishments because I just move on to the next worry.
