We received word that the US Government has officially approved our fingerprints (for the second time) and have issued a consent to bring Julian into our country to join our family. At the same time they are sending us this certificate, they are sending a copy to Korea to start the application for Julian’s visa. The official date of approval was September 30th. We are told his application for a visa could take up to 4 to 6 weeks.
4 to 6 weeks is a length of time that I am noticing is a recurring theme in life. Everybody likes to use 4 to 6 weeks for an appropriate length of wait time. Not too much time but not too little. Not encouraging but certainly not discouraging. A month to a little more than a month. If you say 4 to 8 weeks, now that changes the whole dynamic of the wait time quite a bit. It is then looked upon as 2 months! That would be crazy! 2 months! So they say 4 to 6 weeks. Doesn’t feel as long.
The truth is it is long, regardless. A whole month or maybe more to issue a visa? But as I dig deeper into the process, I realize that the forms sent from our Government need to be approved, then re-approved and re-re-approved. So I get it. We are excited that finally we have a clear window of when he will be coming home. It will be as we expected, either the end of this month or the middle of November.
Jo-Ann and I are hoping that Julian would be home to celebrate Halloween with us. There is still hope that he may arrive before the end of this month, it is a slim chance but still a chance. Would be fun. Jo-Ann and I have already purchased a costume for him. A Skeleton. It is a black sweatsuit with skeleton bones printed on it. Complete with black converse high tops. He will look like a member of the Cobra Ki in Karate Kid when they were at the Halloween dance. We have dreams of taking him for a walk around the neighborhood and having fun as first time parents would on Halloween.
We are looking forward and praying that we have the opportunity to at least spend Thanksgiving with him. It is a time of family and Thanksgiving would not feel right with him all the way over in Korea and us here on the other side of the world. Even though I never actually held Julian in my arms, he is my Son and I am his Appa. I am proud of his accomplishments and I am preparing to be encouraging in his development. The simple truth is, I want our Son to come home and complete our family. Hopefully that will be soon.