Oh YES!

Aiston's visa application was approved today. 

It won't really sink in until we are home that the whole adoption process from the Philippines side is officially over. No more wasting away in lines. No more tears. No more redundant paperwork. No more anxiety. No more days off work to sort out things our attorneys should have done on our behalf. No more complaining. No more bureaucratic BS. No more w.a.i.t.i.n.g. No more despising a country that has produced such an amazing little boy. No more self-pity. It is over. It is over. IT IS OVER.

We were a bundle of nerves this morning: super hot and sweaty, super anxious and stressed, quintuple checking that we had everything in order. We got picked up and dropped off at the U.S. Embassy with no problem, and we were whisked into a line for non-immigrant visas. After security, were were ushered into another section where a woman implied that we would be on the fast track to getting what we needed done since both Cory and I were U.S. citizens. We went from one window to the next seamlessly. We were greeted at the first window by a very warm and friendly face who beamed at us and said, "Oh my, now I'm assuming this visa is for the little prince here?" We told her she was correct, but that Aiston had her fooled and she told us that today, this little prince would be receiving VIP service. We were then ushered to another window, able to go before hundreds of other applicants (all non-U.S. citizens, I presume). While we waited at the window for our interview, there were several other interviews taking place at the same time, of which you could hear. Three interviews in a row were rejections of visas. This made us slightly nervous. When it was our turn, the woman on duty was very respectful and kind and asked us some sensible questions like: What are your plans while you are in the States? How long have you been here in the Philippines and when will you return? Where do you work and do you have the employment contracts? How long have you had custody of your son and do you have the finalization paperwork? After answering her questions and offering to show her pictures of the pet cat (that's how over-prepared we were to provide proof of our ties to the Philippines, which you must have) and showing the documentation she asked for, she went to make some calls just to be sure that what she was doing was proper and that what we were doing was proper in terms of filling out the right forms, moving along the right path, etc. She apologized for the second time about how she had to keep double-checking and we assured her that this was the least painful, most efficient step we had taken in this whole process yet and that we were more than happy to wait. Cory made a few jokes throughout the 5-7 minute interview and then, because she does this every day, she said in the most nonchalant way:

"Okay, your visa application has been approved and you will receive your son's passport with the visa in it within a week to the address you listed on your application form."

Stunned may describe what we felt at that precise moment. Time may have stopped and sound may have escaped the room for a brief couple of seconds. Then the din of the other applicants was upon us and we looked at each other and just smiled. We asked a few more piddly questions, packed up our things and left. While waiting for our ride home, Cory and I had tears in our eyes. And we continued to all day.

Our flights are booked. Our bags are practically packed. We are most DEFINITELY coming HOME this summer!!!