San Fran, part 2

Just a quick update before the next adventure, for part of the family at least…

Our visa appointment at the French Consulate in San Francisco didn’t quite go as smoothly as we’d hoped.  To make a long story short, by midnight last night we had received an email from the French lady that our case was, at last, “strong.”  But, Paris decides who gets visas and who does not, so there is still time to PRAY for these to come through.  It is out of our hands and totally surrendered into God’s.  The ladies at the Consulate were very nice and helpful, and MAF HQ staff had our backs and jumped into action, helping us from afar.  We are totally amazed by the quality of people we worked with yesterday!

Despite taking longer than expected and being far more stressful than desired, we made the most of our afternoon in SFO.  We walked around the shopping area in Union Square, walked up to the Chinatown Gate and grabbed some fun little things for Levi and Amelia, and then walked out to the Ferry Plaza and the water.  It was a lot of walking, but Axel enjoyed it and we did as well.  It was perfect weather, too.

In the late afternoon we hoped back on the BART to the airport, and took the one-hour flight home – through a thunder storm, which wasn’t entirely pleasant – and got to sleep in our own beds.

Today was a little stressful, realizing how little time we have left and, as always, how much there is to do, but more progress was made and will continue.

We are grateful to have family in town at the moment to help us with the kids and some little projects around the house.  Axel and I take off really REALLY early in the morning (Thursday) to head east, to Kentucky, to my grandma’s 90th birthday party and family reunion.  Since we are able to still be here in the US, I am grateful to see my grandma one more time and to celebrate with some cool people, some of whom I haven’t seen in many years.  And, of course, everyone gets to meet Axel, who is kind of a boss.

So, pray for traveling mercies, for Levi and Amelia to go several more days without their Mama around, and especially for our visas to be approved so we can head out in just a few short weeks!