Weekly NVC "No!"

Back in January when I had thought our EP would be applied for right away I had gotten into the habit of calling the National Visa Center (NVC) to see if our EP had come back to them. Of course it hadn't because the EP was not yet applied for. The way I understand things to work -- feel free to correct me if I'm wrong -- is that when our EP is applied for in Korea it is approved by the Korean government and then is sent to the NVC in America. Once there, the child's picture is in the system and a "visa interview" will be scheduled for the child in Korea. The foster parents will be required to take Henry in for the interview in order for his visa to be issued. Once that visa interview takes place the travel call generally comes rather quickly.

Since I really feel like our EP has been applied for I've resumed my weekly calls to the NVC center. I call on Friday mornings because I know that by then Friday in Korea is over and no more business over there will occur and there is a much shorter wait time on the phone in the morning than there is in the afternoon. Each week I receive the same answer -- no -- delivered in a variety of ways. I've heard, "No, I'm sorry!"; "Nope"; and "Not yet!" My favorite delivery was when the lady said, "Oh, too bad! I was really hoping to see a picture of the little guy" and my least favorite response was plain old "no" with no other words spoken. (I just said thank you and hung up).

So here I sit late on Thursday night thinking about my ever faithful call tomorrow morning. I'm desperately hoping to hear, "Yes! I see his cute little picture here on the screen", but I'm prepared for my normal response -- I just hope I get the nice lady. :)