Kites to Visas




 

This was the first time I saw an ostrich with wings open.

This is a Syrian red wolf.

We even got to see an otter playing around.

This has been a good second week of the kids school break. Arianna had a doctor's appointment and she had not gained much weight. But she is just starting on solids so I am sure that will fix the weight issue. Jason took the kids on some hikes and walks. They also flew a kite one day---or they tried to. The wind was very strong so the kite crashed a lot. I worked with the kids on their English and we just had a good time being together without all the running to town. Arianna gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth now.  Thursday we just had one person at Bible Study but it was a very enjoyable study together.  We were blessed once again with some groceries from a friend of one of our Bible Study regulars. I am hoping to meet this kind lady soon. Friday was the big day this week. We had to go once againg to the immigration office in Montpellier because the director had not emailed the office here as he said he would to explain our case. With it being a vacation period we were skeptical if the director would even be in his office but we decided we had to go try anyway. So we planned on adding a fun outing to the trip just in case he was not in, then we would not feel we had gone for nothing. We made it to Montpellier with Arianna only crying 40 minutes of the 2 hour trip. Whew! Jason let me out at the office and he took the kids to the parking lot. After talking with the front desk attendant and explaining the situation about 3 times I began to realize that she wanted to question me a lot without hearing me out. And I got the impression that she did not want to let me talk to the director. (I was being very kind this time- last time I was much more insistant and I got to move on to the director very quickly)  Anyway, after being interrupted with questions and explanations that had nothing to do with the fact that the director had not sent the email he said he would....I caught sight of the director as he walked by and called out to him. He of course remembered me and took over immediately. I waited while he copied my passport. I realized then that I must have really offended the lady at the desk because she gave the poor guy after me a really hard time. oops.

So the director took me to his office and told me he had tried to call the office at Carcassonne and that they never called him back. Then he "moved on to other things". He called again and left a message not mentioning my name or anything about my case. I did have the number and email of our office in Limoux and he got our caseworker on the phone. She told him just to send an email......Hmmm...If he had done that like he said he would in the first place?......I asked him if he just wanted to type up something and print me a hardcopy and then I wouldn't have to worry about it again. He told me not to worry that with one phone call... er.. email  and it would all be "unblocked".  He never really said sorry, though while talking on the phone with our caseworker he did admit that he had made me travel a second time for nothing. He did ask for our email so we would be kept in the loop about how it was progressing. I left feeling pretty good about receiving it and not having to return to the states and start over!
Then we went to the ZOO! We had a great time and saw some things we had never seen before, white rhinos, Syrian bears, and a red wolf! I don't think I have ever seen a wolf. The zoo was really hilly and after 3 hours of trudging around we were all tired. We bought a little velro monkey as a souvenir and headed to the car. Arianna took her nap at the zoo so we weren't too excited about the drive home. After some McDonald's burgers we headed out and Arianna did  fall asleep...eventually.
When we got home we already had the email from the director! Here's hoping I will have my card soon!  God Bless, ANGIE

Let's go fly a kite.