Approved!

Well, if you can't tell from the title.. Rod's visa was approved yesterday! Now all we have to do is wait for his passport with the visa to arrive in the mail.

For those of your interested, I'll tell the story, for those not interested, feel free to skip down to the pictures!

The interview wasn't difficult at all, but I sure was nervous! We got to the embassy about an hour early, but we couldn't go in until 30 minutes before our interview time. It's a good thing we got there early though, because we were number 2 in line for our interview! When we were called, we went to a window where a lady took all of the forms we brought in, and the supporting evidence we brought. She told us that we had forgotten to fill out two copies of one form and my heart started pounding! However, she just gave us the form to fill out right there. So, Rod started writing and the lady started handing me back all of the evidence we had collected.. without even looking at it! Oh well, better safe than sorry I suppose. After Rod had filled out everything the lady told us to take our seats and they would call our names again. So, we waited a few minutes and then we were called to a different window. When we got to the new window, this time there was a man, and he asked us a few questions. First he asked Rod if he wanted to do the interview in English or Spanish and Rod told him Spanish. So, the guy starts to asking ME questions in Spanish. Then he asked me (in Spanish), "How long were you traveling in Chile?" This made me really confused because... I LIVE in Chile. So, I think I asked him to repeat himself but he asked the same question. By this time I was so nervous that I wasn't able to speak Spanish, except, I asked him (in Spanish) if he could speak to me in English. He kind of laughed at me and repeated the exact same question.. which I didn't understand in English either, because I've been living in Chile, not traveling. So, I had to explain my complete history of when I first came to Chile in 2001 with AFC, then I came back in 2003 for two months.. yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure he got more than he asked for, but he seemed happy with my response by the time I got to present day. I think he was just happy that I had finished talking. Then he said to Rod, "So, you've never been to the U.S." And Rod told him that he had, in fact, been to the U.S. last year. The guy looked surprised and started pulling something up on his computer and he was like, "Oooh. Ok. You're approved." When he said it like that, my mouth dropped open! I couldn't believe after all that we've been through to try to get the visa that it was THAT easy. I was so excited that I seriously wanted to hand him the wedding invitation that we brought as evidence and invite him to the wedding! But, I figured it probably wasn't the best idea. Then he gave us a slip to fill out so that Rod could have the visa mailed to him and we were on our merry way! I still can't believe it!

You aren't allowed to take pictures (or even take a camera) inside the embassy, but I wanted to capture some part of this experience so I could post it on the blog.

Here is Rod outside the embassy after being approved.

Here's me with Rod. Sorry, we had to do the self-portrait thing, but I wanted a picture with both of us. Do we look excited??
We decided it would be appropriate to celebrate by going out for some good ole' American food! Applebees is the best American restaurant that you can find in Chile (in my opinion) so we went there and celebrated with lunch and brownies for dessert! Woo hoo! Can't wait to really celebrate on August 2nd though!
THANK YOU to everyone for your prayers! And Save-The-Date for August 2nd, 2008, OFFICIALLY!