I always used a company that specializes in obtaining visas to visit China when I needed one to visit the girls.  It seemed logical to me to use the same company to get a visa for Cici this year.  Ping wouldn't hear of it, insisting that she would go to the Chinese consulate herself to get the visa.  My warnings about the hassle with parking and waiting in line didn't deter her, so yesterday afternoon, off she went.

It is a good thing that she went, because the Consulate wouldn't just accept Cici's U.S. Passport to issue a visa.  They also require a copy of a person's previous Chinese passport the first time they issue a visa to go to China for someone who was born in China but now has a passport from another country.  We knew this from reading their website, so Ping had those passport pages with her.  But the names were different, of course, so they still wouldn't issue the visa.  Ping called me and said she was at a nearby Starbucks.  Somehow she had prevailed on them to allow me to fax a copy of the adoption order to their fax machine so that Ping could take it to the Consulate.

This doesn't look like the adoption orders we usually see, Ping was told when she delivered it.  So she had to spend time convincing the Consulate that it is the genuine adoption order.

Ping was still at the Consulate when I picked Cici up at school to take her to the orthodontist one last time.  They removed her braces, revealing a perfect set of teeth.  Then Cici and grabbed a bite to eat while the orthodontist made her retainers.  I told Cici the story about the Consulate.  I think Mama wanted to go to the Consulate even though she knew it would be a hassle because she always went to government offices in China to obtain permits and licenses for her company's real estate development projects.  I think she enjoys overcoming the objections and solving the problems that arise in those situations, I continued.  Cici smiled in agreement.

We will know at the end of the week if Ping's efforts were successful.