Visas

For those who are little confused as to why I am still here in CA living with Chris' parents while he is in Italy, allow me the pleasure of explanation.
Chris decided to change his original plan to stay for one week and stayed for three instead. He applied for advance leave (vacation time) in order to stay for the extra two when he got his orders one week before he came home. We were not able to apply for visas until he got orders, nor were we able to schedule any shipments of household goods or vehicles.
So, he got home on Thurs. and Fri morning we applied for visas, shipped the car and scheduled movers to come and pick up our things. The movers came to the house in Corona to pick up an 800 lb immediate shipment on the 27th of Dec. The next shipments were picked up on the 5 and 6th of Jan. May got very sick at that time so we were glad that Chris was able to drive to Rosamond and stand in cold wind for two days helping the movers while I stayed here with her. That worked out nice.
On the afternoon of the 6th, I got a phone call on the cell phone from the passport/visa agent at L.A. air base where we applied for visas. He to,d me that he got everything back from the consulate with a note saying that, even though Chris and I both signed her application for a visa, they also need a notarized letter of parental consent to give her one. If I had to handle that move alone with a sick baby and then got that phone call, I would have shut down. I can't say how glad I was that Chris was still here. Not to mention the fact that we would have been delayed from re-applying for visas for weeks because Chris would have had to mail a notarized letter from Italy. So, I called Chris and prayed that the movers would get finished early. They did and we met at L.A. airbase on Tues afternoon to re-apply. Chris had no more leave available, advanced or otherwise, so he had to leave as planned on the 9th.
May and I are here awaiting our visas. Thankfully the military provides fully refundable/ changeable tickets so we can change them without being charged as often as we need to. As soon as we get our visas we will leave on the first available flight.
Chris should have landed by now in Italy, though I have not heard from him at all. We are hoping to leave with visas in hand on the 30th of Jan or sooner.
Meanwhile, the timing is not what we wished but works out more conveniently for all of us in certain ways. Chris is free to in-process without worrying about dropping us somewhere in a strange place or dragging us everywhere with him. Looking for a house will be easier without having those same concerns.
We are still hoping for sooner visas so please pray to that end for us.