jumping hurtles into China

Okay, so it goes like this....
•I can't buy tickets to go to China until I get my visas. My visas are being processed and due to be finished tomorrow.
•I can't pay for tickets or visas until I get paid.
•I finally got paid today, one day after I was originally hoping to leave and 4 days after it was due to be deposited.

So, here it is Thursday evening, I'm supposed to leave tomorrow, but we're trying desperately to fly to Guangzhou rather than taking two trains and five days to get there. But I can't book tickets until I have my visas, which I should get tomorrow. It just postpones the inevitable and makes each day a frustrating game of wait-and-see. We're running out of time and money here.

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Yesterday, I finally got to meet Rita and Jeff, who are here to adopt two of our favorites from Tam Ky: Kieu and Chieu. She is as wonderful in person as I thought she'd be. She was even kind enough to bring along another Nintendo DS game for the kids; they've grown a bit weary of the others they've been playing over and over. She'll be meeting the kids for the first time soon, how I wish we could be there, and I'm so glad to have met her. We'll keep in touch and maybe, if I can swing it, we'll make it to Disneyworld for a reunion.