US Embassy.

I've been trying to load some pictures, but blogger is being difficult, so that will have to come later.. :)

We got to the Embassy on Wednesday morning with plenty of time to spare.

We walked up to the gate and there was a line with around 25 people in it, and we read the sign and it said something to the effect of "immigrant visas" and then I saw another sign that said "US Citizens" and there was no one in that line. So, we went and stood in that line, and the guards took us first before everyone else, then.. :/ :) Which felt a little weird, but was nice because it was very cold outside and we didn't want to wait.. :/ :))

If you have ever travelled to the US, then you know the kind of security you have to go through when traveling in or out of the US... well.. this was worse.. :D They did everything besides a cavity search.. :/ :)) But the security people were in awe of Leia and kept her occupied while we had to be searched. We weren't allowed to take our cell phones with us or anything like that.

Then we were able to enter the actual embassy building (which was extremely ugly).

There were lots of people there already ... all trying to get visas to travel to the US. While waiting to get through everything, (we had our own seating area next to the windows, of course, apart from everyone else), we got to hear all the pleas of people trying to con their way into the US.. It was.. interesting.. :)

Leia was hungry and grumpy.. :/ But she did fairly well while waiting. We were there about an hour. We talked to just a normal person and she went through all our papers to make sure we had everything we needed. And she thought Leia's passport photos were good..! We were very surprised by that, we were expecting them to be completely wrong.

And the woman thought that Leia was a lot older than she actually is (which is what everyone always thinks).

Then we had to wait for awhile until we got to talk to an official, our "interview." The person that would sign all our documents and notarize our signatures.

When we got in a line to pay for everything, we got to go before everyone else in the line, that had been waiting who-knows-how-long.. :/ Because of me being American. We didn't really have a choice about the matter. The guard placed us in front of everyone else, and the cashier said to the Swedish guy behind us "That is just the way it is." .. :/

We should receive her American passport in about 3 weeks. Her Social Security Number (personnummer) will take about 3 months, but that isn't necessary to have right now.

And some interesting info for some fun:
-Leia will have to file for American taxes every year for the rest of her life now.. :/ She will have to register her income with the US government. She won't have to pay anything, though, unless she makes over like.. 80,000$ (600 000 sek) in one year.
-Her children will NOT be allowed to be US citizens unless Leia lives in the US for 5 consecutive years after she is like 13 years old or something like that. So, my US line ends with Leia unless she lives in the US.. my grandchildren will not be allowed to be US citizens then.

All of it is extremely complicated, though.. :/ :)
But we still need to get her Swedish passport, and we can pick up my Swedish passport when we get hers.

And a big thank you to Fredrik..! He took Leia for a walk, and he let me nap for 3 hours today while he took care of her. :) He actually kept her asleep, so she got a 3 hour nap, too today, while I slept. I really needed the sleep.

Leia seems much happier now, the last couple of days, than she has been in a couple of weeks. So, we are hoping things are getting better for her.. :) Slowing down a little. Of course it will be different tomorrow... :)

I'm going to try to get some pictures on of Leia and Thea, we'll see if blogger lets me do that!