Update

All,
I just got off the phone with Chareyl. She is still waiting in line at the Embassy for the handful of visa children. She's still on the waiting list for humanitarian parole appointments.

This is the classic story of "trying to fit a camel through the eye of a needle". She says there are so many PEOPLE in line. Some of those she's talked to have been sleeping on the floor in the embassy for the last 2 days. She did say that the line is moving very, very slowly.

Based on the discussions I've had with senator's offices and congressmen's offices - they are all escalating to all the right people - the problem is the eye of the needle is still only so big. It is my opinion after all the calls I've had this morning that unless they can do something to increase capacity (the number of people the Embassy can process in an hour, etc) contacting Senators and Congressmen is just making those groups sent off more emails to already overflowing email boxes.

She did say that she was told by Embassy personnel that even if she got to the front of the line today they wouldn't have the paperwork issued before Monday. They are working late (and probably over the weekend) but there are just so many people that want the exact same thing we do and not enough Embassy staff to handle all the requests.

There are many, many rumors out there. Please be cautious about what you believe or pass on to other people.

I will keep you apprised as we get more information. Please pray for the Embassy to be more efficient, the people to be more patient, the lawmakers to be more creative in addressing these issues, the children and workers to be safe and for all of our children to be safely and swiftly moved to our "command central" so we can take care of them together during this crisis.

I'll keep you posted.