While we had been laughing and literally singing and dancing on our beds the night before, we woke up on Wednesday morning feeling very gloomy. Here it was the middle of the week and we hadn't heard anything from the USCIS. We were scheduled to fly out on Saturday and our visas were set to expire four days after that. So, we were now planning that we would have to take a bus over to Cambodia over the weekend in order to leave the country and re-enter with new visas if we didn't hear something soon. On this morning the situation really got us down and we all started crying. At the breakfast table it was Penny who was our ray of sunshine. She was the first to reach for our hands to pray. Although she was probably freezing cold from the air conditioning, when she saw her daddy perspiring, she went over and wiped his brow with a napkin. After breakfast, we took the skytrain to the end, Mochit station. There we got off and bought some delicious pastries, sandwiches, etc. from a bakery at the station and ate a little picnic lunch on a bench. Then we walked around a large park. It was VERY hot and humid. But, Penny still had fun playing on some playground equipment.
When we got back we went to Central World, the largest upscale mall in the area, within walking distance of our guest house. We needed to go to a pharmacy there to find the equivalent of one of Jay's prescription medications that he was about to run out of. We discovered that in Thailand it's very easy and inexpensive to buy most of these medications that can only be prescribed by a doctor back home. This mall is a special place in our memory because it was here where Penny really started showing her growing trust in her daddy. We remember as we were walking along the outer hallway, which is all glass looking out over the plaza decorated for Christmas, Penny jumped up on Jay's back and squealed with delight when we carried her that way to the escalator. Sadly enough, the mall was set ablaze almost a year and a half later, on May 19, 2010 by the Red Shirt protesters. These were the folks that we had seen gathering outside the zoo back on Dec. 26th, 2008. The opposing side, the yellow shirted side, were the ones that almost prevented us from entering Thailand as they had taken over the airports and caused them to be shut down. We enjoyed our time in Thailand, but with all of the political tension, we felt like we couldn't get Penny out of there soon enough. Here are some photos taken from Central World, looking through that glass to the open plaza area below. 
I heard that reopened part of the mall this past September and the rest is set to reopen in stages. Here is a photo of the food plaza where we spent a lot of time.
Next is a photo of the inside before the fire.
Here is what it looked like from the outside.
Later that night we went over to the Needle King to check on how the dress was coming along for Penny. They were satisfied with how it fit and would have it completely finished the next day.Thursday, Jan. 8th, 2009
This morning started out with us visiting the internet cafe right around the corner from our Golden VIP Guest House after breakfast. Later we walked over to Chitlom Central Dept. Store (opposite direction from Central World) to go shopping for food to stock up our little fridge in our guest house room. While we were there my Thai cell phone in my fanny pack rang! I'll never forget what I heard on the other side. It was a woman calling from the USCIS. She said, "There's been an investigation into your case and we're ready to move forward. Can you be at our office before 4 p.m.?" That was at 2:30 p.m. We rushed as fast as we could to finish buying our food, ran back to our guest room, gathered all of our documents and quickly headed over to the train station.
We got off at Ploenchit Station and booked it down Wireless Road in 90 degree plus heat and humidity. We hardly noticed the smoke from street vendors mixed with the smell of sewer gas this time. We were just so excited to finally be getting interviewed almost one month from the date when we entered Thailand. Here's a map of the area. 
We went as quickly as we could up to the 15th floor of the Sindhorn Building.
We were very surprised that the woman who we had been dealing with all along, who was supposed to be in charge of our case until the end, was no where to be found. We wondered what happened to her. Another woman interviewed us for a short time. We almost burst out laughing when she asked Penny, "Are you unmarried?" and of course Penny was clueless. Even the woman interviewing her was kind of grinning. Then she asked us to have a safe trip back to South Dakota. That's when we knew that she'd definitely been hearing from Senator John Thune's office. We smiled and said, "Well, we're actually from Colorado, but the grandparents are from SD. She told us that by now the Embassy across the street should be closed, but that they could see us first thing tomorrow morning. So, we thanked her and proceeded to the front desk area. But, just as we were about to leave, the one woman who was still working there asked us to wait a moment. She called across the street and asked the Embassy if someone there would stay late and let us in. So, we jumped, hopped and skipped across the street, via the little overhead bridge only to be met by wary guards blocking our way. 
They finally called into the Embassy and talked to a woman who could explain to them in Thai what we were trying to tell them about us being granted a special "after-hours interview". Then, wouldn't you know it, Jay's pen set the metal detector off, so he got to be wanded. But, finally they let us in and when we got inside, we waited for a while, because we didn't see anyone at the window. When they opened up their window, we let out a sigh of relief. Jay was literally shaking while pulling all of the documents out for the embassy workers to stamp, photocopy, keep, staple together, sign, etc., etc. HINT: Always bring LOTS of extra copies of everything along (5 to be exact) Don't forget that many passport photos either! The woman was very kind to us. She kept Penny's passport and then gave us a letter. She told us to give this to the guards tomorrow morning (Friday) so they will let you in for a special 8 a.m. meeting. We couldn't believe it! We would be able to get Penny's visa the day before we were scheduled to fly out.
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