Immigration Update

Hello all.  Here is an immigration update for those of you who care.  

Marco is STILL in Honduras.  The kids and I are in Washington but will be moving to Idaho to manage some apartments.  I am very torn about the move.... I will be leaving a lot of security in the form of family and friends, but this will hopefully set us up better for the future when Marco returns.

On my birthday my petition for my spouse was approved.  Oh happy day.  I didn't find out about it until March 5th due to speed of mail, but we are happy about this.  I was at the gym with my mom when the letter came in the mail.  My dad called and opened it for me and I started crying happy tears. this means that we are one step closer to being reunited as a family.  

The downside of this is there was some confusion earlier on in our case and now we have to submit another application to get USCIS (United States Citizen & Immigration Services) to transfer our case to the NVC (National Visa Center).  The processing times for this movement of paper looks to be around 3 months..... and I don't believe that that time frame includes the NVC's processing times.  But we are hopeful that this will progress quickly.  We received the petition for spouse approval in 4 months, 2 months quicker than we expected, so hopefully the rest will also be processed quickly.

I am OK most of the time.  Today has been a rough day, and I expect that it will get worse before it gets better.  I know it could be worse, which helps me keep things in perspective.  I also have a LOT of things to be thankful for.  I am thankful for my 3 1/2 year old who is a very nice little girl, who brings me tissues when I am crying, who makes me laugh and worry about the future when she sticks her hip out and her nose in the air.  I'm thankful for an almost 2 year old little boy who wakes up from his naps with only one sock on his hand because he can't figure out how to get the second sock on, who, I'm sure, says "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA, MAMA........." over and over and over again just to hear himself talk.  I'm thankful for their lovely little hugs and kisses.  I'm so thankful for parents who put up with my little "wild indians" and let us crash at their house rent free for months and months and months at a time.  I'm thankful for a father who does all he can do to get me little odd-jobs doing what I love here and there so that I can provide a meager income for my little ones.  I'm thankful for a mother who tolerates my priorities (as in cleaning isn't ever my first priority) and jokes about them with me.  I'm thankful for a husband who calls EVERYDAY.  I'm thankful for old friends who keep in contact with me, even though I suck at keeping in contact with them.  I'm thankful for new friends just calling to say hi.  I am thankful for the big move that is coming up..... and although many great things will be coming to an end, I believe that many wonderful things are going to begin......