Gee . . . I FORGOT ! ! !

OK, so I forgot about my blog for a while, a LONG while. Life has been busy and with so many places online it is hard to keep up with everything!

Kathlene has just celebrated her two-year anniversary of arriving in the US and to celebrate we sent the US government a bunch of money to get her 'permanent' resident card.

See if this makes since, when you come to the US as a spouse of a citizen they give you a tw0-year 'conditional' resident card so you have to re-file in two years to get a permanent card. BUT, in THREE years you can take the citizenship test if you want (for another, not so small, fee) So you get to send them a large sum for the permanent card, which you may only need another year if you want to become a citizen and then pay another fee a year later to take the citizenship test.

And to top it all off, once they receive your application for the permanent card, what do they send you? A ONE-YEAR extension! Makes sense to me!

Oh well, the good thing is once Kathlene receives her permanent resident card, we don't have to deal with the government for another 10 years if we don't want to. And then it is just like renewing your driver's license, you just pay the fee and get a new card.

I will try and not stay away so long next time!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We woke up this morning to an inch of snow over a layer of ice and Kathlene was excited to see the snow! This is only the second snowfall she has seen she arrived and she loves the snow. (But not the cold!)

We are supposed to get more tonight depending upon the temperature, but we could get up to four more inches. Which would look nice, but it makes it hard to get Kathlene to work by 7am. But hopefully it will hang around long enough she can enjoy it when she gets home.

Not much news, Kathlene is still getting used to living in the US, and laughing at our crazy sayings. You should have seen her face as I tried to explain Groundhog Day!

SHE'S HERE ! ! ! SHE'S HERE ! ! !

At approximately 2:30pm Sunday afternoon, I watched my gwapa asawa walk out of security at Nashville airport! We spent the night in Nashville and returned home to Kentucky yesterday afternoon!

Sometime I just can't believe she is finally here! Pray for us as we start our lives together and pray for Kathlene as she adjusts to life here and deals with the homesickness of being so far away from her family.

That's all for now!

A NEW POST ! ! !

Ok, so I haven't been very good at this blogging thing. I must admit, I have gotten tired at times of answering all the questions the past few months again and again. Questions like: "When's your wife gonna get here?" and "Why is it taking so long?"

But we are finally at the end of this journey and soon are going to start our journey of life together!

Thanks for everyone's prayers and support, keep on praying as I will not be able to relax until her plane touches down on the tarmac at Nashville airport and I see her coming out of security!

Maybe I will be a little better at this as time goes by . . .

Look! Up Ahead! Is that a light I see ! ? ! ?

Well yesterday I put the FINAL visa papers in the mail for Kathlene! I sent in the completed visa application with all the forms, certificates and other data, plus my Affidavit of Support, hopefully proving to the US government, that I am capable of supporting Kathlene once she is here and we will not need any assistance.

I must admit it was scary sealing up the envelope worried that I had answered all the questions correctly and included all the proof they need to move everything on to the final step, her interview at the American Embassy in Manila.

If the timelines I see on the internet are correct, the National Visa Center should process the papers in about four weeks (or less if everything goes smoothly) and then they will forward everything to the Embassy in Manila. So we are hoping for Manila to receive the papers by the end of April and set her interview about two or three months after that!

So things are looking VERY good for Kathlene to have an interview by July, and she should get her visa a week or so after the interview. That means I could very well be on a plane crossing the Pacific sometime in August!

I am also hoping that what I will be receiving back from my taxes will cover all of Kathlene's expenses when she has to travel to Manila. She will have to go about a week or so before the interview date so she has time to get her physical and immunizations done in time for them to transfer everything to the embassy.

So all I have to worry about now is getting everything arranged to pay for our airfare and some expense money for the trip. But I know I will (OK, God will! He has taken care of EVERYTHING so far!) get everything together in time so when I get the message that Kathlene has her visa in hand, I will be winging my way there in just a few short weeks!
I must admit, I have learned so much from all of this! God has shown time and time again how He has everything worked out if we only trust in Him! But I am sad to say that is much harder than it should be! BUT, I am SLOWLY learning. I am so thankful we have a loving and PATIENT Father in Heaven who gives us time to learn!

One year ago today . . .

This time last year I had no idea my life was about to change FOREVER! Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 I went home and had supper then got on-line for a while just to pass some time. I went to a chatroom I visit from time-to-time and that was when my life was changed!

One of the members started talking with me and we decided to move to IM so we could talk in private. Her name was Kathlene and she told me she was a singer in her church. The more we chatted the more we found we had in common, so we decided we would stay in touch.

After a couple of weeks we decided we would start writing letters to each other and I would call her on the phone so we could get to know each other better. One thing led to another, and pretty soon we thought we could be much more than friends. So I decided I would take a trip to the Philippines and we would meet in person and see if our feelings for each other was real.

I arrived in Kathlene's hometown the end of June with two dozen roses and we met in person for the first time. We decided that our love was real and we started to make plans for our wedding before I would have to leave to return to the US. Her parents gave us their blessing and we got married the first of July just a few days before I had to leave.

So we are still apart as we wait to finish the process of getting her visa approved, but we stay in touch by phone and lots of text messages!

Tonight we are going to get on-line and celebrate the first anniversary of our meeting. Hopefully by the first anniversary of our wedding we can celebrate together!

And now back to our regularly scheduled program . . .

OK, so I haven't posted in a while . . .

I have been so wore out from the trip and taking time to let everything soak in that happened while I was there, it has taken a while to realize everything WASN'T a dream!

Well, the USCIS (United States Citizen & Immigration Service) has officially notified me they have received Kathlene's paperwork and assigned her a case number. Hopefully they will get everything processed her in the States by the first of the year. After her petition is approved in the US, it is sent to the American embassy in Manila where they will schedule Kathlene's interview. Right now they are scheduling interviews from 60 to 90 days after they receive the papers, so it will be around next March before I will be able to go back to the Philippines and bring Kathlene home with me.

Next month is both Kathlene and my birthdays, so we will have to celebrate apart, but I have already sent her her gift and card and her family is going to hold a big fiesta to celebrate what will be her last birthday before she moves here with me.

I am also putting on a show to help raise money to cover expenses for Kathlene's visa application and my return trip and our airfare. I will post more details on that later.