Our Family & Our Life

It's been too long since my last post but by now I'm sure everybody who reads this blog has caught on that I'm just not as diligent in posting as I have been in the past. There have been a number of 'YAY' moments since December: 1. Isla is fully toilet trained; 2. Colin has a full time job; and 3. He has "officially" become a Permanent Resident (PR) as he now has his PR card! Isla ~~ Well, what can I say about the madam.  She's the boss lady of the house  ;-) She'll be 3 next week!  Yes, THREE years old.  Where has my baby gone?  She is now fully toilet trained although we still have the odd accident but they are few and far between.  She usually goes on her own but I like to 'assist' her just so I know she's fully cleaned up, if you know what I mean.  Also, if she gets a bit preoccupied with what she is doing, I may need to remind her but overall she's done excellent.  Thanks to Oma!  Even at night time, no problems.  She

Merry Christmas to our friends and family!  I apologize for the lack of Christmas cards this year but we wish  you all God's continued blessings this season and in 2011. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I suppose most of our blog readers are probaby fed up looking at my African Violet but you'll be glad to know it is still blooming and lovely.  More importantly, Colin is home!  YAY!  After almost 3 months away, he came home on December 3rd and managed to avoid any Heathrow airport disasters or delays. Almost as soon as he was home, he also had a job interview and since then a second interview for the same position.  He felt the interviews went well and we both hope and pray (and ask you to do the same) that this position will be offered to him and he will be able to stay home with us in January.  In the perfect world he would've had the offer before Christmas but no word as of yet.  We remain optimistic he will hear before the end of the week. While he's been home we haven'

... we had immigration news! Colin recieved the FBI Certificate (clear, no record, phew) which was promptly forwarded to Immigration Canada by the not-so-prompt Canada Post...  Next step, Permanent Residence. The next day he received the Work Permit!  ..... we went to the Rockton World's Fair ! I get a kick out of that name.  If you blinked you'd be through Rockton...  Hardly known to the world... But anyways, it was fun.   It's been years since I was last there and it hasn't changed a bit.  Everything is in the same place. The giant pumpkin contest is neat to see... I think this one was over 700lbs... (the pumpkin, not Isla) Even though we live on a horse farm, she LOVED the sheep, especially BLACK sheep ;-) .... Isla turned 32 months on Sunday.  Four more months and she's 3! For the record (unofficially) she's 29.8 lbs and 36.5 inches tall.  Petite, funny, sweet, active and oh so beautiful! We were at the park this morning to play in the leaves an

Wow, it's been so long since my last post that I almost forgot my blogger log in!! So what's up? Well, first off, a visa update.  A huge weight has been lifted and another prayer answered! Colin qualifies for Canadian permanent residence. YAY - but he can't get the visa yet because we don't have a clear FBI Clearance Certificate.  We have applied for it and praying that we get it within the six weeks Immigration Canada says it takes and not the "up to" 12 weeks the FBI website says it could take.  A bit of stress again as we have to provide it by October to IC and Colin couldn't get his fingerprints done in Brazil which we needed done before we could apply.  Worst case scenario is that we provide a letter explaining the situation but I trust everything will work out in perfect time and we can be a (normal) family unit again by the fall. Isla is doing well.  A month ago she was still 28 lbs but she is getting taller all the time. I was at the mall toda

Time sure flies, doesn't it? It's May already! YAY!  I don't mind but if it was going on let's say, November, then I wouldn't be as happy. It's time for my-not-so-intended-to-be-monthly update.  Yes, that is just how things have turned out to be.  I haven't been in a blogging sort of mood lately.  Too much of the same and not much else that is blog worthy but it's not a bad thing. Colin is away and arriving home on Friday for a week and a bit.  There hasn't been much change on the visa front although we hope to hear this month of our approved "agreement in prinicple" followed shortly thereafter with the Canadian visa.  I just checked Immigration Canada's website and it says they are processing October 3, 2009.  That means one of two things: 1.  They are VERY slow or October 3 was a heavy mail day as it has showed October 3 for a few weeks now OR 2. They haven't updated the website in a few weeks. I really hope for the latter as

I honestly don't know what I'm going to be typing about. Nothing exciting has happened, going to happen, that I know about anyways, but here I go.... The big and best news is that Colin is home tomorrow morning at 5:45 A.M. - that's right A.M.!!! Why anyone would book a flight that lands before the sun comes up is beyond me!? Guess who's picking him up? I love him, what can I say, I can't wait to see him... The leaves are falling, little one is rolling in them. Yup, she loves them, I rake them but it's not a bad job, or at least not yet. Maybe next week after a few more trips to the yard will I be fed up with them.. I tell ya, mom and dad have ALOT of trees, the kind of trees that drop ALOT of leaves.... Maple, Oak, Elm and more... But they look pretty at this time of year. I wonder how many leaves I'll rake up this year? 1000's!!!! Isla loves the yard and she loves to come out with me while I rake. If it wasn't for the unkid-friendly dog tha

Well, where do I start? It's been a long month to start with. One problem after another and in the process I lost the motivation to blog but things are better again or at least are in the process of getting better. Moving so many times in a short period of time is emotionally, physically and financially exhausting. Trust me! I guess the best place to start is several weeks ago. It was only after about three date changes did we arrange the moving date and we left on Sept. 9 at 5 a.m. We were loaded down to say the least.... .. the top row of photos was taken in the apartment when we were packing up. That stuff left with the movers. ... the bottom row is a photo of our van and it went with us, obviously. It was squishy in there because we also had the cats but we made it to mom and dad's in 2.5 days - 1468 miles completed! Nebraska and Iowa are big states even though you may not believe looking at the map but just try driving through them. They go on and on and on.

We've arrived! Crossed the border into Canada at 11 o'clock this morning, hit the first Tim Horton's at 12 noon and arrived at mom and dad's at 2:15 p.m. All is well but we're all very tired. Will post about our journey with photos sometime soon...

... and the verdict is... DENY ... for both applications. The "big" application consisting of the work and residency permit was a big disappointment. I say disappointment with surprise because even though we sort of knew it was coming and I want to move back to Canada, I was really disappointed. I don't want to move again. I want to stay here to have stability in our lives - for the first time in Isla's life. I want to sit on my sofa's again (they're in my parents basement 1500 miles away) in our living room. I haven't seen the letter but Colin said that some of the points they raised were petty. Could be but at the end of the day the company was too new, not established enough to qualify for this visa. Thankfully the denial has nothing to do with Colin and I and we have no ban from entering the US again in the future. The biggest surprise that made me madder than a hornet was in regards to Colin's temporary business visa - the visa

Dear Diary, Just another day of not much going on which I suppose is a good thing. The weather has cooled down significantly (I'm wearing sweat pants and sweat shirt!) and it's been wet. It's forecasted to get back into the 80's this weekend but I can't say I'm looking forward to it, I kind of like it the way it is. Colin's "new" boss was in town the past day or so and told him the plan for the American operations. It sounds good especially the part about getting a company car. Now all we need is the stupid visa but there is a plan to speed that up as well and we're hoping it works out but other than that, nothing new on the visa front either. I took a few photos of the lil lady this morning before lunch. How cute is this? I gotta say this could be one of my favourites EVER! We're so in love with her, how could we not be? Enjoy your day. I'm going to get myself a cup of tea and relax until she wakes up from her nap.

Dear Diary, The title of my post is the title to the harsh letter we recieved this week from the kind immigration folks in Texas.... grrr.... However it's not as bad as it sounds as they are just looking for further documentation with regards to the company. The company has 30 days to comply and if not recieved we will be denied our visas. It's been hard to digest and our anxiety levels are hitting the roof. We have no idea what is going to happen to us if we don't get the visas. All we know is that we are nearing the end of miserable American immigration experience. The question is, where will it end? Our lives have been on hold for the last fifteen months. We're not legal resident in the UK, Canada or the States (at least I don't think we are). We haven't had any medical insurance (with the exception of emergency travel insurance) and Isla hasn't had a proper baby well check since 8 months old. We haven't seen our family in months and there contin

Dear Diary, I checked online the status of our visa's this morning and it's not looking good for our trip to Ontario at the beginning of July. For our visa type the processing time in Texas is three months. Three months from March 31 (the date they recieved our applications) is the end of June and if we are issued visas we still have to get an appointment to recieve the actual physical visa in our passports. Presumably this will take place in Denver. I doubt very much we will make it to the wedding on July 10 but I'm still holding onto the hope that we do. Unless the Texas processing centre issues it between now and before June 30 then we might have a chance however in all my visa obtaining experience, I have yet to witness government bureaucrats exceed processing times. I should add here that we are "legal" in America but even our attorney is advising us not to leave the country as the border crossing guards have the right to refuse entry