Another step closer

Gareth has his medical appointment scheduled for next Thursday (8/28/08) in London! He received his new police record he had to order and he also should be able to collect his vaccination record today from his regular doctor. He has gotten several jabs in the past week thanks to the NHS covering expenses so hopefully he won't have any added onto his London appt costs. He already has to pay 200 pounds(400 dollars!) or more for chest xray and for them to basically just look him over!

Our next step is waiting for the London embassy to receive our visa packet. It has cleared California (this is the part that took over 200 days!) and then made its way to the National Visa Center (NVC) which it arrived there 8/16/08 and then was shipped out to London this week on 8/19/08.

Once London has our goods we then need to wait for a packet 3 to arrive to Gareth which he then sends back to London saying "Hey all I am ready for this interview, let's do it!" . Then we wait AGAIN for a packet 4 to arrive to Gareth which then tells him when his interview is scheduled in London. WHEW...seems like a lot more yet but we are hoping to have it all completed in September! Fingers crossed!

One thing is we can call the Department Of State Visa department and they are so friendly and give me the info before we even get the packets in the mail at this point! So hopefully when I call late next week they will say London has our stuff. And hopefully fingers crossed soon after they will tell us when Gareth's interview is scheduled for!!!

Once Gareth has the interview his actual visa should be to him in a weeks time and then plane tickets can be purchased! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE We are SO beyond ready!

THANK YOU little gold diaper wearing baby Jesus!!!!

DATED 8/8/08!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We got APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ok I still have tears of happiness rolling down my face! I checked email at 9 pm eastern time last night and nothing....I told myself "Go to bed and maybe this day will have brought luck and Gareth will wake me with the good news" seriously I told myself that ......well phone rang at a little after 3 am here and sure enough APROVEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD and dated 8/8/08 how rad?! We got off phone and I began to pray and thank God the Lord anyone who made this happen finally haha.....tears of happiness just started flowing and I popped out of bed and had to get on the computer to talk with Gareth more and of course tell all of you my story too! It has been such a long journey I hope and pray the rest goes quick and smooth for us!!!! SIGH this feels so good.....my heart is racing and I could put all these tears of happiness into a bucket to water my plants there are so many heehee!




*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case



Application Type: I129F , PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)

Current Status: Approval notice sent.

On August 8, 2008, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Case Status and Processing Dates.
*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.


Sincerely,


The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Love is like a rollercoaster......

So much been going on lately....my emotions are all over the place...maybe cause I am pms'ing maybe because I have now officially gone off prozac (yeah again!) for about a month now I just don't know....anyways to make a long story short my mother is a VERY selfish negative person and I have decided to take a fast from her for about a month this means no email even. I just give her WAY too many chances and she just makes me feel shitty all over again. All I have to say is thank the sweet Lord for my Grandparents....

As for me and Gareth we are happy to announce we got an RFE haha....what is this you ask? Well it was a letter stating "Request for more Evidence" what kind? Well we had to send more proof we knew each other in person and had met in person within the 2 years PRIOR to us filling out the form in January to apply for a fiance' visa....ARGHHHHHHHHHH we sent this shit already people!!!! So yeah I ended up sending them 12 pics of us all labeled with dates, addys, info...mapquest of how far apart we lived, my passport pages again this time in color, and seriously a whole butt ton of other stuff they prob did not need! Honestly I think they want to do a DNA test or something it is just ridiculous!

So that all got to them in Cali yesterday early afternoon. Now we are back to waiting again.....good news is SUPPOSEDLY they have only 60 days to give us an answer now.....the average on the message board I go on is only around a month and most recently only taking a couple weeks for couples to get approvals after this step...BUT knowing the luck we been having we still have 60 plus more days to go....SIGH

I drive myself absolute bonkers checking the immigration site throughout the day to see if the date has changed on the last time they have worked on our case...a "touch" it is called according to my fellow message board support groupies ;) So yes Gareth and I want to be TOUCHED BADDDDDDDD hahaha!

I just keep sighing out loud here as like I said I am a ball of emotions right now. I know this too shall pass so trying to stay positive and get the negative out and away from me.

Is it Friday yet?

Fingers and Toes are Crossed!

Well a position has come open at the Community Mental Health in our town for a case manager and I am going to put in for it tomorrow! Closing date to apply is August 1st (next Friday). I have contacted a friend who works for them and am using her as a reference....if I get this position that would mean another $7,000 a year for me! And I heard they get nice annual raises to boot since it is a county position! EEEEE....I am so nervous yet so excited and hope this will lead me to my career path I am meant to take. Staying in the optimistic state of mind I have a car already picked out to purchase if I get this job haha....think I shall be going for a Honda Fit as they are cute, affordable, and cheap on gas! I liked the Toyota Yaris liftback but it doesn't seem to come in a 4 door unless u get the Yaris Sedan which I am a fan of hatchbacks soooo that is not doing it for me ;)

Anywayyyyy everyone wish me luck on this new venture!

Oooohhh and engagement ring arrived it is GORGEOUS! Just have to get it sized as it is a little too loose yet.

Still no word on our visa approval :(

My ringggggggggggggggg

We ordered my ring today and this is what I ended up picking out........




and side view



I am so beyond excited to get this puppy on my naked ring finger! I dunno why as it sure doesn't bring Gareth any closer to me but in a weird way I have a feeling it may bring me comfort until he does arrive! It is a 1 carat diamond center stone that they did some crazy lab stuff to so they made it a gorgeous ocean blue diamond eeeeeee LOVE. Then it has white diamonds on the sides and is all set in 18k white gold. SWOON.

As for visa news.....called today since today is our 180 day since filing day....and was told "Sorry ma'm you are still in security checks" ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH seriously how long is it going to take?! There have now been quite a few March approvals on my message board I go to for visa filer support! To say it makes me upset and livid is an understatement! I am trying to remain calm and say they are making us wait for some reason or another....it just better be a good one as they are wasting tons of precious time we could be together making babies and whatnot haha!!!

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

There have been SO many February filer approvals I don't even know what to think anymore....I am so freaking depressed over this whole process. I feel like Gareth and I have become snippier with one another because of the stress of the wait :(

I just want our approval so we can move on to next steps of the process!!!!

We did receive a touch on our case today but I am thinking it is cause I called on Friday. We had a touch on Friday as well after the call. I am praying the touch today was not just them shuffling us to the bottom of a batch again.

We reach 180 days this week. As soon as USCIS posts new processing times and state they are processing up to our date I am going to call again if we have yet to receive our approval. This is just silly.....and so unfair. :(

I am HOOKED

Yup I am going to be a convert to digital scrapbooking! Specifically Scrapblog I am soooo LOVIN it! I have well over 20 pages done already weeeeeeee :) Feels wonderful I tell ya!

What doesn't feel so wonderful is the fact still NADA from immigration....SIGH. We are approaching our 180 day mark here QUICK. As soon as that day hits I am on the phone! We want to hear something SOON.

One thing that has KIND of made us feel a bit better is I said I will go visit for a week or two in December if worse case scenario we don't hear by then. Geoff will be here to have Gabby so would not be that hard a thing to do! I just don't want to have to do that as want my man here and to be married by him way before December!!! UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH