I appreciate all of your feedback yesterday. While I didn't get many suggestions, it seems you're all fairly content with the balance I've struck. One comment that did stand out was Stephen's - he asked for more posts on our immigration struggle. I replied in the comments that I haven't talked about it because there isn't anything going on, but that's not altogether true.
In October, which marked six months from the second immigration meeting in Ciudad Juarez, we contacted the Michigan Senator whose office is "helping" us. Because of the separation of powers, a Senator cannot tell the Department of Homeland Security to do anything, but they can send a letter "urging" them to hurry up. My lawyer said that at the six month mark she likes to stir everyone up again, so that's what we did.
Someone from that office contacted the DHS and found out that they are falling behind and our 8-10 month wait has become a 10-12 month wait. The Consulate in Ciudad Juarez also moved offices in November, which slowed things down even more. We've scrambled to come up with more reasons for them to review our case sooner, and we're in the middle of one such things right now. I'd rather not get into the particulars here, but one of my blogging buddies has played a large role (thanks blogging buddy!).
So where does this leave us? Assuming they don't change their timetables again, we should have an answer regarding his visa sometime between March and May. We plan to be out of here as soon as we can after that, either to Chicago or Canada.
Now about that fruit.
I've moved a lot in my life (14 cities so far, with several moves within each city - 6 just in Chicago) so I'm looking forward to our next transition. Sure, I could mope and whine about what a PITA it'll be, but I'm excited to start anew. The waiting is frustrating so we don't spend every day dwelling on it. We live our day-to-day lives and push it to the back burner.
Ibis has been on a juice kick and wants freshly squeezed orange juice every morning. I could grumble about it, but instead I add a couple extra orange to the pile and enjoy fresh juice with my breakfast. Not such a bad thing in my book.
How about you. Anything going on that you've twisted around to a positive lately?
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28 comments:
What a fancy juicer!
I'm like you, trying to see the benefit or positive in bad things. Sometimes it's rough, but we have to trudge on and make things they're best.
I guess you could say that that dog that crapped in my yard was trying to help fertilize. Other than that not much positive at the moment.
Janna, exactly. We can mope and wallow, but then nothing gets done.
(hugs)
Travis, your poor soon. Did his shoes get, er, clean?
I vote for Canada. ;o)
I'll spare you our horror stories with U.S. immigration. You'll never believe how many years it can take to get a green card...
My positives? Hm, this is a long-time habit for me, so I'm straining to think of a current negative. Um, our crisis in Canada makes us more interesting to the rest of the world? Or would, if the rest of the world had noticed?
How about my future status as a grandmother (yikes! that's the negative) means that I will have a grandchild (yippee! that's the positive)?
A positive? Yeah, hmm, not really. I guess I'm taking the current dour publishing news as a chance to work on something new instead of obsessing about my submissions. Does that count?
Janet, I've been following along on your blog - that is quite a mess up there. Were you jealous of all the ridicule Mr. Bush was causing? ;)
Congrats on your new future status!!!
Wendy, I think that's a good way to look at it. All the agent blogs are saying to still submit, just make it extra good. No pressure. I'm hoping to start submitting short stories to make myself a little more appealing in the agent search. Right now I have no credits!
That juicer is nice! But I'm too lazy for it, haha :-)
Well, today isn't my most positive day, but I try to just take the crap in stride and know it'll get better...when it has nowhere to go but up!
When life gets me down I list the good things. It helps put things in perspective. Count your blessings.
I thought if a person was married to an American Citizen they get to stay? What happened to that rule?
Aimless, if you look under my picture there's a post called Hoo Am I: The Answers that explains how we ended up here and why our marriage didn't guarantee a visa for him.
Colby, I'm generally lazy but since *sigh* I don't work and only have to make one meal for him, squeezing a few oranges in the morning won't kill me. :)
Yum, Oranges. :D
I've lived in the same town my whole life. It's sad.
so unfair. I have a lot of problems with the immigration stuff. Almost all American's have immigrants as ancestors. My grandparents were off the boat from Ireland. When they say that people should come in legally, I say they should make the process easier.
What about a student visa? College?
Someone, I forget who, has a quote in their signature on AW and I absolutely love it.
"When life hands you lemons, make orange juice and let the rest of the world figure out how the heck you managed it."
Let's see, twisting to positive. Our landlords took away our 2nd parking space which made me mad, so I looked for another place to live and found a much better place!
Zoe, do you travel much?
Aimless, those are possibilities, but we're already so far in the system it seems pointless to start something different.
Oh, and I agree about how immigration has changed since our grandparents came over. Suddenly all the people who got a "free ride" are trying to keep the newbies out.
Nadine, that's Damanegra. :) And who are you at AW? I didn't realize you were there!
I guess I'll say yay for your new place! Sometimes good things do come from crappy things.
That's so annoying about the added delays! Aargh!!!!
I have a friend who is pathologically appreciative of life. We go for walks through the park near our house, and she says things like, "Look at this beautiful park! Isn't it wonderful to live here? Isn't Pennsylvania beautiful?" Lucky for our friendship she doesn't mind when I tell her to shut the f- up.
Robin, your friend reminds me of when Alex Baldwin guest starred on Friends. Did you see that episode? He thought everything was fantastic.
Robin, I try to remember to appreciate what we have here, especially when I see it's below 15 degrees in Chicago and it's a balmy 78 here.
Nadine, yes! He kept taking mental pictures!
Nadine: I really like that quote! I had a poster of the stupid lemon quote and some guy with a faucet coming out of his nose in my room when I was a teenager. I thought it was really meaningful. How pathetic is that?
I never watched Friends, but I'm going to find that episode now!
Melanie, I forgot it's balmy for you. It's frigid here. I refuse to be grateful.
Yeah, it's actually really nice right now. Almost chilly overnight! ;P
Good luck -- that delay is crazy, although I have to believe it makes your case stronger in some ways.
Also, congrats on winning NaNo.
Thanks Unfocused!
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