Filing in March

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi Aleena--Your post made me decide to start an AOS thread for us, so get over there and find it. It has the icon in the margin so you can find it easily. I hope our March group and April and lots of new people join in. You too Stevi...and jmmr Maria need to come join us. That girl just cracks me up. Her posts jump from the screen with enthusiasm and goofiness that's delightful.

The great news is <drum roll>....I got electricity Tuesday afternoon. How lucky is that? The city is slowly coming back to life. We have some grocery stores and restaurants and no more lines for gas (so far). It was kinda like camping out and not in the fancy camper mode. It's so weird to be in a city with no electricity. It is so dark...no houses lit, no street lights, no traffic lights...no Wal-Mart ablaze with light 24/7. And I wonder how in the heck did young Abraham Lincoln read by candlelight in his log cabin? But people in my lovely small town are hardy troupers and just dealing with things and sharing with neighbors and helping each other clean up. There's still probably more than half the city without power, but they are getting businesses up first so we can replenish food and pump gas. A few places opened Monday on generator power and it gets better every day. They are also working on schools so maybe the kids can go back to class next Monday. Some power trucks from Kansas City, Missouri were down my street yesterday. I suspect because I am so close to an elementary school is why I have power so quickly. Must be on the same grid with them.

The positive side of the inconvenience is that neighbors were out visiting more. I met a man from down the street who has lived there for five years I hadn't ever met. (Of course several years ago I was dealing with a husband with terminal cancer and my own 3 facial reconstruction surgeries after a tiny skin cancer wasn't so tiny underneath the skin. Dark days, but not a good time to meet and great new neighbors.) I also met a new young family who just bought the house right across the street but haven't moved in. The weather has been unusually glorious...not the dreadful heat and humidity that is typical through mid October here. I got a chance to tell everybody I had a man moving in with me in two weeks and I was going to re-marry. They were all very happy.

FEMA story for Stevi: The FEMA handouts were so well organized. I've learned a new vocabulary. POD is point of distribution. We had a POD at a Kroger (grocery store) parking lot. There are two small towns just separated by a street that the Kroger is on. There were at least 50 workers from police and fire departments from both towns and others volunteers as well. I think the success of FEMA PODs are very dependent on how local officials set them up. These people were great. They managed the long lines of cars, directed traffic on surrounding streets, and checked IDs to distribute only to local people. There was an officer about every 20 feet as you wound around the perimeter of the whole strip center to the back side of the grocery store in a double file line of cars. There was no cutting in line that makes tired, sweaty people lose their patience. When you got around back to the loading side, 5 cars at a time pulled up to the loading area, popped their trunks, each car loaded by workers, then all five moved out and the next 5 moved up. It was so fast. I told them I only wanted a bag of ice, but every car got the same thing for speed and organization. When I got home I realized that I had 3 bags of ice, a case of bottled water, and 6 snack packs. I shared with two neighbor because I didn't need that much. The ice was the best!! I knew Alina would get a kick out of me saying "glorious ice" since we've talked about Americans and their ice before. LOL. Alina: I crunched it with my teeth!

The POD has since moved on now that our stores are opening and supplies of food and ice are available to purchase.

This morning I got my desktop computer hooked up again. Geez, there are so many cables to figure out. The cable modem isn't coming back up, but it could be storm related and it's hard to get through on the phone to those kinds of people right now. I am using the dial up modem like in the olden days and it's totally fine. I'm not complaining because I am so much farther along than so many people. My daughter (where I evacuated) was told yesterday that she could be two more weeks without power because they are a new housing subdivision and at the end of a long line of areas that have to be brought up in order out from the main power station. They have a nice new gas grill and cook out every evening. They now have access to grocery stores that have opened to buy meat on a meal by meal basis since they don't have refrigeration. Our nice weather is supposed to end and it will be hot and humid again by Saturday so it will be harder to go without air conditioning. It can still be in the mid 80s F in the middle of the night.

Now my excuse for not vacuuming is gone, so I must get to work on house cleaning. And BTW, a hurricane is much easier than waiting for NOA2.

Mommy Nich

PS. Bex is getting married in 3 days. So happy for her. Hope we get pics.

And Tuty, where are you???

[KimandRuss 0]

mama nich, i replied to your thread in AOS. Us Apriler's have been trying to decide where we're going to go so that seems the perfect spot to me!

Alina, thank you so much sweetheart. I can just imagine how much you are missing home and i'm sorry for that. I know it would be very hard for me to leave as well. I think that like with all kinds of change, there is a process which you must go through to 'adjust'.

If I may impose a little wisdom on you.... as you may know, Russell already 'moved' here for over a year in 2006. He became acclimated very quickly even though his whole family is in NZ and AUS. Because he was forced to leave and go back to NZ, he sees clearly that this has now become his home. I'm sure that took some time. Hopefully the same will happen for you.

The world is surely not as big as it seems... we are all perfect examples of that.

many happy wishes to everyone!

[HighwayStar 0]

I am afraid I won't be able to join an October AOS thread, since I will still be stuck here... I lost a lot of time because of those idiots in Naples, and now I'm afraid I won't be able to leave before November - unless I'm lucky and land an interview spot in mid-October. Well, I've waited so long already that a few weeks more won't make a big difference anyway... I just hope I'll be able to be there by Thanksgiving, so we can trim the Xmas tree together as we did last year, five days before Xmas Day.

In the meantime, all the best to those who are getting married in the next few days.. Nich (glad you survived the hurricane! I saw some pics on the web, and they were SCARY!!!!), Kim, and everyone else. As for myself, at this point, I just want to get that visa and move there, whenever it is... I would've liked not to waste the whole year like that, but it seems this is the way things were supposed to go.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Happy Wedding Day Bex and Alan

(I always cry at weddings)

[KimandRuss 0]

Congrats Bex

[HighwayStar 0]

CONGRATS!!!!

[aleena 0]

CONGRATULATIONS BEX AND ALAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we are all so happy for you!

whenever you have some time...send a picture to your dear visa journey friends

all my best wishes and may your love become stronger everyday and your days brighter!

Alina

[BexandAlan 0]

Hi EVERYONE!!!!

Just crawled out of the marital bed to say hi and I hope everyones ok. I have a free day tomorrow so will get on here and post some wedding pics for you all. We had such a beautiful day and everything went perfectly. Seems so long ago now!!

I love and miss you all lots. BIG HUGS

Bex xxx

[aleena 0]

Don't see any pics yet here Bex.....

But you are excused! Congratulations again!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi March. Hi Alina and Bex.

So happy to see you report in Mrs. Bex. It sounds like your wedding went well and was fun. How many UK people got to come?

I don't think I told it in March thread that I'm in the UK once again (been here a week now.) Nick broke his collarbone and some ribs so I came to help him. His arm is in a sling to keep from moving the left shoulder and arm. The moving people came Monday to get the boxes of stuff and he couldn't manage to finish everything one armed and in pain. I've also been able to drive him to get groceries and see the doctor. I am a UK driver now. WooHoo!! It's getting easier for me.

So we leave on Tuesday (30th) to go home together and we get married Sunday afternoon (Oct 5.) Nothing was planned before my town had to evacuate for the hurricane. Some people in my town and areas of Houston still don't have power and it's been two weeks. Then I came here for 10 days instead of getting ready for a wedding and husband. It wasn't supposed to go like this, but it's ok. I've made arrangements while here. Three cake making ladies are unavailable. I just want a small, but two tiered, cake. I think I may have to do it myself. So far I have scheduled a friends house for the party/wedding vows, gotten a judge, made a haircut appointment, and have some cute casual invitations going. My daughters are great. We've done this invitation thing as a team. One daughter drove a long way on her lunch to a paper place which she realized was still without power. But the people had the door open because they had come to check on their store. She found exactly one of the sample ideas I had found on the internet. Then she had to talk the people into selling them since they weren't really open for business. And she had to go find a cash machine and come back and pay in cash. Finally she was going to pass off to her sister after work as she left town for Austin, so sister could print and mail them today. I love their can-do spirit that I seem to have passed on to them.

Edited September 27, 2008 by Nich-Nick

[Ana&Jeff 0]

Hi evebody!!!1

Alina!!! BEx!!!! mamanich!!!! kim!!1

I am sorry I have been out I got the work temp[orary permission at JFK so Ihave been trying to get a job and I have been have ahard time. =( I have just started notecing that the agency doesnt want to get me an job because I can onl;y work until december 2 when my temporary employment authorization expires I am just feeeling awfull and stressed =(

BEsides that Iam happy that I am looking for a place to make a small dinner for me and Jeff on our wedding we decided that we are going to get a Justice of peace. =)

Bex congratulations!!!!

I hope evebody is fine I will come back here soon I will not leave you guys again =(

sorry

Ana

[HighwayStar 0]

Hello March filers! Best wishes to all of you - Ana, Bex, Nich, and everybody else!

Please keep your fingers crossed for me.. Tomorrow I'm going to call the Naples Consulate to schedule my interview - hopefully soon! I've heard it's not always easy to get them on the phone (which is a toll number as well, notoriously expensive), but I mean to try and try until I can get a living person on the line. I can't believe that it will soon be over.... It seems like a lifetime!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Oh good luck with Naples. Maybe it will be your lucky day and a live person will answer. And they will be in a good mood and get you all set up. That's the plan... ...hope they know it in Naples.

Tomorrow is the last full day here in the UK. Lots to do including taking apart this temporary computer which is being donated to somebody. So I will catch up with your progress soon, once we are in the USA. And maybe Bex will get out of bed again and show us a picture since she's one of the few that had a full blown wedding. And maybe Kim will be out of bed by then too.

Really excited for you Highway

[stevi1123 0]

Oh good luck with Naples. Maybe it will be your lucky day and a live person will answer. And they will be in a good mood and get you all set up. That's the plan... ...hope they know it in Naples.

Tomorrow is the last full day here in the UK. Lots to do including taking apart this temporary computer which is being donated to somebody. So I will catch up with your progress soon, once we are in the USA. And maybe Bex will get out of bed again and show us a picture since she's one of the few that had a full blown wedding. And maybe Kim will be out of bed by then too.

Really excited for you Highway

Have a safe trip back home Nich....and I really admire your "can-do" attitude - You got on that plane at a moment's notice and went to

GET YOUR MAN!

I look forward to the day when you are settled and back here at VJ, because I need your advice on a few things....so hurry up, get back to the U.S, get yourself married, and then get back to business here at VJ. Ok?

Hugs,

Stevi

[KimandRuss 0]

Good morning March... MY MAN IS HOME!!!! Russell arrived last Wednesday night and not without big time drama! First, when he arrived at the airport and tried to check-in he learned that he had booked the wrong day and already missed that flight so.... $1800 later... he got on the same flight out. Once in L.A. he went through immigration who notified him that he was still on the 'watch list' for having been denied entry last year. He had a short layover but needed to wait while they cleared that up.... he then sprinted to the domestic terminal and found his connecting flight had already boarded and shut their doors. After some begging and pleading with staff, they finally opened the doors and let him on the flight home. We spent the next three days alone together and have been back home now just two days. It's been a whirlwind of emotion and excitement and we are both very happy to be back together again!

Congrats again Bex... waiting on those pics!

Raff, let us know how your call goes today.

Mama Nich, have a safe trip home tomorrow! It is the wisest of us who find perspective in the most trying times. It will be what it was meant to be and it will be all that more special because of the way it happened. Please share some photos with us of your special day this weekend. I will be thinking of you and your special man. Congratulations dear lady.

I hope everyone else is acclimating themselves well to their new lives. Even tho it's been hell, we almost feel as tho the past year never happened. It's as tho we've been together the entire time. I suppose that says much about 'us'.