LAND DOWNUNDER, Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

[CareBear 18]

OMG on the medical bill. Sorry you've had to be in there in the first place Terri but amen to insurance. Hope you're on the mend now

And thanks everyone for the grats - still a bit stunned but working on it lol.

[Giggles 1]

Especially since, my big news, I was told I would never be able to have a child. Well Im pregnant, at the age of 40!!!! Now who would have thunk it!! Happy jiggy dance

Congrats on the baby news CareBare!!! How wonderful and exciting!!!!

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

I have been swamped over the last month sampling the US Medical system and I am still sampling it while they work out the issues. I have to say the medical system here works really well and after being in hospital for a few days I was terrified for the bill...the insurance statement arrived....$39K for 4 days....we only have to pay $250 of the entire amount. So I am pretty happy with that.

OMG Terri!! Thank goodness you have good insurance. I've heard stories before when families have gone broke because a child got sick, spent a week in hospital and cost them $100K because they didn't have insurance. It's crazy!! No one should be without insurance.

[Breezie54 2]

Thanks again Vanessa They didnt ask my legal status either - just for a copy of the marriage certificate and my social security number. He told them at the time I didnt have one yet and they said fine just let us know when she does. We rang them last night and they said there was no stand down period or anything, that I was covered from the day I was added to the policy so am a very happy camper right now

Especially since, my big news, I was told I would never be able to have a child. Well Im pregnant, at the age of 40!!!! Now who would have thunk it!! Happy jiggy dance

OMG!! What a wonderful Christmas gift, to find out you are preggers, congratulations Carey im so so happy for you, [dam u two didnt take long did you? hahaha]

Wow am gobsmacked at your news but its just fabulous.

Things are going well here, had an info pass interview in Charlotte on the 28th Dec to get my RFE's sorted, the 5 pages they sent us were just so ambiguous, but the lady at the info pass appt was great and we went through it step by step and now have it sorted, just waiting on some documents to arrive from our Co sponsor in Calif, will re-do Leo's I-864 removing all info of my Aussie finances as they only want details of my American Finances {said they cannot get their hands on anything in Australia, should i run up major debts here and abscond - yeah right] it was a long trip for only 45 min interview but well worth it as now we know exactly what they wanted proved in the RFE's, she said it seems they have misplaced the certified copy of my birth certificate so have to provide another one of those. As soon as we get the docs from Calif will post in and be right back on track, she said they will not put me to the end of the queue they will just reopen my AOS AND EAD again and i should get approval within a couple of weeks of them receiving the documents, as we submitted in early October 2010.

Hope all goes well with the pregnancy keep in touch and let me know how u are doing.. Huggers Kaye

[alex and astrid 38]

Thanks again Vanessa They didnt ask my legal status either - just for a copy of the marriage certificate and my social security number. He told them at the time I didnt have one yet and they said fine just let us know when she does. We rang them last night and they said there was no stand down period or anything, that I was covered from the day I was added to the policy so am a very happy camper right now

Especially since, my big news, I was told I would never be able to have a child. Well Im pregnant, at the age of 40!!!! Now who would have thunk it!! Happy jiggy dance

Congratulations!!!!!

[patriciaofoz 0]

Hello fellow Aussies! It has been a while since I've visited VJ but I was reminded by this site today as I took my Biometrics for Removing of Conditions. Those 2 years flew, let me tell you. Good luck to everyone else's applications. May it be speedy & hassle free.

Patricia

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Hello fellow Aussies! It has been a while since I've visited VJ but I was reminded by this site today as I took my Biometrics for Removing of Conditions. Those 2 years flew, let me tell you. Good luck to everyone else's applications. May it be speedy & hassle free.

Patricia

Welcome back and good luck with ROC!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Hello fellow Aussies! It has been a while since I've visited VJ but I was reminded by this site today as I took my Biometrics for Removing of Conditions. Those 2 years flew, let me tell you. Good luck to everyone else's applications. May it be speedy & hassle free.

Patricia

Quick qn. Did you find it easy to remember the ROC date? Were you constantly aware of it? Or did you have a reminder? My 90 days just happens to come up in the same month as my mum's bday so it's easy to remember... but I do remind myself of it occasionally.

Did you put stuff away for it all the time? Or pull it all together as the date approached?

[patriciaofoz 0]

Quick qn. Did you find it easy to remember the ROC date? Were you constantly aware of it? Or did you have a reminder? My 90 days just happens to come up in the same month as my mum's bday so it's easy to remember... but I do remind myself of it occasionally.

Did you put stuff away for it all the time? Or pull it all together as the date approached?

For our ROC date, we were actually 3 weeks into when we could have applied before we finally gathered all of our information. I just knew the round about date & if anything, I wanted to make sure I got the extension letter to show my place of work.

We procrastinated and part of the lag was the fact that we needed to round up all of our support of evidence, plus the affidavits. Driving around the night before visiting friends that could sign it the week before Thanksgiving was NO FUN. I definitely suggest being more organized

[alex and astrid 38]

Quick qn. Did you find it easy to remember the ROC date? Were you constantly aware of it? Or did you have a reminder? My 90 days just happens to come up in the same month as my mum's bday so it's easy to remember... but I do remind myself of it occasionally.

Did you put stuff away for it all the time? Or pull it all together as the date approached?

My 90 days are going to be right after my birthday next year so that will make it easy to remember, hopefully!

[alex and astrid 38]

Thinking of all queenslander and ex-queenslanders right now....I'm getting updates all the time from mum and dad but it's pretty bad.....several of my friends are evacuating as the water keeps rising. I hope everyone and their families are safe.

[Giggles 1]

I hope everyone's loved ones are safe too. It's devastating what's happening....some of my friends have also had to evacuate their houses and my sister's house may go under too. It's so scary.

[CareBear 18]

Sitting here 24/7 switching between the courier mail and ninemsn - is gutting to see Brisbane in such dire straights. I'm very grateful all my family and friends are safe and sound down the Gold Coast but thoughts and prayers for those that have family in harms way.

[bextavaz 4]

Sitting here 24/7 switching between the courier mail and ninemsn - is gutting to see Brisbane in such dire straights. I'm very grateful all my family and friends are safe and sound down the Gold Coast but thoughts and prayers for those that have family in harms way.

I too have been scouring the internet for information. Looks as though only one of my friends had to evac and it looks like their house might not have even been touched now that the river peak height was downgraded.

For a news live stream, hit ABC: www.abc.net.au/news/abcnews24/

It's normally GEO locked, but due to the extreme circumstances, they have allowed the world to access it

May your friends and family all be safe, and preferably dry.

Nick.

[Giggles 1]

I've also been glue to Ninemsn since Monday. I was supposed to start my job search this week but I've been too distracted.

My family's houses are all in very close vicinity to the river but thankfully they were not flooded. They were very worried because other houses in their streets went under. Luckily their houses are on higher ground. My family owns another house in Brisbane that is not occupied at the moment but had some of our furniture and belongings in it. They think it went under but the flood waters are still too high for them to get to the house to see the damage. It's going to be an awful mess to clean up. It's truly heart wrenching and devastating seeing the destruction this has caused to so many peoples lives and not to forget the poor people that lost their lives. 3/4 of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone. I feel helpless being so far away and not being able to do anything to assist my family, friends and the people of my home city clean up the aftermath. I am thankful that my friends and family are all safe.

Astrid, how are your folks? Aren't they in the Centenary area?

[alex and astrid 38]

they live in seventeen mile rocks, but on higher ground. So they were safe and so was the house. Just a couple of days of no sleep, especially for Mum because she had a lot of friends out in the Goodna/Ipswich area. Mum's work in Oxley went under, they don't know how long it will take until her store is back up and running, it could take 6 months or more. Dad works in South Brisbane at Parmalat and that got flooded, but only about a metre and a half. But, he doesn't know when he will be back at work either....but really, houses and belongings are replacable. Lives aren't