LAND DOWNUNDER, Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Thanks everyone for the ohms & well wishes. My son had his surgery yesterday and was in agony for the msot part of the night. They have put the Vas Cath into his jugular on the right side of his neck. He is extremely uncomfortable with it, they removed his PD Catheter as well but they will insert a new one of those next week sometime. They put a NG tube in for supplemental feeding as well. He has a PCA for managing his pain levels which helps immensely. I am doing the daily shuffle of into Westmead for 9 hours then home again to attempt to pack & get some sleep.

Wont be around for a couple of weeks as we are looking at a minimum stay of 2 weeks in there...thank heavens there is a Starbucks in the lobby!

**Hugs** and best wishes

[Jaime and Melvin 0]

Thinking of you Terri xx

Yeah giggles, looks like another trip will be in order for one of us. I don't think they would take the baby as enough proof though. Maybe delaying the K1 filing could be a good thing, so that when we visit next, we can sit down and do it together. I wish it was me that had to file it, I'm very particular with things and even though he is a smart man, I would just like to do it myself and know it's done properly LOL.

[Giggles 1]

Don'tWhateverMe, thanks. It's so exciting...I'm going next Monday 6 sleeps to go or maybe 5....I probably won't be able to sleep Monday night cause I'll be so excited. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane so I don't look like hell when I get there after a 22 hour journey. We're not having a big white wedding so we haven't even planned on having any wedding pictures taken. Though I am thinking maybe we should have some taken to mark the occasion.

You must be due to get your NOA2 soon don't you think? I'm sure everything will go quickly after that seeing as you can prepare the rest of packet 3 in the meantime.

Terri, That's so sad your son has to go through this. The poor little guy It must be especially stressful with this all happening at the same time as all your visa stuff.

Jamie, Yeah I thought they might need some other proof as well but how many men would say a baby is theirs if in fact it wasn't?

[Jaime and Melvin 0]

Jamie, Yeah I thought they might need some other proof as well but how many men would say a baby is theirs if in fact it wasn't?

Yeah that's true but it still doesn't show proof that we are in a relationship, if you know what I mean? lol

How exciting for you about your travel and wedding plans by the way!!

[myperfectflaw 11]

Hey Giggles, yeah you're right. It would look a little suspect. I am thinking that we might have to make one more trip over there, before we start the Visa process. I guess it will make it even longer before we can start the Visa, as I don't want to travel while the baby is still so young. I was thinking of going about October/November. If I do that, then we can make sure we have heaps of photos. He doesn't have any photos of the last time we were together unfortunately.

Just remember, photos are considered secondary evidence and don't prove anything (some really good photoshoppers out there!). Even travel itinerary's are not much help as all they do is prove that you booked them, not that you used them (case in point, the ones you purchased and then changed!). You need stamps in your passport and actual travel tickets showing you went through the motions. If you don't have that stuff, I would definitely think about making a second trip at some point. This is an awfully expensive and time consuming process to take chances that you might have enough evidence to satisfy them! Pictures and stuff are great additions to the file, but it's the provable pieces that will help you have a successful interview!

[Jaime and Melvin 0]

Thanks myperfectflaw

All we can do is try eh lol. We're going to get a nice family portrait done of the 4 of us when we go over next and I might get a few of just him and I. I will be keeping everything next time. I will even keep receipts if I purchase something in the airports etc.

By the way, beautiful Wedding photo, congrats!

[Deb+Steve 13]

Don'tWhateverMe, thanks. It's so exciting...I'm going next Monday 6 sleeps to go or maybe 5....I probably won't be able to sleep Monday night cause I'll be so excited. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane so I don't look like hell when I get there after a 22 hour journey. We're not having a big white wedding so we haven't even planned on having any wedding pictures taken. Though I am thinking maybe we should have some taken to mark the occasion.

You must be due to get your NOA2 soon don't you think? I'm sure everything will go quickly after that seeing as you can prepare the rest of packet 3 in the meantime.

Terri, That's so sad your son has to go through this. The poor little guy It must be especially stressful with this all happening at the same time as all your visa stuff.

Jamie, Yeah I thought they might need some other proof as well but how many men would say a baby is theirs if in fact it wasn't?

So exciting!! Well, we didn't do the big wedding or the planning. The only planning we had was, ... wanna fly to Vegas and get married?? I was like, hell yea ... anyway, we splurged and paid the extra $100 for the 'deluxe' package which came with 9 photos of us (and my fake Elvis). I wouldn't change it for anything. Best 3 days of my life!! Think about buying a couple of disposal cameras and giving them to whoever is there at the time to take some happy snaps of you.

[Simon and Janet 6]

I fly out on Saturday.... only two days to finish up everything. Since the interview time has just zipped past.

Just over 2 weeks until the wedding

[Giggles 1]

How exciting for you about your travel and wedding plans by the way!!

So exciting!! Well, we didn't do the big wedding or the planning. The only planning we had was, ... wanna fly to Vegas and get married?? I was like, hell yea ... anyway, we splurged and paid the extra $100 for the 'deluxe' package which came with 9 photos of us (and my fake Elvis). I wouldn't change it for anything. Best 3 days of my life!! Think about buying a couple of disposal cameras and giving them to whoever is there at the time to take some happy snaps of you.

I know it's exciting. Tomorrow I'm going to start packing my suitcases so I don't have to do it on the weekend and can just relax with my family. I've already sorted most of my clothes into taking, maybe and not taking piles

I went shopping today for some essentials I needed to get before my journey which included 2 large jars of Vegemite (gotta stock up because my fiance likes it too) and I also got a packet of Tim Tams. The Tim Tams didn't last long....they were opened by my sister when I got home. Lol.

Don'tWhateverMe, I like how you splurged on the deluxe package and I'd love to see your picture with Elvis Classic!!

I fly out on Saturday.... only two days to finish up everything. Since the interview time has just zipped past.

Just over 2 weeks until the wedding

Nice! Have a safe journey Simon. I'll be right behind you. Woohoo!

[alex and astrid 38]

So many of us flying out around the same time! I fly on Wednesday, haven't even started packing yet haha. Have my last day at work tomorrow, going shopping with Mum for her Mother of the Bride outfit, then packing all day Saturday! Have way too much ####### that has accumulated since I moved back home that I must sort through. One month til the wedding!!

[Bacon 0]

I am starting to get so frustrated with VSC. They have approved two people from December and one from November and I'm still sitting here waiting for an NOA2.

Starting to look like I need to rethink my wedding date. Maybe I should plan it for 2011 at this rate.

[Jaime and Melvin 0]

Very exciting for all of you

Bacon I hope you get some word soon, must be so frustrating!

Has anyone here had experience with having a child, that the father has nothing to do with, therefore making the K1 process even more difficult because you need the fathers permission? I'm just wondering if I need to get legal advice or get some kind of custody or court thing drawn up. I don't know where his father is, only that he maybe in New Zealand and I think he's done a runner from Child Support ... again.

Getting his passport was easy, back in 2007, all I had to do was submit a B-9 form with his application and the passport was granted with no questions asked. Not so sure this is going to be as easy.

[myperfectflaw 11]

Thanks myperfectflaw

All we can do is try eh lol. We're going to get a nice family portrait done of the 4 of us when we go over next and I might get a few of just him and I. I will be keeping everything next time. I will even keep receipts if I purchase something in the airports etc.

By the way, beautiful Wedding photo, congrats!

I don't take stock much in the picture aspect of it all, as both interviews we had they were ignored, LOL! Not to say you shouldn't just in case, but I was all panicking trying to get family pictures done in time and then to have them not even want to look, it was frustrating! It seems, if you have all your paperwork in order and no red flags jumping out, it's a pretty painless and straight forward process and they just wanna process you and move on. In some ways, that was a great thing, but in others, it was a tough cookie to swallow when you put so much time and effort into gathering all the evidences and stuff!

I wish I could help you on the kid part, but that wasn't a situation we had to deal with since the only kids we have are mine. It seems like such a pain, but it honestly sounds like something you might wanna check in with a lawyer for, just to cover your tush. Good luck with it all!

Thanks for the congrats! It was a long awaited day and worth every minute of it!

[Deb+Steve 13]

SIMON, ASTRID, GIGGLES - Happy travels!!! You're all in the same week. I will miss everyone's font (but you still have AOS).

TERRI - i hope your son is better if you read this ...

AS FOR ME ... WE HAVE BEEN APPROVED. NOA2 ... YEA BABY!!! Was approved on 20/01/2010. ... 125 days ... but we're all getting them now, my September CR1 buddies so we'll at least get to do NVC together.

[Jaime and Melvin 0]

Thanks anyway myperfectflaw ... I'm sure I'll work out what I have to do, there HAS to be something I can do, as I doubt I'd be the only person in this situation.

That's a ####### they didn't give a hoot about your pics, but I guess it's best to have them in there, just for piece of mind at least and knowing all bases are covered.

Don'twhatever, congrats on your NOA2 approval! Not too much longer