I met Jessica on LatinAmericanCupid in Sept. 2009. It's kinda wild because I never would have met her if she hadn't contacted me, because my profile search settings were not set for someone as young as her. I'm 43, and she's 29 as of this posting, so before u go calling me a cradle-robber i'm explaining that i wasn't intending to meet a woman that much younger than me :P . LOL just kidding, I know many people who've gone the online dating/relationship route understand age doesnt' matter so much in this realm of opportunity of online romance and matters of the heart. So anyway, I had been learning a bit of Spanish in order to facilitate communication with a prospective latina I might happen to make some romantic connection with, and had been browsing profiles and chatting with different woman from various South American locales. I had made some friends and there were a couple of women I was more interested in knowing. That is, until the evening Jessica's chat box popped up, and shall we say, the rest is history. Word! Omg, she was very pretty, but younger than I had been looking for; I thought u have to be kidding me.....does she understand I'm considerably older than her? Of course if you've been online dating for very long, u can relate to the first response of cynicism and wariness upon meeting a foreign person on the internet, because of the proliferation of shameless scam artists out there in cyberspace. But she assured me that our age difference didn't concern her, so I thought, well what could it her to find out more about this beautiful lady. So I let my guard down a little, and we began to get to know one another. We exchanged messenger ID's, and night after night we would meet online and continue to explore our newfound friendship. She seemed very genuine from the outset, and I felt at ease to open up and be transparent, as she appeared to be to me also. And soon it was apparent that our relationship was blossoming into much more. After about a month, I knew that I loved her, and told her so; to her incredulity ,I would add. She wasn't ready to accomodate my feelings just then; in disbelief she asked how I knew I was in love with her without ever having seen her in person. Which was a valid question, I suppose, given the fact that from her own admission she had never truly been head-over-heals in love. But I knew my heart belonged to her, and I didn't relent in my attempts to convince her of this. Jessica wasn't convinced entirley, and demanded proof in the form of a visit to see her. So I made plans to travel to Peru, by attaining a passport and booking a flight for the last week of January 2010, some four months after our introduction. If she wanted proof, I sure didn't want to disappoint her....hahaha. I arrived in Lima, where she met me at the airport with her brother (who navigates the crowded streets of Lima much better than her, to my delight LOL) and took me to a hotel in which I stayed three days. Jessica lived at home with her brother and mother; her dad had passes three years before. Each day she took a taxi to my hotel, and we would spend our day walking and talking and sight-seeing, drinking pisco sours and of course sampling Peruvian cuisine. During this time of my visit she became convinced of my feelings for her, and told me she believed I loved her because I had shown her by coming to Peru. She had said before that she loved me, but always I could tell there was doubt, like she couldn't fully open her heart until she met me. But after I went to see her, she seemed to abandon all doubt of my sincerity or her own misgivings. Then for three days we took a trip to Huaraz, in the Andes mountians where we took tours of glaciers and Inca ruins, and I was just generally amazed to see the ancient culture of Peru in all it's antiquity in museums and in the daily life of the folks who inhabit the higher elevations of Peru's mountain region. After all, this was my first foreign country to ever visit, and my first time needing or using a passport. Wow, i need to get out more often hahahaha. So, I had felt confident that it was going to be a great trip, and I had come prepared with a ring to propose to her if it looked as if she fancied the idea of becoming my wife. And as luck would have it, after dinner one night, back in our quaint, comfortable, bed-and-breakfast style hotel, I cowboyed up....well actually, down on one knee ;)....and asked her if she would do me the honor of becoming my wife. To which she replied YESSSS. So we finished our trip, came back to Lima in time for me to catch my flight back, and began preparations to bring her to the US on a K1 fiance visa. I had just started a pretty decent-paying job right before i met her, but before that I had a couple of bad years, so I had scrounged and pulled up the couch cushions to make the trip to visit her. Consequently, I wasn't able to file the I-129f until September 2010, when I was financially capable to afford the fee and be stable and on my feet. During the time between my visit to Peru and filing the I-129f petition, Jessica had elected to attend nursing school, so she enrolled for classes there in Lima. I had questioned the wisdom taking these classes in light of the fact that her credits wouldn't transfer, versus obtaining employment for the duration of our wait for our petition to be approved. But the low wages in her country didn't really offset the experience she would gain in receiving nursing training, even if it wouldn't "count" here in America. Although she will have to start all over in her academics, her prior experience with the subject matter will hopefully help her overcome her language deficiencies with medical jargon used in English. Jessica studied English in college, which has greatly benefitted our understanding one another, since my Spanish-speaking ability is very basic, only having completed one course of Pimsleur's Spanish hahaha. Yes, when we are married i will be at the disadvantage in arguments :P . Getting back to our petition, it was approved in April 2011, and forwarded to her embassy. She took her medical on May 19th, 2011, and interviewed yesterday, May 26th, 2011, and was approved Halleluah!! So, seven months for NOA2, with one little hitch when NVC received the petition with a wrong entry for her birth year, and I had to email them a copy of her passport to correct it and get the process moving forward. Now she should receive her K1 visa by mail in about a week, but she won't travel to the US until July 21st, 2011. Jessica and I will have a civil wedding as soon as she arrives, but later we want to have a church wedding back in Peru with her family, as it's their custom to have a civil wedding and a church wedding there. Jessica is Catholic, and I'm protestant, but in order have a wedding in Catholic church in Peru, she will have to have confirmation, otherwise known as marriage counseling. So she is now in the middle of this necessary step of our journey, and will complete her confirmation on July 17. She will leave Lima on July 21st to come to the US with her K1 visa to marry meeeeeeeeeeeeee. Finally all this waiting will be over, and we will finally be together. Soon isn't soon enough hahaha. Well, that's our story in my own words. Good luck and godspeed to all of u still waiting, thinking USCIS offices nationwide are asleep at the wheel, or otherwise unoccupied, totally empty offices.....I tend to believe there's at least one person there >.< Dont' give up hope, patience IS a virtue.
