She'll be home for Xmas

[bcc_1_2]

I was pretty happy as the K1 process must not be taking as long as previous years (the economy?). Anyways she'll be here soon.  I was going to handle the process myself, but the parentals wanted to get a family attorney involved. He does a lot for them so I figured what the hell (though he's not an immigration attorney).

I haven't got the full scoop yet, but from what I heard she took what he told her to take the the interview and it was real short.  I don't want to know what he charged for his "services", but I'm surprised it went so well. My parents are happy because they think they "did something", and I'm happy because it all worked out with no issues for me to deal with.

I didn't try and book her on the first flight I could as it will be awhile before she gets back down to Honduras. Basically, I told her to take her time and say good bye and warned her about the legal immigration reasons it might be awhile before she gets back down.

Unfortunately, I decided to cancel the final trip down there, and I just couldn't imagine taking any family down there under the current circumstances. I'm really hoping all the govermental BS gets worked out soon and the Honduran government continues full steam ahead to develop Tela. I really don't give a [snip] who runs the damn country. Just make sure its a democracy, you invest in the city I'll be at, and you continue to keep it safe!

Anyways will update on how she likes it here. Lucky she's not coming tomorrow. Yea honey that's snow. Umm you see it'll probably take us a few hours to crawl home, because this is what you call a blizzard!

[fathertime]

Congrats Bcc,

If nothing else it will be an adventure after she arrives!

Fathertime!

[jm21-2]

Haha, he transition from Honduras to the midwest in winter might be a bit of a shock.

That's great though and good luck!

[Capstone]

Great News and Good Luck!! My advice is to apply for and get AOS rolling as soon after you get married as you can, that way if some sort of emergency does happen to come up back home then at least she might have her AP or maybe even green card by then which will allow her to travel back home without any problems.

[raycjs]

Congrats BCC

best of luck to you and your future. i wish you nothing but happines with the upcoming ajustment..



i live in the mid-west so i know where you are coming from.....

snow you got to love it...NOT
jajajajajaja


ray

[michaelb]

Here in time for Christmas....well that sounds great. Much happiness to both of you.

[sean126]

Glad to hear your news.  Congrats!

[whitey]

Congrats BCC ... all the best ...

[Researcher]

   Great news bcc!!Keep us posted.




  Researcher

[bcc_1_2]

She'll be arriving next weds afternoon. I told my parents and friends pretty much to back the F off as I'll be meeting her at the airport myself. I think everyone at the airport will be too much for her so I'm planning to meet her by mself, take her home, out to eat, and just spend the rest of the night with each other.

She's obviously coming from Central America so I've already bought her a coat and some warm clothes. If anyone else can think of anything she needs please let me know.

[Researcher]

 bcc,
         Does she speak English?


  Researcher

[sean126]

If anyone else can think of anything she needs please let me know.

Just as info and I don't think it's changed....but when we went to get my wife her state I.D. card after we was married we couldn't get it because we tried to get it after the visa expired, even though we had paperwork showing we was involved in the next step to get her green card.  so after you're married be sure to get her state I.D. card before the visa expires if you have time otherwise I believe you will have to wait until she gets her green card.  The BMV said they couldn't use her expired visa as I.D. to get the state I.D. card. 

[michaelb]

Telephone cards, she'll want to tell her folks that she arrived safely. Get lots of them, she's going to want to call them often.

[Researcher]

        My wife uses JAJAH.com to call.That's what I used to call her when she was still in Colombia.Vonage has an international plan but I don't know if it includes Honduras.Would be worth checking out though.Calling cards are good also.I would always try to get the newest one because it seemed like the longer the card was out the worse the connection was,that was my experience anyway.Also a lady that sold them told me the longer the card is out the more people use it and the harder it is to get through.


  Researcher

[sean126]

my wife uses magic jack....if they have a computer with high speed it's great.

[jm21-2]

That's great BCC. I think meeting her by yourself is probably a wise decision. I'm sure it will be a huge shift for her as it is.

[bcc_1_2]

I've got the calling cards handled already. She's fluent in english. Got her some warm clothes. Just been cleaning up my place. Invited a bunch of people over to drink most of my beer, but I still have a lot left. So lol I'm sending guys off with most of it. I had a whole fridge full with bottles of the hard stuff on top. I'm keeping most of my good tequila but almost everything else except the basics is outta here.

Any old gifts or anything old girlfriends left behind... trashed it. cleared her out a closet. Even replaced the Desktop PC. No old photos of ex girlfriends that can be restored or any of that.

You'd be surprised what married and guys living with a girl will leave around your house. Told them to pick it all up this weekend. What's left is getting trashed.

Other than that I'm pretty much just winging it. Eventually we'll need to go down to the courthouse and make it official. I checked out her options at the community college. I'll get things for her to do when she's ready.

[raycjs]

BCC

I am very happy for you and i wish you the best.... I would like to offer you one piece of advice and it is up to you to use it or not... When you guys arrive at your home. Walk her in and tell her welcome to OUR home. Be very carefull you no longer use the words MY home... I would also tell her please make your self comfortable and allow her to make changes to the home to make it feel like it is (our) her home also. If you you do not care about what draws or closet space you use or she uses. let her make any and all the changes she wants this will be big on your part and this will make her feel like this is her home and she is just not some guest staying in your home... Once again this is only my opinion and the advice a very good Friend of mine from this board who has been married for over (5) years to a Latin women..


Best of luck to you and keep us posted

Congratulation on your new journey we call life......


Ray

[Researcher]

   Great advice raycjs.I didn't buy any new furniture for our house before my wife arrived and we have been buying new stuff since she arrived.She is choosing all the colors of course.



   Researcher

[Capstone]

Try and go down to your local SSA office and get her a Social Security Number as soon as you can - although you generally have to wait about 10 days or so after she arrives before she will show up in their system. You pretty much have ot have a SSN to do anything these days, whether it be add her to your bank accounts, get her enrolled in school, get a driver's license, etc. I waited about 2 weeks after my wife (then fiancée) arrived before we got her SSN and was glad that we did it so soon after her arrival since we needed it for so many things.




 

[bcc_1_2]

I don't even know where the freak to start. a day i'll NEVER forget. we just walked in the door not that long ago and the girl is already passed out asleep on the sofa (with the TV still on lol). Poor girl didn't even make it to the bed.

Well let me sum up this crazy day. I got to the airport fairly early. I've never really been one to get nervous... last second shot no problem I'll take it... but I'd say I must have had a bunch of different emotions going through me because I just don't know how to describe the feeling. I probably looked like I had ADD or something as I didn't even try to sit down.

Anyways it is a small airport so she notices the piles of snow out the window right away. Her expression is priceless really.

In those brief seconds it really hit me just what all was going down. It is when you see her in your local airport that bam she really stands out. She's a straight up 10 anywhere, but in this dreary place of fat walmart shoppers she is freakin exotic.

If the heads weren't turning because of her looks that funky colored light weight jacket didn't help. Clearly a low temp in high teens or low 20s was meaningless to her. She was definitely in for a surprise.

Sure enough she found me quickly and I got one hell of a hug and kiss. Sorry there was no open armed running like the movies (its a small airport lol and i just wasn't that far away). Whatever nervous energy I had was long gone and I moved onto the so this is really happening stage.

Well she hung on to me and looked out the windows and we got to catch up. I got her into her new warmer coat, mittens, and ear muffs. Then we tracked down her luggage... she didn't pack a carry on... oh well.

Maybe I should have met her down in San Pedro Sula as the air travel must have been nerve racking and the layovers stressful. I might have dropped the ball there. Since here english is so good I didn't... oh well too late now.

Anyways once outside she had to go grab some snow. She made the mistake of taking off the mittens and as soon as she got the snow in her hands she let it go. LOL yea that's cold. So to show off I packed a nice fresh snowball barehanded and tossed it at her ass. Welcome to Iowa!

First thing we did was drive home to drop off her luggage and for her to see the diggs. She seemed impressed.... mostly with the electronics (flat screen tvs, computers, appliances etc). The big eyes and jaw dropping was kinda par for the course throughout the day.

The poor girl didn't have time to eat anything before her early morning flight and I guess didn't like anything the airline was serving so she was quite hungry. I again dropped the ball as she didn't have any US currency to eat at any of the other airports. I think she was just worried about getting from point a to b so food wasn't on the mind.

So we quickly went out for Mexican food. The girl put away a big ass taco salad. well done! first time i've taken a girl out in the United States who has ordered milk. Well other than my little cousin lol.

At that point I turned off my cell phone because I was tired of the ringing and then the vibrating after I switched it to that. I had a prepaid cell phone ready for her too that I gave her during dinner with my cell number in it.

So instead of the added pressures of meeting new people on day one... off to the latin margarita/ dance bar. She loves to dance so what better way for her to spend her first night here. From the moment we walked in the door necks were strained (I momentarily forgot that was going to happen). When she dances (like many latin women) the movements are interpeted very sexual in nature up here unlike down there. So again with the attention and looks.

I did recognize one girl in the place but wasn't sure where I knew her from. I gave her a head nod... she frowned back. I guess she must have took her cell into the bathroom and started gossiping because not all that long later I see an old g/f at the bar. No freakin joke.

Well no ackward conversation occured because nobody ever approached us. Same held true for the guys as well. She got plenty of attention and looks but nobody tried to cut in or got obnoxious. So she finally got tired and we took off for home. I only had 2 margaritas but she had a few more. First time I cut a girl off and she listened. You can't keep a gringa from her alcohol. No issues tonight... off to the car and away we go with no debate.

So yea she wanted to see this show I talked about called House. Not long into the DVD she was fast asleep. And now here I am recanting the day. Just going to take it day by day for now. Crazy times... but great and I wouldn't trade them for anything!

[JR33]

   Thats good to hear BCC! I know you are happy she is here.Good luck to you.

[raycjs]

Good luck....

Remember take it slow, let her enjoy taking it all in one day at a time....
you do not need to try and show her your whole life in one week....

once again best of luck to you and your girl



Ray

[robert angel]

Sounds great, BCC!


Brings back memories too. My wife was real nervous about the long flight from the RP and wanted me to fly there just to hold her hand on the trip here! She must have lost five pounds on the trip alone, she didn't eat much--nerves. I think she was down to 87 pounds when she got here and she's got curves, definitely not a stick.

Good advice from Raycjs about the 'our home' frame of mind. My wife really enjoyed going out and picking out curtains, window treatments, etc.  It's important that they can add their 'touch'.

The Snap on Tools calendar and some other choice periodicals got dumped or relegated to the building in the back yard. Definitely had to clean up my computers and toss some pictures. My wife found some pics eventually of my ex and I with the kids from way back and she wasn't happy.

It was kind of funny seeing her adapt to an American kitchen, never having used a microwave or an electric washer & dryer. When I was off at work, she tried making cookies from frozen dough in the microwave and dutifully read the instructions and seeing 'oven--20 minutes' put them in for 20 and then went out to our garden. 20 minutes later, we had cookies ala carbon!

She likes some old TV sitcoms and falls out laughing watching old black and white 'I Love Lucy" shows--maybe she can relate to lucy and Ethels various kitchen adventures. A lot of times when I get home, I say Heyyy Luceeee---I'm Homeeee....!"

I found that certain movies were really good for her to see. 'Forest Gump' 'Gone With the Wind" and other classics sort of give some interesting views on American life.

We went to a local mall and compared to the malls she's used to, she thought it seemed like a funeral without many people and almost no music. Very boring. Walmart amazed her.

In four years, maybe we've been out to the dance clubs 5 or 5 times. She doesn't like all the smoke, but we enjoy dancing till we break a sweat--its a good workout. I can't even leave our table to take a pee w/o guys coming over, one after another, asking her to dance--no honor among wolves--even though she's got a nice rock on that left hand. She'd never been in a bar before coming here and said she couldn't dance, but after carefully watching some others on the dance floor, it came naturally pretty quick, with her getting the sensual swaying and moving with one arm up, pretty quickly. Guys and gals definitely scoping her out.

I don't know if your gal drives, but teaching my wife to drive was quite an experience. I got her a Camry, which is small enough but not too small as to seem unsafe. As with most, parallel parking was nerve wracking, but she passed her driving license test the first time and years later, still insists she'll never drive anywhere where she has to parallel park again!

I thought that while waiting for her SS card and green card (she really wanted to work) she'd be bored at home and maybe I should get her a puppy. She definitely didn't want a pet and spent a lot of time deep cleaning my 'house of guys'. I got her some magazines subscriptions and she didn't care for them much either. As with her SS card and other immigration paperwork, she really took initiative and all her paperwork, down to passing her citizenship test last week and now waiting for her swearing in ceremony, couldn't have gone faster.

Enjoy these days and take plenty of pics!

[sean126]

    I'm very happy for you B Double-C!  This will be a Christmas to remember for the both of you.  Congratulations and continued good luck!