Welcome to the United States of America

So said the two letters Fred and I received yesterday.

They then went onto say that our Permanent Resident Status had been approved. Meaning: after 8 (possibly more, I've actually lost track), years, our Green Cards were APPROVED!

I don't swear often but, holy %&#*, are you #@*&^%#! me???

For those of you unfamiliar with our story, here's the Reader's Digest version:

Fred and I are not from around here. I am from Canada, and Fred is Portuguese. Together we make one very lovely melting pot. About 9 years ago we received a letter from the good ol' American government telling us we had 30 days to vacate their country. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. And definitely do not let the door hit ya on they way out.

We were being deported.

Fred and I had done nothing wrong, rather there was an issue with our visa becoming invalid due to some things that had happened with Fred's employer. When the CEO heard of our plight, he hired some lawyers to work on getting us new visas. Our hopes were not high, for various reasons that I don't want to get into on my blog.

I don't remember how long the actual process took, but after a lot of agonizing, filing of papers, prayers, and emailing with lawyers; we received the new visas. This either was due to some fancy-schmancy lawyer-ing, or it was a total "God Thing", because it shouldn't have happened. I'm going with the "God Thing".

Because visas aren't forever, we had to start our application for a Green Card. For those who don't know, visas are only good for a set number of years. When they expire, you have to leave the country and cannot apply for another one for a year. I believe we started our application in 2002.

What followed were 8 years of uncertainty. We had no idea if we'd be approved. Or when. Do we buy a house? Should we start a family? This process made our whole lives crazy. Things like investing, travel, moving, or purchasing our a home were made painful. In fact, Fred wasn't even allowed to LEAVE the country for 9 years!

(When I say allowed, it was HIGHLY SUGGESTED by our lawyers that Fred not try to cross the border because there was a chance that an overly-zealous customs agent would not let him back in, even though he has every right to be here - it's complicated.)

To make a very long story short, the long-awaited Green Cards were approved and we received our letters yesterday. To say this has been a long time coming is a HUGE understatement. Someone once joked that when we actually got our Green Cards, we should throw a huge party in celebration. Unfortunately, it's way too hot, and I'm way too pregnant to want to do it.

But feel free to send presents anyway.