Immigration

I feel like I should re-title my blog...the ups and downs with Immigration. For the last year and a half, especially the last year immigration has been on my mind pretty much every day. I feel like i've become and expert on something I have no interest in becoming an expert on! I am thankful for my understanding and incredibly patient husband who has been by my side every step of the way and our wonderful immigration lawyer who answers every one of my (sometimes frantic) emails. Never in my life have I every had to think or worry about where I live and actually being able to stay and live there. So this was a new ball game for me. I guess its something most people don't every have to go through. Yes, I had to occasionally get travel visas to visit other countries back in my traveling days but never anything quite as extensive, difficult and overwhelming as this. As I've mentioned in previous post, as of the 11th of April I will no longer be able to work until my visa is granted. And right now in order for my visa to be granted we are waiting for my FBI background check to be sent back to Australia for the US. I made a static filled phone call to the FBI this morning and the lady informed me my background check will be mailed on April 6th even though it was processed 3 weeks ago! Thats another week away! As much as I wanted to ask her why...maybe raise my voice or cry...who knows, I resisted and said thank you and hung up the phone. At least for the next week I can stop waiting for the mail to be delivered. I know in all of this God has a plan and he is teaching me many lessons. Honestly I think God is giving me exactly what I need. I need a break from work. Even though its a unpaid/forced break, its still a break and I desperately need some time just to do nothing. For so many weeks now we've just had so many thing going on. Most days I feel great about things. I know that God is in control and he's given me so much peace, but some days are just hard and everything catches up with me and hits me like a ton of bricks. I feel like I've been having more harder days lately, which I hate. But as my sweet husband says, I (we) have a lot of big things going on, a lot on our plate that not everyone knows about, and I need to give myself a little more credit and not be so hard on myself and that its ok to have a bad day. He is probably right. Gosh, I love that man! I don't know what I would do without him helping me though all this...well actually its because of him I have to deal with immigration in the first place but he is TOTALLY worth it :) I know that this is just a season. One day (hopefully very soon!) I will be granted my permanent residency visa and we will get to have our celebration dinner at the top of Centre Point Tower in Sydney (my request!), I'll be able to go back to work and I can breath a BIG sigh of relief because finally the biggest hurdle on the Australian end of Immigration will be over. Now I know immigration will always be a factor in our life and I knew that when I married an Australian. And one day maybe we'll have to deal with this on the American end for Ben and I pray if/when we do I will have learned a lot from this go round to help me the next time! Its just a season, it will pass. Right now I'm constantly praying for strength to get through this season and patient while we wait for the next. But everyday thankful its in God's hands.