We received the RFE via snail mail on November 6th. That really wasn't too bad considering they mailed it on November the 2nd.The request was for additional information on us having met within the last 2 years. It is strange that we received this as we did send a lot of primary evidence with our K1 filing. We sent our RFE reply back today with the original evidence we submitted as well as additional evidence. I agree with you! Atleast it means they are doing something with our case. I cannot complain about that. I hope everyone is having a nice week. Best wishes to all of you!

Mel

Mel,

I'm glad to hear that the RFE was not too difficult! I'm glad it is all sent back, and hoping for a fast approval for you and Rene.

Rhonda

Hi All!!!!

Just checking in....Hope all is well with everyone .
I know what you mean with the arrangements and plans, Rhonda. Sometimes I think I will never be done in time. I am still running around like a headless chicken-and seemingly having no impact on the endless list of stuff to do! Mark gets here in 31 days and then my family gets in from the UK a week later......he is REALLY busy over there finishing off stuff ready to move here......I am so happy/excited and sometimes a little over whelmed with it all, you know?
Anyway, I hope your plans are going through nicely...let us know.

Mel-an RFE is often not a bad thing. When we were waiting for our NOA2 I was noticing that alot of people had approvals not long after they submitted the requsted information back to USCIS. At the very least it does mean your file hasn't fallen behind someone's desk out there in USCIS land. Glad it was an easy RFE to respond to. I really think you'll be getting an approval soon!

How's everything going, Em? Will this coming Thanksgiving be your first Thanksgiving in the US? Check-in sometime and let us know how you are doing with the volunteer work/house buying and your AOS! Best wishes for all of that
Nice to see you Jackybeertje! Keep posting!


Arazia--HEY! Drop a post on here and let us know if you have your approval yet-and how Harry is doing. He is flying over soon for Christmas, yes? When is he getting here? You must be getting really excited too! You never know...The approval might happen while he is here-THAT would be a GREAT present for you both!

Well, I have to get to an appointment-catch you all later

regards
Michele

Hey everyone,

Sorry for not giving regular updates, but there hasn't been a whole lot to update. There's no movement on our application yet, no touches, RFEs or Approvals. Some early September K-1s are getting approvals out of California, so all I can do right now on that is cross my fingers and keep waiting.

As for everything else... Harry still hasn't told his parents about our plans. I'm not terribly surprised about this, and it really is his place to tell them, not mine. I'm just a bit tired of making up excuses when people in my life ask 'what do his parents think about this'.

And yeah, he will be coming in for Christmas. He'll be here on December 17th. About 39 days or so left to wait on that. Funny how everything is a waiting game. We were hoping for an NOA2 before he arrives so I can get him all his paperwork he needs from me while he's visiting. It'll be a pain if we get the NOA2 while he's here, as I will be on vacation then and won't be able to get the infamous 'employer letter' for the support document.

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all of the uplifting replies! We are keeping our fingers crossed with all of the information we sent back. We are considering the RFE a positive step forward

That is wonderful that Mark and Harry will be here for the upcoming holidays! I wish all of you the best thanks for your support!

Mel

Hi all! ..... Well, we finally received the Noa 1's for my AOS and EAD. Unfortunatly on both of them my first name is spelled incorrectly.....and it's not even the same mistake . I've been trying to get in touch with someone from the customer service centre, but sofar I keep ending up in a menu that in the end advices me to get in touch with a customer representative (argh, why do they think I keep calling that number in the first place).

Anyways, how are you all doing?.....How's the wedding plans comming along Michele and Rhonda?.....Arazia, during my k1 petition it looked like we didn't get touched once because the message on the online status check never changed and then bham one day it said we were approved, so just because it might look there is no movement, you never really know.....Mel, sorry to hear about the RFE, hopefully now that you send the requested stuff back you will be approved in no-time!

Michele, this will indeed be my first Thanksgiving here and I am looking forward to it. I've been here in the past for almost every other holiday, but somehow I kept missing Thanksgiving

Take care all!

We had the same thing, never been touched. I was wondering if something was wrong and there came noa2. So yeah even if you dont see it they are working on it.

If I read the new stories I am happy we filed in febr. So much more hussle if you file now. It was so much easier in the old days ;-)

-hugs-

Up

How's everyone doing out there?????

Counting down the days. Time goes way to slow for me right now ;-)

Hello! How is everyone? Getting ready for Thanksgiving?

We received GREAT news today! We were approved!! The USCIS received our RFE on the 14th and we were approved on the 16th!!! We just received the email today. Thank you all for your well wishes and support.


I hope you all have a great weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mel

Mel,

That is great. Maybe everything will be set and you two will be together before the New Year. I was looking at some timelines and noticied that sometimes things moved faster at this time of year. Anyway waht great news!!!

Michele and Mark how is everything. .. you two will soon be together.

Arazia and Harry how much longer until Harry is here for his visit?

We have some progress to report, Wilmot recieved his social security card today. Monday, he will look for temporary work!!! Since we recieved the temporary work permit at POE! He is so excited. I'm a little nervous, it has been nice having him at home. But I'm happy for some extra money right before the wedding.

Have a nice weekend.

Rhonda

Hello everybody!

I'm a newbie in this NL thread, but would like to say hi to you all and wish you luck on this journey we are all going through

We are collecting our packet 3 items + completing his checklist. Almost there...

My best wishes for you all,

edi

Hi Mel ..... Congratulations on the approval!!!!!

Hi Edi ..... Welcome to our little Netherlands section here!

Hi Rhonda ..... What was Wilmot's POE since he did get the temp work permit? You might have mentioned it before but right now I am too lazy to scroll back the pages

Take care all

Hi Edi, Welcome good to hear that you will be having your interview soon, goodluck.

Em, Wilmot came throught Chicago O'Hare.

Rhonda

Thank you guys for the welcome!

By a chance, does anybody know the average time spent at the POE with the K-1 process? Even that my Pieter is not comming here yet, I was wondering how much time to leave between connections so he won't be stuck @ Min St Paul or Detroit... We usually travel with Northwest Airlines and those are the two usual POE's to make the connection to Missouri... Yeah, we do live far away, in the middle of the country LOL...

Good luck to you all!

edi

27 more days.
There are some people around our NOA1 date getting approvals right now. It's hard not to get your hopes up when you see other people around you getting approvals. I just don't want to turn into some of the jaded folks in the K-1 forum who got left behind and now whine at other people's threads.

I feel like I'm having to wait for everything. I'm waiting on a promotion I definitely won't get until next year for really confusing reasons. (Something about me getting more money if I get a raise this year, and then get the promotion early next year. If I got the promotion this year, I wouldn't get the raise. I have no clue, it boggles me.) I'm waiting on our application, and waiting on Harry's visit. I feel like I'm at the deli. Take a number, except I've got a whole bunch of numbers.

Anyways, I hope everyone else is doing well with everything. Must get back to work.

Hi all

How are you all doing? Just a quick update here. I will have my biometrics appointment next Tuesday in Orlando at the incredible nice time of 8 am (ahum) I also managed to get through to a customer rep to get the mistakes in my name changed.....well, I atleast hope they will change it correctly. It can take up to 45 days for them to either do so or send out new NOA1's with the correct name

Happy thanksgiving all!

Hello all!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mel

Happy thanksgiving from me as well. Next year i will celebrate it as well.

-hugs-

To Mel, Sol-de-Verano, and all other newbie’s I forgot to note!
And Welcome Back Jackybeertje!
Hello to everyone!

Sorry its been again 5 weeks orso since I’ve been here last!
I’ve just been tooooooooo busy - NO time left to get online,….with finishing stuff off permanently,…and I’m still not “done”!
Think you can visualize it best as (to put it in my wife’s words) “I’m running around like a headless chicken!”
Thinking ya have “done a lot”,….but on the end of the day,………it seems like nothing happened?!?
I’ll get there though!

Anyway,……
Right now there are 16 days to go for me,….before I flyyyyyyyyyyy,….and land in MY Angels arms…..siiiiiiigh!
Finally after all this time, and waiting & waiting & waiting,…I’m flying; “home sweet home”,..WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
As for all the wedding questions like;
-are you nervous? YES- but GOOD nerves!
-are you exited? YES-VERY
-are you stressed out a bit? A little!

-Em,
Sorry to hear that you are home sick, wish I could zap it away for ya!
Guess that ALL immigrants will be home sick, one day or another!
Hope you have good people around / family in NL who can support ya over the phone or internet!
How is the house hunting going, any progress???

-Jackybeertje,
Long Time No See, where have you been???

-Mel,
Congratulations on the approval!!!!!
See;,……..“Patience rewards!”
As for package costs you can find more info here>>> http://www.tntpostpakketservice.nl/nl/cons...eneu/index.aspx
To change the Euro-Dollar-Euro rates I ALWAYS use this recommendable website>>> http://www.xe.com/ucc/

-Arazia,
I cant help BUT wonder “WHY” Harry hasn’t told his parents ANYTHING about YOU?!?!?
I mean, its usually hard to miss when someone is “IN-LOOOVE”,…especially parents will KNOW without saying one word about it to them!
What is Harry going to do, when the VISA finally comes through???
Is he just going to LEAVE without informing his parents???
Cuz THAT ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^could cause some serious problems-think about law enforcement & his parents!
Maybe he got bad parents, or he cant really get along with them,...which is OK,….everyone has probs with their parents every now and again.

But NO PARENT deserves to be left; “NOT KNOWING” anything, especially NOT when he’s LEAVING PERMANTLY!
They might think something BAD happened to him – like kidnapping for example!

Don’t you think YOU should start PUSHING Harry “alittle bit” in telling the STORY of both of you to his parents???
Or if Harry refuses to say anything to his parents,…then WHY don’t YOU TAKE CONTROL and CALL THEM UP???
His parents have the RIGHT to KNOW, what he’s about to do!
Have ya ever thought that his parents might WANT TO BE THERE when you and him get MARRIED???
Well,……don’t they DESERVE the RIGHT to KNOW then???

Lots and lots of questions,………….sorry about that!
The whole situation with Harry and his parents just DOESN’T seem right to me, at all!!



HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!
Next year I will celebrate ThanksGiving with MY COMPLETE FAMILY wooooohooooooo!!!

My internet connection will be disconnected very soon, which means that I will be OFF-line for sometime! (again)
I probably wont be online again before Christmas / next year,……my next post will be send from TX then!

In Advance; All the BEST WISHES & Christmas Wishes to everyone for all the Looove, health, luck & procedures in the up coming holidays & 2007-2008-2009-2010-2050-2100-forever........

Regards Mark.

Incase anyone is looking for a funny avatar?!?

I’m clearing out my computer and I had these funny avatars!
Some of them are a bit bigger then others,…but the VJ website will RESIZE them automatically when ya copy and past the link,…and update your avatar!


ROTFFLMAO
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4360/applauseec7.gif

LOL
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2720/bigpigeonxp6.gif

LOL
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/64/bushme3.gif

ROTFFLMAO
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/7915/djcrazyfrogrk5.gif

ROTFFLMAO
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/7159/er...atsupdocjq6.gif


http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3969/fuckyouua9.gif

Neat Trick! ROTFFLMAO
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1791/gundickbz5.gif

ROTFFLMAO
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2668/gy...dmilllolmd7.gif



End of part I

Regards Mark.


HAPPY HAPPY DANCIN
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/663/hap...pydancinvk8.gif

ROTFFLMAO
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8588/jimcareylolsw0.gif

LOL
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3715/shutuplm9.gif

LOL
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8096/sp...allsclipfx9.gif

ROTFFLMAO
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2864/wa...sballoonbz9.gif

LOL
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7648/wowik5.gif


http://putstuff.putfile.com/11543/6239369 ROTFFLMAO

end of part II

Ok gotta gogogoo now,…got still tons of stuff to do!
Catch ya’ll latersss

Regards Mark.

he mark, gratz on your visa. I am so joelous of you that your flying home within days already while i still have to wait till febr 8.
Were I have been? Ehhh packing, cleaning out my house and moving to my parents house ;-) Were I will stay till we move.

-hugs-

Happy Thanksgiving to all !!! And congratz on all those with approvals, it makes it cloooooser to be with your other half Have a good flight!

And for us that are still waiting , we are almost there!

And Mark, thanks for the link for the international packaging, that's going to be helpful since I am sure that Pieter is going to bring some if his things He's a packrat LOL

Have a great day!!!!

edi

Hi all!!!!!


Hope everyone is doing well!
Only 16 days left for us now!!!!!!!!!!!...

Hang on in there everyone waiting for approval-it will happen!

Welcome to the newcomers and congrats on the recent approvals

Regards and wishes to all.
Michele

I think you might be alittle bit confused.
Harry's parents know about me. They have met me before. They know we are in a relationship with one another. They don't really like the fact that we are in a relationship together, but they know that much at least. They picked me up from the airport, I spent two and a half weeks with their family, and they dropped him off for his visit and picked him up this summer.

The only thing that they do not know is that we are planning to get married. He plans on telling them, but is waiting until both of his parents are home to do so. His father travels a great deal and hasn't really been home much. There is also a certain, understandable, level of fear involved. His mother has made threats to kick him from the house and his father has threatened to divorce the entire family because he can't deal with his children. I think he is seriously afraid his decision could effect more than just himself.

As for his parents 'rights'... They really don't have any 'right' to know. It would be nice, and it would be proper, but being a parent does not give a person a right to know everything that goes on in the life of their adult children. He will tell them before the visa interview, and they will be invited to the wedding (although I seriously doubt they will attend). I do not believe it is my place to go over Harry's head and talk to them about this. He is a grown man and can do it himself. I believe he -will- do it the next time his parents are home, because this has been bothering him, too.

I think you are jumping to conclusions, and making some baseless asumptions.

I have very good reasons, mainly the ones Arazia just outlined for you.
Hell, they know very well I am head over toes in love with her, but that does not mean that they agree with everything I do.
To inform you from my point of view, my parents are somewhat overprotective, and think that they know everything that is good for their children. They tend to be very controlling, and now facing that fact that their son (that's me) might be leaving them is causing quite some tension. My father always believed that I was really smart, because I got a high score on one of Holland's IQ tests, apparently that immediately making me a prodigy and should be scoring A+s on everything. My mother still sees me as a little kid she has to protect, and they also both believe that 'negative suggestions' are the way to inspire a person to do thing.



And yes, there has been quite some more troubles brewing. My father is barely home, being the workaholic he is. Soon he'll be working in a foreign country, leaving my mom and my sister (and me?) behind at our house... just so he can earn us more money. I mean, sure it's a way of showing love. But he really isn't doing this for the best of the family if you ask me.

My mother is still overprotective. And BOTH of them think that I should finish school before even thinking of going to the US. But to me, they are holding me back, and have held me back for quite some time.
The problem for me is, how do I bring it to them without getting screwed in the process?
No, they don't have legal rights to know what I am doing. Nor can they fight me, as I am of legal age.
But still I should tell them. True.
It's just a little more complicated as it might show on the surface.

I've been waiting for my dad to return, he's been gone for the past. *ponder* two weeks now?
And the last time he was home, it was for half a day during which he was too sick to get out of bed. (Why does he travel when sick? I don't get it)

Anyhow... yeah. No need to shout at my Arazia. +.+ Or I will get you ( <-- That's an empty threat. I am way to nice to do anything.)
I do understand that you were trying to help... but without knowing the depth of the situation, your suggestions and 'help' came over as a bit violent // pushing.

Hi there Ranmaru, welcome to VJ

Not sure if Mark will see both of your responses as his IP is being disconnected very soon; so I just wanted to say that I do not think he was " shouting" at Arazia at all-merely commenting on what Arazia had written in previous posts.....and I have to admit that a couple of the points he mentioned had crossed to my mind also....when I read back through the thread....

Anyway; your situation seems truly complicated with so much involved-I know I speak for Mark also when I say that we wish you both the very best of luck in finding a resolution; so you both can be together finally.

Arazia & Ranmaru,

I wish you both the best of luck. Maybe right now it's stormy but, at the end, love can do everything and I hope that you guys will find a solution to be with each other very soon.

Have nice holidays 2gether!

edi

there are nothing but feelings of goodwill and support on this netherlands thread... its a nice change from most msg boards... i dont think anyone was trying to cause any hard feelings...

welcome to all those that i have not greeted as of yet, and congrats to everyone else who is moving along with this grueling process!

and just a little update from this homefront... Tobe is bouncing off the walls with pride... we are having a son!! just what he wanted... my daughter is very upset as she wanted a girl, but she is slowly coming around... now we have been able to go ahead and start buying some cute little blue clothes, etc...

hope everyone had a good thanksgiving and wish everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Hi Ranmaru ..... Welcome to out little Netherlands corner. Sounds like you're in a tough and complicated situation at home. I do hope you will be able to tell your parents soon about the plans you and Arazia have 'cause this must be eating away at you guys and put much stress on you too.

Hi Keltic ..... Aw, that's wonderfull news that you will have a baby boy Have you guys picked a name yet?

Hi Michele ..... I bet you are just counting down the days now eh

As for us.....we got an RFE in my AOS case. They ask for things that we already submitted, so I guess we just have to make copies once again and send it in.....sigh.

Take care all

Hi Arazia & Ranmaru,

In the first place; I was NOT shouting OK?
If I was, my reply should have been COMPLETELY IN CAPITAL FONT!

Maybe I should have “formulated” my questions a bit different, I don’t know?!?!?
What I DO know is; that there was no harm intended, just curiosity!
We’re all here for support in these tough times, not to make everyone’s life miserable!


There are a couple things you have to consider when YOU post personal related info on a World Wide Website though!

(1) As soon as YOU post a message / personal related info on a PUBLIC website you open your self up for questions. Or in other words; don’t post if the replies are not what you WANT them to be!

(2) 100.000’s of people who read your posts are going to form an opinion about the posts YOU posted. Some people or replies will ask questions and others just don’t bother!

All I did with my previous post was; I formed an “opinion” and “questions” based on the info you yourself-Arazia provided to this website!
And BEFORE you say it“I know, I know, opinions are just like a$$holes everyone has got one”!

But all the info you yourself-Arazia provided on this website,…just didn’t make much sense to me, that is what my previous post was about; “clarification”!


Bottomline;
My previous post was NOT intended to attack / to harm you and/or your boyfriend!!!
It was intended for you to clarify your confusing posts, that’s all there is/was to it!

You and your boyfriend “Ranmaru” just clarified most of the “confusing” bits! Thank you for that!
Sorry that you are in THAT difficult situation Harry!
Hope everything will turn out perfectly OK for all of you guys!

And eh Ranmaru


Welcome to VJ!


Regards Mark.


PS;
I am NOT a “flamewar” person,…hell I’m hardly ever on here, but be warned there are some true “flamewar-experts” here on VJ!!!
Those "FlameWar-Expert Explanation-Clicky" can really “take you down” when you open yourself up for it!
Or in other words; Beware with what YOU post on here & be crystal clear plz! (it will prevent all of this!)

Thanks Jackybeertje,
Naaah don’t be jealous,…you’ll be flying soon very soon after me to be with your sweety!
Just hang on inthere in these tough times Jackybeertje,….you can do it!
About the packing,….isn’t it AMAZING how MUCH stuff there is ya gather over the years?!?!?
It sure as hell took me by surprise!
As a matter of fact I’m still packing!







Your very welcome Edi!




Congratulations!!!






Hiya Em,

Michele and I are indeed counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds woooooohoooooooo!
Were getting more and more exited the nearer time gets!!! Joepiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
As for your RFE on your AOS,…well just think to yourself “De Aanhouder Wint!”
Everything will be allright eventually!


My internet connection is up till 30 November!
So maybe (if I have some spare time) I will come back here before it'S been cut off,…otherwise I’ll see ya’ll again from the Texan computer!

Regards Mark.

Heavy use of !?!? bolding, caps, etc can come off as shouting. Using all capital letters is not the only way of showing shouting on the internet. Perhaps you could be more careful in your use, and when you are asking clarifying questions, you could avoid using !?!?!?!?!, bolds, underlines, caps, etc. That would keep it from coming off as if you were shouuting.

As for posting on the internet, I am well aware of such things. Unfortunately, your 'opinions' do not seem to take into consideration all of the information we have posted in this thread. Much of our 'clarification' is just repeats of things I've said or posted before when telling about our story.

Perhaps the best thing would be simply to discontinue talking about any of the personal side of things. I had originally come here posting about that because I am not all that familiar with Dutch family structure or if some of the things going on in Harry's family were 'normal' or not. The conclusion I've come to is that it's not normal. We are not involved in a normal family situation. Thus not all the 'normal' modes of behavior apply when dealing with the situation.

With that said...
Harry knows quite well that I expect him to tell his parents the next time his father is home. As I have said in previous posts... it will be made known to them before we have our interview for the visa. I am an adult, as is Harry. I fully expect him to act like an adult and deal with his parents without my intervention. I was only posting here looking for some support because I was worried about the situation.

Anyways, I'm going to go back to quietly waiting for news on my application.

OMG Mark, you have no idea how long it took me to get all my stuff sorted out. I had to throw away a lot of ######. I had a very big basement that was filled from buttom till top with 32 years of memories. My mom was a pack rat as well and see kept all my stuff over the years. And then my house, so much storage space and all totaly filled. I am down to 16 boxes now and 6 suitcases. Maybe it will become 1 more box cause of the stuff I still use and want to sent as well. Still it is a lot. Ddidnt want to take more then 10 boxes, but yeah when you have a kid.....

Hi Arazia ..... Well let me start by telling you that things that are going on in Harry's family is not your typical every day stuff that goes in Dutch family's. I can only talk from my own experience that even though I knew that especially my mum would have a hard time dealing with me leaving, I have always been upfront with them about my plans. My parents have always told me that I am old enough to make my own decisions in life and that they will support me no matter what. Harry is in a tough situation at home, but the longer he waits with telling them about the plans you two have the harder it wil be for him in my opinion. Plus this whole thing must be pretty stressful on the both of you as well. Anyways, I sincerely hope things will work out with his parents once he tells them about you plans. Good luck!

Hi Mark ..... Enjoy your last days in Holland! And I agree it is amazing how much stuff you can collect over the years.....and how much of that stuff is just that, stuff that you put away and haven't touched or looked at in years. Most of my things that are yet to be send over are still at my parents house and some stuff is at my sisters house as well. I am just waiting for us to have a new place before I let them send it here because we just don't have a lot of room here right now for more boxes etc.

I will have my biometrics taken tomorrow. From what I have read that only takes 15 minutes max so we should be in and out of there real quick.....or so I hope anyway. Oh by the way, no luck on our house hunting yet . The bank offered us a morgage that we don't accept and they made a mistake on not using Ed's VA thing even though we specifically mentioned it to them. They will now make us a new offer, but we don't know if we want to wait for that. The lease for this apartment has to be renewed before the end of the year and we just want to get out of here so we might end up just renting another place for the time being. Ah well, I will keep you all posted!

Take care all

hi Em, good luck with your biomatrics tomorrow. I guess you will tell us all the detaisl of your 5 min thing ;-)

That suck about the morgage

O yeah feeling like comming to hawaii say around the 17 of march. How it is looking now we prob will get married that weekend or the weekend after. I want to get married on the 21st cause of the first day of spring, you know start of new things. But yeah a wednesday is not so handy for most peeps cause of work.

-hugs-

Hello all! How is everyone?

Keltic Congrats on the baby boy!! Very exciting news.

Em&Ed Good luck on the biometrics tomorrow. I hope everything goes well for you.
Sorry to hear about the house hunting/mortgage issues. I hope the right offer and the perfect home will be in your near future.

I got caught up reading the posts on the situation with Arazia and Harry. What a mess! I wish both of you the best of luck. I know this unusual circumstance must be difficult on you both. As if this process itself was not already difficult enough that adds even more stress to things

Rene and I are still waiting for word that NVC has received our case. We are certainly happy that CSC is finished with it anyway!

Best wishes to everyone!!

Reading through all the posts it seems everyone is busy with moving forward in the stage they are at.

Best of luck Harry and Arazia on your situation. . . I did not tell my parents anything about Wilmot until he moved here because of some difficult things in our relationship over the past years. So please do what you feel is best. It is nice to get other people's opinions, even if you don't agree because they can help you look at the situation from another point of view.

Em congratulations on your bio...

Mark I'm glad you have been able to get things ready to go, it must have been hard. I'm sure you and Michele are counting down the days!!!

Wilmot and I getting ready for his friends to come from all over the US and Europe for the wedding. We have everything in place for the ceremony to be on Friday, Dec. 29the and then a weekend filled with fun things to do with our friends for the New Year and our Wedding Celebration. It is a lot more work then I expected.

It is nice to hear the news from jackybeerte and keltic. Wishing everyone a happy week and I will try to stay connected over this busy month.

Rhonda

Hi all
Just a fly by "Hi" to check in.


Keltic-Whoo-oo! Congrats!!!!!
How did your biometrics go, Em? And the mortgage stuff.....It is different doing it as a VA mortgage ( that's what we have too)-hope it gets sorted before Christmas for you

WOW, Rhonda, not long now!!!!!!!!

Mel-there is a thread on the NVC forum detailing how to track the DHL packet from NVC to the foreign Embassy--

Arazia-How's it going? Ok I hope Not long now till Harry gets here

Hey Jacky-it's not long now-the whole Hawaii/Spring idea is lovely!

As for me- I am running round still-going NUTS seriously-SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited/nervous/excited/not sleeping/excited/twitchy/can't sit still, yet getting nothing accomplished because I am too EXCITED!
Did I mention I am excited??.... you all know what I mean-

Anyway there is a thread on Off Topic about " free international phone calls"--if you have unlimited domestic long distance on your phone already, you can call a number then call over to Holland and the call is FREE! Check it out. I tried it to the UK just now and it works!

Anyway, best wishes to all-I have to dash now.

regards to all
Michele

Just a quick update to set some folk's minds at ease:

- Still no sign of that elusive NOA2. Some people with NOA1 dates the same as ours have gotten approvals so I'm hopeful. Even if we're one of those applications that got lost behind a toilet somewhere, it's okay. The waiting doesn't bother me all that much right now, as I have the holidays to look forward to.

- Harry tried for two days to talk to his parents. The first time they said they were going to bed and couldn't talk. The second time his father was angry about work or something and just marched to his room. So he sent them an e-mail explaining that he was planning on coming to the United States and marrying me, and that he'd like to talk it over with them. I guess sometime this morning they had their talk, and contrary to what both of us expected, it went fairly smoothly. There was no yelling, no tantrums, no hitting. They think he's an idiot, of course, but they aren't going to try to stop him. His father even said they had been expecting it, although not this early.

- A cousin of mine had a strange kind of cancer about seven years ago. She had a tumor in her arm, but the type of cancer was inconsistant with that location. If I remember correctly, it was a type of lung cancer... in her arm. Well, the tumor was removed, she went through a series of radiation treatments and scans and was cancer free for seven years. About a month ago, during a regular check up, the doctor found a strange spot on her arm. It is another cancerous tumor, skin cancer this time (if I recall correctly). She is going in on the 19th to have it removed. She seems to be taking it okay, but it has to be tough to have considered her battle with cancer over, only to have it come up again. I just hope things go okay with the surgery. She's one of my favorite relatives and I hate that bad things keep happening to her.


So, I'm going to go back to quietly waiting for approval, getting ready for Harry's visit and preping for the holidays. Best wishes to everyone else still moving through the system.

Have a wonderful time together! I am hoping that Santa has an NOA2 in his bag of pressies for you and Harry
regards
M&M

Hi all .....Well, biometrics was over and done with within 30 minutes! This includes waiting in line, filling out a form and the actual fingerprinting. Oh yeah, and they take a picture of you again as well. All in all this went very smoothly and we were back home around 9.30 am (we left at 6 am to go to Orlando).

Arazia .....Good to hear that Harry tol his parents about your plans! Sorry to hear about your cousin though!

Mel .....You're bouncing off the wall eh . Just a few more days to go till you and Mark are together again

Take care all

Arazia,

I am glad that Harry finally could tell his parents, that must have been a relief for you both! I wish you guys the best of luck on getting that NOA2 soon! Maybe while Harry is here at the holidays with you so you can celebrate together?? Also, sorry about your relative and my best wishes for her health.

Em&Ed
Congrats on getting done with those biometrics, it seems like it was a breeze!

Keltic,

WOW congrats for your baby!

And for the rest of you guys, my best wishes and stay warm!!

I don't know when I'll see my Pieter for the next time, I just know it's gonna be sometime next year, but when? Not until we are done with this K-1 process... So I'll have a long cold winter, brrr....

Groetjes!

edi

Arazia: I am glad that Harry got around to tell his parents. And good to hear they didnt freack out. Or not totlay ;-) Man he had a hard time getting them together. I know from myself, dont have a good relationship with my parents. I dropped the bomb on my b-day a year ago. I didnt discuss it, but just anounched that I was going to work on my visa and move to Hawaii. Got a very distant and cool responce. I guess it is better then they starting lecturing, but you always hope that your parents burst out in tears and say they will miss you so much but they understand you go cause of the love of your life and bla bla bla. But maybe that only happens in movies. So i kind of understand why he didnt tell them sooner. And with him living at there house can make it harder.

Michelle, keep it together. Going to be hard. I understand. But just ehh what is it 9 more days? I can see you run around in your house from exitment and such. I am so happy for you. For me its 70 more days.

Just a quick update on things...

Still no word on our application.

But... you all remember the emotional abuse storm we were expecting to come down from Harry's parents when they found out about our plans? And we were so surprised they seemed to accept things? Well... it seems that was the calm before the storm. He is now the 'scapegoat' for everything wrong with the family. He was blamed for his sister getting a tongue ring. His father is claiming that he is doing all of this on purpose to drive the family into the ground.

So... things kind of suck at the moment.

Hi Arazia .....Sorry to hear about Harry's situation at home right now. Hope you don't mind me saying this but it sounds like his dad is pretty wacko. How old is Harry's sister? I hope the two of you will ge your NOA2 soon.....atleast he will be with you in 14 days from now, giving him a break from all the looney stuff back at home.

Take care

ps: anyone had a visit from Sinterklaas today?????

Meh, no Saint Nicolas for me. I got presents for 'zia though, since I will be staying over there during Christmas. Can't find anything good in Heerlen or Maastricht though. >.>

My sister is 17 years old.
And about my father... well, here's more fun. He's going to work in a foreign country for 5 years, meaning he'll be like... not home at all. And when I tell them that I am going to go to America, suddenly I am the bad guy. I see my mother growing more and more sad and desperate, as my father treats her more and more like (bad word was here). Sure, stress at work, I believe that. But my mom is much more devistated by my father leaving than me. I can see it by the way she moves and talks about it. Yet I get most of the fire directed at me, because that way I am a 'common scapegoat'. Which seems to be the easiest way for them to get rid of their own sorrow. *sigh*
Oh, and it will be a bit more than 14 days I believe. I don't know exactly.... don't care either. Every moment I have with Arazia will be used and cherished to the max.

Hi Harry: sounds like your father that needs to grow up and know what his prioretys are. Sounds to me he has them mixed up, thought that family came first and then work.
I wish you great holidays with your love.

Em: We had a visit from sinterklaas ;-) He was ofcourse in nathans class yesterday and he told Nathan he would put something in his shoe next year as well and he would also get gifts on dec 5th. But was still planning on going trough with the tradition ;-)

Michelle and Mark, Tomorrow is the big day (if i am not mistaken)
You guys must be so nervouse and thrilled. Finaly going to be together.

Well, we got our NOA2 via e-mail! Finally some good news. Harry should be here to visit in a little over a week.
I'm starting to think that maybe this might be a happy holiday afterall. Just thought I'd share the news!