gtigiant

Veroka you were in cleveland recently????!!!!!! :( We need to get together soon. We found another market here with TONS of peruvian stuff.

Wish we knew. Erika had to close Machu Picchu because of the construction. It was just impossible for her to get any customers down there. We were really upset when we found out.

Katherine and I just had our 1 year anniversary on the 20th. Ironically we were down in Columbus for it . Her sister came up on an exchange student work visa and is here for three months (leaves in march). That has been a really stressful time unfortunately, but we are working through it.

We are finally pretty settled into the house, still need to get some furniture, but everything is pretty much in place. I setup the new bed I finished building last night. Kathe is working full-time now and is really starting feel more "at home" now that she can be more self-sufficient with the job and driver's license. I can't wait until we get to go back to Peru, as we are currently planning for the first of May.

Glad to see all the new miniVJrs are doing good! Congrats everybody!

Our best wishes and prayers with the rest of the peruvian families as well.

We have been able to reach almost everyone so far. The majority of Kathe's family is in the Callao and La Punta evacuation areas (from the tsunami fear). There is one great aunt that nobody has reached yet, and because of her age no one is sure where she might be staying (apparently she is a little crazy).

At her moms house in Chaclacayo (about 25 miles east of Lima) everything on top of a dresser/desk ended up on the floor. Lots of broken perfume bottles and books all over the floor, but nothing else.

From talking to everyone it was a "shaker" not a "roller", and it really caused a lot of rockslides in the foothills around Lima.

Haven't been in here for a while so figured I would say hey! Congrats MandR for the new family on the way!

Kathe and I just bought a house and are settling into it. She has recieved her EAD and we are waiting for her social security card to arrive. Hopefully the AOS will be completed soon.

Veroka- we haven't started the update on the DNI yet. Can you help us out a little with the process? Thanks a bunch.

how could we let this thread slide so far???

Been really busy recently, but we finally got Kathe's AOS paperwork in the mail. I think it was easier to put everything together for the visa. So we are doing that, taxes and trying to buy a house all at the same time. WHEEEEEEEE!

Yes, we heard that at well. They are having a big dinner at the local peruvian restaurant here and we are planning to go to be able to meet everyone.

We were in Columbus last weekend and I keep forgetting to get your contact info Veroka! Kathe prefers columbus over cleveland (and as I am doing my taxes now I do even more so myself), but the job is here, so we go to columbus probably once a month.

woohoo! i know the answer to this.

We got one of those heavy wedding dress garment bags and took it as carry on. We simply asked the stewardesses to put it in their coat closet. they were more then happy to help out. A quick steam once it go to the US (as we were going to the opposite way) and it was ready to go.

glad you enjoyed them! I have a ton more to go thru and add but I have to work all weekend on two different projects (one an application upgrade and the other a data migration because my company sold one of their businesses). No time to play

they are doing a lot better recently approving people who are not with their Fiancee. When we had Kathe's interview, we did see single applicants denied. There were two things that were very obvious at a glance about these people tho.

1) Bad Attitude. Be nice and polite to them, if you are rude or short, they do have the power and authority to make your life hell. One lady was a real gem, and once she started yelling at the lady behind the window, it was end of the road for her request.

2) Not a lot of evidence. Some of those there that were sent on their way had only a single letter. Nothing more. Take EVERYTHING you can. They need proof of a relationship, not a letter saying you are in love.

As I mentioned to you before, take everything you can think of, and document all of your photos. Showing a relationship with the family is a huge bonus as well from what I have seen. You will be fine as long as you prepare good.

Thanks everybody!

The reception/shower in Peru was thrown by a group of her friends. So we didn't have to pay for any of that. They did a big potluck style party for us.

Everything went perfectly smooth here in the states. Her entry into the US in Houston took maybe 15 minutes.

I know some of the pictures are dark or need to be cropped better, but I haven't had time to work with them all. I need to go through the originals and clean them up. That is a project for a later date.

Ok, I went through and somewhat grouped, resized and uploaded some photos from the wedding. It was a cold, but beautiful day. It had snowed the day before, but we got nothing but sunshine (and cold).

I put the photos up on our website. As I said, I didn't do a lot with them, including really sort or title any of them. So they are not in order, but hopefully you will enjoy them. I have another 250+ photos that are promised to us from friends, and another 400+ to go through here on my other computer. Hopefully I will get to them soon enough.

Enjoy!!! http://www.jakeandkathe.com

They did not let anyone in early when we went for Kathe's Interview. Instead, they split everyone up into two lines. The actual K1/K3 interviewees went in last at that time. Do get there early however. The line gets long very quickly.

As MandR stated, first and foremost: RELAX!!!

We used a large 3 ring binder (that or accordian file is your choice). Make sure you know where everything is, and you can hand it to them. Any photos you provide, make sure you put the location and date on them. We used a photo sheet that fit into the 3 ring binder that allowed you to caption each photo. We also made sure to put the names of everyone who is in the photos on the captions, especially family members.

The photos and the emails were what they looked at the most for us. As long as you have everything organized, and you have a good solid set of evidence, you should be in without issue. It can be very stressful, so try to relax a little bit. The people we dealt with were very helpful, although some of them seemed to be about the same as me when it came to enjoying mornings. However, they were very professional and appreciated having it all organized and labeled for them.

HTH

be positive. It should all be smooth sailing for you!

will do! Once I get the pics sorted and posted up I will let everyone know

sorry for the delays in posting. What a busy couple of weeks. The wedding is done (now on to the AOS process). She is here in the US and while loving the US she is not so big on the cold. The average temperature for the last couple of weeks has been 22F. She thinks the snow is awesome as long as she can see it from inside the house

Hopefully I will be around a little more now (especially since I will need more help with the AOS). Glad the wedding is over, but everything turned out PERFECT. Veroka, we came back to the states on the 17th. Hopefully we can meet up in Columbus or Cleveland some time tho.

hi everybody!!!!!!! been away for awhile. Been planning the wedding. Going back to Peru this week to go get my baby. The wedding is on the 20th!!!! It has been crazy getting everything ready. But everything is moving along now, so hopefully everything is perfect for her. Hope everybody is doing well. Now I have to start getting ready for the AOS process.

i think if i learn that spanish it will only lead to trouble.

ooooh tamales!

there is one document in the packet you are supposed to send in when you recieve your packet. It is noted in the documentation (forget the number right now). Send that one in IMMEDIATELY. It is a simple document that you fill in about you.

Everything else you put together and take with you to the interview.

You don't need to have your birth certificate translated into english. You do have to go thru the entire RENIAC process however. Police reports do not have to be translated. They are just looking for the big NO on them anyway.

i am craving cancha right now as well. now I am hungry again

there was an older peru couple thread called pisco club or something to that affect.... sorry for the vague reference. it made sense to me

why can't the pisco club get our thread (this one is the most active) pinned up top as well?

glad to hear she is ok and everything is working out. wishing you the absolute best

:) :)

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!

:) :)

glad to hear it worked out for you

that is 4c a minute, so not bad. i have heard there is somebody here on VJ that has cards that are as low as 1c a minute to Peru. My Packet8 (www.packet8.net) runs 4c a minute so I just use that.

congrats on the approval stoneservant! :)

artegal - I realize that it is not a requirement, nor can it be the reason for a lack of approval, just noting that it was interesting that of the denials and approvals I personally saw that day it appeared only those with their spouse got the approvals.