BlakeandOlha

I'm actually a little scared/upset right now...I just handed in my notice at work! My boss was really lovely and said he didn't want me to go.

I've also cancelled my phone contract, have written to my gym to cancel my gym membership and am about to write to cancel my cinema subscription, too.

You've crossed the Rubicon, congratulations. And, if I might speak for all men out there, are you sure that losing an inch off your bust is really necessary? I mean, there's got to be a better option

Hi Blake Hope all is going well for you.

Thank you for your thoughts. Actually things are going great, though busy. I just don't seem to be able to do things the simple way. I had developed a rather intricate plan of making to the interview on Sept 10 then flying to board meetings in London for a few days, then flying back to Kiev to get Olga and her son, when....... they suddenly decided to move the board meeting to Prauge a few days later. Now I will be going out for the interview...flying back to the US then flying back to Kiev (via Prague) to get her some 2 weeks later.

But... The good thing is I will be able to be with her for both the interview and for the trip together. As I said to her, these are two of the most important days in my life, I wouldn't miss them for anything. The funny thing is that now the wedding will only be three or so weeks from when she touches down (and I had thought we would have had about 6 weeks) - which certainly guarantees quite a whirlwind of activity. Yikes! The reality of dresses, invitations, chapel reservation, music, dinner for close friends is starting to sink in. Which as you can imagine causes no small amount of stress.

I'm having fun, and feel much better about Olga's safety. Although she will certainly miss her family, she cannot wait to get the "heck outta Dodge" and get here. Only 40 Days left till the interview

Hello!

I have 3 more days in France with my family and then I will be leaving for the USA. I am very excited!!!

I am so happy for you Cecile, tomorrow starts a new life for both of you. Write us when you hit Stalouie

I'm so scared right now

I understand your fear, just relax and approach the interview with a open heart and confident mind. I really think you'll be OK if you just answer the questions directly, certainly don't volunteer details unless asked or go beyond the question asked. You've made it this far, so I don't think anything is going to keep you from realizing your dream! Keep the faith

Yes to Packet 3. Interview - 14th August. Wedding - 27th December. Probably not entering the States until November/early December now.

Rachel, you really should look at a earlier wedding, that way you'll be able to get both anniversary and christmas presents. On the other hand, that week leading up to new year's is going to be quite specatular. I'm so happy for you two.

Morning all!!!

I got a question for you.

What type of birth certificate you got? Normal one or international one?

Just go with normal - it'll need translation, etc. but it'll work fine.

You got news today, i got my noa2... July 29 2008 is a great day!!!

Hooooraaay Miss Yoko, Congratulations!!!!

I am so happy for you and Richard. I'm looking forward to my new neighbor arriving!

Thanks Don!

Ok yeah can we do an update here who all has their packet 3's currently? Who has interviews coming up? Who has wedding dates set? Etc....We really need to think about branching out somewhere that we can keep up with all this easier haha!

Where's Blake when you need him? We should get him to make a few more lists hehe

Andddddd we got an RFE.....OY VEY hahahaha! I am just giddy our case is being fondled though let me tell you! Gareth assured me this is a GOOD thing and hopefully we will finally get our approval now once we get this sorted!!!! I am just beyond irritated they waited 193 days to give us one of these! LOL.....can I call right today then to find out what it was you think that is needed?

Thanks again for all your continued support!

Sunny and RFE is a good thing, be happy! Clear it up quickly and the world will be your oyster.

Congrats you two!!!! Well Done

Good Luck tomorrow Pam, I'm sure it will all go swimingly

I am leaving for Kiev, Ukraine for my wife's interview scheduled for the 28th of August.

The lowest Price Quote as of today: $1600.00 RT, to Ukraine.

I checked Hotwire.com, Orbitz, NWA/KLM, LOT, TravelZoo.com, and Priceline.com.

Does anyone have a travel site or travel agent with lower pricing?

I can fly out of: FWA, IND, DTW, ORD, TOL

Departing on the 24th, or 25th of August. Returning anytime between August 30th - September 1

Thanks, in advance, to ALL who reply.

bite the bullet and come back on the second of Sept. Priceline had flights at 1,063 RT and Luftansa flies RT at 1,313 (all out of Chicago) go to Kyak.com since they canvass many sites to come up with the best pricing. Out of Detroit I saw the RT price at $1,100

Thank you everyone

Our visa is APPROVED!!!! :dance:

It went very smoothly, it took less than 2 hours. No co-sponsor needed. no proofs asked. nothing to worry about!

I wrote a long text in the train with details, I will probably type it tomorrow.

:dance:

Hooorraaayyyy!!!!!

Now get over here already

Aww thanks Blake soo much! You guys have no idea how much you help me keep it together somedays! And believe me there is going to be major celebrating when we get approval and even more so once he is actually here in my arms!!!!

You're only a couple hour drive away, sunny, I imagine I'll hear the Yahoooooos coming from accross the lake long before I read about your approval here. I hope everyone is having a fun sunday!

[

Sunny - was that a touch from a phone call you made or was that one done all on its own. I've read that you'll often get a system generated touch from a phone call that occurs when they check your file. But, and I think this is my own speculation, if it is a touch generated outside the phone call then that's a good sign that it comes from an actual human being.

I honestly think it is just from my phone call yesterday It seems every time I have called it has generated 2 touches....so yeah I got a touch yesterday the day I called and then again today (prob as they put it back bottom of a pile!) I sure hope and pray as always though that it is them actually working on our case!!!

I'm really rooting for you two, and all joking aside, this has got to be very difficult. When your approval does come through, you should both recognize how much you've earned it and how special you two really are. Keep the faith, it'll happen!

Congratulations!!!

Thanks, bevs! I hope that means good news for our poor stragglers, too!

Some people don't know when to leave a party...

Sunny time to go

I believe I've posted the ring twice before - once here and once in Off Topic - but if no one objects I can certainly post it again.

It's titanium and chunky, which suits me and my style really well. Soo light and comfortable to wear - feels very natural on my finger. I hope yours does, too!

Blue and purple are my favourite colours, especially for jewellery!

That's a beautiful ring Rachel - I love colored gems as well. Saphires and Ruby's are the best, but don't quote me on that because it'll be a while before I have that kind of money saved.

Sunny - was that a touch from a phone call you made or was that one done all on its own. I've read that you'll often get a system generated touch from a phone call that occurs when they check your file. But, and I think this is my own speculation, if it is a touch generated outside the phone call then that's a good sign that it comes from an actual human being.

Hi Blake! Omg I would blow a gasket! With all the other stuff you have to deal with.... Glad the loser was smart enough to know when to say when. Cograts on the Interview date Must be a big relief.

I still have gaskets lying about from various explosions

Hello everybody! I am stuck at home today: I am waiting for a package that Bryan sent me, it contains everything for the co-sponsorship of his parents. It is supposed to arrive today and it will require signature, so I'm not going to leave home. Sadly they usually deliver the mail in the morning, not the afternoon. So I'm a little skeptical. I'll probably receive it tomorrow.

On a lighter note, I got my wedding dress back from the seamstress yesterday!!! I didn't take any pictures, so, sorry you won't see it now. It feels so good to finally have it with me! And I found a dress that will be perfect for the party/reception after our courthouse wedding, so, yeah, yesterday was a good day (also, beach the afternoon and dinner with my best friend the evening). next steps: sorting all my stuff and find out how to bring everything to the USA, and I need to find a veil too... I don't have any accessories for my dress...

Enough talking about me!

Sunny, this is a beautiful ring!!! Lovely!

Rachel, congrats on moving to your friends' house! For me, it has been hard to get rid of things. I am going to try to bring everything inside two suitcases, nothing more. What a challenge!

WaitForever, you should just call the embassy and tell them the truth: that your fiancee was visiting you at the time she received their package and that you had it forwarded to your place but that you haven't received it yet. You are probably not the first person who did this, in the same case scenario, I am sure we would have done the same thing.

Blake, (not sure I answered you when you wrote your post) that ex is a jerk! I'm glad everything is back to normal now.

Yeah, it is good to be continuing forward. Olga has moved over to be with her sister and her husband just so that she feels completely safe. We're down to 54 days now until the interview in Kiev and I'm busy getting her son's room ready as well as my never ending list of other fixing/painting/replacing work. Soooooo much to do... but it is happy work because it is for US. This weekend I sleep.......

I've moved into my friend's house. That's the first of three moves I'm having to make this year.

The first two moves, not so fun... The last move, fantastic. I'm happy things are moving forward according to plan.

Exciting times reading about what everyone is doing.

Beautiful ring sunny!!

Good Luck!!!

I'll be following you in about 9 weeks. I look forward to your update.

Well we have our date set for September 10. We've had a very eventful (not in a good way) week last week. After 6 years the ex showed up and threatened to cause all kinds of problems. But that situation has been resolved - something about abandoning your wife & child at birth and not providing any support, ever, tends to quash any argument the son of a b.... might have. That, plus the decree of sole custody, sent him packing back to the hole he crawled out of. Everyone's fine, just a little shaken.

Believe me, both of us are looking forward to Olga and her son getting the heck out of there.

We'll be dancing in the streets on that day!!!!!

Here's the list as of today -

Remaining 18.6%......... Approved 81.4%

Name……………. Filing Date

Remaining

1 Ayako & Nathan 01-01

2 Belen & Tim 01-02

3 Matt & Robin 01-08

4 Hazel & Ben 01-10

5 Sarah & Rudi 01-12

6 Hiba & Hadie 01-15

7 Steph & Gareth 01-17

8Agatha & Robert 01-17

9 Busch & Eric 01-22

10 yan & isa 01-24

11 WE & CE 01-25

12 Rymma & Vadim 01-25

13 Supida & Supida 01-25

14 Lena & Val 01-29

15 Susan & Chris 01-30

16 Mary & Carl 01-30

*Mailed in Dec.

Approved

1 Gerald & Vinera___________01-04----04-22

2 Bing & John______________01-12----05-02

3 Shirley & Steven___________01-07----05-02

4 J & Paulie________________01-04----05-02

5 Rosi & Chuck_____________01-04----05-02

6 Hesham & Tanya__________01-14----05-02

7 Pamela & Joshua___________01-11----05-05

8 Eliciana & Benjamin________01-11----05-05

9 Robe & Victoria___________01-09----05-06

10 Wayne & Nueng*_________01-01----05-06

11 Yuliya & Brian___________01-03----05-10

12 Rachel & Alex____________01-11----05-07

13 Relyn & Patrick*__________01-01----05-06

14 Plami & Krasi____________01-01----05-07

15 WW & MM______________01-12----05-07

16 Paola & Chris____________01-04----05-06

17 Zrinka & Eric____________01-05----05-07

18 Badr & Aimee*___________01-01----05-08

19 Stacy & Jonathan*________01-01----05-09

20 Erica & Scott_____________01-12----05-12

21 Cecile & Bryan___________01-02----05-13

22 Portia & Tony*___________01-01----05-14

23 Bryant & Aliona*_________01-01----05-14

24 Stephan & Alissa_________01-04----05-13

25 Raghu & Swathi*_________01-01----05-12

26 Shaun & Angie___________01-15----05-19

27 Ali & Natalie_____________01-09----05-15

28 Ten & DJ________________01-03----05-07

29 Russell & Dakotah________01-14----05-22

30 Laura & Scott____________01-23----05-27

31 Lili & Matt_______________01-05----05-27

32 Bruno & Carol____________01-12----05-27

33 Elena & Sergey___________01-15----05-28

34 Greivin & Courtney________01-24----05-28

35 M&J____________________01-16----05-27

36 Maria Ameliza & Eric_______01-09----05-29

37 Hilda & Chris_____________01-16----05-27

38 Oscar & Joselyn___________01-17----05-29

39 Benny & Cassi____________01-31----05-29

40 Chris & Therese___________01-23----05-29

41 PT & J___________________01-07----05-30

42 jen & jay_________________01-16----05-30

43 Lea & Ron________________01-25----05-30

44 gabbie & erv______________01-22----05-31

45 Mitchell & Joy_____________01-16----06-03

46 Lucie & Damon____________01-24----06-02

47 Levi & Heather_____________01-19----06-03

48 Olga & Blake______________01-25----06-03

49 Marina & Eugene___________01-17----06-04

50 Alet & Cesar_______________01-21----06-04

51 Jeroen & Michelle__________01-24----06-04

52 Thomas & Michelle_________01-29----06-04

53 jj & sh ___________________01-15----06-05

54 jennie & matthew___________01-25----06-10

55 Joanna & Dale_____________01-23----06-11

56 nr123 & nm123____________01-23----06-24

57 Abbas & Maya_____________01-14----06-23

58 Irina & Zubzare_____________01-10----06-18

59 Joseph & Tammy____________01-29----06-17

60 Richel & Michael____________01-31----06-12

61 Lean & Emil________________01-23----06-07

62 S & A______________________01-28----06-26

63 Paul & Joanna_______________01-25----06-26

64 Liberty & Phillip_____________01-15----06-25

65 Nick & Sarah________________01-23----06-25

66 a & o______________________01-24----06-25

67 Ersila & Ilir_________________01-30----06-30

68 Myriam & Gary______________01-17----06-25

69 Valarie & Justin______________01-15----07-01

70 VRP & SK__________________01-18----07-10

Hello everyone, Sorry for being away for so long, I feel like I've abondoned a part of my family.

Sunny keep your spirits up, and everyone else I appologize for disappearing like that. I'll let you all know what's gone on when I have more time to post. Till then.....

I haven't received my NOA2 hard copy yet, should I be concerned? o.O

The thing you need more than anything else is the case number for the embassy. You can call the NVC and get that information (just have your NOA1 number on hand for reference). You will need the hardcopy later in the process, but that case number is what you'll need to get the interview packets completed.

When should I call NVC? I wasn't sure how long I am supposed to wait. I need to notify them & the embassy about my fiance's new address too. I keep thinking I won't receive this hard copy, just like my NOA1..blah, here's hoping I get it tomorrow. :s

Does anyone know if they're hard asses about the NOA2 copy request, as they are with NOA1s?

My expression when I check my mailbox everyday this week, has been the same as the gif in my signature, pretty much. lol

P.S. I know my case number by heart!

Call the NVC first thing Monday to get your case number. You have moved from the Department of Homeland Security to the US State Department with your approval. At the State Department they are very nice and helpful. Call early in the morning or at the end of the day EST. The CSC will probably will not do anything about a copy of your NOA2 yet, as it's too early in their minds. But like I said, you don't need the NOA2 hardcopy yet, just the case number from the NVC.