Legal Alien

Tomorrow marks the last day of 2005. It has been a terrific year, yet I am not sad to see the back of it as it hurtles into the "Good Ol' Years" box.

Many of you have finally met the mystery man in my life during our recent trip to South Africa where we had our magnificent wedding on 3 December at Hazendal. Those of you that could not attend missed out on one of the most beautiful events of the year.

It was with a heavy heart that I boarded the plane for America. Although I was ready to come back and "get back into the swing of things", it is never easy to leave Paradise for the Real World.

Our trip to South Africa left us with a taste in our mouth that no food in America can compare to, memories of landscapes places that we reminisce about, and a love in our hearts from people that have let their sparkle envelop us.

We have over a thousand pictures from our trip. Unfortunately, I don't have enough space to show that to you, but I am thinking of making an online photo album that many can go browse through. I will keep you posted on that.

I was in South Africa for five weeks, yet, it does not feel nearly long enough. We couldn't manage to show Larry all that we wanted to. There is always next time. I did gain from the tours, though. As many would know, you may grow up somewhere and think you know most there is to know, but you never do.

We finally made it back to America on the 9 December after almost twenty hours of flying. The international flight with SAA was fantastic and as comfortable as they could make it for Economy Class and twenty hours of flying. Next time I am flying Business Class.

The puddle jumper from Atlanta to Pensacola was a little scary. The plane must be at least 10 years old. The engines made such a noise that I could hardly hear the Captain over the PA system. That, and the pilot was very much in a rush. All in all, we were pretty glad to set foot on land again.

As if all that excitement was not enough, we returned to a mail pile from Hell! Sure, many of them were junk, but you still have to swim through it to find the important ones, the less important ones and the sort of interesting ones.
Of course, there would be one vitally important piece of mail amongst it all: an Immigration Notice. Take note that this is on 9 December after we just got back. The notice was to inform us that our Green Card Interview had been scheduled for the 27th of December - 2005. Eighteen days away in Jacksonville, Florida of all places. A six hour road trip away. Fun.

So, God really blessed us this Christmas and we received quite a bit of money, which we used for the trip. We left Moday morning early, stayed in a Four Star Hotel for a $100 a night (a steal) which was right on the St. James River, and had our interview at 9am at the Immigration office.

The interview lasted a whole ten minutes because we had our South African Wedding Album with us and we also specifically pointed out that we had just had it in South Africa. Honestly, who would fly all the way to South Africa for a fake wedding? Too expensive. We were blessed by God again because he looked at the pictures, asked a few questions and approved the case.

Now, I am legal alien in America. I legally live in this country. I can go through the Citizens and Residents gate without being hassled or labelled "parolee" or "adjusting status" as if they are not sure about me yet. It is a wonderful feeling!

We are back home now, looking forward to the New Year ahead with all the Immigration battles behind us and turning over the page to our new goal sheet. I hope all of you have at least one good resolution that betters your happiness about life and that most of you will stick to it.

Thank you to all that made our trip our fondest memory. Hope to see you all soon - okay, in a year or so.