Not long now...

Nothing new on the visa front, just waiting for the interview....

In other news, my mom and I registered for gifts this week and it was so much fun! I got to dream about all the wonderful aspects of our life when we're married. It was difficult at times to figure what to register for to take with and use in Ghana (meaning light weight, not expensive, and something we may or may not bring home) and what do I register for to use for years and years and years! But it was a blast and made me very optimistic for our future. I enjoyed telling George about it, but he won't truly understand until he comes. He told me, "This is NOT something we do in Ghana!"

Also, I am losing my mind and memory! My mind is so encompassed with immigration/visa stuff, planning a wedding, and figuring out how to move 6,000 miles away that I'm forgetting other things. Such as, but not limited to, not sending George two very important papers about his interview with the consulate- I just forgot to scan them and send them to him! That is totally not like me! George was extremely understanding and reminded me about it before it was too late, so at least I haven;t done too much damage. Hopefully as soon as we have a visa that will free up space in my brain and I can function like I used to! I guess we'll just have to wait on that one too....

Anxious for nothing...

Yeah, I'm working on that! Sometimes I feel like I'm anxious for everything.

I was thinking today about my favorite verse and the one I keep remembering through all of my worry about immigration and at times the uncertainty of our future and my desire to make everything work out, all on my own.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

Through God's providence, this verse stood out to me in a different way about the time I met George and has helped to guide me through the travails and triumphs of dealing with immigration, navigating cultures and a bi-continental relationship and everything in between. It reminds me how big God is and how much He cares. It also reminds me that I should chill out and be thankful for all things, even when they don't go my way. :) The 3am post may have seemed a bit whiney and I was not very happy. However, I am so thankful and I need to bring that back to the forefront. I'm thankful for George and our future, thankful for wonderful and supportive family and friends, thankful for a good Internet connection in the middle of the night, thankful that we finally have an interview date and are moving forward in the visa process and so much more! God is so good and I am very fortunate.

The things you do for love.

It's 3am which is when normal employed people should be sleeping, but I've been up for more than an hour trying to get an interview time for George. The consulate told him the website typically works between about 7 and 8 in the morning...Ghana time. Well, we all know how reliable Ghana Internet has been, so my alarm went off at 2, so I could give it a shot! The first 50 minutes or so are a frustrating daze of trying to stay awake and pressing refresh a zillion times, but all of the sudden, it worked! So after trying to contact George to figure out which date was best (his preferences weren't available) and losing all the close dates while waiting for a response (I only waited for about 15 minutes!) we ended up on April 15th. I'm not exactly ecstatic with how late the date is, but at least we have one....maybe some sleep will make this seem like a bigger victory, right now I'm kind of bummed.

One more step in the right direction!

We still don't have an appointment, but George was able to print the much needed papers and contact the consulate today. Hopefully more news soon!

A mini victory dance and a squeak!

We have a completed application!!

After trying and trying and trying some more, we decided to ditch the whole Ghana Internet thing. I was a little concerned that it wouldn't work to fill out the application here, because we have to print it so George can take it to his interview (I wasn't sure if he would be able to open that type of scanned attachment or if I could get it scanned in properly). So we did it anyway- we'll see tomorrow if it worked and if I have to spend a small fortune overnighting (is that a word?) the papers to Ghana, then so be it. It took me from the time I got home from church to the time I had to go back to church and included the Internet phone complete with headset, not one, but two computers, a mad dash to Walgreen's by my sister to get ink for the printer and help from dad and others to get the silly application scanned into Word. We were not able to get an interview time though, that part of the website didn't seem to be working, so G will call tomorrow, but all in all, it was a productive day and we are actually moving forward. It was also really cool to fill this form out together. :)

And on a random note, let me just point out that all of the visa process absolutely MUST be done in English without exceptions (not even foreign characters for names). However, in the U.S. people can vote in foreign languages and most of our other important government documents come in several different languages. And you know what, that kind of makes me mad-not that we needed anything in a different language, but it's the principal of the matter! Ridiculous.

Try, try, try again.

George tried to complete the online application and get an interview today (yet again) and still no progress. He'll try again on Monday and needs to study on Tuesday for 4 quizzes on Wednesday, so if Monday doesn't work, Thursday will be our next try....I guess we won't know anything by the end of this month after all.

In case you haven't noticed, the whole hope deferred thing royally sucks.....and, it's making me sick.

6 HOURS!!

....and not a step closer! George spent 6, yes s-i-x, 6 hours at the Internet cafe trying to do the application and get an interview time, but everything was so slow and wouldn't work correctly, so the poor guy has nothing to show for all that time. :( I also just found out that the wait time for an interview has doubled since we started this process, I'd like to be optimistic, but it all just seems to get worse, doesn't it?

Nothing.

No change.

Light out.

So I couldn't handle another title with something along the lines of "Tomorrow" or "Still waiting"- it's too dismal, but that's basically where we stand. There were lights out on Campoose today....translation: the power was out on George's Campus. That means, no computers, which means, no Internet connection, which means, no application being filled, which means no interview date, which means we are not really moving forward. So I continue to wait, I don't know when it will happen and dare not even suggest that it may be....tomorrow.

Tomorrow, again.

Yep, the answer is tomorrow...again. George missed school yesterday to go to Accra so today was catch-up because he has a presentation tomorrow. So, tomorrow he should fill out the application and get an interview. We shall see....

Tomorrow and a half.

Yesterday's tomorrow is today and is partially fulfilled, so I'm happy.

George did indeed go Accra and paid the application fee. However, he was not able to get online and fill out the application and get an interview (it's fairly involved and not something you can really pause in the middle of). So it's tomorrow yet again, that we should really have some concrete information-that is, if the power works, the net works, the computers work (and all those things continue to work), there isn't a huge line at the net and George doesn't get caught up studying or in class. Simple enough, right? It still looks like the end of the month before we'll know, but we are moving in the right direction and at a fairly nice pace, maybe we have finally found our perfect Ghamerican time. :)

Tomorrow.

That would be a reoccurring theme in this process, the answer is always tomorrow...and then tomorrow again...and, well you get the picture. I'm praying for only one tomorrow this time.

So, tomorrow (we hope) George is going to Accra very early in the morning to pay the fee and will hopefully return to Cape Coast and go to his Internet Cafe to do all the online stuff and get an appointment. So, tomorrow, we could actually have a date for the big interview!

Nothing new...

Has anyone else noticed how much this process seems to resemble a roller coaster? Nah, maybe that's just me!

I do want to mention though that all the stress and trouble of getting a visa, all the worry, all the tears (that would mostly be me), all the sleepless nights, all the phone throwing (that would totally be me) is SO worth it and has brought out only wonderful things in our relationship. As stressful and frustrating as this is, George and I are not stressed or frustrated with one another. Immigration is going to be something we have to deal with for a long time, so we just have to figure out the system (and hopefully make a lot of money so we can have an attorney who figures it out for us!). It's really been a wonderful challenge so far and as much as I just want to have a visa and move on to bigger and better things, life doesn't work that way, and who would we be if everything went smoothly? We are learning so much and our faith is growing more and more everyday. I think God seems bigger to me as this moves on and the more discouraged we get, the more we lean on him and the more we grow together. I'm so thankful for George, he is a rock...and me, I put on a rock face when I need to, that, and try not to cry on the phone!

Let's watch the phone fly.

I must admit.....out of frustration, I threw my phone, again. I know, it's not exactly the most mature thing to do, but I come by it honest.

I talked to George today and it's quite possible that all of central TX heard me screaming something along the lines of "My country SUCKS!!". Now mind you, I don't feel this way everyday, but I do right now and that's my American right, so I'm going to take advantage of it. The reason for this? Nothing is moving on the visa right now because of that incredible thing called bureaucracy. You see, in order to pay for the privilege of an interview with the consulate, George has to pay the fee at a specific bank in the capital city. Yes, this bank has branches, but you can only pay in Accra. This means George has to take an entire day to go to Accra and deal with this, because paying at a branch would be far to convenient, "easy" if you will, and that's just not the American way! After G pays, he'll get a code as a receipt and will need to then go to an Internet cafe and log onto a Consulate website and input the code. Once he does that, he'll need to fill out an online application, print a bunch of junk and THEN he can schedule an interview. The wait times are at least a week which is right around the time that George has 4 massively important quizzes that he CANNOT miss or be distracted from. So we're looking at the end of the month here before we get an interview. Did I mention that after all this George can clear his schedule, travel all the way to Accra, show up on his interview date and be turned away and rescheduled because the consulate is busy? 'Tis true. And am I the only person who seems to think there is something wrong with this?!

We got it...

...for real. George has the letter in hand, right now, as I type, for certain.

My friends think this is great, it is. But it means nothing except that now we get to fully enjoy the complicated, annoying, painful, nauseating, inconvenient workings of the world of US Immigration. I can't wait! I just love every second I spend writing e-mails that will never be read to agents and agencies created to "assist me", researching for hours on end and never getting any closer to a simple answer, and reading the copious State Department visa "how-to" pages that are impossible to understand. Only someone as completely incredible and perfect for me as George is worth even considering dealing with the big headed monster known as Immigration. Here we go!

I'd like to vomit now...

Some trust in chariots....

What an encouragement today at church. Daniel prayed about us not putting our hopes in governments, jobs, finances or other "chariots" but in the name of the Lord our God. AMEN!

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7