We have just arrived home from our daily walk to the post office. I love those walks. Tat and I spend the walk planning, dreaming and getting really excited over our future. It started raining huge drops as we set off home. The rumbling and rolling thunder is loud in the sky. The rain is beautiful, refreshing and the breeze is cool. I love this weather.
Twice, I have blogged about our immigration story (see here and here). I left off being very vague about our final destination... with good reason. For 8 years now, we have spoken often of our dream to move to Canada. I have a very dear friend there who has even been setting things up for us to help while we settle and find our feet. What a treasure she has been. Her moral support alone has been invaluable.
This brings me to another thing I wanted to do today. I want to thank my dear online friends. I haven't met any of you, yet you've offered support, encouragement and even actual, physical help in our plans for immigration. To have this kind of support from people who have never met us and have no connection to us 'obliging' them to help is mind-boggling and awe-inspiring. I can't begin to express the depth of gratitude I feel just having you all in my life. There are those who have never given up on us from when I first came online here in Brazil, though they must be tired of hearing the same tune over and over. And those who are new to my world and offer their love, support and help in spite of not having known me for very long. You are all so precious to me.
A couple of nights ago, we had a family meeting, a time when everyone downs tools to discuss our decisions. We have decided to 'let the cat out of the bag'. Waiting for our application to Canada to go through is proving to be a long, drawn out experience. Twice, the approval time span has been extended. It started as 18 months and is now 3 years. Towards the end of last year, we decided to broaden our expectations and applied for the USA.
Its been a strange transition. When Tatiana returned from South Africa and we held the meeting to discuss this possibility, she got really excited. She had been resisting moving at all and Canada only appealed to her because her parents wanted it so much (bearing in mind, she was only 9 when we arrived here and has had her teen years in Brazil). It was the first time that she became excited at the prospect of immigration. That alone told us that we made the right decision. Influencing the decision as well was the fact that Jorge's cousins, whom he hadn't seen since he was a kid himself, had tracked him down and we were establishing very friendly relations with them too. We have many friends in the USA and strong support. It feels right.
Naturally, the approval that comes in first, is the one we will accept. We will be happy with either one, though, in our hearts, we believe that we will be heading to the USA. Its just one of those things. We feel it.
Don't you just love thunder storms?? They're so exciting and invigorating!
