U.S. Immigration Case Update

More than a year ago (June 2011) I flew home to visit my family for 2 months before going to Canada. Our plan was for Fabian to go on a student visa to study English. I had been accepted to a wonderful Spanish/English translation program in Toronto and was hoping to study French on the side. We didn't know if I'd be able to to study the same year or if I'd have to wait until he was finished with his studies. In the end all of our planning was useless anyway since once again it didn’t turn out the way we had wished.

Literally one week before my parents were going to drive me to Canada, I still hadn’t found an apartment and had no idea what we were going to do. Then we suddenly got the news that Fabian’s student visa was denied. I ended up staying in the U.S. for 7 months trying to figure out what we were going to try next.

We had been advised by the agent making the arrangements for him to study in Canada, to lie about having been in the U.S. illegally. I simply was not comfortable with lying and decided to take our chances with the truth. Apparently Canada didn’t like our truth. Fabian has suffered from my honesty so many times in the past 6 years and I’m sure he wishes I’d just fudge things the same way most others seem to do, but I can’t. Integrity is the main principal I learned as a child after “love God with all your heart, soul and mind”. I don’t regret my decision to be honest at any point in this process. I am determined to do things “the right way” as much as is possible and to correct any possible “wrong decisions” of our pasts.

The week we received the news of our Canadian denial an old friend of mine contacted me and suggested we hire Mark Daly, an immigration lawyer based in Nashville, Tennessee. He has worked with our case via Skype. The first time we went through this whole process I only consulted with a lawyer once and the information she had given me was completely incorrect. At that point we thought our approval was based on merits instead of hardships.

That is the most frustrating part of this whole situation. I've always worked hard to avoid difficulties in life. I've attempted to make goals and achieve them. I've been successful in some areas and failed in others, however, I never want to strive to be worse but rather better. I'm a tad upset that re-entry is not based on our merits. It seems the system encourages people to make poor decisions, to be dependent on the government and to have dysfunctional families.

Quite frankly our being banned from the U.S. for 10 years on the basis of undocumented entry is not something I feel bitter about. I can understand that if we break a law we will have to suffer some type of consequences for it no matter how sad our sob story sounds. What bothers me is the fact that you have to be messed up in order to get the 10 year ban waived.

The majority of the waiver applicants (75%) DO get accepted for the pardon based on how crazy or horrible their lives are. I don't know if that is an indicator of how many Americans are dysfunctional, how many are good at pretending they are, or how many are driven to it once exiled. Now, instead of being able to focus on improving myself, I too must focus on the negatives in hopes that I can be viewed as pathetic enough to re-enter the country legally. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, this whole process really has taken a toll and created some severe hardships. I just might be considered screwed up enough to come home this time and make that percentage of mad Americans grow! Yeah! (Sarcasm with a hint of joy) :)

Finding a good psychiatrist to do my psychiatric evaluation has been key. During my time in the U.S. I visited one psychiatrist but my lawyer decided I needed to hire a new one and hope they could express themselves better and concentrate on the hardships in our case. The first one couldn’t write a grammatically correct sentence so her report looked very unprofessional. Also, since she hadn’t had any experience with immigration cases she spent most of the time just trying to understand our situation.

Recently I had a second psychiatric evaluation via Skype with a man who had experience writing up this specific type of psychiatric evaluations. His questions were to the point and he didn’t let me ramble. He knew what issues immigration wanted addressed along with all the details of how the immigration system works. He didn’t waste his time talking to me about things that wouldn’t help our case. The lawyer seems to be much more positive about our upcoming interview after receiving the second evaluation.

Our U.S. immigration case should be coming to a close (yet again) in the next 6 months if we don’t have anymore unexpected delays. I originally wrote this blog a month ago but didn’t post it since we got more correspondence saying that we had to send in additional documents.

Next week, if all goes smoothly, we should have all of our paperwork in. After that we’ll just be waiting for notification of Fabian’s first immigration interview in Ciudad Juarez. We know he will be denied at that appointment because of his undocumented entry into the U.S. nine years ago. Although he has been out of the U.S. for 4.5 years remember that the punishment is a 10 year ban.

We’re hoping this time we will be approved and will have 5 years to catch up on all we missed since we had to leave the U.S. It would be great if we could both get good jobs and prepare for possibly having a family in several years. I’m 31 years old now. Ideally we would have started a family already but we feel like we can barely take care of ourselves much less a child.

My hopes are high again and my patience is seemingly running out. I’m trying to remember how many other times I thought a good change was coming only to be disappointed but I can’t help dreaming about our return. I’ll continue to think positively and deal with the news as it comes. Thanks for your prayers!

Love and blessings,
Alicia

“… being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father…” Colossians 1:11-12a

P.S. Fabian and I need to have a good photoshoot sometime soon so we can get some decent pictures together. This photo was our 6th year wedding anniversary dinner. Not the best quality but it shows we are alive, happy and healthy!

Baby/Momma Room Makeover

Sometime during the fall season I felt as if God was instructing me to say “yes” to every opportunity that presented itself. I personally thought that was a dangerous command to give but assumed God knew what He was doing. Of course I kept my mouth shut and didn’t advertize this message to anyone hoping my plate didn’t get too overloaded.

When my friend Coriena found out her teenage daughter America was pregnant I said “yes”. It’s not that they asked me to do anything, but rather that the ideas for re-doing her 8 foot by 8 foot room just came flowing into my mind in a rush. America AND her baby were going to have to fit into this tiny space.

As Coriena and I were standing in the doorway I took it all in. The walls were a dark paneling that seemed to close in and swallow up its contents. There were two holes in the floor of the closet and clothes were either stuffed into a chest or stacked in random piles on the floor. There was no furniture in the room other than the built-in dresser drawers to one side of the closet. There wasn’t even a bed. America was currently sleeping in the small trailer’s living room.

As we stood there gazing at this dark hole of a room I pictured it with a custom made storage bed, a built-in crib in the closet with drawers underneath and a peaceful light color on the walls with a melody of accenting shades. I knew it’d be a lot of work and that I didn’t have the experience or skills to do it but I said, “God, if you want me to do this project you will just have to give me the resources and know-how to do it.”

I started out by drilling America and taking her through pictures of various bedrooms online to get an idea of her taste. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stick to everything she requested a hundred percent in order to make it all work but at least it’d give me a place to start. She had requested burgundy walls with black trim and furniture. I took the artistic license to veto that color scheme and instead made the walls cream with burgundy, green, tan and yellow accents in other parts of the design. My goal was to create a peaceful environment where both baby and momma would be comfortable. It had to be economical but sturdy, practical but pretty.

I had hoped to get as many used things donated as possible but working in a small space that required custom made furniture didn’t lend itself well to using scraps. I did try to plan everything in detail from the start and prayed for God to design the room just how He’d like it. My plans, as always, did not turn out exactly as I’d pictured but each step of the way the process went smoothly and my questions and/or challenges were resolved quickly and painlessly.

The amazing part of all of this was seeing how God brought together so many people to complete it! I received monetary donations from several individuals and The Life Center, my church in Greencastle, PA, covered the remaining expenses. My dentist, a generous man with a heart for missions, took me to Lowe’s and bought many of the larger supplies that were needed. Others donated paint, pillows, blankets, an old dresser with a beautiful mirror that I used, a mattress, fabric, a high chair and time. A small group of people came in on a Friday night to prime the walls and another small group came the following morning to paint them and build boxes that would serve as drawers. Several people donated their skills to make a scrapbook, knit a stuffed turtle, cover a baby mattress and make a baby blanket out of used sweaters.

I collected photos of all the people that were involved in some way so America could see just how many people were involved in her room transformation. She was overwhelmed with gratitude and joy by the outcome and shocked that so many people who had never met her would be willing to help.

This project is probably the biggest one that I have ever taken on in my life thus far. However, it went more smoothly than I ever imagined and God was completely evident throughout it. At times I had to stop and pray when I thought I didn’t have enough fabric to complete part of it, or I didn’t have the right tool for a particular part of the assignment. I’d stop, breathe easy, remind God this was His project and not mine and either pray for the fabric to multiply (which it did) or pray for a tool that might not work to be sufficient (which it was). Thank God that He is able to turn water into wine and unskilled people into interior designers/carpenters! After everything was finished and I saw that it actually turned out well, I bawled like a baby with gratefulness and humility in awe of God’s faithfulness in supplying me with everything needed to complete His project! Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers!

Love & blessings for 2012,
Alicia

P.S. Everything in the room was custom made or redone in some way other than the rug on the floor and the comforter on the single bed.

“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you.” 2 Samuel 7:11b …or in this case that he will gather people together to provide a room for a teenager in need. Isn’t he cool!?