We got the Visa, Sort Of....

Tuesday morning was a long morning. Up early, before the sun. Kylie and I made it to the consulate 20 minutes early. Good thing because you have to wait in line to get scanned by a security guard. After being scanned, you take a seat and wait to be ushered into an elevator by another guard. The elevator takes you up to the 59th floor of the MLC Center, the official US consulate. When the elevator doors open, you are presented with, you guessed it, another line. In this line you wait to have any personal belongings scanned as well as another pass through a metal detector. Kylie and I actually had to wait for at least 20 min in this line, as the man before us couldn't seem to find a small pocket knife he had in his bag. However the security guard was able to find it in 30 seconds. Go figure.

After being checked through the security station you go through another door and are presented with a waiting room. There is small ticket machine right as you walk in, you press a button that corresponds to the type of visa you are applying for. In our case, an immigrant visa. Then you wait, and you wait some more. There is a nice view from the window though. We waited for about an hour before our number was called, the number 004. We walked up to window 1 where we passed through all of our visa papers. The lady behind the window was quite nice to us. She handed me a small piece of paper to take to the cashier, where I quickly paid for the all the visa fees. Then I went to back to sit down and wait for our number to be called again.

About 15 or 20 minutes later, our number was called and we approached window 1 yet again. The lady behind the Plexiglas window, said everything was in order, but that there was only one small problem. Well it would have been a small problem if we had been married in New South Wales, however we were married in Queensland. The problem was the marriage certificate we received on the day of the wedding was not sufficient evidence of our marriage, we needed an official copy from the Births, Deaths, and Marriages registrar in Queensland. Apparently this was recent change to their operating procedures. At this point we were a little frustrated and not sure what to do. We were told that we can still do the interview but we will not be able to get the visa without the marriage certificate. So Kylie and I, a little dejected, stepped back from window 1 and returned to our seats to wait for our number to be called again.

It was about a 10 min wait until our number was called for yet a third time and we got up and went to window 4. Window 4 is where the interview was held. They captured Kylie's fingerprints and started to go through our visa forms. The man behind the counter was probably no older than Kylie or I. He asked us how we met and how long along ago it was when we met. He then asked Kylie, if I had brothers and sisters and what she thought of them. He also asked her if she like my parents. He then turned to me and asked if I had met her parents. All of the questions were easy and straight forward. We were finished with the interview portion in about 5 minutes. He then said that the request for the visa was pretty much granted, but we can't get it without the correct marriage certificate. So at this point Kylie and I said "Thank You", stepped away from the counter, and proceeded to the elevator. Talking and trying to figure out how to get our official marriage certificate quickly.

We came back to our hotel and made a call to the NSW Births, Deaths, and Marriages office but there is no real communication between the states, so no way to get our certificate from them. So we called the Queensland office and they said if we print a request form off from their website and fax it to them with id, they could mail it to us and it would be here Wednesday morning. Kylie and I thought great, we ran around the hotel, printing, copying, and faxing and sent it off. Well, Wednesday morning came and went and no letter. We called them about 11:30am and were told that they had just found our marriage paperwork, but that it had never been entered into the system officially. We explained to them the urgency of the matter and they said they would get some people on it. We hoped to have the certificate Thursday morning, as Thursday morning is a walk-in day at the consulate.

Well, Thursday morning came and went no letter. Good news however is that we did receive the letter this afternoon. Now Kylie and I only have to get back into the consulate to drop it off. We hope to do this tomorrow (Friday). The downside is that it takes about 12 hours to get the visa processed. What this means is that it won't be ready until the next business day, which is Tuesday, since they are closing the consulate for Memorial Day. So we are probably going spend some more time in Sydney unless they can get everything processed so that we can pickup it up Friday afternoon.

So for all those wondering, that is where we are at.

P.S. Kylie and I went and saw X3, make sure to stay through all the credits.

A Big Day In Sydney

Were here! We made it to Sydney and now we are about an hour and half away from going to Kylie's Visa interview. Both of us are nervous, but ready. We spent a few hours yesterday going over the paperwork. When we got into Sydney on Sunday we walked around and found the location of the U.S. consulate so we know right where it is. It is about a 20 min walk from our hotel, so just a few blocks and we are there. Kylie and I both appreciate all your prayers. Hope and praying that I will be posting some good news in a couple of hours.

The Big Day Has Arrived

Well it is a little more than 2 hours until the ceremony begins. Right now I have so many different emotions going through me. I am extremely happy, a little nervous, very curious, tired, did I say nervous already :) Last night we spent a few hours putting up decorations in the church hall where we will be having the reception. It was family affair with both Kylie's and my parents helping. It was a lot fun. We also had our rehearsal yesterday night as well. It went well and I know our service will be short and sweet. I managed to get a little sleep yesterday night, it sort of felt like Christmas eve, it seemed like I was waking up every few hours in anticipation. I guess it is about time for me to go and get ready. Thank you all for your prayers. Kylie and I will see most of you in few weeks.

Fun at the Port of Brisbane

Well the day is fasting approaching and Kylie and I are ticking things off are list. After spending a few days trying to find the best approach to get Kylie's things to the States we finally found a freight forwarder that would work for us. So today we packed up all of Kylie's things she wants to keep and took a drive down to the Port of Brisbane. It was a little scary as Kylie has a very small car and there are ton of huge trucks carrying containers. Pulling into the freight warehouse we were almost run over by a hug container forklift. This thing had tires twice the size of Kylie's car and horn he was more than willing to use to tell us to get out of the have. Well we survived that little run in and dropped the 5 boxes of Kylie's items off. They will be heading back to America before we do. If everything works out well, they will arrive just few days after we do in Phoenix. Another thing done, just a few more to go. Cya all later.

Update: T-Minus 7 days

Well only about 7 days until I am no longer single and I become a happily married man to a incredible, amazing, beautiful, Australian woman. Lets see it has beenbusy for Kylie and I but we have trying to take a little time out now then. We went and saw MI:3 on Thursday at the IMAX theatre. It was entertaining movie, I liked it more than the second. I thought Phillip Seymour Hoffman was great as the bad guy. We also caught the movie "8 Below", it is about sled dogs trapped by themselves in Antartica during winter. I don't know if it has come and gone in the theatres in America but I really enjoyed it, rent it or go see it if you get a chance. Hmm, what other fun things have we been up to. Kylie's parents rented a houseboat last weekend so we drove up there and spent the afternoon at the boat. The night before her parents had caught so crab, so we had fresh crab for lunch, Yum! Kylie also did a little fishing.

Kylie has been in contact with a woman in the Phillipines looking for a place to stay, furniture, and car. It was finally confirmed that the woman is going to buy all of Kylie's furniture and her car. This is a really blessing as it means Kylie and I only need to clean up her place and then just leave everything. I got my suit squared away as well. I found a place, Calabro, that had the suit that I wanted and they hard worked to get one in that I could purchase. I tried it on last Friday and it fit great. I am just waiting for the vest and shirt to come in and hopefully we can pick up everything on Wednesday. We also hope to get Kylie's things packed up and shipped off early next week. Thank You everyone for your prayers, it has been amazing to see God work in everything, especially the little things.

Oh, I hear Josh and Jamie had their twins. If someone has pictures please send me a few. Thanks.