I meant to post these right after the Christmas party, but I didn't have a chance with all the traveling and visiting. So here they are, better late than never.
Here are some pics of some of the Christmas crafts that we did with the kids at school:
We decorated the school with these and many other crafts that we made for the Christmas party.
Here are Nashley and Vianny at the Christmas party:
We had prepared 5 different songs for the kids to perform for their parents, complete with hand motions. They did great and the parents loved it! I especially love seeing the kids singing/shouting worship songs.
There were gifts for each kid and refreshments after the program.
Here are the kids singing a song at the Christmas party.
That's right! We got the visa! It was a long morning of waiting, we arrived at the embassy at 6:15 am and didn't leave until 11:30am. But everything turned out great and the visa was approved!
I am so excited to finally be able to share with Cristian where I come from. This has been such a long time coming. Over two years ago Cristian first applied for a tourist visa and was denied. I have been waiting for this day to come ever since.
We will be in California from December 11 to January 8. I have not yet firmed up all our plans, but we hope to see any and all of you who want to see us. So please contact me and we can make it happen!
Thank so much to those of you who were praying for us yesterday.
The time has come that we have been waiting for for over a year: tomorrow Cristian and I have our interview at the embassy for Cristian's US residency. I am so excited and a little nervous too. It is 99% sure that we will get the visa, unless there is something wrong with our paperwork or they for some reason think that our marriage is not legitimate.
Please keep us in your prayers today and tomorrow.
As you all know, for the last 16 months we have been going through the process of getting Cristian his US residency so that we can travel to and from the States as we please. This process, which usually takes only 10 months, has taken us way longer for some reason. This time last year I never expected it to be October and still be waiting on the interview.
The last step that we went through I was able to request expedited processing to get it going a little faster and I am happy to announce that it was approved and our application is now at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo awaiting processing. Praise God! However, this step of the processing apparently takes another several weeks before the interview in scheduled. A few more weeks plus another few more weeks brings us to December, and we are hoping to fly out on December 10.
Please pray for another processing miracle and that we would get our interview scheduled in less than 2 weeks. I know that God can work wonders everywhere so Him moving some papers around in the Embassy would be no big deal. Please join in us and ask God to work that miracle, so that plans can be made and plane tickets purchased and Cristian and I can enjoy a white Christmas at home in Mariposa.
As you know, during the summer the PT clinic was closed due to the leader moving back to the States and Cristian was left without a job. Since then he has been working hard on finishing our house and volunteering some at another PT clinic here in town. Just last week he has started working in the morning at Genesis, the Special Education school that is run by Students International. This is definitely different work than he is used to, not only working with kids (which they didn't do at the other PT clinic) but working with kids with special needs. He is learning a lot and really enjoying himself and always comes home with some funny story about his patients. Praise God for providing this part time job for Cristian which still gives him the afternoons to finish projects at our house.
This next week there is a physical therapist coming from Nicaragua who is interested in coming on staff here in the DR with SI. This would be another answer to prayer because then the clinic would be reopened and Cristian would get his job back. Please pray for this possibility.
This past week we celebrated September and October birthdays. From left to right: Yely turned 4, Josue turned 3, Edilianny turned 4, Keuri turned 3 and Raynier turned 3.
A few weeks ago we invited all the moms to come to school and have lunch with the kids. It was really fun to have them there sharing a meal with us all. They were also all very impressed with the delicious and healthy food that we serve to the kids.
