On February 3, 2007, Emily posted on MaustsOnToast with a mixture of humor and gravitas about her first year living in America.

Today, February 2, 2008, I am writing in celebration of Emily’s two year anniversary in America. Since she has immigrated we have moved twice and lived in three different apartments; I have graduated from college and started at seminary; she has started at nursing school; we’ve visited New York City, Lake Erie, Charleston SC and countless pohdunk towns.

Hopefully there will be a day when the holidays in our family don’t revolve around immigration; but that we are from two separate places is a part of the make up of our little, two person family.

Thanks, Peanut! Mwa.

Poor little Peanut had to drive the 2 1/2 hours to Charlotte today by herself because today was also the first day of the Spring semester at Southeastern. I would have skipped class but my Hebrew professor let us now that we were hitting new stuff pretty hard today. But, after being in class today and worrying about Emily driving to and from Charlotte, I wish I would have just skipped and worried about Hebrew instead of my dearly beloved. She made it though no problem! That’s my girl.

In other news, I’ve added 393 pictures from our Christmas break in England. That’s over 300,000 new words in our photo gallery! New albums include pictures from Christmas, goofing around after a pantomime, Oxford, some other randomness, and our canal boat experience over New Years (there’s also a new, not-so-exciting video from the canal boat on the videos page).

JUST KIDDING! The year has flown by and when I think of all that has happened this year its amazing that I am still on my feet. I flew over on February 3rd 2006 just in time for the Superbowl. I then went on to pass my drivers test (on the second go…..I would have passed the first time if I wasn’t having so much difficulty staying on the right side of the road!) in March. Then in May I got the job as a Nurses assistant in Morgantown at a Rehab hospital. That same month Drew and I moved to a new apartment. Come August, 95% of The Hayes Family came to visit West Virginia and were amazed by how many trees there were. Throughout the months we went on small trips including New York, Grandma Diller’s house, visiting the In-Laws and camping at Maust Mountain. Then December arrived and everything went crazy. I resigned from my job, we rented a U-Haul and moved ourselves down to North Carolina to prepare for life at Seminary. Christmas raced towards us at full speed yet again. The New Year was welcomed in as we spent the night playing games and snacking on Salmon at a strangers house (that story is told on request). Drew and I then sat around for a month waiting for his classes to start, watching DVDs while I sat at my laptop applying for jobs via email! Then Late January I got a call from The Olde English Teas Rooms and was offered a job as a server. There I am and there I will stay.

Well, what a year! Don’t think me big headed if I say I think I have done well. I believe I settled in well and kept going when times seemed slow and struggling. God has been my strength though, don’t think this is all me. Without his advice and unconditional love I don’t know how I would have done it all. Early on in my American life I found it hard to be without a job, without a driver’s license (and public transport) and without close friends around. But God sat with me while I was at home all day everyday waiting for Drew to get off classes and bike home to see me. I could talk to God when the time difference made it hard to talk to my mummy and I could feel God’s presence when times seemed lonely. I owe everything to God. From the very beginning of this whole adventure.

Today I feel it the perfect time to express my gratitude because it truly is an amazing story how God bought me to America in the first place as a young exchange student. How he worked out his plan for Drew and I to get connected and then stay connected over such a long distance. Then to give me the courage and motivation to pursue my love in the summer of 2004 and to inspire us to choose between all or nothing. It was simply God’s Will that we would choose ALL. But then to work out the immigration process, to allow us the financial means, to give Drew the ability to go over everything clearly and just be there while the papers were being sent and passed over seas so many times!!! I feel overwhelmed when I begin to think about all we have been through and all that has been accomplished. Maybe I don’t need to go on because its true… its in the past now. Those years of living apart, being married but still living apart went so slowly yet now it seems like nothing. But I do feel like those times are the most important to reflect and rejoice in God’s awesome promises to us. To protect, to guide, to not forsake, to give us a future. And thankfully I find myself telling the story almost once a day to the guests that come in to the tea rooms or people at church. I love telling it. I love the fact that the underlying reason for this story is Drew, that he is the one I moved for, that he is the one I live apart from my family for. And I say that in the most honest and purest way, not to make him feel guilty and not to make him feel like he should owe me something but to make him feel special. Because he truly is a special and unique young man. Even though God is my ultimate provider, Drew is my side-kick!!! lol. When I cry he silently understands and demands nothing. I don’t have to explain my homesickness and there doesn’t need to be a reason. But he will always hug me until I stop. Drew is just a fantastic husband, he is hilariously funny and extremely smart, sometimes too smart for his own good! But i believe we are the prefect companions. Thank you Drew for being my reason to move to America.

England will always be my home but America is like a 4 star hotel.

I set my alarm for 6.30am and left my house about 7.15, I met my next-door neighbour Ian at the station on his way to work so we sat on the train together and talked all the way to our destinations. I got off at Bond Street and realised I was an hour early to be able to go into the embassy so I thought I would make sure I knew where it was and how long it would take me to get there. I’d been to the embassy in 2003 so I recognised the way…

After I had walked there and back, I went into Starbucks and passed the time with a Chai tea latte. At 8.50 I made my way to the embassy and got in the queue to go through security. After entering the embassy, a man who worked there ushered me over and gave me a numbered ticket and said I should sit down and wait till my number was called.

About 15 minutes later my number was called and I thought I was gonna be sitting there for hours. So I went up to the booth and she said,

“OK. Can I have your application form?”
I was like, “Erm, what?”

And she realised I had a non-immigrant ticket number and I needed an immigrant. SO I went back to the man who gave me the ticket in the beginning and told him I needed an immigrant ticket. He said I had to sit back down and wait again. About an hour later my number was called!!!

I was called up to a different booth and gave all my documents to the man behind the window. He gave me back my x-rays [that we taken at the medical examination earlier in January] and said I should take them to America. Then he said I need to sit down again and wait till I’m called up for ‘the interview’. 30 minutes later a man’s voice came over the loudspeaker and asked me to go to desk number 13. This man checked over more of my documents and got me to sign something and took my index fingerprints, then asked me to raise my right hand and said something along the lines of:

“Do you swear you’ve told me the truth and all these documents are correct?”

And I said “I do”.

Then he signed some stuff, told me I’d receive my passport on Thursday or Friday and that I could go if I didn’t have any questions. And that was it!!!!! He didn’t even ask me any kind of questions about anything. It was so easy.

There we go, I think that’s about it.

» Emily

We are doing wonderfully at the moment as we brave the cold temperatures here in Morgantown.

I called Emily on her cell phone this morning (6:30am US/11:30am UK) just as she was leaving the Embassy, AND she got her visa!

She said it went just fine and they told her that she should have her passport Thursday or Friday. After she gets her passport, she’s planning on getting the next flight out! Maybe she’ll be here for the Super Bowl!