Nate => Permanent Resident

The short of it all is that on December 26th, 2007 I became a Permanent Resident of the United States much to the joy of all concerned. The long of it is the adventure Jenee and I had during the process. I have mentioned before how our final immigration appointment was on the day after Christmas, what follows is the adventure that Jenee and I had on Christmas and Boxing Days.

We initially planned on leaving for Florida at about 10am but decided that we love our family time and Linda and Eugene offered to drive us back and forward from the Airport so we were able to stay with the family for another few hours. Now according to those in the know, Christmas Day is meant to be the quietest traveling day on the calendar. When we arrived in Atlanta (the Worlds busiest airport) it was, no surprise, really busy. We had an hour for our connection so we decided to get some dinner. A quick stop at Chilly's and an encounter with Ken the server who introduced him self as "Ken, as in Ken and Barbie" we had some good food and rushed of to the gate to find that the incoming flight had a sick baby. We had to wait for the paramedics to come, but it was good to see that both Mom and Baby were ok in the end. We got to Jacksonville and rented our car to drive to Gainesville. We decided that we needed some Christmas dessert so we found the only place open (Friday's) and got some cheesecake. Christmas night was spent watching Josie and the Pussycats and playing with the cats who were happy to see us.

We got up early, well I got up early while Jenee slept in for an hour. I went over the files one more time and played with the cats. We had calculated that we needed about 2h 30m to get there allowing for traffic. We got there an hour early (typical Nate over planning) and waited in the parking lot until we could get in. Our appointment was for 1pm, we waited, waited some more and waited and waited. Nobody said anything to us, and the sign on the door said that if we approached any of the interviewers we would be escorted from the building. After nearly 2 hours of waiting, Our interviewer came and got us, apologising for the wait. It turns out that the couple before us were "questionable" and required extra investigation. As we were bing told this, we slapped our 4" / 12cm thick folder of documents on the desk. Seeing this our interviewer proclaimed that we shouldn't be a problem and probably should only take 30 minutes. We ended up taking about an hour. Why? we were having so much fun talking and sharing stories. The intervewier was telling us that some couples submit explicit photographs, descriptive personal letters and even matching tattoo's as evidence of a marriage. The good news is we got all of our questions answered and now I can freely travel in and out of the USA as if I were a US citizen! We are planning for a trip home sometime soon!

After the interview we were so happy that we could barely contain ourselves. We got into the car and headed straight for the airport, hoping that we could catch an early flight home to get back to Christmas. We got the last two seats on an earlier flight (thank you Lord) and took of for Texas. Between Jacksonville, FL and Atlanta Jenee and I were separated and found oursleves engaged in conversations with interesting characters. On the second flight we were able to get seats next to each other, all the way at the back of the plane. As luck would have it, I had someone sitting in front of me who thought she would retract her seat on me. What she didnt realise was that I was on top of things. As she tried to push back she was met by my knees. Apparently annoyed, Big Red turned to face me. I looked at her and informed her that My knees were getting crushed. Irritate she turned around defeated. Big Red continued to be rude to other people, refusing to get out of her seat when the lady at the window seat needed a bathroom visit. Anyway, we got to Texas safely and as I write this I am sitting in our cabin in Angel Fire NM. Its absoultly beautiful here, the snow is white, the sky is blue and we are all loving it.

Downtown Disney

How's this for Nothin' Sus Cousin Love; After work Jenee and I took Eugene down to the Orlando Outlet Malls for a bit of a shop fest and then we had dinner on International Drive followed by a tour of Downtown Disney, Disneys shopping complex. These are some of the pictures I snapped using Eugene's camera.

I accidentally engaged my hyperdrive in the Virgin Mega Records store! Had to use my air brakes to avoid colliding with Eugene.

Euge in the Lego Mega Store! We were truly kids in heaven!

The infamous 5,145 piece LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon

More Star Wars LEGO

A wall of LEGO men

LEGO parts bins

We had a great time and before we knew it, it was midnight. We got home by 2am, thanks to Eugene for staying up with me and talking to me.

Stephen's Graduation

One of the graduate students I have been working with for the last two years has finally graduated. Congrat's mate, well earned, well deserved. Here are some pics from the ceremony.

The Adventures of Eugene, Jenee and Nate

Last week I probably worked 55+ hours so I got slack about posting here, but here are some pictures for you to see. Euge has been here for a week and so far he has been to Paines Prairie, NASA and work with me. Here are some of the pictures. I am sorry, as I write this I just dont have the energy to write some anecdotes of some of the funny stuff that has gone on, and its been non-stop laughs among the three of us, but enjoy:

At the first Gainesville Water Works

Sunset at Paines Prairie

Kennedy Space Center

Glimpse of the future through the past. This was the Launch Pad 34 where NASA astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee perished during a full dress rehearsal for Apollo 1.

Inside a space shuttle

Exciting News for Middle Earth Geeks!

"After publicly feuding for more than a year, "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned two-film prequel to the blockbuster trilogy.

Jackson, who directed "Rings," will serve as executive producer for two "Hobbit" pictures. They will tell the story of how the young hobbit Bilbo Baggins originally came to possess the nefarious One Ring that Frodo, his adopted heir, needed three films to dispose of."

Source: Yahoo News

You can read the whole story by clicking on this link!

And Nate says:

Wooooo Hooooooo! 6+ more hours of Middle Earth on the way!

And in an earlier email to Brandon, Nate also said:

"And when all is said and done, you can bet I will be there dressed up like an elf or troll for the premier and then I will buy the DVD"

Also, there is a trailer floating around on the internet for the next Narnia Movie, Prince Caspian. I am so happy that they are making these movies, but I wonder, is the underlying message that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien intended getting through or are they just fantasies of amusement...

Prayer Request

Well, its only a few weeks and Jenee and I will be in Jacksonville for the final interview (at least for a little while) to get my permanent residency. And this means that I have to get all the required documents one last time. I am starting to stress out about it, I find it daugnting, there are alot of things that I need (most of which we have) and a few things that are being finalised like pictures of us.

So, I would like to ask for a few prayer points:

• Peace and acceptance of God's sovereignty and provision for us
• Calm my mind to stop worring about all 'worst case scenarios'
• Safe travel on Christmas Day back to Florida

Thanks everyone for all your support, I am sure that in a few short weeks we should have some great news to share!

And then there were five...

Our little home is packed in with Jenee, Eugene, the two cats and of course myself, so in case you were wondering, no, we are not pregnant with triplets.

Eugene arrived early on Friday morning on the 7th and it was great to see him. Already we have been having a blast. So far we have made 156 visits to Hibbett Sports Store around the corner, 30 visits to Best Buy and one trip to Paines Prairie. Poor Jenee is getting a double dose of cousin love, there have been none stop jokes and quotes and general shenanigans, all of course specific to sci-fi, cartoons and the internet, Euge and I are such techno-geeks. All of this and I haven't even mentioned the Japanese anime cartoon watching (stupid Chinese cartoon's as Jenee calls them).

This weekend we are off to NASA to do the NASA: Now and Then tour followed by shopping at the outlet malls and then Downtown Disney. Its all gewd :-)

Christmas Lights Mania

40 meters of lights, one minature Christmas tree with lights and one sleeping wife. Priceless.

Bound to happen...

Well, if you either (1) grew up with me or (2) were at our rehersal dinner, you probably know of the story of how I cut my hair when I was 10. Mum likes to think that kids cut their hair when they are younger, I feel that to make it worth while you need the motor skills you have by at least 10. Anyway, on Sunday I looked in the mirror and felt that I was looking scruffy, thinking 'really how hard is it to cut your own hair anyway?'.

So I got my clippers out, put on the No. 2 attachment and fired them up. I ran the clippers up the left side of my head, watching in the mirror and then stopped with quiet 'Oh'. Jenee was standing close enough to hear it and came to investigate, laughing once she had seen my handywork. So I didnt check to see how short the attachment really was, it was much shorter than I was expecting.

With no turning back, Jenee helped me finish the job off and well, you can see the result below. Does any of this sound familliar Helen and Danny?


Ok, so I am posing for the pic, I'm not really upset about it, but really I think I am one handsome hunk, if I do say so myself.

People of Sophistication

Last Saturday Jenee and I put on our finest jeans, t-shirts and flip flops, and drove our chauffeured car to the Curtis M. Phillips Grand 'ol Concert Hall. There we joined many other fine citizens in similar attire in the annual viewing of the wonderful ballet of The Little Match Girl.

Opening sequence

The Little Match Girl. She was really good in her role.

Nobody loves her. She's cold and hungry.

Supprise!

Ballerina, Little Match Girl and Ragdoll

Alley Cats

Carousel Ponies

Ragdoll and Toy Soldier

Toy Soldier and Fancy Ballerina

Closing scene (Oh von Hilda, your so wovely...Stevens Family Joke.)

It was a fun night and we really enjoyed it. So now we know it's there we are going to frequent it more often.