snow pictures as promised!

Ronel seems to enjoy the snow and can't believe that this isn't a lot of snow! For the first time, he actually was cold and only after he stuck his hands in the snow (see photos below where he's laying back in the snow) Unfortunately the snow has stopped falling and it is now freezing rain that is falling, so we'll see what the roads & sidewalks are like tomorrow morning!
Enjoy the photos of Ronel's first ever look at snow (at 36 years of age!)

Ronel's first look at snow

shovelling the snow -- Haitian style
no jacket and a dustpan

Sitting in the snow, just outside our door.

This is the photo Ronel wants to send back to Haiti
He went out into the lawn and laid down in the snow!

Enjoying his first snowfall -- it was 9 cm deep (3 1/2 inches)

the sky is falling.....

okay, so it really isn't the sky, but white stuff is falling from the sky! Yes, it is snowing here. Ronel got his first snow experience on our way home from church yesterday, when it was falling while we were walking home. A snowflake even fell in his eye!

It didn't accumulate much, probably only about 3-4 cm, but they do forecast 10-20 cm for tonight, but it will turn to rain for the rest of the week so I don't expect it to stay around long.

Ronel called Haiti yesterday and spoke to numerous family & friends, and he kept telling them that so much snow had fallen, and I kept telling him to say that it was just a lot for him, that it was really not much at all. Especially considering what the eastern parts of Canada & the US have gotten already this year!

I do have a photo of him standing out in the snow that I will post later. I'm hoping to be able to catch a better one tomorrow morning on our way to work.

Merry Christmas to all

I know it is early! This weekend was the Celebration Services at our church and since Ronel & I were both dressed up, I thought we should get our photo taken!

Here we are in our Christmas finery in front of the Christmas tree at church.
We are looking forward to our first Christmas together in years (I think the last Christmas we spent together was in 2004 and we weren't even engaged then!) and Ronel's first Canadian Christmas! Our calendar is already full of various Christmas related activities and events and I'm hoping we get a little bit of snow sometime this holiday season!

some photographic evidence of Ronel in BC

One of Ronel's new favourite activities! Having some "uncle time" with the boys. (we are aunt & uncle to the sons of my good friends) We get to spend lots of time hanging with Thomas because we both volunteer in the nursery at church on Saturday nights and he's currently the only baby but hopefully that will soon change and we have some new babies due soon.


The following photos were all taken on our adventures letterboxing with Mom and my sisters. We went to Burns Bog the first time (photo of us in just tshirts) and then we went to Belcarra Regional Park which is gorgeous and I have quite a few shots of Ronel that I absolutely love! It is so much fun to take photos of Ronel cause he gets into it and it is like a mini photo shoot!
















posing down beside the bay.






My mom took this photo of us. The first couple of photos we took with Ronel in front (because, yes I am slightly taller then he is) but I didn't like them, so we switched and I like this one, I love how Ronel has his hands in my vest pockets (trying to keep them warm.... it was a tad chilly that day!)












This is one of my favourite photos of the 40 or so I took that day. I love how Ronel is looking right at me and the beautiful fall leaves behind him.












I wanted Ronel to stand beside the tree - he decided it would be more fun to jump up and sit on a branch!








Our first "family outing" - this was on our nephew's 5th birthday. We enjoyed the sunshine in early October!

quick overview of the past few months!

Well, October and November are both behind us now and so I'll try to do a quick look back.

October --
we were pretty much settled into our place by early October and even held a family dinner at our place -- 12 people in our place! We celebrated Thanksgiving twice - first at my aunt & uncle's home on the Saturday and then with friends on Sunday, it was fun and Ronel enjoyed all the turkey. The week after Thanksgiving, Ronel started English class at a local church. He has been enjoying it so far but we are going to look into a program that is a free English program run by the government -- It would be a full time class - 5 days a week and they have 3 locations quite close to us, 2 within walking distance and one that Ronel could bus to.

Also in mid October, Ronel started working - it is a small part-time job at the same place I work, tearing down and setting up for our infant care room as it is shared with the youth and so it gives him some time out of the house and some money. He has also been doing odd jobs for the daycare and it has been helpful to my boss and also great for us as it means more money.

At the end of October (the 31st to be exact), we celebrated Ronel's first birthday in Canada! He also got to experience his first Harvest Fest at the church complete with fireworks. He also got to enjoy the whole "waitress singing to you" experience when we went to Red Robin's with friends for his birthday.

We also spent a couple of Sundays out with my mom, sisters and my nephews enjoying the local parks.

We spent our first anniversary together on the 11th of Nov. and spent most of the day moving the remainder of my belongings which were still stored at my old place. I finally have all my craft stuff here and can craft again!!

and that pretty much brings us up to date!!

we are still alive!!!!

Well, Ronel & I are alive and well! When we moved into our suite, we didn't move my computer as it is an older desktop PC and our suite only has wireless internet and my computer couldn't connect wirelessly so we didn't rush on moving it. I spent some time trying to get the wireless to work and it didn't. We finally moved it in, along with all my craft stuff and then the computer crashed during a power outage!! Well, we are now the proud owners of a laptop, so no more wireless worries and we are back online!!!

update on us...

Well, so far it has been a packed couple of days! I am off till Monday so we have used these past three days to the fullest!
Thursday we went shopping, went to work/church to meet people and also went and looked at a basement suite, which we did rent, effective immediately! So then Friday was spent cleaning the new suite (with the wonderful help of my mom & sister), going downtown to apply for Ronel's SIN card -- which was successfully completed!, and then home for dinner and then back to the suite to clean some more (and on each trip we moved some boxes of stuff I had packed waiting for our own place). Today we went and visited friends and saw their new home and Ronel got to meet some more new people -(I've been trying to do introductions in small groups so that Sunday won't be so overwhelming with introductions at church, especially of people who are close to me) after that we came home, packed the van with boxes (had my mom's van) ate lunch and then headed to the house to unpack. My mom met us there to switch vehicles and we got permission to paint from the landlords. We unpacked some of the rubbermaids into the kitchen which was a lot of fun cause quite a bit of it was gifts from my bridal shower and other gifts I gotten over the years which have never been unpacked before! Now we are off to a friend's 30th birthday and more new people for Ronel to meet!

look!!

This is what the Citizenship & Immigration Canada website says today about our application!

 

Permanent Residence Application Status : Complete

RONEL CLEDOMIN entered Canada at P.E. Trudeau International Airport on September 8, 2009 and became a Permanent Resident.

Yeah!!!!!!

We arrived in Vancouver yesterday at 5pm to see the wonderful smiling faces of my family -- my mom was there, my brother and his FIANCE (it happened while they were on vacation and then I was in Haiti so it was a surprise for me yesterday! but I'm so happy for them), my youngest sister & her husband and my younger sister and her two boys (her husband was unfortunately at work - he works evenings)

We had an uneventful trip and were glad to be finished with flying! We all went over to my brother's house to eat and hang out. It was fun to sit with my family and have my husband with me.

Ronel says that it has been a big change but he's glad he's here.

I will try to write more about the trip and everything soon but for right now, I'm going to go settle in with my hubby, unpack and run some errands (we need to apply for things like Ronel's SIN, medical, etc...., plus pick up some needed items like a sweater, etc.) and then we'll stop in at work and church so he can meet some more people and then meet my mom later on....


so have a great day! I know we will!!!!

flights are booked!

Well, it is official! I'm leaving on a jet plane in just 17 short days!
I will fly out of Vancouver on August 31st, overnight in Montreal and then fly straight to Port-au-Prince from Montreal with Air Canada. This will be the first time flying Air Canada into Haiti and I'm kind of excited about having only one stop from Vancouver to Haiti! When I fly through Florida it is often 2 stops and occasionally 3 stops which just lengthens the trip! And this will be my first time flying this far east in Canada! (not that I'm going to see a whole lot other than the airport!)

And then on Sept 8th (Just one short week later) I head back to Montreal with my husband!!!!! We have a 17 hour overnight layover in Montreal before heading home to BC, so I'm hoping we can connect with Ronel's cousins who moved to the Montreal area last summer. We land at the Vancouver Airport at 5pm on the 9th -- my brother has informed me that there will be a welcoming committee so you are all more than welcome to stop by and welcome Ronel to BC!

As you can see at the top of the blog - I've added a countdown to Ronel's arrival I can't believe that in just over 3 weeks, I will have my husband home with me! It has been such a long wait and I can't believe the end is so close!

drumroll please......

I am very happy to let you all know that as of today - Friday August 7th, Ronel has his permanent resident visa in his hands!!!
I will be looking into flights over the weekend to fly down to Haiti the end of August and help his pack up and say goodbye and then we will leave Haiti TOGETHER and come HOME to BC!!!(probably the 7th of Sept)

I know many of you have been praying for us over the past 3 years and we appreciate ALL your prayers! This has been a long process and it finally has an end in sight!

I'll try to make sure I keep the blog up to date with all the news and such and will definitely post photos of our trip home and Ronel landing on Canadian soil!

Have a fantastic weekend - I know I'm going to!

THERE HAS BEEN A DECISION!!!

This is what I saw when I logged into the CIC Canada website this evening at 10:42pm...
A decision has been made on RONEL CLEDOMIN's application. The office will contact RONEL CLEDOMIN concerning this decision.

I'm quite speechless! I ran upstairs to tell Terri (one of my roommates), called my mom & called Ronel. My heart is racing a thousand beats per minute and Friday afternoon is SO VERY FAR AWAY! Ronel goes to the embassy on Friday morning to pick up his passport and I am now very much praying that it has his permanent resident visa inside of it! I can't believe that the day has finally arrived where the status page actually reads that a decision has been made! At this moment we don't actually know what the decision is, just that one has been made but I can think of why they would have wanted his passport if the decision was no!?! I now have to start looking at airline tickets and figuring out how I'm going to swing getting me down there and also Ronel back up here (we have to fly Air Canada from PAP to Montreal otherwise we have to apply for a transit visa for Ronel to travel through the US) I know that Air Canada is more expensive and only flies out of Haiti once a week. Please be praying that I can afford to fly down to Haiti to help Ronel pack up all his belongings (and some of mine that I'd left behind) and say good bye to family and friends. I don't know when we will be back in Haiti so it is important to me to be there to say goodbye and I don't want to miss Ronel's first plane ride and his entry into Canada!

Your prayers over the next three days as I wait to hear about Ronel's trip to the embassy would be much appreciated! They are doing to be very long days!!

Hope to be posting soon!!!

actually something to update about!!!

So I just got off the phone with Ronel and he told me (in English no less!) that he had good news!
He received a letter last Friday from the embassy asking him to bring in his passport to the embassy. He went in on Monday to drop it off and he gets to pick it up next Friday, the 7th of August!!!! We don't entirely know what it means but we're both taking it as a good step! I also checked the CIC website tonight and our status has been updated! (This hasn't happened since June 2008) It now says Medical Results received. Doesn't seem like a big deal but it is!

Status of your application	Explanation
IN PROCESS (A decision has not been made yet.)	Application Received by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) We have received your application and will review it in order of receipt. We will send you an acknowledgement letter. Documentation Verified by CIC We are reviewing your application to make sure it is complete and that no documents are missing. We will return incomplete applications for resubmission. An Interview May be Required We will review the application and decide if an interview is necessary. If so, we will inform you in writing of the date, time and location of the interview.
WITHDRAWN (An application can only be withdrawn when it is IN PROCESS.)	Application Withdrawn You may only withdraw your application before the Visa has been issued. There are no refunds after processing has started.
DECISION MADE (A decision has been made at this point.)	Medical Results Received by CIC We have received your medical results. We will contact you only if additional tests are needed. Approval Status Determined Your application will be either approved or rejected. We will inform you of the decision in writing. Permanent Residence Status Determined If your application is approved, we will send you your permanent resident documentation and a letter saying what we need to finalize your permanent residence.
COMPLETE (This is the last step in the processing of your application.)	Applicant Arrives in Canada and is Granted Permanent Residence You will need to meet with an Immigration Officer who will verify your documents and grant you permanent residence if all is in order.

 Now our status still says In Process but the fact that it says our medical results have been received, by this chart means to me that they must be in the final steps of the decision (and asking for Ronel's passport seems like it will be a yes!)

Anyway -- sorry it's been so long since I've updated, it is hard to update when nothing has changed and I have been going through quite a rough patch over the last couple months dealing with a lot and talking about the "nothing" had gotten quite hard. I finally got diagnosed with depression and went on antidepressants and that has helped, but also realizing that there was in fact something wrong with me has also helped (along with a great support group around me of friends and my pastor) I'm still dealing with stuff but I definitely have a better grasp of life and a better outlook on things.

have a great weekend

Ronel's appointment

Well, I've kind of been avoiding talking about it as it was not the good news that we were hoping for
.
All they called him in for was to tell him that he need to go get another copy of his birth certificate from the archive office. This will be the THIRD one he's had to get. The first had his birthdate wrong and the second was fine as far as we knew so we don't know why (and they didn't tell him why) but nonetheless, Tuesday was a tough day for me (and I'm sure for DH as well) I had finally let myself think about him possibly coming home soon (like April) and to hear that the appointment was just for more paperwork they need was more than a little disappointing. This was the first time I'd even let myself think about him coming home and to have it all just crash around my feet was more than I could handle right now

Thank you all for your prayers & thoughts and I know that one day I will get to have Ronel home, but right now, at this point, I'm just having a hard time picturing that day.

Good news! actually GREAT NEWS!

Ronel has an appointment at the embassy on March 24th! I don't totally know what it is for but someone from the embassy called him last week. Asked him to bring in his passport and some other pieces of identification and come to the embassy! I really really hope this means we are one step closer to being done  :D but whatever happens -- it means that SOMEONE is looking at our file!

YAY!!!!

ok - funny story. When I talked to him today I was talking about my day and Ronel said "I've got some good news" and then stopped. I said "What is it?" And he said "I'll tell you later, finish what you were saying." Well, now I just wanted to know what the news was, and my day wasn't really that important!! So, I finally get him to start telling me the good news and he totally told me every event leading up to it and then paused! I was on the edge of my seat before he finally told me that the embassy had called and wanted him to come in!   I could tell that he enjoyed it a little too much --- dragging out the details and making me wait! But I still love him and can't wait till the 24th so I can find out what they wanted!

Keep on praying!