Well, I received the final papers that I needed from Ronel. I now just need to get my taxes filed and get my notice of assessment back so that I can file. This is the first year that I haven't filed early and now it is coming back to bite me!
I am very thankful to everyone who was involved in getting the paperwork out to me from Haiti. This has been a huge blessing to Ronel and I.
December 1st marked a year since I last saw my hubby in person. I remember quite well last Dec. 1st - saying goodbye to my husband of only 20 days not knowing when I would see him again. This post and this post were my last two posts written in Haiti last year just before I left.
This year I did make it to the church's adult Christmas dinner (didn't make it last year because my flight from Washington D.C. was delayed for 3.5 hours! - this meant that the friends who had come down to pick me up also missed the dinner!)
This has been a hard couple of days - knowing that it has already been a year since I saw Ronel and knowing that it will be a while still. I miss Ronel, I want to be able to spend Christmas with my husband - our 2nd Christmas as a married couple and our 2nd one apart. I am so thankful that we are so much closer to filing the paperwork.
sorry if this post seems disconnected or just completely random. My brain is not completely functioning.
It has been a crazy weekend - we got almost a foot of snow in a 36 hour period over Saturday & Sunday, I spent the night last night at my sister's so that I would be closer to work in case the snow didn't stop and then came a Pineapple Express with a ton of rain! The forecast for today was for 100 mm of rain (10 cm or I believe 4 inches) I don't know the actual rainfall but it seems like that much if not more!
Today was also a Professional Day for all Delta schools which meant a field trip today with 31 children (and 4 staff) to Science World which was a ZOO today. There were 4 or 5 school groups there as well and it was so busy. And to top it all off, we arrived back at the centre to find the power out! I hope that tomorrow is easier - it is another Professional Day and we are off to Watermania to swim.
okay - off to pack my lunch and get ready for bed!
Baby Ticker
Monday, December 03, 2007
Saturday, December 01, 2007
the view
from my window is WHITE! It is snowing and has been since 3am this morning. We had snow on Monday as well but only in the afternoon and it only lasted one day. This time it is supposed to snow today & tomorrow!! While I don't mind the snow, I don't like the icy roads and the FREEZING temperatures! It is currently -2C but the feel like temp is -9C
It is also ONE YEAR ago that I last saw Ronel. I wish that I could say he would be here soon, but no such luck! I am waiting on the papers that I needed Ronel to sign and my Notice of Assessment for this year and then I can send in the paperwork. Please continue to pray for this whole process and for Ronel & I as it is getting more and more difficult to be apart.
It is also ONE YEAR ago that I last saw Ronel. I wish that I could say he would be here soon, but no such luck! I am waiting on the papers that I needed Ronel to sign and my Notice of Assessment for this year and then I can send in the paperwork. Please continue to pray for this whole process and for Ronel & I as it is getting more and more difficult to be apart.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
had to share this
I received this in an email today from a friend and had to share it with you.
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, 'I love you and I wish you enough'. The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom'. They kissed and the daughter left.
The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'. Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.
'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said. 'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?'.
She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone'. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more.
'When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them'. Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
She then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, 'I love you and I wish you enough'. The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom'. They kissed and the daughter left.
The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'. Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.
'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said. 'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?'.
She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone'. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more.
'When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them'. Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
She then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
okay - trying this again!
I thought I had previously posted this, but now when I check, it is no longer there, so am going to repost it!
In doing some searching online on the Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) website, I found out that they have reduced the "Right Of Permanent Residence Fee" from $975 to $490! That is a savings of $485!
So now our application fees look like this
$ 75 - Sponsor processing fee (For me)
$475 - Principal Applicant processing fee (For Ronel)
$490 - Right of Permanent Residence Fee for Principal Applicant (For Ronel)
$1040 - Grand Total
This isn't a final cost by any means as there is still exit visas, flights and other probably unknown to us right now costs that will come into this, but even so, it means that right now I have to send the government of Canada FOUR HUNDRED and EIGHTY FIVE dollars less!
YEAH!!
on a not so happy note, I also found out that I didn't get Ronel to sign our sponsorship agreement when I was in Haiti last fall (I thought I had) and he didn't send me a photocopy of his passport. So, I have emailed Karen (who I worked with at the orphanage) and have asked if there is anyway she can help Ronel with this and get them out to me quickly!
Especially since I then decided to look up processing times on the CIC webiste and was happy to see that as of Nov 13, 2007 - IN CANADA processing times are 38 days, unfortunately they then send the permanent residence application to a visa office abroad and I checked their processing times and for Port-au-Prince where Ronel's file would be processed, the times look like this
Processing Times at Port-au-Prince Visa Office -
30% of cases finalized in 7 months
50% of cases finalized in 10 months
70% of cases finalized in 13 months
80% of cases finalized in 16 months
I am trying to remain positive and know that we serve a God who is more powerful than any visa office and can have our application processed quickly but I need you to be praying for us and this application. Please pray that God will direct our application to the right person, that all our paperwork will be complete and that there will be no doubt or questions regarding the validity of our relationship. That the missing pieces of paperwork will arrive quickly and that there will be no more delays. That I will be able to finish my taxes quickly and properly (I haven't yet done them as it is not clear how I need to file as Ronel doesn't have a SIN card but I would like to file as a married person, plus it asks if I was married in 2006 and I was so, it then asks for Ronel's SIN and I didn't know I needed a copy of my most recent taxes as I don't need to meet an income requirement as Ronel is my spouse.
I will keep you all updated on this and also once I have filed, updated on our application process.
Praying...........
In doing some searching online on the Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) website, I found out that they have reduced the "Right Of Permanent Residence Fee" from $975 to $490! That is a savings of $485!
So now our application fees look like this
$ 75 - Sponsor processing fee (For me)
$475 - Principal Applicant processing fee (For Ronel)
$490 - Right of Permanent Residence Fee for Principal Applicant (For Ronel)
$1040 - Grand Total
This isn't a final cost by any means as there is still exit visas, flights and other probably unknown to us right now costs that will come into this, but even so, it means that right now I have to send the government of Canada FOUR HUNDRED and EIGHTY FIVE dollars less!
YEAH!!
on a not so happy note, I also found out that I didn't get Ronel to sign our sponsorship agreement when I was in Haiti last fall (I thought I had) and he didn't send me a photocopy of his passport. So, I have emailed Karen (who I worked with at the orphanage) and have asked if there is anyway she can help Ronel with this and get them out to me quickly!
Especially since I then decided to look up processing times on the CIC webiste and was happy to see that as of Nov 13, 2007 - IN CANADA processing times are 38 days, unfortunately they then send the permanent residence application to a visa office abroad and I checked their processing times and for Port-au-Prince where Ronel's file would be processed, the times look like this
Processing Times at Port-au-Prince Visa Office -
30% of cases finalized in 7 months
50% of cases finalized in 10 months
70% of cases finalized in 13 months
80% of cases finalized in 16 months
I am trying to remain positive and know that we serve a God who is more powerful than any visa office and can have our application processed quickly but I need you to be praying for us and this application. Please pray that God will direct our application to the right person, that all our paperwork will be complete and that there will be no doubt or questions regarding the validity of our relationship. That the missing pieces of paperwork will arrive quickly and that there will be no more delays. That I will be able to finish my taxes quickly and properly (I haven't yet done them as it is not clear how I need to file as Ronel doesn't have a SIN card but I would like to file as a married person, plus it asks if I was married in 2006 and I was so, it then asks for Ronel's SIN and I didn't know I needed a copy of my most recent taxes as I don't need to meet an income requirement as Ronel is my spouse.
I will keep you all updated on this and also once I have filed, updated on our application process.
Praying...........
Friday, November 16, 2007
sappy & sweet
So, I had some GREAT mail waiting for me when I got home from work tonight. The package with Ronel's paperwork arrived today. When I looked through the paperwork (just to reassure myself that everything was there) I came across the collection of letters that I had written to Ronel (we need to send them in with our paperwork) and came across this letter - the very first letter I ever wrote to Ronel, way back in the beginning. It was after my first year in Haiti when I was going home for what I thought would be 2 months. I wrote letters to all my friends I had made in Haiti along with the kids of the orphanage. I was so touched by the fact that Ronel still had it, I love that he is sappy like me and kept a letter that a friend wrote, obviously now it has more meaning!
I am now off to compile all the paperwork together and get it ready to be sent in next week! I am a little shocked that it is here today, I really thought it wouldn't be here till Monday and holding it in my hands makes it so very much more real!
This is a great weekend and it is only the start!
Please be praying as I send off the paperwork that the right person will handle our paperwork and that there will be no delays and issues!
I am now off to compile all the paperwork together and get it ready to be sent in next week! I am a little shocked that it is here today, I really thought it wouldn't be here till Monday and holding it in my hands makes it so very much more real!
This is a great weekend and it is only the start!
Please be praying as I send off the paperwork that the right person will handle our paperwork and that there will be no delays and issues!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
One Year....
Wow,
it has already been a year that Ronel & I have been husband & wife! Some days it seems longer than that, and other days it seems a lot shorter! We had hoped & prayed that we would be together by this time but that wasn't the plan apparently! Good news though, the paperwork is on its way to me here! Ronel got his medical done & Val picked up all the papers on Sunday (our actual anniversary - I told her that it was the best gift anyone could have given me - other than having Ronel here and since that isn't possible or quite legal, getting the papers is AWESOME!) and emailed me that she mailed them today and I will have them in 2 business days (so should be here Monday)
The money is sitting in my bank account ready to go and I just need to make sure I organize all of the paperwork I need to send in - thankfully I didn't need to do anything like Ronel did - no medical exams, no police checks, nothing - just write out how we met, answer some other questions and send in letters & photos of us (which is the hardest part - copying all of our letters and getting copies of my phone bills & Skype calls) I will need to get some photos printed this weekend because I am NOT sending them any of my copies - I only want to send copies in case I don't have the original digital file!
I had a hard, emotional week last week and Sunday morning was hard, but after a nice long chat with Ronel, my outlook was more positive! Being here in BC, not able to do anything and trying to help facilitate the pickup of the paperwork was not easy. And if Val wasn't able to pick up the papers, after Ronel getting his medical done would mean that we would be wasting valuable days while trying to get the papers out to me. The medical exam is only valid for ONE YEAR - so Ronel had his exam done Oct 31st ( and picked it up on the 5th of November - not sure which date counts) and that means if our application is approved by next Oct 31st, Ronel will need to redo the medical exam and that will set us back time wise, plus the cost of having to redo the exam. Thankfully our God is bigger than any immigration application and can have this whole process done by then and we are praying that Ronel is home with me here in BC by next fall but realistically the paperwork says it can take 6-18 months and so if I file by the end of November, that means approval could be anywhere from May 2008 until May 2009. I would be ECSTATIC if Ronel was here by this summer but, in trying to remain positive and not set myself up to be hurt or sad, I would be happy as long as he is here by the end of 2008! I turn 30 in February 2009 (wow, feels weird to write that down!) and I want my husband home to celebrate that with me! Anniversaries, Christmases - we will have many of those together, but a girl only turns 30 once and I want to be able to share that with Ronel. Now to some of you that may seem trivial or weird, but that is okay with me, in order to survive being separated from my husband, I had to have something solid to hang on to, something that was attainable and also reasonable. Having Ronel home by the end of 2008 (in time for my 30th birthday - so even Jan. 2009 would be do-able but obviously sooner is better!) was that "thing" for me. Yes, I could have said, by our first anniversary and for a while I did hold onto that, but as it became clear that there were setbacks we had to overcome, both here & in Haiti, that was less and less reasonable for me. And, as our anniversary has passed and we haven't even be able to file yet, that seems like it was a God thing that I didn't continue to hold onto that as I would have been disappointed and the wait would be harder to handle.
God has taught me a lot through this process, most of it probably isn't obvious to most of you, but I do know that there are some of my close friends who can see the work that God has been doing in my life. Being patient and waiting on God is one of those things, Ronel always has told me that I need to learn to be more patient and never in million years would I have thought that this would be how I would learn that! But, there is a lot in this immigration process that I can have NO control over, I can't hurry things along, I just have to sit back and wait - whether I like it or not, I can pray, I can make sure that I have what I need - paperwork, etc -filled out to the best of our ability. But once I have sent in our application, my hands-on part in this process is done, all I can do after that is pray, until I get the news that we have been approved (because I can't even begin to think that we won't be!) Once we have been approved, then I have more that I can do - booking flights, finding us our own place, getting time off work, etc. but that time in between when I send in the application until the approval, I can only wait, pray and believe that God's hand in on this whole thing. And I do believe that God's hand is in the midst of this whole process, but sometimes when I am in the midst of it, I can push that thought to the back of my mind and forget that it is He who is in control, not me! Thankfully God has surrounded me with a fabulous group of supportive friends who often help remind me of that fact, but who are also there encouraging me, comforting me and just all around loving on me. Friends who know not to ask "how are you?" on our anniversary because they knew I wasn't okay, I missed my husband and just want him here with me, friends who know when I just need a hug and nothing else, who know that this whole process has made me more emotional that ever and that some days I just need a shoulder to cry on, that it isn't anything someone did or said but that I am just missing Ronel. Friends who know that I will be sad and lonely on our anniversary & plan a spa day with a masseuse and surprise me with a day of friendship, fun, laughter and a hour long full body massage! Without God & the friends He has blessed me with, I would be a miserable mess right now. And I am so grateful that I am not - that I don't have to be, that I can turn to my Heavenly Father and He is there to comfort me in my times of need.
Well, this post got a lot longer and way more intense than I planned! But it is what it is - it is a look at my life and how I am dealing with celebrating a year of marriage, but being apart from my husband for 11 1/2 months! Hopefully I can sometime soon write a post that says we've been approved and Ronel is coming to BC, but until that day, I will continue to learn how to be patient and wait....
it has already been a year that Ronel & I have been husband & wife! Some days it seems longer than that, and other days it seems a lot shorter! We had hoped & prayed that we would be together by this time but that wasn't the plan apparently! Good news though, the paperwork is on its way to me here! Ronel got his medical done & Val picked up all the papers on Sunday (our actual anniversary - I told her that it was the best gift anyone could have given me - other than having Ronel here and since that isn't possible or quite legal, getting the papers is AWESOME!) and emailed me that she mailed them today and I will have them in 2 business days (so should be here Monday)
The money is sitting in my bank account ready to go and I just need to make sure I organize all of the paperwork I need to send in - thankfully I didn't need to do anything like Ronel did - no medical exams, no police checks, nothing - just write out how we met, answer some other questions and send in letters & photos of us (which is the hardest part - copying all of our letters and getting copies of my phone bills & Skype calls) I will need to get some photos printed this weekend because I am NOT sending them any of my copies - I only want to send copies in case I don't have the original digital file!
I had a hard, emotional week last week and Sunday morning was hard, but after a nice long chat with Ronel, my outlook was more positive! Being here in BC, not able to do anything and trying to help facilitate the pickup of the paperwork was not easy. And if Val wasn't able to pick up the papers, after Ronel getting his medical done would mean that we would be wasting valuable days while trying to get the papers out to me. The medical exam is only valid for ONE YEAR - so Ronel had his exam done Oct 31st ( and picked it up on the 5th of November - not sure which date counts) and that means if our application is approved by next Oct 31st, Ronel will need to redo the medical exam and that will set us back time wise, plus the cost of having to redo the exam. Thankfully our God is bigger than any immigration application and can have this whole process done by then and we are praying that Ronel is home with me here in BC by next fall but realistically the paperwork says it can take 6-18 months and so if I file by the end of November, that means approval could be anywhere from May 2008 until May 2009. I would be ECSTATIC if Ronel was here by this summer but, in trying to remain positive and not set myself up to be hurt or sad, I would be happy as long as he is here by the end of 2008! I turn 30 in February 2009 (wow, feels weird to write that down!) and I want my husband home to celebrate that with me! Anniversaries, Christmases - we will have many of those together, but a girl only turns 30 once and I want to be able to share that with Ronel. Now to some of you that may seem trivial or weird, but that is okay with me, in order to survive being separated from my husband, I had to have something solid to hang on to, something that was attainable and also reasonable. Having Ronel home by the end of 2008 (in time for my 30th birthday - so even Jan. 2009 would be do-able but obviously sooner is better!) was that "thing" for me. Yes, I could have said, by our first anniversary and for a while I did hold onto that, but as it became clear that there were setbacks we had to overcome, both here & in Haiti, that was less and less reasonable for me. And, as our anniversary has passed and we haven't even be able to file yet, that seems like it was a God thing that I didn't continue to hold onto that as I would have been disappointed and the wait would be harder to handle.
God has taught me a lot through this process, most of it probably isn't obvious to most of you, but I do know that there are some of my close friends who can see the work that God has been doing in my life. Being patient and waiting on God is one of those things, Ronel always has told me that I need to learn to be more patient and never in million years would I have thought that this would be how I would learn that! But, there is a lot in this immigration process that I can have NO control over, I can't hurry things along, I just have to sit back and wait - whether I like it or not, I can pray, I can make sure that I have what I need - paperwork, etc -filled out to the best of our ability. But once I have sent in our application, my hands-on part in this process is done, all I can do after that is pray, until I get the news that we have been approved (because I can't even begin to think that we won't be!) Once we have been approved, then I have more that I can do - booking flights, finding us our own place, getting time off work, etc. but that time in between when I send in the application until the approval, I can only wait, pray and believe that God's hand in on this whole thing. And I do believe that God's hand is in the midst of this whole process, but sometimes when I am in the midst of it, I can push that thought to the back of my mind and forget that it is He who is in control, not me! Thankfully God has surrounded me with a fabulous group of supportive friends who often help remind me of that fact, but who are also there encouraging me, comforting me and just all around loving on me. Friends who know not to ask "how are you?" on our anniversary because they knew I wasn't okay, I missed my husband and just want him here with me, friends who know when I just need a hug and nothing else, who know that this whole process has made me more emotional that ever and that some days I just need a shoulder to cry on, that it isn't anything someone did or said but that I am just missing Ronel. Friends who know that I will be sad and lonely on our anniversary & plan a spa day with a masseuse and surprise me with a day of friendship, fun, laughter and a hour long full body massage! Without God & the friends He has blessed me with, I would be a miserable mess right now. And I am so grateful that I am not - that I don't have to be, that I can turn to my Heavenly Father and He is there to comfort me in my times of need.
Well, this post got a lot longer and way more intense than I planned! But it is what it is - it is a look at my life and how I am dealing with celebrating a year of marriage, but being apart from my husband for 11 1/2 months! Hopefully I can sometime soon write a post that says we've been approved and Ronel is coming to BC, but until that day, I will continue to learn how to be patient and wait....
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
8 months later...
Well, I don't know if anyone remembers this post or not, but after 8 months, I am going to the doctor about my arm! In my defense, it didn't hurt when it first happened and was just a large bruise (or so I thought!) then sometime either late August or early September, I started having a little bit of pain when I overused my arm, now (and for the last couple of weeks) that arm and particularly the part where I hit, has been sore almost anytime I use it! When I wake up in the morning, that arm is very tender and there will be things that I go to do (normal things that I should be able to do!) that I can't do fully - like grip the steering wheel, hold my phone to my ear for more than a couple minutes, grab onto things firmly, etc - without pain. I finally called my doctor's office expecting to have to wait till atleast next week for an appointment and found out that my doctor is away on holidays and she has a sub in and I can see him today! The receptionist says that he is WAY quicker and I should be in and out of the office in like 20 mins, compared to an average wait of approx. 2 hours with my regular doctor! For some reason, even if I am the first appointment of the day, that woman is NEVER on schedule! I am quite looking forward to being in and out of the doctor's and am hoping that this doctor will be able to hlep me figure out what is going on, I will also be asking him about the sharp pains I have had in my back just below my neck, they happened once a couple weeks ago and I sat at the clinic for almost 2 hours before I had to leave to make a meeting I needed to be at and then they went away - well Sunday night they came back, so I will ask about that and see if he will give me a referral to the chiropractor (I need a referral for being able to claim my chiro costs under my medical) as I think that seeing my chiropractor should help with a bunch of the pain I have been experiencing!
Please keep me in your prayers as I go see this doctor today and ask for wisdom for both him & I as I try to figure out why I have been in so much pain!
Have a great day!
Please keep me in your prayers as I go see this doctor today and ask for wisdom for both him & I as I try to figure out why I have been in so much pain!
Have a great day!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Good morning!!
Well, it is a good morning but an early one at that! At 5:46am my phone rang and I heard the wonderful sound of my husband's voice telling me that he was holding the medical exam paper in his hand (this is not the actual medical exam results but the paper we need to send into the gov't to tell them Ronel got his exam done. The actual results paper goes straight to the gov't and this helps them match up the exam with the correct person's paperwork!)
So now I just need to make sure I have everything I need in order (like our phone records, emails, letters, proof of travel, photos, etc) and can send everything off when Val sends me the paperwork. She doesn't leave for another week so that also means I have a little while longer (another pay period) to come up with the rest of the money! I believe that I am like $200Cdn away from the cost of sending in the paperwork!
Praise the Lord! Things are finally getting done and maybe next year we will be together for our anniversary!
Have a great day!
So now I just need to make sure I have everything I need in order (like our phone records, emails, letters, proof of travel, photos, etc) and can send everything off when Val sends me the paperwork. She doesn't leave for another week so that also means I have a little while longer (another pay period) to come up with the rest of the money! I believe that I am like $200Cdn away from the cost of sending in the paperwork!
Praise the Lord! Things are finally getting done and maybe next year we will be together for our anniversary!
Have a great day!
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Oh Happy Day!!
Well, today (and more so tomorrow!) is a great day! I talked to Ronel last Wednesday to wish him a happy birthday and found out that he was going to go see the DMP to get his medical exam done for our immigration paperwork to get Ronel here! I talked to him again today and he got it done! He is going in again tomorrow to pick up the exam results! I asked him to call me when he has those papers in his hands!!! There will be tears of joy when I get that phone call! Last week he spent the majority of the week in Port au Prince getting paperwork done! He got 2 other pieces of paperwork done as well while there! So now Val (a wonderful friend who is currently visiting friends in Haiti) is going to bring all Ronel's documents & paperwork to Ottawa and mail it to me and then I will send it all in! I am so thankful for Val and for God's perfect timing with her trip & Ronel getting all the paperwork done!
The other great blessing was that the medical exam cost only $147 US instead of the $200 US Ronel had been told! I don't know what the current exchange rate is in Haiti but when I was there last year it was $7H to $1 US so that means that $50 US equals $350 Haitian dollars! That is half of Ronel's monthly salary! Unfortunately he needed to pay extra to get one of his other documents done as the last time he tried to get it done, the person that he paid to get it done, "lost" both the money & the documents that were sent with him. Things like that frustrate me but Ronel was able to get it done way faster than expected but it did cost him $300H so thank God that the medical exam was cheaper than expected!
The other great blessing was that the medical exam cost only $147 US instead of the $200 US Ronel had been told! I don't know what the current exchange rate is in Haiti but when I was there last year it was $7H to $1 US so that means that $50 US equals $350 Haitian dollars! That is half of Ronel's monthly salary! Unfortunately he needed to pay extra to get one of his other documents done as the last time he tried to get it done, the person that he paid to get it done, "lost" both the money & the documents that were sent with him. Things like that frustrate me but Ronel was able to get it done way faster than expected but it did cost him $300H so thank God that the medical exam was cheaper than expected!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Whistler
Okay, so I am home from our staff retreat in Whistler.
It was so awesome! The drive up was a little crazy as it was raining, dark & there is a lot of construction happening on the Sea to Sky highway in preparation for the 2010 Olympics happening here. Thursday night was a low key night as we arrived around 9:30pm (after getting a little "misguided" as the directions we had were very unclear and we were looking for a road that was supposed to be after the Whistler village but was actually before it, but we got creative, asked a truck driver and found our final destination on his map -which was only a block from where I ended up stopping to ask for directions, but we had driven 18kms past that and had already turned around and came back!)
When we arrived at the B&B (Cedar Springs B&B - I would recommend it highly!) we all got our room assignments and went and settled in, a few brave souls stayed up and played games but I was exhausted from a late night and early morning and was ready for bed! But, not before enjoying a couple of homemade gluten free chocolate chip cookies that Jackie & Joern (the B&B hosts) had set out for me (everyone else also got homemade cookies) ! They were great! Friday morning I was up early and enjoyed a fabulous hot shower and saw a couple of white snow flakes falling but nothing stuck! Breakfast was another delight as we all enjoyed waffles with whipped cream & strawberries, mine was gluten free but oh so delicious! They also had freshly baked bread, fruit, yogurt and a variety of cereals available. Jackie had gluten free bread that was brought out for me and it was quite good toasted and with jam! After breakfast we had our group session which was a video from Willow Creek's Leadership Summit this summer which our pastoral staff had attended. The session we watched was Go Put Your Strengths to Work with Marcus Buckingham, consultant, speaker, and best-selling author. It was a great session and we will continue to learn and work on the things we learned this weekend. After our group session we headed into the Village for lunch at Splitz Grill which is a burger joint. The burgers & choices of toppings was quite amazing. The chef was quite accomadating to make sure that my chicken breast was cooked on a clean spot without any sauces. After lunch was our "surprise group activity" that NONE of us knew anything about other than Terri who had booked it! We walked from lunch down the village until we arrived at Expressions Art Studio
and learned that we were all going to paint our own ceramic item. We had a price range that we could pick any item in and then choose a design and paint it. It was a hard choice but I finally decided on a small jewelery box that I painted for Ronel and am going to send it to him for our anniversary. After we were done with our ceramics, some of us were done earlier than others, we walked around the village and checked out some of the stores - there is some neat stuff up there! When we were all done, we headed back to the B&B for some more free time & to get ready for dinner. Dinner was at the Keg in the Village which was lovely. Our waiter, Graeme, did an awesome job and was very knowledgeable about celiac disease and quite willingly checked on any menu item that I was questioning. Dinner was yummy and having the time to just hang out and talk with everyone was also fun. After dinner we loaded back into the vans and once again headed to the B&B. Once we got back, most of the girls went into the hot tub (that is outside on the deck!) and then jumped into the sauna afterwards. Those of us that didn't go into the hot tub, sat in the guest living room and played games. A group of us had a lot of fun and played games until early in the morning and we got to watch the snowflakes begin to fall about 1am. The next morning when I got up, there was white everywhere! By breakfast the snow was gone from the roads but still on the trees and it was so pretty. After a savory breakfast of Eggs Benedict we packed up the vans and said goodbye to Jackie and headed into the Village for some shopping and sightseeing before we headed back home. We wandered around the village and checked out a lot of the stores and while most of us didn't buy anything, we all had fun. We then drove to Squamish and had lunch at White Spot before heading back to Delta and going our separate ways. The retreat was a great time and I know that I got to know some of my coworkers better and also got to get to know Matt (my team member - we work with the gr 2 & 3's together) a bit better and get to know how we can work to be the best team we can be.
Overall it was a great weekend and I look forward to seeing what changes come out of this weekend!
It was so awesome! The drive up was a little crazy as it was raining, dark & there is a lot of construction happening on the Sea to Sky highway in preparation for the 2010 Olympics happening here. Thursday night was a low key night as we arrived around 9:30pm (after getting a little "misguided" as the directions we had were very unclear and we were looking for a road that was supposed to be after the Whistler village but was actually before it, but we got creative, asked a truck driver and found our final destination on his map -which was only a block from where I ended up stopping to ask for directions, but we had driven 18kms past that and had already turned around and came back!)
When we arrived at the B&B (Cedar Springs B&B - I would recommend it highly!) we all got our room assignments and went and settled in, a few brave souls stayed up and played games but I was exhausted from a late night and early morning and was ready for bed! But, not before enjoying a couple of homemade gluten free chocolate chip cookies that Jackie & Joern (the B&B hosts) had set out for me (everyone else also got homemade cookies) ! They were great! Friday morning I was up early and enjoyed a fabulous hot shower and saw a couple of white snow flakes falling but nothing stuck! Breakfast was another delight as we all enjoyed waffles with whipped cream & strawberries, mine was gluten free but oh so delicious! They also had freshly baked bread, fruit, yogurt and a variety of cereals available. Jackie had gluten free bread that was brought out for me and it was quite good toasted and with jam! After breakfast we had our group session which was a video from Willow Creek's Leadership Summit this summer which our pastoral staff had attended. The session we watched was Go Put Your Strengths to Work with Marcus Buckingham, consultant, speaker, and best-selling author. It was a great session and we will continue to learn and work on the things we learned this weekend. After our group session we headed into the Village for lunch at Splitz Grill which is a burger joint. The burgers & choices of toppings was quite amazing. The chef was quite accomadating to make sure that my chicken breast was cooked on a clean spot without any sauces. After lunch was our "surprise group activity" that NONE of us knew anything about other than Terri who had booked it! We walked from lunch down the village until we arrived at Expressions Art Studio
and learned that we were all going to paint our own ceramic item. We had a price range that we could pick any item in and then choose a design and paint it. It was a hard choice but I finally decided on a small jewelery box that I painted for Ronel and am going to send it to him for our anniversary. After we were done with our ceramics, some of us were done earlier than others, we walked around the village and checked out some of the stores - there is some neat stuff up there! When we were all done, we headed back to the B&B for some more free time & to get ready for dinner. Dinner was at the Keg in the Village which was lovely. Our waiter, Graeme, did an awesome job and was very knowledgeable about celiac disease and quite willingly checked on any menu item that I was questioning. Dinner was yummy and having the time to just hang out and talk with everyone was also fun. After dinner we loaded back into the vans and once again headed to the B&B. Once we got back, most of the girls went into the hot tub (that is outside on the deck!) and then jumped into the sauna afterwards. Those of us that didn't go into the hot tub, sat in the guest living room and played games. A group of us had a lot of fun and played games until early in the morning and we got to watch the snowflakes begin to fall about 1am. The next morning when I got up, there was white everywhere! By breakfast the snow was gone from the roads but still on the trees and it was so pretty. After a savory breakfast of Eggs Benedict we packed up the vans and said goodbye to Jackie and headed into the Village for some shopping and sightseeing before we headed back home. We wandered around the village and checked out a lot of the stores and while most of us didn't buy anything, we all had fun. We then drove to Squamish and had lunch at White Spot before heading back to Delta and going our separate ways. The retreat was a great time and I know that I got to know some of my coworkers better and also got to get to know Matt (my team member - we work with the gr 2 & 3's together) a bit better and get to know how we can work to be the best team we can be.
Overall it was a great weekend and I look forward to seeing what changes come out of this weekend!
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