Unless having my US Immigration Visa approved is interesting, of course. Now I’m stuck in Montreal for a few days until the Consulate gives me back my passport and paperwork. As has been pointed out, there are undoubtedly much worse places to be stuck, but when all one wants is to go home, it still feels stuck.
Once I receive my paperwork, I’ll drive back to Toronto (to return the rental car) and then fly home. As I cross the border, I’ll use my paperwork to register as a Permanent Resident; I’ll then receive my greencard and Social Security Number by mail within a few weeks.
As with any bureaucratic process, I spent most of the time …

Happy New Year to you and yours from the Karpiuk family!
To kick off 2010, we’ve given our blog a major facelift, as you’ve probably noticed. Not only do we have a new layout, but we’ve got a whole new domain as well. The old gallery system has been replaced by a slick Flickr account integration; you can see the most recent uploads in a photostream off to the right there, and clicking the “gallery” link above will take you to all of our photos (most recent sets at the top) and photo collections. Everything from the old Look At Us Go gallery has been moved over and old links on Look At Us Go will …

Happy Holidays! I’m officially on Christmas break and there’s only 2 shopping days left.  Around here we’re pretty much done with our handmade gifts and are looking ahead to what 2010 possibly has in store for us. We’re looking forward to spending time with family and friends in Indiana this Christmas, though we’re missing our family and friends in Canada this holiday season, too.
Firstly, our Christmas cards went out last week and most have been received. They feature our 2009 Karpiuk family photo, and they turned out really cute, if I do say so myself.
I updated our Family Life 2009 Scrapbook to feature a few new pages to cover September – early December. Ten pages …

Wow, somehow it’s almost Christmas. (yay!) Wow, I’m almost 30. (boo!) and a lot has happened since our last post in June. (That kinda rhymed.) Let me give you the quick rundown.
1. We spent a fantastic belated honeymoon/anniversary trip in Nova Scotia in June. (See our last post.) It was wonderful!
2. We moved back to the states (Indiana) at the end of July/first of August.
3. I started teaching Computer Applications at the middle school, and love it.
4. We moved into our own place at the end of October.
5. My brother and sister-in-law had their first child — we’re now an aunt and uncle to one adorable William Herman.
6. We had our first (U.S.) Thanksgiving with …

No, I’m not pregnant. Yet. That seems to be the first thing that everyone asks the minute we say that we have some news to share these days. Slow down, people!
Lately Lucas and I have been talking about our future. We know that one or more children are definitely on the horizon for us; we’re almost ready. But in the midst of talking seriously about starting our own family, it hit us: how can we start a family so far away from family?

Today is my one year anniversary being an official Canadian Permanent Resident! And as of June 6, I will have lived here for two full years :) That’s a lot of maple syrup and igloos, eh? I’ve loved every minute of it.
Hope everyone is having a fabulous long weekend. :)  Only 33 days until the wedding!  Are YOU ready for Vegas?

Yes, yes I can!
That’s right, the next big thing we’ve been waiting on… I got my Alberta teaching certification! After 10 months of waiting on Immigration, waiting a month for the Alberta teaching certification office to examine my Indiana credentials and deem me qualified to hold a professional teaching license was a cake walk. This weekend will be busy as I organize my resume and dust off my teaching portfolio that has been waiting ever so patiently to be needed again. The final step of fully immigrating feels so close to being complete now… there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and I anxiously and happily await teaching again next school year.

So the day we’ve been waiting 9 months for finally arrived: as of today, May 17, 2007… I am an official Permanent Resident of Canada! As I reported a few posts ago, I received notification at the end of April/first of May that I was approved for Permanent Residency, but today was the actual day I went in to the Calgary Immigration office to be granted the official status.

I know there was no reason to be nervous, but my stomach was doing flip flops all morning. I kept worrying that I would forget some important piece of ID, or the photos I had to have done wouldn’t be perfectly to spec… I was just worrying …