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? Let’s face it… in Calgary we’re nowhere near either of our families. Lucas’ family is out in BC and mine is all back in Indiana. In going over our options and the benefits of a move towards family, we ultimately have decided upon moving to the states. Indiana specifically, or possibly Chicago depending on job situations. I’ve always been very close with my family, and I know that my brother and his wife will be starting a family of their own at some point, too. I’ve always wanted our kids to grow up together and be close. I also never imagined having my own children without my parents being involved. I’m betting they never imagined I’d be 1800 miles away when we started having kids, either. And we’ll most definitely still see Lucas’ side of the family just as much as we do currently, regardless of where we live. So the choice seems clear and simple to us. And we’re happy with our decision. In fact, we honestly can’t wait.

So wait, how is this going to work with Lucas being Canadian and all? Well apparently because I am a U.S. citizen AND have Canadian Permanent Residency, Lucas as my spouse can apply for a K3 visa. This will allow him to live and ultimately work in the U.S. until his permanent residency is fully processed. On March 23 we’re going into the U.S. Consulate office here in Calgary to turn in the first part of the application process, which is to establish our relationship in person with the Consulate. They will verify our documents and send everything off to Montreal. This is the part where we wait… as we’re not sure how many months it may take to get this interview. Depending on turnaround time on paperwork it’s entirely possible we could move as early as this summer, but around Christmas seems more likely. Who knows. Once we have an interview date, we’ll fly out to Montreal and attend, and then supposedly 2 business days later… voila! Lucas will be legal to live in the states, and we can head on down. For an additional fee he can get the ability to work tacked onto his visa, which of course he’ll opt for. The downside is that the medical exam part will force him to take a quick day trip to Vancouver and we’ll have to pay for that and a quickie trip out to Montreal together for the interview, but in the grand scheme of things we truly feel it’s worth it. The benefits far outweigh the few bumps in the road we may encounter on the way to this change.

I do have a few issues with moving back home, though. First of all, no Tim Horton’s. Note to our friends in Canada: we want cans of ground Tim Horton’s coffee for Christmas so we can brew our own in the coffee maker at home. Sure it won’t be quite the same, but it’ll be better than none. And while I’ll miss Tim Horton’s dearly, there is an upside to Indy in the form of Chik-Fil-A. MMMMMM. And Bob Evans. And Steak ‘n’ Shake. My second issue with moving back home is that Lucas politely informed me last week that if he’s living in Indy he’ll most likely have to become a Colts fan. I immediately put on the brakes and emailed my parents to tell them that the move was off. I’ve gotten over the shock, but I may have to disown him if he becomes a Colts fan. GO BEARS.

So it’s a bit long-winded and I’m sure it seems like we’re gluttons for punishment turning around and dealing with new immigration stuff to go the other way so soon after I finished all of my Canadian immigration stuff, but there’s our news. We don’t know how long the process will take or when for sure we’ll be loading up a U-Haul and riding off into the sunset, but we hope to have a better idea of the timeline estimate after our U.S. Consulate visit on the 23rd. We’ll keep you posted :)

2 Responses

  1. Hi guys,

    How’s it going? We just read your blog about possibly moving to the US and we’re excited!!! We’re planning on going to Vegas for our upcoming 20th anniversary and we we’re just saying how nice it would be if you guys were closer and we could celebrate your 1 year at the same time.

    Let us know how things go with the immigration process. Maybe we’ll be able to have Christmas together!

    -= Sheila & Trev

  2. Hey!

    Thanks – we’re super excited about the move. Right now we’re just waiting… waiting to hear when our interview in Montreal is. If all goes well, he’ll be legal to go 2 business days after the interview. We’d love to time it just right for me to get a teaching job back home to move to. It looks like it’ll be at least August (we’d love to move for August 1) before we can go, if things work out right with the interview timing.

    Have fun in Vegas and happy early 20th anniversary!! I’d love to go back for a 1 year anniversary but it looks like with saving up for the move and trying to keep expenses to a minimum it’ll be a no go, though we really should do something fun to celebrate. We’re definitely down for having Christmas together! We were just talking about how we’d need to come visit you guys the other day. Flights to SF shouldn’t be too bad.

    We’ll keep you updated when we hear something from immigration :) Hugs and love to you guys!