The One With the U.S. Embassy

Well hello there friends and family.  Welcome to another MOJO week in review.  One HUGE praise happened this week...ready...drumroll....

J got approved for Permanent Residence Status to the United States of America!!!!!  Whooo Hooo!  After six long months of agonizing and seeming endless paperwork and red tape...we made it.  Needless to say this was a huge relief to us so thank you for your prayers!

Many of you have asked if this means J will be a US Citizen and the answer is no...not yet.  This Permanent Residency Status simply allows J to live and work in the States indefinitely.  We will, however start the road to citizenship for J man just after coming to America...but the entire process will take about 3 years time.  One thing we have learned with dealing with the government and visas...it takes a long time so you must be patient!



This picture was taken just as we were leaving the Embassy...oops...don't think they liked us doing that as we were escorted off the property by men wearing suits...meaning business!

We also used this time of being in London to reunite with two of my besties... Leena & Andrea.  We all lived together at one time in Ireland as housemates and have made it our goal to reunite every few years...no matter where we all are.  I just love these two girls and their heart for God!

J and I were exhausted from the Embassy interview so the girls continued on in the city site seeing (it was Andrea's first time there)...while J and I took a train back to rest for a bit.  We had been up since 4am at that point!

So just as we were about to board our train we saw a glorious sign...a sign that said Krispy Kreme!  If you are an American living abroad...this is a BIG deal...and you would stop for one as well.


 We were good and only had one each...and score...they were giving away free hot drinks that day to go along with it!  They were oh so yummy...and we both had to laugh as all we could think of while we ate it were the words of Christian Comedian Tim Hawkins when he refers to them as "little baby angels melting in your mouth."  Oh yeah...that's about true!

Then later on in the evening we all gathered back together at an Irish Pub for dinner...and met up with our friend Orla and her fiance and little precious baby boy.

Orla was our neighbor in Ireland...who lovingly took us "immigrants" in and showed us the ropes of living abroad.  Without her we would have been lost and certainly would have never learned how to make a proper "cuppa" (cup of tea)!  We love you Orla!

 Then it was back to reality only a day later as me and the hubs started the final stages of us departing...PACKING!  Oh my word.  Although we are taking as much as we can with us...there is still so much we are having to leave behind...mostly electrical items since they won't work in America.

But God is good and our sweet friends Kerri and Michael back in Atlanta will be hosting a "re entry" couple's shower for J and I to replace some of the things we had to leave behind.

It is going to be an amazing blessing and we are looking forward to it.  Plus it is the first time we as a couple have actually registered somewhere...so we felt like newlyweds again!

We are having many mixed emotions now with getting so close to the end of our time here in England.  Only 15 more days to go!  So to offset what we will miss...we have been talking about what we are looking forward to in moving to one of the greatest cities in the world.

Where is that you may ask?  ATLANTA!!!!!!




Our first stop will be here...Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport.  Home of Delta Airlines and one of the word's busiest airports.






This will be us in only a couple of weeks as we are herded like livestock into the immigration lines.  Although we don't mind...I am thinking tears of joy will be rolling down both our cheeks as we hear "Welcome to the United States of America."





Now back to Atlanta...many of you may not be familiar with this great city so let me tell you a few things about it.  Atlanta is the home of CNN Headquarters...here is a picture of the CNN building.  People work, eat, shop, live, and even park their cars in this one building...it is huge!

 Atlanta is also the home of the Coca Cola Headquarters.  The hubs has not yet visited the World of Coke Museum...pictured here...so I have a feeling we will be making a visit soon to taste the over 100 different flavors of coke!  Well J will be tasting them considering I haven't had a coke in almost 2 years!

And we will of course have to stop at a Chick Fil A!  Can I get a witness.  Oh my...my mouth is watering just thinking about this.  Again...if you are an American...in particularly a southern American living abroad...you know what I am talking about.

Can't you just taste that juicy chicken sandwich right now?  So sorry to all my American friends living overseas who have looked at this picture and started salivating only to realize there is no Chck Fil A in site!  :(

And finally...what we are looking forward to the most is to be reunited with our family and friends at our home church in America...First Baptist Church Woodstock.

Oh how we long to be there.  And don't be surprised that in the first few Sundays you see me and J man just busting it out in song...we've really missed the praise and worship team who do such an amazing job in leading us to worship Him.

But until then...we will wait for Him here a little longer and just enjoy our last 15 days in England.  Great...there I go crying again...oh what an emotional time this is.  Pray for us...and send loads of kleenex our way! :)



How was your week?