How Did We Get Here?

One year of waiting, growing, worrying, and learning has passed!

For those of you who have recently joined in on reading my blog, I am sure by now you have realized that I am not just vacationing in the Netherlands and enjoying a luxurious life of excessive sightseeing! Shall I give you a recap of how I got here? Here it is in a nutshell, minus the emotional details:

In September 2014 I married Pieter, we flew to the Netherlands for me to meet his family for the very first time in December of that same year. In January 2015, upon our return, he was denied access into the U.S. due to incorrect paperwork. We flew back to Europe together. At the end of February, he stayed there, and I went back home.

We were led to believe that Pieter's visa was approved in May 2016, after months and months of paperwork, money spent, and meetings. Complications arose, the visa was denied, and all celebratory plans were canceled. That summer we worked to put together a waiver. (more paperwork, money spent, and meetings). I have spent the last three years in a pattern of flying back and forth, living two completely opposite lives on either side of "the pond".

It's hard to believe that this journey continues!

The worst part of that whole story was not the waiting or the unknown, although that got pretty unbearable at times, it was not being able to be together during our first years of marriage. 

Dutch Wedding Day 01/02/2015

My husband posted this on facebook earlier today as an update regarding his immigration paperwork status.

"On October 11th 2016 we filed our waiver. It had taken us quite some time to assemble all the required information.

Initially, we were made to believe it was going to take 6 months for immigration to process our application. As the day drew closer we had to find out they had moved the day ahead by another month.

After that month the same thing happened, and kept happening. Every time we are close the date gets pushed ahead even further. We never received any official communication from immigration services whatsoever. All our attempts to submit an inquiry have failed because 'the case is not taking longer than it should'

For now, we have stopped waiting around and moved ahead with our lives. We live in our own apartment and last month I signed a contract that will keep me in my current job until December 2018. Moving to America has gone from dream to nightmare. At this point we are not sure what the future holds for us, but it appears living in America has been put on hold for the foreseeable future.

We do want to thank y'all (see, I could be American) for your continued support. It has meant the world to us!"

Recently, it has been nice to push all of the "waiver" and "immigration status" talk to the side and focus on us, the present, and our future. All too often in life we tend to focus on what is wrong and all of the negative, through doing that, we lose sight of all we DO have and miss out on so much awesome-ness that we could be experiencing!

Tonight, while washing dishes, listening to a mix of Christian music, country music, and 80's hits, this Big Daddy Weave song "Jesus I Believe" came on. Oh how the lyrics spoke to me! I urge you to listen to it today and claim the words as your own. "I'm standing on your promises, I know your Word is true!"

In Need of a Pause Button

I have been told that once time starts to feel like it is flying by, it does not stop and once you have children time only goes by that much quicker. There have been many moments in the past month that I have wanted to freeze time and hold onto it for just a little longer. Any of you who have ever loved, can relate to this desperate feeling.

It is those special moments that make life worth living, that make the bad moods, burnt dinners, and rainy Mondays more bearable.

October is underway, 2018 will be here before we know it! My time in Holland has been busy, fulfilling, and productive. I have a new, welcomed routine in my new, personal space here_ our apartment. My days are spent cleaning (of course, it's unavoidable!) and working from home with my online, U.S., job as a Plexus Ambassador. I enjoy researching and promoting their health and wellness products as I have always been fascinated by the human body and it's functions. I look forward to continuing my personal journey to better health while educating others on the importance of their own gut health.

September 13th, Pieter and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary with a simple dinner date at a restaurant on the water. Very quaint. I had ribs and he ordered a meat trio (these dishes describe our personalities well). It is hard to believe we have only been married three years, as it seems I have known Pieter my whole life. 

We celebrated Pieter's 30^th birthday by inviting family over to our apartment for a semi-traditional Dutch birthday party with lots of food. A traditional Dutch birthday party begins with cake, chocolate, and coffee, proceeds to a round of meat and cheese with beer, wine, juice, or soda, and ends with a salty snack mix or chips with more beer or another drink of choice. 

                                                                                                     

Along with becoming more accustom to the Dutch way of life, I also continue to embrace the Dutch language and look forward to the day I can declare myself bi-lingual. Through my Dutch lessons that I attend twice a week at the local library, I have discovered that I already possess a general understanding of the language and am familiar with a wide array of Dutch vocabulary. It is the confidence to speak it that I must work on. I look forward to my lessons each week as I share the learning experience with a culturally diverse group of people. My classmates are from the Czech Republic, Somalia, Poland, and Japan. I am the only American in the class, but everyone speaks a bit of English.

Leaves changing color even here in the Netherlands!

The train station in Arnemuiden 

I never would have imagined that these streets would become so familiar to me. 

The Tramper residence 

One of my favorite places to walk.

Pieter took a day off of work last week for the two of us to visit one of my favorite towns here, Veere. We got some lovely pictures as it was a beautiful, sunny day.

In the past few weeks I have taken some time to reflect on how drastically I have changed since my first, original visit to Arnemuiden back in 2014. It amazes me to think of the young, shy, and inexperienced person I used to be. I am sure many of you can say the same about yourselves! I have grown in ways and learned life lessons that I never would have if this situation had never occurred. I could construct an entire novel based solely on the adventures, turmoil, and elation I have faced throughout this particular segment on this journey called life. 

So, what is up ahead in the near future? Well, more of the same. I will be embracing each new day and every moment I get to spend here in this new place I call my home with my wonderful husband. We have an exciting, adventurous trip coming up at the end of October that I am looking forward to! I will be back home to the States in early November.

When will the back and forth lifestyle end? For those of you still wondering about the status of our waiver with immigration, it will officially be a year since we submitted it, next week. No news so far. We suspect that one day we will hear from immigration, but until then, we choose not to worry and advise all of you to do the same. All in God's perfect timing.

Until next time, warm wishes on this windy day in Holland!