Beach with our Niece

This Sunday our nephew was sick, so we took our niece with us to the beach, largely to give her the opportunity to be outdoors and play for a fairly long period of time, which she doesn't do very often!

I thought her expression here was quite cute!

I fell in love with this picture, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just the whole "small child playing in a puddle" look, but I love it!

And, another picture I love! It looks so soft and gentle...

The Petting Farm with Our Nephew

Our niece started running a very high fever last Sunday immediately following church, and so we took our nephew with us and went to the petting farm while she was taken to see the doctor (we'd already planned to go there, just figured since we were going he might enjoy that better than a trip to the doctor's!).

Frustrated!!

Well... I'm sure having a maintenance team is supposed to help you out, and make life easier. Well, not in this case! I'm feeling really sick from the chemicals that the guy used to attempt to fix our heater's motor, and even so, they didn't do the job. He has to order a new motor.

But, in the process, he also managed to spray black dust and stuff all over the livingroom and bedroom. Our table, floors, bed, and side table (and everything on them) are now COVERED in this stuff! Basically that means that I have to clean the entire apartment today! Not that it doesn't need it, I just don't have the energy to have to do the whole place as thoroughly as it now needs in one day!! I'm so frustrated!

At least he did fix the closet rod and the weatherstripping on the door (finally, after we've waited two months...).

Evening with a friend, among other things

On Saturday, Justin and I went to a park (not sure if it is a city, state, or national) called Dismal Swamp. We found some pretty cool stuff! We think we found a hornet's or wasp's nest, hanging in a tree! There was a flock of geese in the water, which were gorgeous! I particularly enjoyed seeing the wild(?) daffodils growing all over the place! But, the one problem with the place was... these funny little red seed things. There were a number of trees that were giving off red seed cases or something. Turns out they are called American Elm, and we think I may be allergic to them! I managed to have hives all over the place within half an hour of arriving there. And, of course, the red things were the only thing I haven't ever encountered before (to our knowledge). So... there you go. A new thing for me to have issues with. Now I'm just hoping that there aren't many (if any) American Elms right around here!!

Sunday, we went to our church really early, and then to Justin's parents' church for a pot-luck type lunch. It was kind of nice, though I'm always nervous eating out where you don't know what is in anything! Anyway, our niece developed a sudden fever, high enough that it was decided she needed to go see the doctor, so we took our nephew to a petting farm/park while they took her to an emergency clinic thing. Turned out she had two ear infections, and possibly a virus, but who knows. She's feeling better though, so I guess it didn't do too much damage. Our nephew woke up with a super high fever on Tuesday, and her mom wasn't feeling too great on Tuesday either. So, hopefully that 24-48 hour "I don't feel good" thing isn't going to come here! So far we have no sign of it at all (they all had runny noses before the fever, and there are no runny noses out of the ordinary here).

On Monday, I got really brave, and went and visited a friend and her 3 month old baby boy... without Justin going with me! Yes, that's right. I drove into the city, instead of out of it, and actually made it all the way there, and back again, without getting lost, or creamed by any of the nutty drivers there were on the roads! Of course, I stayed way too late, and hopefully didn't wearher out too much... I know *I* still haven't recovered from it, at least, lol! Maybe a nap every day for a month will cure me. I got to use her camera (a Nikon), which was kind of exciting, cause it has a speed light flashy thingy on it, and of course, the subjects of my photography were great! Who can beat pictures of a mommy and (sleeping) baby?? I probably should have dug out my camera as well, but oh well! :-) It was really nice to be able to get out for an evening, and hopefully we'll be able to do it again!

Let's see... other than that... I'm working on a new little baby blanket... it's so super soft! I just needed a break from knitting the purple sweater for my niece. I think this blanket might take me a long time to finish though, because I've been working on it for a few days now, and it is only like two inches long... and the finished product is like 40 inches... YIKES! At this rate it's going to take me to the end of March or April just to have it a foot long!! LOL! The purple sweater is more than half finished-- the front is done, the back is almost done. So, I'll have to put the two sides together, knit the neckband, and knit the sleeves, and then it will be finished. The only thing is, it is going to be quite large for her!

Anyway, I suppose I'll put pictures up sometime later!

One of the "Joys" of Virginia Apartment Life

Well, I've encountered small cockroaches, large cockroaches, and everything in between now. I've even encountered one that was almost two inches long, a species more common to Florida than Virginia, generally known as a "Palmetto Bug" instead of a cockroach (though they are one and the same!). But, I do think last night takes the prize.

"Why," you might ask? Well, because last night, there was a cockroach in our BED. Yes, that's right, our BED. Not simply "in the bedroom" or even simpler "in the house" (bathroom and kitchen are common places to find these creatures). Of course, it couldn't just be one of the itty bitty ones that I don't MIND picking up and tossing out the door. It had to be one of the inch and a half versions! As soon as I moved the pillows around, that little bug ran under the blankets, and then when I uncovered him under there, he ran straight across the bed, along the edge of the mattress, onto the dresser, and then onto the back of the backboard of our bed! YUCK!

Thankfully I didn't have any nightmares about cockroaches sleeping with me, but it sure took me a while to fall asleep last night!

Quite a bit happening!

Well, the biggest news is... I am allowed to remain in the USA!

We met with the immigration lawyer on Friday, and he gave us a whole pile of information, and basically said "don't you dare leave the country, because it will be harder to get you back in once you're out of the country." So... basically, I'm now trapped in the USA instead of Canada, lol. We haven't submitted all the paperwork yet, because we need statements of accounts for a number of different things (internet, electrical, medical insurance, lease...), and we need the medical to be completed. They are being a little sticky with the lease though, so please pray they will get things figured out. We even told them a letter stating that they have known I was here since December would be fine (which they did know, because we registered my plate with them in December), but they aren't even necessarily willing to give us THAT! ARGH!!

When we submit the papers, we'll be submitting an application for travel papers, and for work papers, both of which will last until I have my official green card. I should be able to have those by mid-May (we hope!) at which point I need to head up to Nova Scotia to renew a few things to do with my car, lol. Maybe we'll be able to do a trip over the Memorial Day weekend, seeing as Justin gets that day off so it would be one less day he used up of his vacation time.

The medical has gone perfectly so far, as there were no problems with the physical (as by law the doctor is required to counsel for any problems he finds), and the TB test is clean (we're past 48 hours, before 72 hours, and there's no reaction at all... you can hardly even tell where it was to start with). I need blood work, and probably a tetanus shot, and that should be it... and then I have my "perfect" medical. I have to go back to the doctor on Wednesday for the completion of the medical.

On Friday, after we'd been to see the doctor, we stopped off to see a bit of Yorktown (I think that's how you spell it). We took a few pictures outdoors, though it was getting dark by the time we were getting there (it was about 5:30, so close to sunset).

A part of the old fashioned herb garden in Yorktown

The Episcopal church in Yorktown

Gazebo on the waterfront at Yorktown

We found a little restaurant that smelled sooooooo good we just had to stop. Considering it was supper time, it wasn't exactly unreasonable to be stopping anyway. So, we notified of allergies, and ordered our food. The food tasted GREAT! The only thing is, within fifteen minutes of finishing, I was having an allergic reaction to something. So, notifying of the allergy, and even the waitress guaranteeing that there wasn't any of the allergen in the food, did not prevent the allergen from being in the food. How ANNOYING! I don't think we'll be going back there, as they apparently don't know how to deal with allergies.

Justin pouring over the menu at the restaurant

The array of salt, pepper, sweeteners, and sauces at the restaurant

We are still enjoying the church we found, though I don't know about the Sunday school class. I think we might try out the "old people's" class, because the "young adults" class isn't really something we find particularly great. If we don't like that one either, we'll just go with attending church. Too bad the church doesn't have evening services as well... it would be nice to have a Sunday evening service to attend... We have been impressed by the number of children and youth this little church has (well, the building is large-- the congregation is rather average in size though). I think this past Sunday there were about twenty children, and another twelve or so youth (18 and under) in attendance, and they all love to be there! It's so nice to see people enjoying the fact they are in church, especially the young people.

We made a trip up to the beach yesterday after church, but it was so windy that I didn't want to get sand in my camera by taking pictures! It's supposed to be rainy and cool for the next few days, so I suppose I'll be staying away from the beach for a little while. Maybe I can make another trip up there next week. I'm so glad there's a nice beach only ten minutes or so away from us!

And... other than all that... I've got courses finishing at the beginning of next week, so I suppose I'll be working like crazy trying to get this course work all done! I'm almost done everything, but it is always stressful not being completely finished this close to the deadline.

Not a whole lot going on

Okay, well... I suppose there are a few things happening.

I'm working on Christmas gifts for my niece and nephew. They'll be getting matching (in different colours) sweaters and hats... and possibly mittens. We figured that would be appropriate for the time of year! Anyway, the yarn was super cheap-- like $1 a ball, so we thought it would be a very easy way to get a gift for less than $10 each. I've also made our birthday gift for our niece, which is a pink hat with a big pink and yellow flower on it.

We received the last form we need to be able to submit our reapplication for immigration, so we'll be meeting with the lawyer on Friday morning at 11:00. Hopefully we don't need anything more, and things can be submitted right now! Then we should receive an answer on the I-94 extension within five weeks, we hope, so a week before I have to be back in Canada. We're really hoping things are going to go through fast enough! We've discovered that though they have a "paper work reduction act" in effect, they have increased the amount of paperwork you have to do quite significantly! We have at least four extra pages to fill in and submit, not counting the new forms we have to submit (because we are doing something different than we did last time). YIKES!

I haven't really had much time to be out taking pictures, as I have courses trying to wrap up before I'm ready for that to happen! I'm struggling to get through the books I'm supposed to be done reading. I did choose to do my history paper on the Revolutionary war though (as that is the only part of my history course that I could find enough books on to do anything with...). Hopefully I'll have that done by Saturday. My mother hasn't sent my last paper back to me yet though, so I am kind of wondering when I'll see that one back!

Justin and I have found a church we think we'll be attending for the foreseeable future. It is a Presbyterian church, and seems to be the most solid, least liberal church we can find without going with something entirely unreasonable. They are also the friendliest and most helpful church we have found to date! We've attended two Sundays now, and the minister recalled things about us (such as the fact we are waiting on immigration papers) on the following Sunday. The people all seem genuinely interested in getting to know us (though maybe it is because we are the only young couple that isn't teenaged, and isn't over thirty??), and we've even got a few more suggestions to go on in relation to working on the immigration stuff. Apparently there are even lawyers and a judge that attend this church, so someone was saying they might talk to the judge to see if he knows of anything that can be done! Anyway, we do feel this is a good church, and have checked out almost all the churches that would be an option at this point in our area, so until we move to "South Side" we'll probably stay there. We're just not so thrilled with the adult Sunday school... but we don't HAVE to go to that!

Other than that stuff... I can't think of a whole lot that is happening.