F.B. & I have been married two weeks now. We got to spend our first Christmas & New Years together as husband and wife.

Christmas Eve day F.B. & I went to Robinson’s Metro East early in the morning. We hung out at a net café for a couple hours while I uploaded more wedding photos, etc. Afterwards we had lunch at Wendy’s in Sta. Lucia Mall. (Baconator…mmmm… deadly, but delicious! Hehe!)

We stopped at an electronics store after lunch so F.B. could get me a Christmas gift. He got me an 8GB USB Flash Drive. Yay! We also stopped at the Guess store again… I have a bad addiction with that store in the Philippines! I’ve gotten 4 t-shirts from there already, and it’s not exactly cheap. They were all around P800-P1300. ($17-28 USD).

Christmas Eve we went to church around 9:30pm. The church was packed with people. When we got back to F.B.’s house we had ‘Noche Buena’ around 12am. We exchanged Christmas gifts with the family and took pictures. We had dinner around 1am and didn’t get to bed until around 3am Christmas Morning.

Christmas Day we stayed home and relaxed. Around 6:30pm we went to Mega Mall to Saisaki Buffet to have dinner with F.B.’s family & relatives. Afterwards we had Starbucks.

Christmas Photos:

F.B.’s aunt got me this cute wooden mouse pen and wooden mouse toy for Christmas.

Mugwort eating in the kitchen:

December 28th we had a free overnight stay at the Malayan Plaza Hotel in Pasig City. It was a gift from one of F.B.’s aunts. It’s just around the corner from Mega Mall and Robinson’s Galleria in Pasig City. Our hotel suite had its own little kitchen, with a microwave, stove and full fridge. There was also a DVD player, but we didn’t bring any DVD’s with us!

Our Room:

Our Kitchen!

View from our hotel room:

We wanted to go to the IMAX Theater at Mall of Asia, but it was still packed with holiday shoppers, etc so we ended up going to Robinson’s Manila to spend the afternoon there. I got another cute keychain mouse/rat to add to my collection! We also checked out Fort Santiago but it was really hot that day so we didn't stay long.

New Years Eve we headed to church around 9:30pm. We got back home around 11pm. It was pretty loud with people setting off firecrackers and fireworks all over the place. At 12am we had dinner. F.B. & I had Spongebob necklaces that light up from Ate Malou’s daughter, Jenny.

New Years Photos:

With Jenny:

I also got to call home to my family on Christmas & New Years. My ratties are doing well while I'm away. They even got banana chips as a Christmas Gift from my Mom. Hehe. Here's a photo of Saffy they sent to me, she's wearing a Santa Hat!

Sunday we are headed to the Best Western Astor Hotel in Makati City for 5 days, 4 nights. We check out on the 7th. We also still have to pick up our marriage certificate sometime soon and we are also still waiting on the professional wedding photos. We want to head back to Tagaytay one day this month too. For our first wedding “monthiversary” on January 19th, we are going to go back to the Manila Hotel.

The 23rd I will be heading home. I've already been in touch with our lawyer. I will be contacting him when I'm back in the USA, so we can start F.B.'s immigration process. It's estimated to take 1 year to 2 years at the most. We are doing a longer process on purpose because it will save us money in the long run and F.B. will be a permanent resident when he finally steps off the plane in the USA.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia. 

F.B. & I are getting married December 19, 2009 in the Philippines. I will be coming back to the USA after the wedding & F.B. will be staying in the Philippines while we work with our lawyer. Our immigration process is estimated to take at least 2 years. We are doing a longer immigration process on purpose because in the long run it will save us some money and also because when F.B. finally does come to the USA, he will be a permanent resident as soon as he steps off the plane and be able to apply for a job right away.

We do not have a wedding registry and we are not asking for any household items, gifts, etc like most married couples do, because we won't be living together for at least two years. So this is kind of cheesy, but if any of our friends or family would like to send us a wedding gift, we will be accepting donations through Paypal. Whatever amount you wish to donate is appreciated and will be used towards our lawyer & immigration fees and after that towards household items (appliances, furniture, etc.) once F.B. moves to the USA. Or you can email me & let me know what you would like your "gift" used for.

There will be a button on the sidebar of my blog (below the visitor map) if you would like to donate. It is through Paypal so it will be secure. And I believe overseas donations can be accepted also. You can also click the button below to be taken to Paypal. Thanks so much!

I've got a bunch of questions from Misguided Mommy, so I'll answer some of them heehee!

Whats up with you and FB lately you haven't updated us in ages. Gosh! Nosey people need answers! How is he? Did he end up finding a job? Have you heard about your visa? Do you know where you are going after the wedding? How is work? Gosh girl your leaving us all hanging over here!

1. F.B. is fine. We were going back & forth on each other's facebook pages today. We have been meeting for "dates" every other day online to chat. I think we spent almost 4 hours talking today.

2. We did discuss some wedding dates for December. Right now we are waiting to see when his parents will book the hotel we will have our wedding "reception" at. I believe it's just going to be a small dinner with family & friends. I do know it's going to be at a hotel in Manila. But we aren't sure which one yet. I've already invited my friend Gayle to our wedding dinner, which I'm excited about! Gayle & I met on myspace a few years ago. She is also a mutual friend with my old coworker & friend Christie. We got to meet in Makati City in January 2008.

His parents have also said they will pay for 2 nights at a hotel for our wedding night. I don't think we are really having a honeymoon, since my whole trip in the Philippines is like a vacation. I do think F.B. & I will take a day trip to the beach sometime (Maybe Cavite?) and we talked about staying a few nights up in Tagaytay again, since they've built more shopping places, restaurants since our last stay there and we could go to Enchanted Kingdom too. Plus I always love seeing Taal Volcano. We won't be staying at the same hotel we did last time though!

3. Next year I'm not going back to the Philippines. F.B. & I have already discussed this. We agreed to take a year off from traveling due to the expenses. He's going to focus on the job thing next year and take anything he can get so he can save up some money for when he moves over here. He also won't have to worry about taking time off work to be with me if I come to stay 2 months.

I'll be working here in the USA with our immigration lawyer and be able to save more money while I'm not worrying about $1,500 plane tickets and other travel expenses. Immigration may take up to 2 years. I will be going back to the Philippines for another visit in 2011. The long distance sucks... but at least we'll be working on our immigration process and closer to being with each other for good!

4. Visa question can be answered here!

5. And work question can be answered here!

So last year when I found & talked to our immigration lawyer. He said immigration would need proof of our relationship. He said making copies of my plane tickets, our letters, etc would help to establish proof of our relationship.

I bought a all in one printer last weekend from Walmart. Surprisingly they had an HP Deskjet for $34! And it doesn't seem to be a sale price. It does seem to be an online only purchase though. I couldn't believe the price when I ordered it!

It arrived this week and I set it up and started making some copies. I've kept every boarding pass, every email from Orbitz.com. I have receipts, movie stubs, play tickets, basketball game ticket stubs from the times I've been in the Philippines. I'm planning to make copies of these. Maybe not every receipt, but I'm sure ones from the hotels we've stayed at, etc may be helpful. Since F.B. & I have sent tons of letters in the past 5 years my lawyer agreed making a copy of the 1st page of the letter and the front of the envelope with postmark should be sufficient.

F.B. has also kept trip journals each time I've been in the Philippines. He wrote down what we did on each day of my stay. I'm going to make copies of those too. F.B. will be making copies of my letters. These are all to provide immigration with proof of our relationship. We will need other documentation and even statements from relatives to prove our relationship to immigration. The more proof we have the better! It's going to take awhile to make copies and records of everything but that is why I am beginning now so we are prepared when we start working with our immigration lawyer in early 2010.

I've also been bidding on eBay again like crazy. When am I not?! Whenever I want something, I always check eBay first for a great deal. I am always saving money that way. I've gotten books recently and clothes and I've been wanting Bose in ear headphones for awhile now. They are so expensive. They retail for $99! I can't stand my tin can sounding ipod buds anymore. Not since I started listening to my music through my new car stereo! I have sony in ear headphones for the plane but they are uncomfortable so I was looking for something that sounds great and is comfortable too.

I was bidding on Bose headphones for the longest time and always getting outbid until a week ago or so. I was outbid on an auction but a few days later I received a 2nd chance offer because the winner the auction failed to pay. I got brand new in the box Bose headphones for $40! My highest bid. They are amazing too! They don't go in your ear all the way so they are comfortable and I barely have to turn the volume up on my video ipod at all it's so clear & loud! With the ipod buds I had to turn up the volume almost all the way and it still didn't sound so great. I'm very happy with them!

So it's been extremely rainy in Philadelphia for a week straight now! It was supposed to overcast for the weekend and then it changed to scattered thunderstorms. I've been wanting to take my new rattie girls (Ginger, Nutmeg & Saffy) to the park to get some nice outdoor shots of them like my older girls. Well I woke up by chance this morning around 8:30am and the sun was shining in my window so up I got. I was definitely heading to the park! My brother & I stopped for breakfast sandwiches and redbull at Wawa and then took the girls to the park where I got some lovely shots of them outside.

They were very curious sniffing and looking around at the park. And of course people had to stop us and say, "Is that a rat!?" "Are they good pets?" "What do they eat!?" And others just pointed. Yes, I'm the crazy rat lady at the park, haha! It was really humid out though. And it did start raining just as we were leaving and heading to the parking lot but we had a really nice morning.

Here are some pictures from today:

You can view the rest of the pictures at my photobucket album here!

December, F.B. & I will be getting married. We've been together 5 years now and have been engaged for 2 years. We never wanted a big wedding. We never really wanted a wedding party at all. That's just us, haha. We aren't big party people and we just like to spend time with close friends or family. We always decided if we got married it would be small and we would just have a dinner afterwards with a few friends & family.

Since we are getting married this December alot of people like to ask me, "How are your wedding plans going?", "Did you get a dress yet?", "Where are you going for your honeymoon?", "What day are you getting married?"

My favorite question is the last. Because... we have no idea what day we will be getting married! I asked F.B. recently, "Isn't it weird not knowing what day we will be married?" He said, "Not really, maybe a little." People always give me a look when I answer that I don't know what day I'm getting married and then I have to explain.

Why? Because after I arrive in the Philippines at the end of November F.B. & I will be going to the United States Embassy where I will have to get a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. After we have gotten that paper we will file for our marriage license. There's a 10 day waiting period and we will have to attend pre-marital classes. Then either during or after our 10 day waiting period we will make an appointment with a judge in Cainta, Rizal Philippines to be married. We are planning on getting married in December. Since it's around the holidays it would be nice if it will be before Christmas, but it depends on how fast we get our paperwork & marriage licence.

I'm actually planning on having a blog contest before I leave for the Philippines this year. I want to ask you all to guess what day you think F.B. & I will be married and I'm planning on awarding the winner a souvenir from the Philippines! But that won't be until November. *wink*

I get asked alot about how my wedding plans are going. This is the other question that bothers me. Or my answer seems to bother other people? Like I said before, F.B. & I never wanted a wedding party. That is the main reason we are having a civil ceremony. We just want a few relatives with us when we get married. We would like to have a dinner with family & friends afterwards but I know F.B.'s family might be planning us a "reception" anyhow. They were thinking about it. F.B. has alot of relatives and they always have reunions and dinners together so if his parents want to plan a "reception" for us we don't really mind. I know all of his relatives would like to greet us after we're married.

Another question that annoys me, "Have you gotten your wedding gown yet?" No. I'm not planning on wearing a wedding gown. I'm not a dressy girl. I can tell you right now, I only own 1 skirt in my entire closet that I wore to my cousins wedding 2 years ago! I'm a t-shirt & jeans girl, a converse sneakers girl. I'm very casual. I don't really do dresses or skirts. I don't feel comfortable in them.

But, I do plan on wearing a skirt & dressy top for my wedding. And yes, it's that skirt that's in my closet... but I love that skirt. It's a pretty flowy black skirt just below the knee. It's the only skirt I've actually felt sexy in and fits perfectly. I plan on wearing it with a lacy tank top with an empire waist from... American Eagle. Yes. Haha. They always have gorgeous lace tank tops with empire waist's that makes it look very pretty & dressy. I haven't figured out what color I want yet though.

I have very pretty dressy silver sandals to wear with my outfit:


And I'm going to be wearing a white pearl drop necklace on a silver chain. And white pearl drop earrings I bought in the Philippines, along with a white pearl bracelet.



And of course we already have our wedding rings! Mine & His!

As for the last question, where are we going for our honeymoon? That's another thing that's still up in the air. It's hard to plan a honeymoon when you don't even know what day you're getting married! We haven't really decided where we want to go for a honeymoon. We'd be content with staying in Makati City for the week going to all our favorite places and maybe planning on a day trip or weekend trip to the beach. We will figure everything out when we have an idea of what day we will be married.

After we get married I will be coming home to the USA in late January 2010 so we can being the immigration process with our lawyer. F.B. will be staying in the Philippines while we go through our process. It will take 16-18 months before he will be able to come to the USA as a permanent resident but we are okay with that. It gives us time to get more settled and save more money for when we will be together. When F.B. does come to the USA we will be having a renewal wedding ceremony. This way both of our families will get a "wedding". And that way all of my family & relatives can meet F.B.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.

Just some things I wanted to explain and get out of my system because I get asked so many questions all the time about our wedding. We have an idea of how we want things to be and a big wedding was never important to us. What's important to us is getting to be together on that day and getting married and working towards being together forever. After all, we've been doing this long distance thing for 5 years now! I can't wait until December!

NOTE: If you are getting married in the Philippines and you are a US citizen these requirements from the US Embassy in Manila Philippines, will be helpful: Getting Married in The Philippines.

I went back to work on Monday after a 2 month break. I was exhausted all week, I'm just not used to getting up early again. Next week I'll be starting my workout routine with my treadmill Mon-Thurs. It was a busy week and we have update training at work on Tuesday.

I was able to order our wedding bands this week! F.B.'s Christmas package I sent him arrived and I had included a plastic ring sizer for him so we could find out his ring size. I ordered the rings from a wholesale jeweler. We got titanium wedding bands. I wanted something silver in color but very durable. F.B. is going to pay me back half for the rings. I like the satin finish which is more masculine for F.B. and the shiny one is more feminine for me.

Here is a picture of the wedding bands I ordered:























They just arrived tonight and they are so gorgeous! Here are the rings:











The left one is F.B.'s & the right one is mine. F.B. & I happen to have the same ring size. I'm 3 inches taller than him also; so I always tease him and say "At least your shoe size is bigger than mine!"

I've been bidding on Blackberry Pearls on Ebay for a few weeks. I really wanted a new phone but I'm not eligible for an upgrade from T-mobile right now and even the discount price they offer for me is still well around $200.00. The phones on ebay seem to be going for $100.00 as well even with a broken trackball, etc. I was finally able to win one for $65.00 though! The only issue with it... a dog chewed it. Yes! Haha! Here is the listing.

When the phone arrived it actually looked better than the description, the only major damage aside from cosmetic scratches was the back door panel was cracked:













I ordered a nice new hard shell case for it on ebay also for $1.99 and you can't even tell it's not new:

















I had to upgrade to the $24 T-mobile unlimited internet & 400 text message plan though in order to use the instant messaging. F.B. & I always talk on AIM or Yahoo messenger on my breaks at work so we need that. The only time we get to spend together when I'm working is a date online on the weekend and we email every other day Mon-Fri. Technically I'm only paying $14 more than what I was paying for internet & texting, so it's not too bad. And I don't talk on my phone so much. I have the lowest plan T-mobile offers. 300 minutes & unlimited weekends for $29.

I also decided to get some extras for my new phone on ebay. I ordered a 2GB memory card for $6. A new battery for $4 and a new back door panel for $1. So let's see- the phone was $69.00 with shipping and I've spent $12.99 on accessories. That's about $81.00 for a blackberry & accessories. God, I LOVE ebay! If I'm ever looking for something, I always check ebay first to see if I can get a good deal.

I'm also looking to get a new car this year. My Dad has to talk to our insurance company and see how much it would cost for me to get insurance on my own. Right now, I'm covered under his insurance still. I will be 27 this year so I'm hoping it won't be too bad to get insurance on my own. The car I am driving I have had for 4 years now. It's a 1993 Chevrolet Geo Prizm, that my Dad got used (He's a mechanic.) The starter went one year, the alternator last year, I needed new tires. It's falling apart and I want a car that I'm not going to have to worry about getting inspected every year.

And now is the time to buy a car. The prices are so low on some of the new 2009 models because of the issues with our economy. The cars within my price range are about $10,000 brand new. I'm looking at a Nissian Versa Sedan or a Hyundai Accent. First we will talk to the insurance company though, because it depends on how much those payments will be monthly in addition to what my payments on the car would be monthly. And then next year F.B. & I will start working with our immigration lawyer, so the car & insurance payments need to be affordable for me.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia. 

I've had Ginger & Nutmeg for about 2 weeks now. There were some issues with Sugar attacking Ginger though. I've had them separated on levels in the Ferret Nation cage. At first I had Sugar & Cinnamon on the lower level, but that didn't work out so well because Sugar was climbing up and Ginger was poking her hands down between the bars and she ended up getting attacked & bit twice. The 2nd time she was missing a toenail. So I moved the new girls to the lower level instead and there hasn't been anymore attacks. I've slowly been introducing the new girls to Sugar & Cinnamon this weekend. There's been a few scuffles but nothing major.

Tonight I'm going to try play time in the cage on one of the levels. But I'm going to remove their boxes and plastic igloo so no one gets cornered. The cage is a more territorial area, so we will see how things go. I think it's going to take a little longer than it did when I introduced Cinnamon to Sugar & Spice. But it will be nice when they can all live in the same cage together.

Here were all of the girls earlier hanging out in a soda box! So far so good!

Today I mailed F.B.'s Christmas package. I know I'm a little late but he said it was okay. It's probably better anyhow because the Philippine Mail can be very slow around the holidays so he might have a better chance of getting his package. One year his Christmas package was missing for almost 2 weeks even though it said it had arrived in the Philippines. F.B. went to the office and it had just been sitting around, never delivered because of the holidays. So hopefully he'll have it next week!

I also start work on Monday. Yay.... I'm so excited that I get to wake up at 5:30am again. It was nice being off of work for 2 months. We really had a long season this year. Not getting furloughed until October 31st. (Even though I had gotten permission to leave early because of my trip. Yay for vacation time!) Seasonal employees usually work from January-September. Anyhow I'm glad to be going back in a way because I seriously have to pay off these credit cards this year. I usually only have a large balance on one credit card because of the plane tickets, but I managed to jack up another card this past year as well. Now I have two $800 balances to pay off. Ugh. Thank god for tax refunds, that should help. One of my goals for 2009 is to pay off these credit cards and keep a balance one card just for my plane ticket. It's easier to pay off in a year.

I emailed our lawyer about immigration questions. A few months ago when I talked to our lawyer on the phone he said I should start making copies of all of my plane stubs, letters from F.B., etc. Since F.B. & I have been writing letters for nearly 5 years now and his letters are usually 7 pages or longer I asked how I should copy them. He said copying the 1st page and envelope of each letter should work and to keep them in order. He also said it was good F.B. kept our trip journals and that we should make copies of that too. We need all of this to document and prove our relationship when we are going through the immigration process. So this year F.B. & I will be organizing and making copies of all the letters to each other. I have to buy a copier/scanner this coming year. I was pricing them and they seem to start at $79 which is fine with me, as long as it works! My printer died awhile ago... and my desktop PC just bit the dust as well. (It was 5 years old.) Can't afford a new PC this year though.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia. 

While I was out today I also stopped at Petco. I really wanted to check out the ratties there. I had been thinking about getting a new rat before I even came back from the Philippines. But then Spice got sick and I was busy taking care of her. Now she's gone... and I'm having a hard time getting over it. I needed something to cheer me up and help me with the loss and also to help my girls get over the loss as well, they haven't really been themselves. Rats mourn too.

Anyhow Petco had 4 females. 1 Rex, 2 Hooded & 1 Dumbo. The sales associates were super nice. They let me pick all of the girls up and see which liked me best. The little gray hooded girl was the most social and the favorite of the store. The little dumbo girl was also really sweet and not so shy. I got them both.

Here's my new girls: Ginger & Nutmeg












Ginger licking baby food off of my fingers (good introduction technique.)












Nutmeg with her sweet dumbo ears:












They are sooo tiny compared to Sugar & Cinnamon! They had a ball running around checking out their Ferret Nation. I've separated the levels again while the girls get settled in. Nutmeg & Ginger upstairs and Cinnamon & Sugar downstairs.

Funny story, when I was up at the cash register the cashier had to say goodbye to the ratties because she had gotten attached to them. (The gray hooded was her buddy.) She gave her goodbye kisses and told me she has 5 rats at home. While I was waiting to pay an older lady came up behind me in line makes a face and says, "Ooooh what's THAT?" The cashier holding my gray hooded girl says, "Rats." Then the lady looks at me and says, "Why are you buying RATS?!" I said, "I already have 2." And the cashier says, "I have 5." and kisses my gray hooded girl again, haha. The older ladies face was priceless she's like, "Ooooh... and you're KISSING it?" and then the other cashier said, "I can take you over here."

Rats get such a bad rap from people. I hear it from people at work all the time. But they are such sweethearts and have their own little personalities. They learn their names and come when called, they can be litter trained, are very clean and are very social animals. They make such great pets.

I got the new Fall Out Boy & Britney Spears C.D.'s. I think they are both really good. Fall Out Boy is one of my favorite bands.... aaaah I hope they are coming to Philadelphia again soon. I saw them in concert last November.

No big plans for New Years, just staying home with the family. So strange... next year I will be spending Christmas & New Years in the Philippines again and F.B. & I will be married by then... wow.

For my “Thanksgiving” in the Philippines, F.B. & I went out to our favorite restaurant, Gerry’s Grill. We had our favorites, veggie rice, grilled squid & lumpia (spring rolls.) I also ordered a margarita, but it tasted more like tequila than lime, haha. We shared a brownie with ice cream for dessert. We also saw the Disney movie ‘Bolt’ earlier in the day.






















Later that evening at home we had a snack of KFC mashed potatoes and the Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider we got at the grocery. My family always has Martinelli’s on holidays, so I was really happy to find it in the supermarket here in the Philippines! I also got to call home around 1am. It was 12pm on Thanksgiving in the USA! The 13 hour time difference is so crazy! (Because of Daylight Saving time, spring forward is a 12 hour difference and fall back is a 13 hour difference between Philadelphia & the Philippines.)

Saturday we headed to Greenbelt in Makati City to see a play. We saw ‘A Christmas Carol’. It was the musical version of the play though; we both thought it was just okay.

Sunday there was a family reunion get together for F.B.’s father’s birthday. (A belated birthday party.) We had a buffet style lunch here at the house. (The liempo was our favorite!) F.B. & I aren’t really “party” people, so after we made an appearance we hung out in his room the rest of the afternoon. I also packed a lot of my stuff on Sunday, so Wednesday night I just have to put in last minute stuff.

Today (Monday) we headed out to SM Marikina Mall. Stopped at Watson’s drugstore to pick up some stuff I wanted to take home. Then we went to Starbucks where I picked up a gift for F.B.’s sister. (I got her a Starbucks mug, Starbucks gift certificates & a makeup bag with Clinique makeup as a thank you gift.)

After that we headed to Robinson’s Mall to stop and get some VCD’s for F.B. (Shallow Hal, A night at the museum & Kung Fu Panda.) We also stopped at the grocery to get some peanut brittle to take home for my dad and some snacks for us. We had Chow King for dinner. (Love their corn & crab soup!) After dinner we stopped at Red Ribbon bakery to pick up a blueberry cheesecake for F.B.’s parents as a thank you gift.

Tomorrow we are just staying home to relax. And Wednesday is my last full day in the Philippines. We’ll be heading to Mall of Asia for my last day. We’re going to spend the whole day there. We want to see another 3D IMAX movie and maybe a regular movie.

My flight is at 6:30am on Thursday. I think F.B. & I are just going to do an all nighter on Wednesday. We did that in January and I was able to sleep better on my 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago. All together my flight home will be 24+ hours! Not looking forward to it.

I’ve been here in the Philippines 2 months now. It’s been really nice spending so much time with F. I’m really sad to leave him… even though it will be nice to be home again too. Just wish we could be in the same place! It will be a whole year before I’ll be heading back here again.

F.B. & I will be getting married next December here in the Philippines. I’ll probably be arriving around the end of November. Once I arrive, I’ll have to get a special affidavit from the US Embassy in Manila that says I am allowed to marry. Then we will file for our marriage license and make an appointment for our civil ceremony. We really haven’t decided where we will have our honeymoon yet since our wedding isn’t even a planned date! We’ll figure everything out once I arrive next year. After we are married we'll begin the immigration paperwork with our lawyer so F.B. can come to the USA.

Here are some silly pictures from the other day. F.B. went out back to get our towels off the clothes line and his bedroom window is right there.

F’s a “Peeping Tom!” Haha!

Since F.B. & I are getting married December 2009 in the Philippines, I've decided I need to start looking up Immigration Lawyers in my area. I've already contacted about 5. I emailed 3 more tonight and am waiting for replies. 2 lawyers got back to me and I need to call the one back tomorrow. I want to compare fee's to see who is easiest to work with and who will really help me through the confusing process of filing all of the paperwork. Several have gotten back to me, but a few were too expensive, didn't explain the process, and one told me I needed to come in for a paid consultation before he would discuss anything!

The one lawyer I emailed in Center City Philadelphia, called my cell phone the last night but I missed his call. I called his office today but he was in a meeting. Then I ended up missing his call this evening by 15 minutes or so. But he left his cell phone number for me instead so I would be sure of getting ahold of him. He was so incredibly nice! We spoke for about 30 minutes and he went through all the processes/scenarios.

Here is the email I sent F.B. tonight about the immigration lawyer:

Hi Baby, I just got off the phone with the nicest immigration lawyer ever! All week I've been looking lawyers up online and in the phone book. I've emailed a few but they were either too expensive, or not helpful or wanted me to come in for a paid consultation before they would explain anything, even fees. A few were nice but were way too expensive. This lawyer in Center City Philadelphia called me last night after I emailed him but I missed his call. I called him at work today but he was in a meeting. Then I missed his call again when I took a shower, lol. Buttt.... he said he was leaving the office and would give me his cell phone number instead so I would be sure to get a hold of him.

So I called him around 6pm and he was sooo nice! He was actually driving home from the office but talked with me for 30 minutes. He went through each scenario with each visa, told me the processes, the costs, etc. He said his father has an office up around where I live and if I didn't want to travel all the way to center city- he would even come up to where I lived for consulatations, etc. He said they can do monthly payments with the fees and he usually requests half, but he could do a smaller percentage of that and then monthly fees over the course of the entire application process.

He actually told me a better way to go about the entire process! What I was thinking of doing. Was filing for a K-3 visa. That would get you into the USA. But then we would also have to apply for employment authorization. And then within 90 days we would need to file to change your status to a permanent immigrant resident. But those are 3 different forms, each with their own costs.

He says, we don't even have to file for a K-3 visa. If you just file the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, once you file that paperwork you can at the same time apply for permanent immigrant status. Which means instead of going through 3 different processes we can go through 1 process. Which means when you finally step into the USA, you would already be a permanent immigrant resident. You could apply for a job as soon as you stepped off the plane, because you would be a USA resident. He says filing the I-130 starts off with mailing our marriage certificate, copies of our birth certificates, application, etc in. Then they mail you back a packet for the next step, where I mail in income tax copies, bank statements, etc. Which would cost around $355.

He says that first process takes around 3-7 months. Once that is finished Immigration will mail all of our paperwork to the US consulate in Manila Philippines. From there they would call you in for an interview for permanent resident status. You would have paperwork prepared with medical clearance, affidavits from our family and friends proving our relationship, etc. There would be a fee for the interview of a couple hundred dollars. This is the longest step because it can take 12-16 months for a decision. The lawyer would help us through each step and help us to prepare our applications, the packet you would need to take for your interview at the USA consulate, etc. All together it is an estimate of about $4,000. Really he said just $3,000 for the lawyer fees- the rest is the immigration fees.

If we went the other way that I was thinking we could actually be spending around $6,000 because it is 3 different processes. This way we work through one process you enter the USA a permanent resident, you can get a job and we are together. $4,000 is not a bad price at all, compared to the other lawyers I've been contacting. And none of them helped me through each scenario/situation like this lawyer. He is so nice F.B. we are definitely using him for our immigration lawyer. Even besides chatting about the legal stuff, he talked about how he grew up in Jenkintown, his father has a lawyer office in Feasterville near me. He asked me where I went to school, where I grew up, even said he looked at my myspace page and blog so he knew even more about our situation when I called.

He also said it's great I've kept copies of my plane tickets, itineraries from the past trips. That I have lot's of letters from you, etc. Because we can use that to document and prove our relationship. He advised me to start making copies of those things and getting them in order. I'll have to start doing that!

This is great! And the fact he does monthly payment plans is even better, that he will work with us with the payments and help us through the entire process is just wonderful. Aaah! So much stress is gone! With the time-frames for processing everything, you wouldn't be able to come to the USA until around 2011 at some point. So that's good for us too, since you said you still wanted to find a job over there and save money. This buys us at least another year and a half. What do you think of everything? I think we will definitely work with this lawyer and go the process he says. It will great that you would already be a permanent resident and be able to work as soon as you stepped off the plane! Yay!

I'm so excited that I finally found a great lawyer who will work with us and who takes the time to explain the processes, costs, etc. What he thinks is best and more cost effective. We are definitely going to choose him for our immigration lawyer!

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.

Some Links:

I-130 (Initial Form Filed)

IR1 (This explains what he was talking about.)

Extra Info ( On what the lawyer is suggesting.)