the MA diaries: Archive

2 tags

visa update: one step closer!

a mere 13 months and 16 days after we began the immigrant visa process, we have finally completed the application!! it’s almost surreal - can this really be true?? this is the first real progress we have had in our case ever since the NVC picked up our case again in November of last year. it is nothing short of a miracle. now we just have to wait for Montreal to give us an interview...

Jun 30th

1 note

visa update: we need your help!!

Dear friends, I have been on the phone with the National Visa Center (NVC) several times over the last 2 weeks. While they have finally corrected my canadian address and given me a new corresponding case number (only 11 months after I transferred the case), they have denied my requested for the case to be expedited. this is where we need your help. they said that i can make the request again,...

Jun 22nd

F.A.Q. Regarding Derek, Janice & Ethan's situation

i have decided to write and FAQ (frequently asked questions) because, well, we get the same questions a lot. Hopefully this will update everyone where we’re at, but also how and what to pray for. This is right at the end of the post, so make sure to read all the way to the end! Also, many people asked for our bank details. These are also included at the end. thanks for reading this and...

Jun 13th

1 note

please stand with us

we would really appreciate & love your prayers at this time as our worst case scenario has just become reality. as you may know, we are still waiting on my (janice’s) green card application and today I was denied entry into the US at the border due to suspicion that I was illegally “living” in the US after spending 2 weeks in canada. Please do pray for us as we deal with...

Jun 10th

Watch

this is the video that was supposed to be in the last post.

Apr 5th

confession time

alright look, i admit it. i suck at blogging. i can talk for hours but when it comes to putting it down on paper (or the interwebs) i suck at it. but here’s a lame effort…. i thought things were going to calm down a bit after my sister’s wedding in feb, but we’ve had a pretty busy last few months. our friend liz came to visit from toronto. we had a good time, although i felt bad we couldn’t...

Apr 4th

milestones

so Ethan is a few months over 2 years old, and he’s really developing. he’srepeating words and phrases, and he’s trying new things and really adventurous… as toddlers are wont to be. today, on a whim while getting him out of bed, he had a pretty big sneeze. Snot started coming out of his nose and i thought… why not. i grabbed a tissue and held down one side, and...

Mar 7th

1 note

being Chinese in Portland

so this is where we went yesterday, since our Chinese nature called out to us to celebrate the lunar new year. The garden was pleasant, i mean, it was a tourist trap ($15 for 2 adults???? com’on!) but it was a wonderful chinese stamp on our others Pacific North West American existence. the reason for our Han-gene take over was because we spent some of the morning ‘bai-leen’...

Feb 5th

our 2 year old

Ethan turned 2 over a month ago, and as he did when he turned 1, he made some huge leaps and bounds in his learning right after his birthday. first, here’s a photo from his birthday surprise - a ride on a classic steam train: so before his birthday, he was already starting to recognize some letters of the alphabet, and could count to 3 with a little help, as well as being able to say...

Jan 20th

1 note

2 tags

:Becoming Oregonian...:

So here’s my first post, and as part of my commitment this semester, i’m going to blog every single week. so this first post, is about Janice, Ethan and I becoming…. Oregonian? so life here has been going well is some aspects, not that well is others. School has been going well. It’s a challenge to step back into the arena of academia after taking 10 years away from...

Jan 12th

3 notes

Watch

the only shot we have of ethan with grandma this week :)

Oct 29th

fall fun

it’s been a fun several weeks of exploring this city & enjoying the leaves changing colors. so what have we been up to? we explored the nearby mt. tabor park, which is an extinct volcano: and we visited the portland zoo. ethan especially loved the owls :) we also got to pick pumpkins at roloff farm, which was probably more exciting for janice than anyone else. then we went to a...

Oct 29th

i’ll try to make this short & sweet since i don’t have much time this morning…. we are getting into the swing of things as fall has descended upon us. derek is taking a full course load of 4 classes, and i’ve even been able to take a night class designed for seminary wives called “partners in ministry”. this class has proven to be exactly what i...

Oct 8th

Watch

sorry for the long silence on our end! i guess life has just started to move along…. so what’s new in portland you ask? well, derek started classes last week. he’s thoroughly enjoying the experience of being back in the classroom, and this time without any chemical enhancement :) i would’ve preferred that he wrote about his new experiences himself, but he’s...

Sep 8th

portland 101

so we have been here 9 days now and finally starting to get a sense of regularity. apologies for the lack of photos at this point because it’s all been a bit of gongshow and we hardly had time to breathe much less whip out a camera to capture the moment. but we’ll try to change that soon. today we decided to finally venture out to downtown/chinatown to see if we could get ourselves...

Aug 22nd

1 tag

5 days

that’s the number of days we have left in vancouver before the final step in our 4-month-long process of moving to portland. it’s hard to believe it’s actually happening. 5 days til we step into *cue pocahontas music* a whole new world! it’s probably since college that both of us have moved to a place that neither of us know at all. in some ways it’s exhilarating,...

Aug 7th

Jul 27th

1 tag

we have a home :)

we finally got approved for an apartment in portland over the weekend and we are ecstatic! the search was disappointing to say the least, but in the end we found something that we are very happy with and almost with our budget :) i (janice) had done a lot of searching online before we went down for a visit 2 weeks ago and made about 5 different appointments to look at apartments. some of them...

Jul 26th

1 tag

Watch

canada day fun! here’s a little snippet of what the ma3 were up to on july 1st. weeeee!! for more photos of our adventures this summer, go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=192080&id=504389682&l=67373a6174

Jul 21st

1 note

2 tags

Jun 20th

1 tag

Jun 20th

4 notes

first stop: vancouver

so we are in vancouver, canada, for the summer. a respite/sabbatical of sorts before we begin life on the fast lane again. the air is clean & cool, the sun is shining, and my ical is absolutely free of any appointments or meetings. it’s quite a feeling to have these 2 months completely unwritten before us. of course, the days after summer are unwritten as well, but they carry an air of...

Jun 19th