SURPRISE!!

On Friday (12th November, 2010), the family received a HUGE surprise! HAYLEY arrived home a week earlier than she told us she would be returning!!

She organized with her friend Sam's Mom (Vicky) to pick her up from the airport in Durban and bring her back to PMB. She also organized for my Mom's friend (Mrs Linvingston) from work to have my Mom go to her house to "help" her with something, so that Mom was in one place and couldn’t go out. A few minutes later Hayley was in Mrs Livingstons house, surprising my Mom and Melissa!! A very well planned and kept surprise by the three of them.

Like always I go home on a weekend, so on Friday I went home. Traffic was really bad so I only got home after 5:00pm. To be honest on Friday morning from the minute I woke up I had Hayley in my head and a feeling (I can't explain) that she was somewhere here, I’ve never had this feeling before so it was kind of weird. Anyways I went to work and the feeling soon faded away because I got busy at work etc. then Sam put on her Facebook status "happy happy my best friend / sister is back in South Africa! I've missed you like I can't explain!!!!!!" (or something close to that), which made me think "huh? who she talking bout, if it's Hayley she must have thought wrong because she is only back next week Friday, maybe she got the Fridays mixed up", that did however, put the thought back in my head that Hayley was in actual fact somewhere here, and because I had surprised her by needing to be picked up a day earlier when I got back from USA that she was doing the same. But that soon got brushed off again with work etc. When I was on my way home driving along College Road (those that live in PMB will know where this is), the feeling that Hayley just might be back became stronger. When I got home Hayleys room was still the same – no bags etc (much to my disappointment). So I went to my Moms room and said hello to her like usual, then started reading a magazine on her bed, looking for a gift for our company Secret Santa. Then I suddenly heard a very familiar "hello" and looked up and was in COMPLETE shock!! It was Hayley standing in front of me smiling! I was speechless (literally) for a while and just stared at her, I wasn't sure if I was seeing things, or if I was dreaming or what but GOSH it felt weird to see her standing there. LOL. Then she laughed and said “are you going to say anything?” then I jumped up and hugged her!! :)

So ya she kept it a secret for a while, and so did everyone involved! A very well kept secret that is!!

The family is VERY happy to have her back! Once again the family is complete with all the members, but also not for long again with me leaving next year! However, I will be back to visit as often as possible and a new member (Dustin) is being added to our family in the process :D so there is a positive!

WELCOME BACK HAYLEY!!

Hayley and Milo...

VisaJourney - The Troop :)

From the beginning of our process for my K-1 visa I have been using a great site (Carla told me about it, Jake (her husband) used it for when they went through their K-3 visa). It has been such a help, helping us with how to start the petition and what we have to send in etc. Also if you have a question regarding the petition you start a new post and it’s answered SO quickly and the answers SO helpful! It’s really great! I was invited on Facebook by one of the ladies and then she added me to the Facebook group where I have met a bunch of lovely ladies! They are really wonderful when you are feeling down about something or have a question about the petition – all the ladies are further in the process than Dust and I are so it does help a lot :) We are all forming great “online” friendships, and hope to stay in contact with each other for a long time to come. I think it will be so awesome to see how each others lives have turned out with our loved ones and hopefully we can have a reunion once in a while to have girl time catch up :) These ladies are from all over the world, some are moving from their home countries to America and some already live in America. They are all really lovely, and I wish them all the best with their processes, and hope that NVC and CSC move their butts and give us our NOA2’s ASAP!! :)

Lisa and Matt.

Lisa is from the UK and Matt is from New York.

They filed their I-129F (K-1) on the 17th July, 2010.

They are waiting for their NOA2.

Lisa and Matt met while they were both on holiday in Cancun, Mexico in 2008.
They received their NOA2 on the 30th December, 2010 - FINALLY!
LIS ARRIVED IN NEW YORK, TO BE WITH MATT PERMANENTLY ON THE 24TH MARCH, 2011!! :D

Kayla and Andy.

Kayla is from Ontario, Canada and Andy is from North Carolina.

They filed their I-129F (K-1) on the 17th September, 2010.

They are waiting for their NOA2.

Kayla and Andy met online in February / March 2009 and then in person on the 30th October 2009.

Elena and Octav.

Elena and Octav are both from Romania. Octav lives in Philadelphia, PA though.

They filed their I-129F (K-1) on the 7th September, 2010.

They received their NOA2 on the 6th Mar, 2011. (On a Sunday!!!!) :)

Elena and Octav met through Elena's cousin. They started speaking online in August 2006 and met in person in September 2007 in Bucharest, Romania.

Nikki and Tomislav.

Nikki is from Philadelphia, PA and Tomislav is from Zagreb, Croatia.

They filed their I-129F (K-1) on the 21st September, 2010.

They are waiting for their NOA2.

They met in Philly in June 2008, when Tomislav went to the USA on a work/travel program and got a job at the same restuarant Nikki worked at. They met and fell in love at first site :)


Chaz and Dexter.

Chaz and Dexter are both from the Philippines, but Chaz lives in South San Fransisco, CA.

They filed their I-129F (K-1) on the 28th May, 2010.

They received their NOA2 on the 29th October, 2010. YAY!! :D Chaz scheduled an interview for Dex on the 17th November :D Now we wait for the VISA!! :).

Chaz and Dexter have known eachother since they were kids and Dexter proposed last year when she visited Philippines :)
DEX ARRIVED IN SOUTH SAN FRANSISCO, TO BE WITH CHAZ PERMANENTLY ON THE 22ND DECEMBER 2010!! :D
Chaz and Dex got married on the 22nd February, 2011. Congratulations!! :)

Genevieve and Matthew.

Genevieve is from the Philippines and Matthew is from Kittery, Maine.

They filed their K-3 on the 30th August, 2010.
They received their NOA2 on the 8th February, 2011. YAY!!
Genevieve and Matthew met on Skype in January,2009. Matthew visited Genevieve in October 2009, proposed in December 2009, Genevieve said yes in January, 2010, Matthew went back to visit in May 2010 and they got married on the 21st June, 2010 :)

Susanna and Chip (Geoffrey).

Susanna is from Germany and Chip is from Little Rock, Arkansas.

They filed their I-129F (K-1) in August, 2010.

They received their NOA2 on the 28th January, 2011! :)

Susanna and Chip met on a Christian website in 2009. They met in person in California in March 2010 and on the last day of their trip Chip proposed :)


Spela and Jarred.
Spela is from Slovenia and Jarred is from California.
They filed their I-129F (K-1) in mid June.
They just received their NOA2 on the 3rd November, 2010. YAY!! :D.
Spela and Jarred met online in September 2009 and then met in person in March 2010 in California.
SEPLA ARRIVED SAFELY IN CALIFORNIA WITH HER LOVE ON THE 24TH DECEMBER, 2010 - WHAT AN AMAZING CHRISTMAS PRESENT!! :)
Spela and Jarred got married on the 18th February, 2011. Congratulations!! :)

Jeannie and Kenny.
Jeannie is from Nova Scotia, Canada and Kenny is from Ashland, Virginia.
They filed their I-129F (K-1) on the 3rd July, 2010.
They received their NOA2 on the 22nd November, 2010.
Jeannie and Kenny met onine in pogo. They were friends for a long time before they decided to take the net step. They met for the first time in person in VA in August 2009. They both knew when they had that first hug at the airport they had something special. They had a few other trips back and forth. In May 2010 was her last trip to VA and thats when he proposed with a beautiful diamond and she of course said YES!! :) Awwwww...
WAITING FOR JEANNIE'S INTERVIEW DATE!!

Kirsty and Dustin.

Kirsty is from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and Dustin is from Michigan, USA.

We filed our I-129F (K-1) on the 1st October, 2010.

We are waiting for our NOA2.

We met while I was Au Pairing in America in 2007. Dustin came to visit me in August / September 2010 and just before he left he proposed :)