Working on the Spouse Visa Application

This is just a brief post to let folks know that we are busy working on the spouse visa application right now so there will be no new blog posts until we have cleared this initial process. The breakfast bar looks like someone is in the midst of putting together a major grant--there are piles of documents and papers with copies for each section and requirement. My previous experience as a grant writer is coming in handy!

I get up each morning at 5:50 AM, go for a one mile walk and do fifteen minutes on the exercise bike to make a stab at something physical.

After putting in a full day at work in front of a computer it is all I can do to spend two hours each evening on this intricate paperwork before my mind shuts down completely. Les makes copies during the day at Kinko's copy center and takes care of the domestic side of things: laundry, dishes, hoovering; in addition he's cleaned and painted the back deck and front porch, washed the windows, re-papered and painted the master bath and pressure washed the vinyl siding on the house to make it look like new, and bought a strimmer (weed whacker for Americans) to bring the back forty under control.

I broke down and cried at dinner last night when Les suggested he should go out and put the patio umbrella down because a large windstorm was coming. All my life I've had to do it all myself. I thought when I moved to Cloudhoue in 2007 that life would get easier--but cancer intervened, and fighting for my life took everything I had physically, emotionally, and financially. Life didn't get easier; I was worn out and could only focus on those most essential things in life. 

I am so grateful to have the love and loving care of a man who understands the true meaning of a loving partnership. Les put his arms around me, held me tucked in close to his chest and his heart, and said, "It's okay Jaq--you aren't going to live the rest of your life alone. Fifty-fifty, that's the deal.  We will look after each other and you don't have to do it all yourself anymore darling..." the rest of what took place will remain unwritten. Suffice to say it was enough to get him sent to the naughty step, and he made me laugh until I cried for joy.