(posted by Aaron)
All,
Yesterday was an important day for Los Frost. We had two large and significant things happen to our family yesterday.
For starters, Sarai is one of the countries newest citizens. I am so happy for her. We went to the USCIS (since the country can't afford a good immigration department, they have USCIS in it's place) office for what we expected to be a few hour process. We were waiting in the waiting room for about 30 minutes before they called Sara to the back. We looked at eachother excited, because we knew that this was the time we had worked towards for the last few years. Time, money, stress, all spent in our efforts to help Sarai take this important step, and it was finally here. They let us know that I needed to wait in the waiting room, and that Sara was going to do this alone. :( So, while I prepared for what I thought would be a two hour wait, I started to think about some of the cool things that Sara would be able to do, now that she was to become a citizen. There are some huge advantages, the greatest and most important of which is the right to vote. Anyways, after about 15 minutes into my suposed two hour wait (I say two hours, because the appointment letter we received said that it would take about two hours) Sara came out and said "OK, lets go." I looked at her and said "?????" I was confused. I figured she must have failed, or that we must have forgotten some piece of paper or that somehow, something else went wrong. She reassured me more than once, "Nope, I am done. I passed. Let's go." She had a big smile, so I still thought she was joking.
WOW! That was an easy interview. She had to pass a few tests. She had to pass 1) a quiz of american history, 2) an english reading exam, and 3) an english writing exam. Well, the quiz was torture. She had to know the colors of the flag. Had she forgotten the white stars on the blue canvas, and the red and white stripes, she may have failed and lost her chance at earning the right to sue her neighbors. She asked a few more questions, that were each equally as difficult as the first. For the reading exam, they pointed to a line in her study guide and asked he to read one sentense. She managed to successfully utter the words "Why did the Pilgrims come to America?" She passed! That was the entire test. Then on to the next test, the english writing test. The interviewer said "I am going to say a sentense and you are going to need to write it." Sara agreed. The sentense upon which her future as a US citizen would teeter for the next 10 seconds of her life was "Today is a sunny day." Sara wrote that and was expecting something else. Something that would actually test her english a little more deeply. That was it! She was done.
I am happy for her. She now has several rights that she didn't used to have. She can vote. She can work for the government. She can work with her family and help them get these same privelages. She can carry a gun. Among others.
She still has to take the oath before this is all official. We were told that she would get a letter for an appointment to take the oath publicly. We will let you all know when that is, so that you can come if you want. They told her that it might take up to 4 months, but that they were trying to get everyone sworn in by voting time. So, Sara should be able to immediately start using her new rights. This is awesome!
That was the first thing that happened yesterday. The second is almost as important. I had a second interview for a position that I really wanted. I nailed the second interview as well as, if not better than, the first interview. Within a few hours, the company called my head hunter and let him know that they were writing up the offer and would send it today. WOW! It is a great job. I will be doing what I currently do, for a smaller yet equally as stable company. I will be a lead on a team of 4 people. I will be in charge of the entire software testing effort for this company. It is a stressful position, but will be rewarding as I succeed at it, as I have succeeded in my current position. I am exicited to continue my career with them. I will fill you in with the details later on. I just wanted to let you all know about that change. We are very happy about it and wanted to share it will you all. It has taught me, yet again, that all you have to do is put your mind to it and you came acomplish anything. Now, while that may sound a little reminicent of George McFly, the nerd father from Back to the Future, it is a fact. I have been unbound in my progress over the last three years. With this move, I have effectly increased my marketability, earning potential, and job experience by more than double over the last three years. I am very excited. God is smiling upon my family and I. Before this move I mad 3.5 years ago, I was unsuccessful in the work place and had yet to taste strong success, like I had seen those around me achieve. Now I know that success, and it tastes good!
At the end of the day, I looked at Sara and had a thought that I felt summed up the day for Los Frost. You know how in the old cowboy movies, the guys come out with their guns drawn and they kill everyone before taking names??? Well, that is what happened yesterday. We knocked'em dead, and took names. We came out with our Guns a Blazing and got what we wanted. I hope you can all feel how exciting that was for us and share in the excitement.
