Finally a Resolution!

When Douglas applied for a Visitor Visa to come home to visit us, I received an email a week later from Guat City saying that it was denied due to the Security Clearances being needed first.  Well, that is the last frontier that we are waiting for until he receives his Permanent Resident Status.  The only problem is that the security clearances are out of our hands as the cogs work very slowly up here in Canada to process said clearances.

The local police station took 5 weeks to process after numerous visits/calls to the station.  The RCMP check in Ottawa took a total of 7 months to process and the last one in Calgary  is on it's 9th week now.  You see a clearance must be obtained from every place that he lived in Canada.  After this last clearance is done only one more remains and that will take approximately 6 months to process.  So, we will not be able to send the completed police clearances down to the Immigration department in Guat City until approximately August 2011.

 I have a templated email that I have been mailing to the Minister of Immigration, Jason Kenney, almost every day for the past two years.  In that email I explain the situation, the ages of our children and politely ask for a 10 minute meeting with him in the future to discuss our options.  I have NEVER heard even a templated response from his office in either Calgary or Ottawa.

When I received the email of decline, I wrote back a VERY long email once again explaining our situation. I was SHOCKED that I received an email of response a day later explaining that in light of the situation, they were looking at "options for our family and would be in touch on Monday".  That email arrived on the Thursday.  On the Monday (& it was in the morning!), I received the JOYFUL email that explained that the Immigration Manager had issued a SPECIAL PERMIT for my husband to return home while they continued to process his paperwork!! I cannot begin to express how excited I was.  I couldn't pick up the phone fast enough to tell him the great news.

A few days later and he was exciteadly enroute to pick up his permit when he had his little "fender bender" (see earlier post).  He still managed to pick up the wonderful permit!

He is now in the midst of packing up his life down there - he has quite a bit to sell.  Our house is currently on the market for sale as we finished the renovations (FINALLY!!!) in December.

There was absolutely no sense in him ever being processed for his PR status externally, and issuing this permit while they have not completed his status only proves my point - but that is the way our hopeless Canadian Immigration department is run.

We all sleep better at night knowing that he will soon be back up here with us again in time for Avalon's next birthday and Trinity's Grade 8 graduation!  It will be interesting to see how he assimilates back into the Canadian way of life and also interesting to see how Tequila (his little chihuahua) & Thumbelina (our little chug) get along together - I don't have a good feeling about that. 

Snow Storm - YAY!

 We had a snow storm - it was forcasted to be a real doozy! It wasn't quite as bad as we though it was going to be - about 25 cm of snow, squalls at time and the roads were slushy and slick - but nothing we are not used to in Canada.  Our winters seem to be getting shorter and milder.  It was nice to have a "snow day" - all the kids's schools were closed as well at the University that I work at - so that was a nice mid week break!

He Described it as a "Fender Bender"

This is what happens when you TRY to email your wife and drive at the same time!

 

So, the car will be out of commission for a few days! On the bright side, the body shop/mechanic bill is 70% less than what it would have been up here in Canada.

Continental Airlines Customer Service

When Trinity was flying from San Salvador, El Salvador to Houston, Texas, we were concerned that she would not catch her connecting flight to Los Angeles on time - you see she had only 1 hr and 8 mins to deplane, find the baggage terminal, collect her bags and then make her way to the next airline.  There is a monorail at Houston, but it is a very big airport, and with her being alone and only just turning thirteen, we had some concerns.

She handled it like a pro though and was able to find her baggage and connecting flight with no problem - she made it there within 5 mins to spare.

I was concerned that I had not heard from her when she was in Houston, so I phoned the only Continental number I could find - it was a cargo bay not even in the Airport.  A lovely woman by the name of Jocelyn helped us immensely, as she got in touch with the main Terminal, confirmed she had just made it to her plane in time & even sent a message to the flight staff in LA that gave her the message as soon as she arrived in LA.  The message was "Turn on your iPhone". ha ha  Thanks for the exceptional service Continental!

Last Minute Trip to El Salvador

Douglas' father in El Salvador had a stroke last week, was hospitalized and not expected to survive. So his family in Canada quickly flew down to El Salvador. We have plans to travel to El Salvador at the end of February/beginning of March and I am currently busy training someone, so unable to fly down.  Avalon is glued to my side, so it was a great opportunity for Trinity to meet the cousins she has not seen in absolutely years; and since the airline would allow her to travel alone (& she has experience doing that) we scrambled and hunted around to find a good priced flight for her to go down. 

She flew down there last week to be with her Daddy.  His father died this past Saturday morning.  It's ironic that they do everything so slowly in El Salvador, but not for their dead.  The viewing was on the same day and finished close to midnight.  The military funeral was the next day! That would have been about 4 to 5 days later here in Canada.  I think it so much better for the family  to get the business of the funeral done quickly. 

Trinity and two of her cousins!

Trinity eating her favourite - mangos!

 Cute little Tequila - our little demon!

City Scenes from Nomad Nights

CN TOWER

Cheer For the Cure 2010

We recently attended the "Cheer for the Cure" in Oshawa - competitive Cheerleaders from all over - all ages and skill levels.  This time nobody was "dropped" during a stunt!

All the cheerleaders waiting for their trophies!

Avalon with her trophy!


And now a final word from Trinity...

Maybe I should start drinking?

Canada Post finally delivered my "GUARANTEED 7 day delivery with receiving signature" envelope to Douglas in El Salvador - it took them 47 days to deliver it!!!

When Douglas went to the Canadian Consulate last week for the umpteenth time ( I guess 5th time at that point), he was told that they would NOT accept the money order that says "Receiver General of Canada" as it was supposed to say "Receiver General FOR Canada".  They are both prepositions people!! What's the problem?

Douglas didn't ask for a supervisor - I would have insisted if I were there. Perhaps it's a man thing? (To not ask for a supervisor). I had to phone the Consular from Canada - turns out he was a nice guy who just landed there from Ottawa - who had a brain and couldn't understand why the front desk clerk would not accept the money order. So, again the next day Douglas had to drive back to the city and FINALLY, the sixth visit was the charm! Now we just sit back and hope that his application will be approved. 

The security clearances are in Calgary and taking longer than anticipated.  They were due to be completed and in my hands two weeks ago.  However, when I phoned last week I was told they are still processing the paperwork. 

So we sit and wait for the bureaucratic civil servants to dust off their files and do some work. My sister is in a similar situation with civil servants.  She submitted her applications and all necessary paperwork nine months ago - she was warned last week that because of their incompetency in taking so long, they probably would be rejecting the application and asking her to submit all updated paperwork again.  We have a serious incompetency problem in this country with our public sector employees/services. 

Holy Confirmation

The girls attend a Catholic School and just recently Trinity had her Holy Confirmation. It was quite an eventful church service - one of the Confirmandi vomited all over himself and the girl sitting next to him and another fainted into the arms of the Bishop, holding his robes while he threw all the hosts all over the floor.  Once the hosts are blessed, they cannot be thrown out.  So, all the priests were down on their knees picking up all the hosts from the ground and then dispensed to the congregation.  I guess the alternative would be for the priest to eat all of them himself - yikes!

                       Trinity with her Sponsor - her Nana (my Mum).

Plans Abated - What else is new?

We delayed purchasing tickets to fly to El Salvador for December due to the fact that we were quite hopeful that Douglas would be getting a Visitor Visa for 1 year to return to Canada (and then of course be processed for PR status while in Canada) in time to be with us for Christmas.  We started the process in November - every time he went back to the Canadian Consulate in Canada he was told a different story and different paperwork thrown at him.  The Visa documentation I sent him on November 19th via GUARANTEED Canada Express Post NEVER arrived, despite having it traced! Goddess knows where that ended up.  Oh well, whoever has them - hope you enjoy the photos and magazines and fortunately the money order will be useless to anyone as it is addressed to "The Receiver General of Canada". 

So, he will return for the fourth time on Monday to apply for this Visitor Visa yet again - the first three visits he confirmed with the clerks that it would take only 5 to10 business days to process - unfortunately, on the fourth visit he was told their website was "wrong" and that it would take 4 weeks to process! Ay Carumba!

So, we are in a "holding pattern" for now.  I found great flights for January and February - but will wait to see if he is able to come back up here to Canada by beginning of February.

So, while his Christmas was very quiet in El Salvador - ours was very busy and loud with family/friends and lots of young ones running around - oh and lots of shopping marathons! Good times!!

A nice long paid break courtesy of the University was much appreciated! Love you McMaster!

Our little corner of the globe avoided any major snow storms - although all around us they were pummeled with the white flakes! We just had a bit of cold and very light dusting of snow and ice.

        Oh my! Avalon looks quite devilish!

                             Thumbelina needed a new jacket for the cold weather!  She doesn't like them!

                               But Thumbelina loves Avalon's sock monkey!

                                   Trinity is loving this artist - Angelina Wrona - from Ottawa!

                               Avalon is a tea fanatic so I couldn't resist this little novelty duckie that helps to seep the tea leaves into her tea!

                                Avalon joke at Christmas was "Oh, sorry I haven't shaved my legs today!" - she got these cool furry leg warmers from Santa.

                              Out for a brisk Christmas walk.