THEY DID IT!!!!!!

It's 4:30pm, they're back and they're now officially immigrants to Canada. 

Jin Hee, Jay, HRH Queen Elizabeth ll, Min Hee and May. This is the official picture,taken  by a Canadian border guard. 

South of the border

Jay, May and the girls left early this morning to drive to Osoyoos, BC and then cross the border into the USA so that they can come back through the Canadian border and thus receive the entry stamp that will complete their acceptance as immigrants to Canada. It was either that or drive to Surry, BC, which is farther away. I hope all goes well. Jay had what I hope will be the final heart-stopping moment of doubt this week when he realized that both the girls and May were classified under "spouse". He made a joke of it at first by telling the girls that they were now his wives. Their expressions of shock and disgust when they finally understood what he had said gave us a good laugh. But Jay himself was a bit worried about what might be an error on the forms. For the first time since he began the whole procedure he had been given a phone number with the final papers. He tried calling twice with no answer. Finally someone answered the phone but couldn't answer his question.  After much careful rereading of the obfuscating language on the CIC form and consulting with my Korean friend Lusia he decided that because the girls are minors they are being accepted along with their mom, who is the official immigrant and his spouse.  I can only hope this was the case.  It's 3:20pm, already getting dark, and they're still not home. I think that's good news. They're celebrating. 

I had four days of excellent cross country skiing this week, so winter is well underway. There's still no snow in Vernon, but the hills are white. 

My latest Immigrant Services ESL student is inspiring. She is Russian. She has plan. She has dream. I don't think the Russian language has articles. Her enthusiasm to learn English has inspired me to offer her classes of 2 hours each, two nights a week. She also takes 3 hours of ESL a day at Okanagan College in Kelowna; she gets there by bus, which takes 2 hours each way. They've been in Canada four years, but as the mother of three teenagers she was the last in line to learn English and get back to work. Now she's making up for lost time. 

Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre

Miriam celebrating the snow. 

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!

Jay received an email this morning from CIC informing him that the files he submitted for May and the girls have been processed.  They will soon receive the cards that prove they have been officially accepted as immigrants to Canada. WOW!!!!

He spent over a year carefully compiling everything, and it's paid off well before he was told it would. Last week, he was thinking about what had to be done before Jan. 4, 2016 the date when it would have been necessary to renew the visitors permits for another 6 months.  He's happy now that he decided to put that off for a while. What a roller coaster we are on; yesterday there was a teenage crisis with Min Hee and today jubilation with CIC. I thought it would be ages before I could make the latter part of that statement. And so it goes. We rise to meet the challenges that knock us down.  

When I phoned Mo to tell her the good news, she suggested that the new Liberal government might have sped things up. I kind of doubt that. It takes more than 22 days to turn the rig that is CIC around. But I would rather give the credit to the Liberals and Justin Trudeau than to the Harper Conservatives. I remember how immigrants who were welcomed to Canada when Pierre Trudeau was PM remaind loyal to the Liberal Party for years afterwards. Now Jay's gang and 25,000 Syrians will perhaps feel tha same connection to his son's Liberals.

We had a hard frost last night, so when I finish this, I will go outside and cover the roots of the roses for winter. On Tuesday morning I woke with a start, suddenly thinking, for the first time since the last ski of last March, of my duct-taped boots. I had meant to buy new ones at the spring sales, but family turmoil overwhelmed such considerations. So I spent the day shopping and finally bought a pair up at Silver Star. There was a complete covering of snow up there.  Cross country sking began yesterday, but much as I love my new boots, I'm going to wait until the blanket is thicker and softer. 

Jin Hee and Min Hee dressed for Hallowe'en.