Although we have been traveling and then sick - there has been much Progress made towards our move back to the US. While Pumpkin and I were enjoying the sunny weather back in California, Mr. P was keeping himself plenty busy by crossing things off the to-do list I left him. In the evenings and weekends he was able to not only cross off all the home repair things I had listed for him to do, but also made headway into some jobs I figured we would tackle together upon my return. Now that the last few jobs are being completed (I never want to see a can of paint again in my life!) the house is ready to be placed on the market.

This coming Thursday we have three realtors stopping by to look at the house and present to us what they will do to sell our home and for what cost. We figure that by Friday we will have chosen a realtor and the house will be placed on the market. If we get an offer and the sale contract is signed before June 1^st, we could be moving as soon as August 1^st. I am excited and terrified at the same time!

Aside from the house sale we also have been dealing with Mr. P’s Immigrant Visa (commonly called a green card although it is actually white). After I filed the petition in January we received a folder full of paperwork in the post and we have been working our way through the stack. Everything is now filled out; we are just waiting on a police report from the UK stating that Mr. P is not wanted for any crime from his year long residence in Bristol. Once we receive that we will send in the “ready” form and Mr. P will be given a referral to a doctor for various medical checks (he already got all his shots updated as required by the US for the visa) as well as the appointment for his final interview at the American Consulate. The final interview seems to be a mere formality, and as long as we have all the paperwork he should walk out of the consulate with the green light and a 6 month time period to enter the US. He will not actually have the visa however until we arrive in the US.

Of course there are many small issues we need to tackle that are linked with the move and they will actually be the hard part. But it is nice to see progress and be checking things off our list. Before we know it we will be packing to leave!

Next step, telling Mr. P’s parents - I will be sure to let you know how that goes!